Lessons Learned From Shooting The 2013 IDPA Nationals

Last month, I had the opportunity to shoot the 2013 IDPA Nationals.  This was my first national competition of any kind, and while I wasn’t quite sure if I was ready to compete on a national level, I decided to check both my luggage and my ego to find out how my skills compare to shooters from across the country (and the world).  Not surprisingly, IDPA Nationals turned out to be an amazing experience, full of extremely challenging stages that forced me to find (and go past) the limits of my shooting abilities.  I also met some fantastic people and shared in a healthy dose of good times on and off the range.

Just as important as having a great time, I learned a metric ton of stuff about shooting and traveling to higher level matches by competing in the Nationals.  I learned a lot from watching others, and learned some things the hard way by not being as prepared for things as I could have been.  Here’s a few things I learned that might be helpful to you if you are planning to take your shooting to the next level and compete in a Regional or National Competition.

Fast is Fine, But Accuracy is Everything

Action pistol shooting is basically an accuracy contest that happens to be timed, and the IDPA Nationals was a true test of accuracy.  There were only a handful of targets that weren’t obstructed by a no-shoot or some type of hard cover, which meant there were lots of opportunities for penalties and points down (each point adds a half second to your time, and you want the lowest time possible).  

I shoot above my weight when it comes to speed, but below it on accuracy.  Shooting several of the stages too fast to make well-placed shots cost me dearly.  For example, on the Standards stage, my times look pretty good, but I gained 14.5 seconds because of poorly placed shots. The lesson here is to take as much time as you need to make a good shot.  While this is always solid advice, it becomes even more important when you’re shooting with the big boys and girls.

Shooting Weather You Like it Or Not

Unless the weather conditions are too dangerous to shoot in, the show will go on.  The squads that shot on Thursday had to take an extended break due to high winds and lightning, but still dealt with rainy conditions.  Those of us that shot Friday morning ended up getting lucky with the conditions, the threat of rain loomed all day, but never materialized.  The conditions on Friday were still a bit tricky, Thursday’s rain left the grass slick, and contributed to at least one shooter getting DQ’ed for slipping during a stage.

Check the weather conditions before you head to any big match, and bring rain gear, cold gear or whatever you might need to make sure you stay comfortable and safe in any condition.  It’s better to have it and not need it then not have it and need it. 

Life’s Not Fair and neither are some stages 

It’s very likely that there will be a stage or two that you will have a problem with for some reason, perhaps you think a stage is set up incorrectly, you have bad knees and have a hard time getting back up, or maybe you’re vertically challenged like me.   Bitching or complaining takes mental energy, and you really don’t have any to spare at a major match.  Let it go and shoot the best you can.

There were a few targets at the match that I saw very little of due to my shortness.  If I had let that get to me, my performance would have suffered (even more than it already did).  During the Air Marshall Stage (pictured at left), I could see very little of the last target.  When I got to that target, I put two nicely placed shots into the 3 points down area of the target, took my 5 second Failure To Neutralize penalty and moved on. 

Shooters are the Best People in the World

Having the opportunity to meet and hang out with hundreds of people that love and understand the sport is worth the price of admission alone.  I got to spend time with awesome people that I’ve met at previous events and I made several new friends.

I’ve said it 1,000 times before, and I’ll say it again – the shooting community overflows with people that would do just about anything to help you when you’re having any kind of problem.  Before the first stage of the match, I had a Murphy’s Law moment – my electronic ear protection broke.  One of my squad mates saw it happen and immediately offered to lend me a pair (thanks Dustin!).  

The other lesson to be learned here is BRING TWO OF EVERYTHING WITH YOU TO A BIG MATCH.  If you don’t need it, you might be able to help someone else avert disaster.

 Eat your Wheaties

 IDPA Nationals was 17 stages, shot over 2 days.  Make make sure you have enough fuel to get through each day, and try to keep your blood sugar up throughout the day.  I forgot to do that on Saturday and ended up crashing and burning hard on the last few stages of the match. Stash some high protein snacks in your bag and munch throughout the day (even if you think you don’t need to).

 

 

 

Even though I wasn’t sure I was ready, I’m really glad that I made the decision to shoot the 2013 IDPA Nationals. It was an amazing experience that I won’t soon forget.  I will definitely back next year – this time more prepared and ready to burn it down.  With accurate shots.

Home Defense In Depth

If you’re one of the thousands and thousands of people who’ve purchased a gun in the last few years and don’t know what to do next, you’re not alone. There are many, many people out there who’ve made the most adult decision they can make in their lives and have chosen to purchase a firearm and become their own first responder. 

But owning a gun isn’t enough, because guns aren’t a talisman of self-protection with magical powers of protection. Guns are only as effective as the person behind the trigger. Think about it this way; who would you rather have on your side in a gunfight , Woody Allen with a .44 Magnum, or Chuck Norris all by himself?

I rest my case.

Now that you’ve realized that having a gun your unloaded under your bed isn’t going to keep you safe, what should you do? What should you have in your home besides your gun? Is owning a gun and keeping it unloaded under your bed enough? In a word, no. 

My first recommendation is to get some training so you can shorten your learning curve by benefiting from someone’s else’s wisdom.

Secondly, practice, because you’re not going to rise to the occasion if you have to defend your life, you’re going to fall to your lowest level of competence. 

Thirdly, I recommend trying out some form of firearms competition, be it a simple weekday steel match or International Defensive Pistol or United States Practical Shooting match. Competition is going to give you stress levels that won’t see anywhere else, and it’s the best test you’ll have to see what you can do with your gun under stressful conditions. 

Next week, we’ll talk about ideas about what to have in your home to help keep you safe besides your gun.

Training with a .22

At last week’s IDPA match, it became abundantly clear that I needed some more practice

Because, quite frankly, I sucked. 

I’ve had trigger control problems for quite a while, and they’ve returned to haunt me due to a prolonged absence from shooting earlier this year. Controlling trigger jerk is easy in theory; keep a smooth press backwards from start to BANG, then smoothly let off until the trigger resets. 

That’s the theory. In reality, in middle of a shooting competition, things don’t always happen that way. Consider this simple IDPA stage from last week’s competition 

This is why muscle memory is so important. Because my brain was busy with sorting out the stage procedure, I had little to no bandwidth available for the basics of “aim, breathe, squeeze” required to make an accurate shot. Instead, I had to rely on my body knowing what was the right thing to do because I had repeated it over and over again in practice. 

Which brings me to .22 caliber pistols. 

 .22 is CHEAP. A box of 325 good-quality Federal .22LR rounds is under $20 at the local big-box store, which makes extended training sessions inexpensive and fun, and with the lower recoil of a .22, it’s easier to feel how your finger is moving on the trigger. 

I own a Smith and Wesson M22a with a red dot sight which is a great gun for isolating out trigger movement from the other actions of shooting a pistol. The trigger on it is… adequate. It’s about a 5 lb pull with a good reset, but the break is kind of non-existent, however, because it has a red dot scope on it, I can concentrate on the process of how my finger is moving on the trigger and leave the worry of sight alignment behind me. 

Here’s the results.

I set up this target at 10 yards and started out the practice session by shooting at the bottom right target and finished it by shooting at the top right target. You can see that as I concentrated more on how I was controlling the trigger, my groups improved until I was dropping them pretty much all inside the bullseye.

Total cost? 50 rounds of .22 and a hour of my time. 

This is why using a .22 for practice make so much sense. Unless you’re flinching or having other issues with recoil, a .22 lets you correct most common shooting problems without breaking the bank.