Tuesday IDPA

I finally made it back down to the Tuesday evening Colonial Shooting Academy IDPA match. The last time I was there was March 17, St. Patrick's Day. I realized this match day happened to fall on Cinco de Mayo, another drinking holiday excuse. I prefer shooting to over-indulgence.

The first stage of the match involved downloading all the magazines to six rounds and leaving them staged on barrels. The unloaded gun was also left on the first barrel. Starting seated, you retrieved and loaded the gun, engaging the six targets as you moved down range. Unfortunately, as I turned to engage my third target, I zeroed in on the first target of the second stage! I should have taken another step to the right to see the proper target. That cost me two misses and a Failure To Neutralize penalty. Ouch!

D'oh! Shoot where the green arrow is, not the red.

That misstep behind me, I moved on to Stage 2, where the target I neglected to shoot previously stood mockingly at the starting position. There were five targets arranged across the stage which could be shot on the move across the stage, or while stationary from a couple positions. The final and sixth target was hidden behind a vision barrier at the end of the stage. Finishing the stage 3 points down, I was pretty happy with that run, although I fumbled my reload. I started to reload on the move, but hesitated when I became unsure if I could, and then started to pocket instead of dropping the empty mag. I imagine it looked like I was doing a bit of two-step around the barrel.

The final stage was a simple stage that began facing up range, and the gun loaded with just 6 rounds. At the start you turned and put two hits on each target, performed a mandatory reload and engaged each target with two more rounds. After the stumbles on the first two stages, I had little to lose at that point and just ran with it. Even though I ended up 5 points down, I placed well on the stage. At least that helped to offset the first stage errors a little.

Despite some less than satisfactory shooting, I had a good time. After all, the reason I play the game is to get in practice with the gun and to have fun. And both of those goals were met.

St. Patrick's Day IDPA Match

While many folks were out celebrating with beer and good food, I marked the St. Patrick's Day Feast by shooting another Colonial Shooting Academy IDPA match.

As usual, three quick stages were set up for our enjoyment. The first stage started with a holstered and unloaded gun. At the start the shooter loaded and engaged two close targets with three rounds each, before retreating up range to finish with two final targets on the other side of wall, also with three rounds each. An added challenge here was a high non-threat in front of the last target that caused some folks to get on their toes to shoot over it and avoid a penalty.

Stage 2 consisted of a large group of barrels strategically hiding six targets. Not all the openings between barrels held targets so it was a bit of a search if you didn't have your plan of attack well in mind. The final stage started with four targets partially blocked by non-threats and shot in tactical sequence from a seated position. You then moved to engage the final two targets around a barricade. Shooting while seated isn't something I've done often so it was a welcome challenge.

After accumulating an abundance of points down last week, I made a concerted effort to slow down to get my hits. Accumulating just 3 points down this week, I again finished 9th in my division. And even more interesting, for the third week in a row, ended up 15th overall. There's something to be said for consistency I guess. Now to work on speeding up and keeping the hits in the "down zero" zone. 

These quick, weeknight matches are a lot of fun and don't require a large investment of time or ammo to shoot. The courses of fire are interesting but not overly difficult. Still, I wish it wasn't quite so far of a drive, but that's one of the things we accept living in Fredericksburg — it's a far drive to get most places! Now that the days are getting longer and I should be able to get to the practice range more, and also reinvigorate my dry fire practice, the weekly CSA IPDA matches will be a great way to confirm what I've practiced. 

Tuesday Night IDPA

I made it back to Colonial Shooting Academy last night for another go at their weekly IDPA match. We've had a long week here at home dealing with plumbing issues, and the evening match was a most welcome way to ignore it diversion.

The first stage had a total of six targets, engaged from four positions. I managed to get confused at one position — looking for a second target where there was just one. The second stage started with the shooter seated facing downrange, magazines staged on a chair behind the shooter, and the unloaded gun in a tool bag on the other side of the wall. Each of the four targets required three shots each as added twist. The final course of fire featured 6 targets well hidden around barrel stacks making it somewhat of a memory stage. I found all three stages challenging as well as fun.

This match seemed tougher, to me at least, than last week's, with more tight shots and targets that could be easily forgotten. The stage designers did a good job of making us think, that's for sure! I didn't feel I shot as well as I did previously, and certainly had more points down overall. It seemed to me I was rushing more, and not getting set up well. Despite that, I managed a 9th out of 28 finish in my division, so I was pretty happy with that. Although it's still easy to morning quarterback myself, "If only I had done that run differently...." But that's what makes it fun, there's always next time!

I'm glad to get in some more match shooting after a long winter off. After the last couple matches, I'm inspired to get my dry fire practice ramped up again as well. I won't be able to make it to the CSA match every week, but I'll sure try to make as many as possible. It really is a great stress reliever.

IDPA Again

I haven't been able to shoot competitively since the Fredericksburg USPSA Monster Match on November 2. I've made a few trips to the range since then, but have been itching for a little more excitement. I knew there is a year-round Tuesday evening IPDA match at Colonial Shooting Academy in Richmond, and that's been tempting me for a while. For one reason or another, weather, work, or family commitments, shooting that match kept eluding me.

This week the stars aligned, so my friend Greg and I made the trip down. When we arrived the shooting was underway and we got queued up for the next group. That was good as it gave us some time to watch and get re-familiarized with the rules and other differences from USPSA matches.

The first stage had six targets shot from three positions. It was pretty straightforward and a great ice breaker for a "return" to the sport. The second stage was an "El Prez" type of stage. The shooter started facing up range, hands over shoulders, turning and drawing to engage three targets. After a mandatory reload, the targets were shot again. As an added challenge, the center target was upside down, which meant the down 0 area was lower than usual — a switch that dinged some shooters. The final stage had 6 targets shot from 4 positions while moving down an L-shaped "hallway." They were all quick, fun stages.

It was apparent to me while shooting, and after watching the video of my first stage, that I need to practice getting into position from behind cover. In a USPSA match there's generally little shooting from behind cover, and as you approach a shooting position you are often able to see the target and have the gun lined up. In two of the IDPA stages at this match, which is typical, you are moving to target that it is hidden on your approach. As you "pie" around the barricade, the targets come into view to be engaged. Also, there is no walking the stage in advance and air-gunning in IDPA to burn the movement into memory.

The other "gotcha" for USPSA shooters is that magazines with rounds still in them must be retained, and not dropped on the ground. Most of the time though, you will shoot to slide lock and have an empty mag which can be dropped. When I finished the second stage mentioned above, I didn't even look at my hits, I was simply thrilled I remembered to not drop the mag when reloading!

When it was all said and done, I was down 10 points at the end, adding a total of 5 seconds to my time, and finishing 8th out of 26 in the SSP division. I'd like to speed up a bit, especially getting settled to shoot from behind cover, but I was very happy with how I shot. It was especially satisfying after the long break and lack of practice. The folks running the match do a great job of setting up interesting stages in a limited space. I've watched videos of other matches at Colonial and they seem to get in a good variety of challenges. Some of this week's stage setups overlapped in their space, but were arranged so that only the appropriate targets were visible to the shooter. The shooters were also run through in an efficient manner.

I had a great time at the match, and I know I'll be back for more. I really like the idea of a quick match, especially on a weekday evening. It's hard to get time away from other commitments to devote an entire Saturday or Sunday to shooting (no matter how much I enjoy it.)