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Tomorrow night (Wednesday 11/29), Dallas Action Pistol Shooters are hosting an IDPA, low light match. It will be held at Elm Fork Shooting Park in Dallas.

Go here for details: http://www.dallaspistol.com/DAPS/events ... ventid=103
Don't mind the rsvp feature on the site, you have to register to use it but it is not required to shoot the match.

Never shot in the dark with a flashlight? Come on out, it's going to be FUN.


Gary

I have tried a low light/night shoot a couple of times and I can say it is very different than day time shooting.

I can also offer you the hint to use a weapon mounted light if you have one rather than a separate flash light to improve your score. Although in some matches that puts you in the open class. Also the hint that people who used laser sights didn't do too well.

j1132s, I prefer a weapon mounted light, but in IDPA it is not allowed under the current rules. The light has to be seperate from the gun.

SRVA wrote:j1132s, I prefer a weapon mounted light, but in IDPA it is not allowed under the current rules. The light has to be seperate from the gun.

opps, sorry. The matches I've shot didn't have any restrictions regarding weapon mounted or not.

Yea, It was an IDPA rule change in 2005. Prior to that there was no restriction on mounting a flashlight on a pistol.

I forgot to come back with a post match report. Better late than never right?
We had a 12-13 shooters and at 6pm it was about 70 degrees. There was no moonlight, it was DARK.
There were 4 stages planned but mother nature had other ideas. After the first stage the temp dropped like a stone. It felt like somebody opened a window and I could feel the cold front pass over me. Of course, the weather channel said it was going to be in the 70's all night. lightweight pants, a t-shirt and vest, yep, I was feeling a little unprepared at that point.
The wind picked up and we managed to get through the second stage and it was a hoot. Shooting with a flashlight in your hand is not as easy as it looks. Not to mention remembering to turn the light off when moving to another shooting position or reloading. I definitely learned a lot in those two stages. Finally, the temp was dipping into the low 40's and wind combined with freezing rain ended the match. Even though my teeth were chattering I was ready for stage three. I was all alone on that idea though.

Having never shot with a flashlight, my objective was to learn as much as possible from the folks that had experience. The most dramatic thing I saw was that if your ammo is smoky and you're holding the light beside your face then you won't be able to see ANYTHING. The light reflects off smoke just like headlights in heavy fog. The brighter the light, the less you can see.
Another observation was that a clicky tailcap on your light may not actually help. I took two lights. One with clicky tailcap and one with normal tailcap. With the clicky tailcap, you must purposely turn it off for reloads and moving. With the standard tailcap, just stop pushing it.
It didn't take long for me to decide that The Harries Technique worked best for me, so smoke wasn't an issue. Also, drawing the flashlight from a pocket while simultaneously drawing a pistol is a little awkward if not practiced. I've been practicing with the light since the match and it's made a difference.

Thanks to the folks at DAPS for keeping it safe and fun. http://www.dallspistol.com

Gary

What were the restrictions on lights? I'm interested to know what, if any, rules on lights were. Maglites ok? Reason I ask is that I have a special maglite that puts out 1050 lumens and is like weilding the power of the sun. It really lights up a room and I carry it out at night walking the dog and it's always on the nightstand. Would that be allowed?

I've been trying to get to a BUG match or low light match for a while with DAPS. Seems I can only manage to get to the saturday matches for now. Even missed the classifier....that was a disappointment for sure.