Wednesday Night IDPA

I participated in another IDPA match at The Range Wednesday evening. The match consisted of four stages. Stage 1 was a version of the classic "El Presidente." The shooter starts facing up range. At the buzzer, you turn and put two shots on each of three targets. Following a mandatory reload, with retention, place two head shots on each target. I was just one point down on the stage. The second stage had two targets on either side of a stack of barrels, with the center two targets partially obscured. The task was to put three shots on each target while retreating. I was happy to finish that stage zero points down. Coincidently just the day before I had the opportunity to practice shooting while moving backwards during my weekly practice session.

Stage 3 was shot from behind a barricade. Two targets were engaged with three shots each around the strong-hand side of the barricade, then after a mandatory reload with retention, the 2 targets on the opposite side were engaged weak-hand only. I didn't do quite as well on that stage, ending 7 points down. Three of those points down were earned when I snatched the trigger and pulled the first shot in a big way. The final stage had us holding open the lid on a large trash bin with our strong hand, with four targets down range to our left. The course of fire called for one shot on each target, then a retreat to cover behind the trash can. From cover two more shots were required on each target. I ended up 2 points down on the stage.

Also attending the match were two regular USPSA shooters I know from the Fredericksburg USPSA matches. We had some laughs over keeping the rule differences straight, especially the aforementioned "reload with retention." That's probably the most frequent cause for penalties for USPSA shooters coming over to IDPA. I've been caught by it myself.

I felt good about my shooting that evening. And, I was pleasantly surprised to finish 2nd out of 16 participants. There are some days the shooting comes together as it should, and some days it doesn't. Fortunately it worked as it should this week. Next week, who knows?

As noted previously, I'm going to try and make this match a regular thing. The atmosphere is relaxed and everyone seems to be there just for the opportunity to shoot safely and have fun. The range is close by, and the match is over in under an hour. Just the thing for some mid-week recreation.