Hump Day IDPA

I went out for the Wednesday evening indoor IDPA match at The Range last night. As usual, four quick and fun stages were set up. It was good to get back out and shoot, as I hadn't done any live fire since attending this match two weeks ago.

The first stage had the shooter putting one hit on each of four targets while moving to the left towards cover. Then from the right side of the barricade, each target required two more hits. It was a good basic warmup stage.

Stage 2 made use of the hanging target rails at the range to present two moving targets. The shooter started with just 6 rounds in the gun. Upon the start, the first target moved towards the shooter, and required six shots made while retreating. After a slide-lock reload, the second target retreated down range as the shooter moved forward, again requiring six shots on target. This was a limited count stage so no makeup shots were allowed.

Stage 3 found us standing behind two double stacked barrels. The four targets downrange required 2 body and 1 head shot each. All targets had to be engaged through the 6 inch gap between the stacked barrels.

Stage 4 was essentially a mirror of the first. This time the shooter started facing to the left side of the bay, turning to shoot and moving to the right for the first 4 hits on four targets, followed by two more on each from around the left side of a barrel stack.

I finished the match with 7 points down (1,4,1,1) for a third place finish. I am absolutely convinced that my dry fire practice is having a positive effect. I am also working on calling my shots and not relying on seeing the hits, as it's difficult for me to see the holes on patched targets downrange. I took a few makeup shots that turned out to be unnecessary, so there's still some work to do in that area. But most importantly, I had a great time shooting the match. The atmosphere at these matches is relaxed and, even though it sounds cliché, folks really are there just to shoot and have some fun. I'm already looking forward to next time.