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Could anyone expound more on the differences of these. I am in IL and my Dad is into Cowboy shooting which I will try this summer for the first time, but I really want to do more of the above.
What is difference IDPA and USPSA. Track and field - does that mean more running around etc. I did used to run cross country - ha.
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IPSC/USPSA was originally developed with the intent to make a game out of combat-style shooting. Over time, gear and rules evolved it into being more of pure speed shooting.
In the mid-1990s, a group of guys felt that USPSA had evolved too far away from the intent of competing with "fighting" guns, and they formed IDPA. IDPA was designed to be a game with a basis in self-defense skills and real-world guns. In it, there are requirements to usually start with your weapon concealed, you use cover when shooting, scoring is more weighted towards accuracy, guns usually can't be uber-modified, etc.
Where the "track and field" comment comes in is because IDPA has more strict rules on the maximum number of rounds that can be required in a stage and how much movement is allowed. The result is that IDPA stages are generally quicker than IPSC, with less targets and less movement.
There is a long-running argument about which is better. USPSA's detractors say that you need $5000 space guns to be competitive and that there is no realism in the stages. IDPA detractors say that the stages are too choreographed and too many of the rules are arbitrary.
The simple fact is that both games rock. I find that IDPA is a great starting point in action pistol because the stages are usually more simple. On the other hand, USPSA is awesome because it is about "How fast can you shoot?", and can have some sensationally challenging stages.
Personally, I recommend that you start in IDPA, and then after you've shoot a few matches, give USPSA a try. USPSA realized that they had alienated a lot of potential shooters with their gun rules (as demonstrated by the rapid growth of IDPA), so they instituted the "Production" and "Single Stack" classes in the past few years. That means that shooters who don't want to drop $1500+ on their guns have classes in which they can be competitive. Because of this, there is no reason why you can't jump back and forth between the sports (I shoot ten IDPA matches a year, and 5 USPSA matches).