This sounds funny (and is in retrospect when it happens in a match and nobody gets hurt because of it) but there's a serious lesson to be learned here.Charles L. Cotton wrote:You and I could start a club.jimlongley wrote:Hmmm, that would require me to wear my cell phone on the opposite side from my holster. The last time I did that, actually it was a pager, I tried to load my 1911 with my pager doing a reload during an IDPA match.
Chas.
The folks who had these experiences aren't mentally challenged - they simply experienced what a little bit of stress can do when using an equipment configuration that either has an opportunity for mistakes (items of different purposes kept very close together on the belt) or one that hasn't been practiced with extensively. Under stress, people focus on the threat and execute previously practiced actions on "automatic pilot." If you always wear your magazine pouch just in front of your left hip for a couple of IDPA matches each month and then walk around with a cell phone in that position the rest of the time, you're very likely to try to jam the cellphone into the magazine well during a real life shooting situation. It will then take you much longer than usual to figure out what the problem is (because reasoning ability is sharply reduce under life threatening stress because of a bunch of biological changes that happen under life threatening circumstances), and even longer to execute the action you attempted in the first place.
When you experience or witness something like this, it should be recognized as an excellent reminder of how important it is to position equipment thoughtfully and consistently, and to practice with it religiously until the actions that come automatically are always the right ones.