Shot an IDPA match at the NRA Range last night. Video below, comments after the break. Forgot to video the last stage.

I did pretty well this match. In fact, the published scores are stunningly good for me, but I’m hesitant to post them because I think they forgot to add in a procedural from stage 1. Gear was my usual Glock 34 in Blade-Tech shooting 147gr Blazer aluminum. Quick review of the videos/stages:

Stage 1: Came out surprisingly strong here. Draw could have been a little smoother, but transitions and shooting time was solid. While moving to the second position, I brain-farted and forgot I was shooting IDPA and not USPSA, and did a mag change with a non-empty gun. It had zero impact on shooting the stage because I limited myself to 11rds (which would have meant no reloads), but it did slow me down slightly because I realized right then I had messed up. I gave a half second of thought to doing a retention, but I was already too far away for it to make sense on the timer. Should also have been faster at position 2 and run through the middle steel target quicker – this is a typical IDPA ploy to force you to be confident in your shots and not wait for the steel to drop before transitioning.

Stage 2: The video seems to indicate I shot this stage faster than I remembered, especially out the gate. Better draw, good-ish transitions, good splits, etc. I lost some time on the swinger – I would have been better off rapid-firing my last 2 shots into it and then making it up at the third position later (or assessing, at least). Swingers are still a weak point of mine.  The port in the third position was also somewhat jacked up at this point, and I had to physically move it out of the way halfway through shooting, slowing me down. (I shot straight through it on my last shot, because it moved back in the way.)

Stage 3: I blame my problems in this stage on my inability to count. My plan was to put 7 shots in the first target, use the rest of my mag on the two targets from cover, and then reload on the move. What I did was apparently shoot 8rds into the first target, which meant I was slide-locked before I was moving, and probably lost a few seconds as a result. Bit of a shame, but that’s life.

Stage 4 (no video): All that time I spend dry-firing? This is the stage it paid off, and, of course, there’s no video because I forgot to have someone video it. The premise here was “gun with nothing in the chamber, six rounds per mag, four targets, 3 to the body and 1 to the head on all the targets”. I turned in a very solid performance and came in 2nd place overall. I knew when my gun was going to do what, didn’t blow any reloads, and got the gun into working condition off the draw in shockingly fast time. If I could shoot like that all the time, I’d have an EX or M next to my name on Practiscore IDPA matches.

In terms of overall takeaways, I guess practice with an IDPA vest more, practice dumping random numbers of shots into targets, and figure out some way to simulate a swinger for dry-fire practice.

This was my first time shooting at 9PM. If I didn’t have to get up at 5:30AM the next day, this is when I’d shoot all the time. The targets are all so shot up that finding the A-zone is more reliable, there’s no traffic, and you’ve got a pretty competent squad to shoot with.

One change I recently made to my dry-fire routine that I think is paying off was switching to weighted SIRT magazines. I had previously been using empty Glock mags, but the SIRT mags 1) add some heft to the gun and 2) give you a better sense of what your reloads are going to be like. They are ever-so-thinner than real Glock mags, but not enough to be a significant advantage for magazine well insertion. I also like the safety aspect of magazines that physically are not able to be reloaded… I should have a SIRT pistol soon that will complement these.