Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Course of Fire Design and the One True Faith!

It is no secret among the ingenue (those in the know) that I am a not a big fan of those NASCAR gamers who show up at our road courses and make noise about our game (IDPA). I can only attribute this to them not having anything else to do as the other matches take so long, no one wants to run them! Just kidding...but they have already driven me out of IPSC once! Now don't get me wrong, they are fast, accurate and very athletic but that rooney equipment and assault courses have already left me behind.

But, we are indeed fortunate in the area to have three (3) well established IDPA type matches monthly at RRPC, CAVP and at BC. Makes me wonder why there is not another one but both ammo and ranges appear to be in short supply. For instance, there is an IPSC match in Fburg, a CSA match at West Point and something down in the Tidewater area but no IDPA! It would be nice to have one IDPA event each weekend.

Now having said that, not all IDPA matches are equal and some are, in fact, more equal than others. They reflect the experience, personality and interest of each of the dissimilar match directors and it is reflected in both the course of fire and the RSOs involved. Again it is no secret that I prefer some matches to others but as long as the MDs are willing to do the grunt work, I am just going to shoot them and not complain about them. But, I think we should examine in some detail what IDPA COF should be.

At the recent match at the ITI training center, the COF was entirely devoted to law enforcement and/or police scenarios other than the steel plate stage. That only makes sense as it was a function of the Police Memorial Foundation. But it was not quite IDPA in that you ran quite a bit and took many more long shots than close ones. No WHO, No SHO, some movement, no disadvantaged shooting positions and the LEOs seldom employed cover. It was not advertised as an IDPA match but a sort of modification to suit the clientele. In my not inconsiderable experience with IDPA, LEOs are not generally thick on the ground at IDPA or for that matter IPSC matches. This was a special case.

The principles behind IDPA are directed at guns and equipment for self-defense that test the skill and ability of the shooter and not the stuff or the game itself. It calls for practical, realistic scenarios that simulate potential encounters or test the requisite skills for self-defense with a handgun. The theory behind COF design is stated to present problems that shooters are asked to solve while reflecting some reality with an emphasis on self-defense tactics and skills.

Listed in the philosophy section of the rule book things like the use of cover, reloading behind cover and limited rounds per string are included specifically. "Could this really happen?" like being attacked by steel circles or stars! The scripture tells us to make this up with SHO, WHO, retention and movement.

Safety considerations must be taken for granted and the physical demands of the square range somewhat limit us. Generally we do not have access to a shoot house or AC fuselage much. Sometimes we do not do much with props at all, the distances grow long and a few other things like head shots get over used.

The complaint that people won't attend if they don't get to shoot X number of rounds is not valid. They can shoot it twice or better yet, take up IPSC. They shoot lots. Or, better they can join a club!

How about a few new scenarios? I got dinged recently for retreating before two targets at less than 4 yards from me. Tueller would have been proud as I shot them on the move backwards! The RO said I was supposed to have shot them kneeling! Not in accordance with the challenge to have the shooter solve the problem is it?

I am hoping to stir up some thought on this. Undoubtedly it will become a beauty contest.

Monday, April 20, 2009

1st Annual Police Unity Tour Tactical Shoot

This past weekend, 18-19APR09, a few personnel known to us worked at and attended the 1st Annual Police Unity Tour Tactical Shoot at the International Training Incorporated center in West Point, Virginia. I think this an fund raising outreach of the Police Memorial Foundation but I am not sure of my ground there. Anyway, Rob and Brandon of ITI acted as the Host and MD respectively. They were supported by the MD and AMD of Black Creek IDPA. Sponsors included CompTac, 5.11, Blackhawk!, CE Dynamics, Sonny Boy Auctions and Nevco Targets. LEA sponsorship included James City County PD and York/Poquoson Sheriff's Office.

