Quote:
|
IDPA competition is designed to simulate situations that someone might encounter in every day life
|
This is true, but I think many people overestimate its value, for several reasons:
1. The techniques are really a starting point. What you'll do in a split-second SD situation is quickly draw and fire using whatever technique you've practiced to the point of it becoming an automatic, unthinking reflex. The IDPA/IPSC techniques can give you some good ideas of WHAT to practice in that manner, but it does not substitute for that practice in any sense of the word, not even close.
2. In competition, you are in complete control. You know in advance what you're going to do, when you're going to do it, and where and what the targets are. Then - when you're ready - you commence firing. A SD situation is the total opposite. You can not pick and choose the time and place where it will happen, or what condition you will be in, or what the lighting or weather or background will be, what clothing you'll be wearing, whether you'll have your wife under your arm, etc.
3. Most obviously, it doesn't reproduce the paralyzing stress of a sudden, unexpected, split-second, life and death SD firearm situation, when you stop breathing, your mind shuts down, your vision narrows, your hearing become garbled, your body stiffens. This is why you hear stories of 3 or 4 police officers emptying their guns at a BG and missing.
To really simulate a SD situation, the target needs to have a mechanism where the shooter stands in one spot. Suddenly, anywhere within a 360 degree direction, a target pops up. A cocked gun, aimed at the spot where the shooter is standing, is connected electronically to the target. The gun will quickly fire 5 shots after 1 second has elapsed. The ONLY way to stop it is to hit the target 3 times first. Any takers?
I'm not trying to be offensive or anything - I think IDPA and IPSC are great, and yes they are useful, but it's important not to overestimate their value in real life. Just shooting in some IDPA matches on Saturday afternoon doesn't turn you into a death machine.