S&W should bite the bullet (get it?) and hold this competition somewhere other than Mass. I’m sure the procedural hoops out of state participants must go through discourages many from participating. I know here in Indiana you would not have to go through anything like what the article describes. Here you could put all your firearms in the trunk unloaded, transport them to the event venue, use them for the competition, then put them back in the trunk and take them home. No special permits or registrations necessary. No magazine restrictions either.
She will love it - except it gets expensive to compete in a serious manner (ammo, not gear).
Competition will hone those shooting skills that could be most needed in real life and will make for better decision-making skills because the competitor won't have to think about getting the gun into action - more thought can be given to the situation.
A competition shooter is more likely to survive a multiple assailant encounter as well, since they have been trained out of the shoot-look habit of the average shooter.
Nothing but good can come from this. I encourage every CHL holder, anyone who carries a weapon for self protection to get involved in competition pistol, whether they intend to win or not.
IDPA is fun; however, competition breeds gaming the rules, which is counter to self-defense training. One of the issues I have is the rule against reloading on the move. It’s there for safety, but if I’m in a gun fight I’m going to reload when I’m empty and I’m not going to stand still while I do it.
Also, consistency is needed for scoring, but I’d prefer unpredictable scenarios, I.e. the closest threat is not always the highest priority target in the real world.
But.. It is fun and builds your shooting skills.
Competition shooting is missing one key factor from self defense shooting and that is drawing a concealed weapon. I say key factor and I mean it/ I have practiced for 40 years and I can’t tell you the number of mistakes I have seen or done it myself. This goes from snagging the weapon on clothing, uncooperative clothing and holsters, even dropping magazines and weapons.
A competition holster is nothing like a CC holster. It isn’t positioned anywhere close to where it would be if it was concealed. The shooter doesn’t have the same frame of mind when shooting competition. They are looking to shoot targets in order not in the sense of which one forms the greatest threat. Looking for concealment or cover isn’t a part of competition shooting.
Consequently I don’t see much of the same techniques being used. That’s not to say that competition shooting doesn’t have values that can be transferred to defensive shooting.
Julie is the best!