The match used modified IDPA rules and scoring with a very LEO oriented COF. There were two shoot house scenarios, some running and gunning (hard for old duffer RSO!) and some steel with poppers, minipoppers, plate racks and wicked dueling trees! The police, sheriffs and corrections officers attending on saturday are not IDPA/IPSC folks and do not share our indepth knowledge of cover, concealment or even range commands. But, the squad I RSO'd at least followed instructions and were safe. But you make no mistake about it, they were fast, athletic (hard on old duffer RSO!) and shot well if they did not use cover. A BG on the other side of them is going to be in big trouble!

Sunday was the turn of the IDPA and IPSC folks. I am hoping that Scott will post some footage as he is all about the magic box (computer thang). I over heard and may not be authorized to announce the planning for a large area match at ITI in the fall. Preliminarily designated as the Paul Blart Memorial (Observe and Report) Mall Ninja Tactical Sectional, at least ten (10) stages are in the rumour mill at this time. A simms stage in Air Marshal Down is supposedly in the works.

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Single action beats everything.....

Shooting on the move.......

Just remember Todd is using frangible ammo. Do not shoot within 10 yards of steel!

Andy

Going Prone

Proarms Podcast review of the Ruger LCR


The Proarms Crew had good things to say about the new Ruger Lite Compact Revolver.Watch out J-frames!


Here is a link to a review from Officer.com

Andy



Sunday, April 12, 2009

The Reload with Todd Jarrett

Here is our good friend Todd demonstrating reloads for IDPA and USPSA!

For the lefties out there the only one that would work for you in IDPA would be to grab the slide instead of using the slide stop/release. Maybe I'll make my own lefty reloading video! Anyway enjoy!!!

Andy

An example of FLINCH!

Now let's get the fact that I am not picking on Tess out of the way first! This is however the best video example of flinch, the almost involuntary preaction to recoil that causes the shooter to miss, that I have ever seen. The good thing is that Tess realized what was happening and did not shoot. This leads us to.... how do I stop flinching? I hate to ruin this for you but you won't, the best you can hope for is to reduce it greatly and not have it move the sights off target as much. Dry fire as much as you can ( remember to follow all the safety rules). Go to the range and shoot as much as you can..... the first step is knowing you do it because everyone does!

Andy



It happens about 37 seconds in. Great first shot Tess!

Sunday, April 5, 2009

Police Charity match................


This past Saturday (4/4/09) Carlos Gibson asked myself and Angel Medina to help him as safety officers in a Charity match held at the Chesterfield Public Safety range. Loosely based on IDPA rules it was only open to Law Enforcement, mainly Chesterfield Police and Sheriff. The match had 8 stages and was a total of 112 rounds if you did not take any extra shots! Here are the Videos I shot, I did not get every stage. It's a little difficult to be a Safety Officer and a camera man!

I was truly impressed with the skill of the folks who came and shot the match. All were proficient with there weapons, most of which appeared to be Glocks in .40 Caliber. There was a mixture of plain clothes officers and those who had true retention holsters and I not having much experience with retention holster was amazed at the draw times some of the officers had.

Most typical IDPA skills were used, shooting on the move, slide-lock and tactical reloads, drawing from a seated position, targets with t-shirts on them, swingers, no-shoots, strong hand shooting and shots out to 20 yards. I believe Carlos is going to try to do this more often to help with the traing of Chesterfields already highly skilled Officers!

Thank you Carlos we all had a great time and would be more than happy to do it again for you!

Andy

Here is a video of Carlos shooting a 10 round stage with 2 disappearing pop up targets and 3 static target. All targets get 2 rounds each!




Angel Medina shooting!



Angel shooting the 20 yard stage. From each side of the barricade shoot the targets with 3 rounds each, tac-reload , move forward and repeat, Limited Vickers.


Here is one of Carlos's associates. Knock over the non-threat with ticket book which starts a non-threat swinger. Engage each target with 3 rounds each, near to far and don't shoot the good guys!



The winner and still champion!!! Carlos G. shooting a self explanitory stage!