Here is the match report I referenced to in my last post.
Match Report
Oh boy did I have a lot of fun. I attended the First Coast IDPA club, which caters to the Jacksonville area. It was so much better than static shooting. They have novice squads for new shooters, and that is where I got assigned to. They walked us novices through everything and answered any questions we had. Everyone was nice, helpful, and pleasant to talk to. I got to make some new friends also.
I shot pretty accurately. Many times, my double taps were about an half inch apart. The problem is, I took my sweet ass time. Lesson 1: IDPA is about speed. Penalties for shots outside the A-zone are less severe than taking extra time to place accurate shots. Yes accuracy first, but shoot as fast as you can while you can still consistently neutralize your targets, since failure to neutralize is a huge penalty.
Lesson 2: Another important lesson I learned was to just let it go! I would keep shooting until I was sure I made sufficient hits to the A-zone. In fact, a few times, I had to reload on my last target so I could put enough rounds on target. Sometimes I would do it just so I can put a few more. Boy did that add time. I take at least 2.5 seconds to reload, and with time to aim and shoot a few rounds, it would add about 4 seconds. Lesson? Before that buzzer goes off, you'll have plenty of time to determine how many rounds you will put in each target. Fire those off, and as long as the sight picture wasn't too far off, just move on to the next target. This is known as "driving the gun." Thats right. Drive the gun hard!
I got last place in novice group this event. Thats fine, in these early stages the best I can do is to learn a lot. And learning experience it was. At the time I write this, I already went to my second event. I improved a lot, but I'll write on that later.
I have more videos on my youtube page
So, I hope your first IDPA experience is as good as mine! If you have reservations about trying it out, don't hesistate. Just go out there. You just want to watch? Then go watch, except bring all your gear with you. You'll probably end up shooting that day. Before I started racing in 2006 or 2007 (I can't remember), I had went to an autocross event "just to watch." I decided to pay up and drive. On that fateful day, I had gained a lifelong passion.
No comments:
Post a Comment