Gun Digest's IDPA Gear, Tactical Drills & Handgun Training eShort by Massad Ayoob

Author:Massad Ayoob [Massad Ayoob]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-4402-3427-9
Publisher: F+W Media
Published: 2012-04-11T04:00:00+00:00

The Awkwardness of the Real World

One thing I appreciate about IDPA is that it recognizes that while we all love to shoot from our strongest position so we perform well and look good, the real world has an unfortunate way of catching us off guard in awkward positions. IDPA course designers like to start you and me off in such awkward positions. “It’s a good thing.”

In just the last few months of IDPA shooting, I’ve had to do the following.

“Shoot through a window from the front seat of the car.” I remember the falling glass coming into my field of view as the Ruger 45 came back on target for the next shot. That would be pretty expensive to replicate in my back yard. At the Pennsylvania State IDPA Championships, it came with a moderate entry fee for ten separate stages.

“Draw the gun from this or that odd place.” It could happen. My review of the gunfights of Lance Thomas, perhaps the most accomplished Armed Citizen Gunfighter of the 20th Century, didn’t show any that started with him making a classic draw from a holster “on Main Street in Dodge City at high noon.” In every case, he grabbed one of the several guns he had secreted in tactical locations in his watch shop, to shoot the many armed robbers he put down.

“Grab the gun and shoot while on your back/on your belly/on your knees.” Been there, done that in IDPA. It’s a real good idea for your brain to be able to say “Been there, done that” when you find yourself in such a position and about to die if you don’t get a gun into action and shoot back, right now.

“Expose only what needs to be exposed to aim and fire.” The great combat pistol champ Ray Chapman pioneered the concept of coming up on the ball of the opposite foot just enough to get you to where “you can shoot him with impunity, but he’ll have a tough time shooting you.” This works on the street, and it works – not altogether coincidentally – in IDPA.

“How much do I need the rest of that ammo?” Several shots have been fired. Like most people in actual gunfights, you lost count when it went past three or four. Do you speedload your pistol and leave the few live rounds in the magazine on the ground, or do you take a little extra time to retain that partial magazine before you snap in a fresh one, in case you need those last few rounds as the fight goes on?

“Speed reload” versus “tactical reload” versus “reload with retention” is an argument that can go all night between trained professionals looking at the issue from different, but equally relevant, sides. After having to debate this issue more than any other with its members, IDPA has gone to “any IDPA-approved reload technique” for most matches, and this has cut the Gordian knot. However, the 90-shot Classifier course covers both “tac loads” and “emergency

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.