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Hey everyone,

I attended the Forum day Saturday and had an amazing time and learned about IDPA for the first time. I am in love with the idea of competition shooting and can't wait to get started. I became so interested in IDPA that at the last minute (today) I changed my class presentation from what I had picked weeks ago to IDPA. I am giving a definition, short history, overview of scoring and some scenarios. I only have 3-5 minutes to present so I can't get into everything but I am excited to spread this information to my class. I want the WORLD to know about IDPA.

Anyway, just wanted to share this with the forum and let everyone know how excited I am about IDPA!

Thanks....

Let us know what kind of reception you get from the class AND from the teacher.

I wager the class will be more receptive than the instructor, at most schools.

I too was excited about IDPA. I joined before every firing a shot in competition.

Then the Jan and Feb rain-outs... and now I am solo with a 4 year old.

Good luck.

btw, the snark comes from the fact that today would have been my wife's birthday. Sorry..

You will never forget the first time you see a "big dog" shoot an IDPA match. Its just amazin.

Ok, I got so excited about the presentation that I thought it was lasat night (wednesday) but its actually TONIGHT! Haha, sorry about that. I will get on tonight after class and let y'all know how everyone received it. Thanks for the support!

IDPA looked interesting to me too. I've been reading the website and the competition rules.

Maybe somebody that is a member can explain something to me. It could just be I'm not understanding what I'm reading.

So, the general charter seems to be to compete in situations that are similar to potential real self defense situations. Good so far...

Then I get into the rules and there seem to be all kinds of rules about when to drop a magazine, how many rounds can be left in it, and that it has to be retained and put away. I am reading this right??

If I am in a SD situation, why would I have wanted to train to worry about where I left my empty magazine? As far as I'm concerned, if I'm getting shot at, an empty magazine is about as useful as yesterday's socks.

I'd be thankful to any IDPA members that would care to enlighten me.

android wrote:IDPA looked interesting to me too. I've been reading the website and the competition rules.

Maybe somebody that is a member can explain something to me. It could just be I'm not understanding what I'm reading.

So, the general charter seems to be to compete in situations that are similar to potential real self defense situations. Good so far...

Then I get into the rules and there seem to be all kinds of rules about when to drop a magazine, how many rounds can be left in it, and that it has to be retained and put away. I am reading this right??

If I am in a SD situation, why would I have wanted to train to worry about where I left my empty magazine? As far as I'm concerned, if I'm getting shot at, an empty magazine is about as useful as yesterday's socks.

I'd be thankful to any IDPA members that would care to enlighten me.

What you are describing is called a "tactical reload" and the thinking behind it is this. You get in a shot out with the bg and there is a lull in the fighting for whatever reason. You have already fired half a magazine of rounds, so you quickly reload. You now have a full mag to finish the fight. You would not want to drop the half full mag so you retain it.

During a standard reload (you are empty and the slide locks back), you would drop the empty mag and insert a new mag. During this reload you would not need to keep the empty mag.

Hope this helps and I am also new at this, so I am sure someone else can help enplane it better than me.

What I do know for fact is that shooting IDPA WILL make you a much better shot and a faster shot as well. Not to mention being a whole lot of fun!!

Good luck on your presentation Jstevens8715. Lookin forward to hearing how it turned out. Shootin IDPA is a hoot! You're gonna love it! My wife and I sure do!

android wrote:Then I get into the rules and there seem to be all kinds of rules about when to drop a magazine, how many rounds can be left in it, and that it has to be retained and put away. I am reading this right??

If I am in a SD situation, why would I have wanted to train to worry about where I left my empty magazine? As far as I'm concerned, if I'm getting shot at, an empty magazine is about as useful as yesterday's socks.

I'd be thankful to any IDPA members that would care to enlighten me.

Android, I agree with you. As mblud stated above, there are only certain situations during the course of fire that you would be required to retain an empty magazine. I think more to the point is that these types of requirements are in place to get you to THINK during a high stress situation. I know first hand how your focus can "tunnel" when the you-know-what hits the fan. It's impossible to train for every real life scenario, but you CAN train to sharpen the skills you're gonna need to handle those situations. Critical thinking under stress is certainly one of those skills in my view.

Thanks for the responses. That makes a lot more sense.

android wrote:IDPA looked interesting to me too. I've been reading the website and the competition rules.

Maybe somebody that is a member can explain something to me. It could just be I'm not understanding what I'm reading.

So, the general charter seems to be to compete in situations that are similar to potential real self defense situations. Good so far...

Then I get into the rules and there seem to be all kinds of rules about when to drop a magazine, how many rounds can be left in it, and that it has to be retained and put away. I am reading this right??

If I am in a SD situation, why would I have wanted to train to worry about where I left my empty magazine? As far as I'm concerned, if I'm getting shot at, an empty magazine is about as useful as yesterday's socks.

I'd be thankful to any IDPA members that would care to enlighten me.

At the beginning of the Intro to IDPA seminar last Saturday, SRVA made the following statement. "IDPA is a game." Games have rules, which are just ways of keeping score. They don't necessarily have anything to do with real life situations.

I also agree with what williamkevin said. One of the objectives is to keep your mind working and processing during the adrenaline dump. The more opportunities you have to do so make it easier to do so the next time. One hopes that would help you survive that day when the fecal matter hits the fan.

Hey everyone! Ok well my presentation went GREAT!!! I had so many questions afterward to answer and I definitely think some people are going to do their own research and learn more about it. I normally hate speaking in front of people but I really enjoyed my presentation and made an A!!!

Anywho, thanks for all the support!!!

Until next time.....

Fantastic!

Congrats on your grade A presentation. Competitive shooting is great fun and I wish you luck at all future matches. May there be thousands.

I think the way IDPA looks at reloads starts with your not going to be able to count your shots during a real situation, thus most reloads are going to be done from slide lock. Other sports allow speed reloads where you are counting your shots and you top off the gun for the best advantage for the string you are engaging. Also IDPA stresses reloads behind cover.

The tactical reload has been controversial within IDPA pretty much since its inception. Many local clubs have done away with it or have it done "off the clock".
Personally I really think it was added because having just one type of reload was boring and then folks got defensive about it and started all of these rationalizations for it.