Volume: 16, Issue: 4 (4th Quarter 2012) - IDPA.com

Random Shots
“Easier Does It”
by Thomas Pinney A24541
I enjoy IDPA shooting. Our sport
is on the right track to continue
to grow, bringing enjoyable and
affordable shooting to a wider
audience. There are, however, a
few things about the Courses of
Fire at some of matches that have
me disturbed.
Keep it Doable
One of the great sins of many
course designers is the practice
of getting overly complex. The
rulebook advises that “complexity
is bad in any course or stage of
fire.” Too often match directors
seem to think that a good match
has to be really difficult. They
revel in presenting stages that fully
challenge our Expert and Master
level shooters but which leave our
Marksmen and Novices floundering
and feeling overwhelmed. Of
course, I will be the first to say that
stages with lots of exotic props (so
called ‘circus stages’) are fun; at
the very least they are memorable.
One of the things we enjoy about
IDPA shooting is quite literally,
the fun of it. On the other hand,
the Course of Fire Rules directs
that “all CoF must either simulate
a possible real life scenario or
test skills that might reasonably
be used in a real life self-defense
PRACTICAL HANDGUNS THAT ARE TRULY
SUITABLE FOR SELF-DEFENSE USE
STI-FIREARMS
confrontation.” Sometimes match
directors provide shooters with
stages that bear no resemblance
to anything remotely possible in
the real world, short of a zombie
apocalypse.
The Course of Fire Rules state
that “Seventy-five percent of all
shots required in a match must
be fifteen (15) yards or less.
Occasional targets out to thirty-five
(35) yards are to be encouraged.”
I fully agree with the idea that
at least 75% of shots in a match
should be less than fifteen yards.
After all, one of the stated purposes
of the IDPA is “solve real world
self-defense scenarios” and real
self-defense confrontations rarely
require handguns to be used
beyond five yards, much less fifteen
yards. If we are going to “test skills
relevant to self-defense situations”
why are we shooting at targets
thirty five yards away? Engaging
targets at ranges greater than
thirty yards is more appropriate to
shotguns and carbines, not pistols.
Also note the phrase ‘self-defense’;
I am not as fast as I once was,
but thirty five yards gives me a
pretty good head start to get away
from a bad guy. There is value in
‘occasionally’ engaging targets at
long ranges during major matches;
however they are really tests of
accuracy, not self-defense shooting.
Some major Match Directors seem
to interpret the ‘75% of shots less
than 15 yards’ guideline to mean at
least a quarter of the shots should
be 20 yards and sometimes much
more. There are even reports of
shooters having to take on targets
half protected by hard cover or
non-threats at those ranges.
Make no mistake, it is very
satisfying to successfully hit targets
at long range with a handgun. With
12 IDPA Tactical Journal Fourth Quarter 2012