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Dorsai · March 2, 1999, 08:04 PM

This has been a fun thread to read. Here's my experience. IPSC, IDPA, all of it can be a lot of fun, competition & training. You have to decide what you want to get out of it. I've shot IPSC off and on since '81. I could never afford a race gun or race holsters. I mostly used a Browning HP, M1911 or Glock 19. I did shoot one match with a Walther PP in .32acp. Most of the time, I approached it as training, not competition. I shot the best I could, but winning wasn't my goal. Shooting my best was the goal. My score with the Walther didn't count, but I got valuable experience in how well I could shoot with it under some kind of stress. For a while, I even shot all head shots. I was slower than the race guns, but I did pretty good and by the end of the match, my head shots weren't a lot slower than going center of mass. One more story. I lost the front sight on my Glock about 1/2 way through one end-of-season super-duper match. I kept shooting and made it about 1/2 way through the man-on-man round robin before I was eliminated. The point was, I found out that in an emergency, I could point shoot pretty good.

IPSC is a game that has gotten a long way from the "practical" sport it started out to be. A $5k race/space gun light years away from a fixed sight, un-comped whatever. But I've seen Leatham and others shoot a single stack .45 match and they would kick my butt for sure!! Their tactics may not be all an expert would want, but they could double tap your 4 guys in the parking garage in about 2 sec at most, from the holster. Bottom line, it is as unrealistic as your competitive sense will allow. If all you want is to win the game, you'll use a game gun, game gear and game tactics. But...you can use your real gun, real gear and real tactics and still enjoy it.

------------------
Dorsai
Personal weapons are what raised mankind out of the mud, and the rifle is the queen of personal
weapons. The possession of a good rifle, as well as the skill to use it well, truly makes a man the
monarch of all he surveys.
-- Jeff Cooper, The Art of the Rifle

March 2, 1999, 08:04 PM	#34
Dorsai Member Join Date: February 26, 1999 Location: Loveland, CO USA Posts: 83	This has been a fun thread to read. Here's my experience. IPSC, IDPA, all of it can be a lot of fun, competition & training. You have to decide what you want to get out of it. I've shot IPSC off and on since '81. I could never afford a race gun or race holsters. I mostly used a Browning HP, M1911 or Glock 19. I did shoot one match with a Walther PP in .32acp. Most of the time, I approached it as training, not competition. I shot the best I could, but winning wasn't my goal. Shooting my best was the goal. My score with the Walther didn't count, but I got valuable experience in how well I could shoot with it under some kind of stress. For a while, I even shot all head shots. I was slower than the race guns, but I did pretty good and by the end of the match, my head shots weren't a lot slower than going center of mass. One more story. I lost the front sight on my Glock about 1/2 way through one end-of-season super-duper match. I kept shooting and made it about 1/2 way through the man-on-man round robin before I was eliminated. The point was, I found out that in an emergency, I could point shoot pretty good. IPSC is a game that has gotten a long way from the "practical" sport it started out to be. A $5k race/space gun light years away from a fixed sight, un-comped whatever. But I've seen Leatham and others shoot a single stack .45 match and they would kick my butt for sure!! Their tactics may not be all an expert would want, but they could double tap your 4 guys in the parking garage in about 2 sec at most, from the holster. Bottom line, it is as unrealistic as your competitive sense will allow. If all you want is to win the game, you'll use a game gun, game gear and game tactics. But...you can use your real gun, real gear and real tactics and still enjoy it. ------------------ Dorsai Personal weapons are what raised mankind out of the mud, and the rifle is the queen of personal weapons. The possession of a good rifle, as well as the skill to use it well, truly makes a man the monarch of all he surveys. -- Jeff Cooper, The Art of the Rifle