Fantasy and Reality
July 10th, 2006 by Syd
I shot the Kentucky Practical Defense League’s (KPDL) match Saturday morning at Knob Creek. The weather was just about perfect, clear skies and mid-70’s. I used the Springfield XD-9 Tactical carried in a new Haugen Gunleather Speed Scabbard III with matching belt and double magazine pouch. The stages were predictably gamey — one had 14 targets and three no-shoots. Run and gun. I screwed up one stage by getting a failure to neutralize on a target that was so close that I just assumed I had hit it and didn’t even check it — messed up bad on that one and ruined my score. Otherwise, I shot pretty well. I was fairly pleased, especially given the fact that I haven’t shot this kind of match in a number of months.
The XD-9 tactical is superlative for this kind of shooting. I never once shot to slide lock. The XD-9, with its “6 o’clock” sighting is perfect for the long range (15-25 yard) shots. It puts them right where they need to be. It’s fast and accurate, and of course, totally reliable. I don’t even think about jams and such. I’m really liking this gun.
Perhaps it was the frame of mind I was in, but I saw several 1911’s have problems. Someone who watched that match wouldn’t go into the shop and lay down $1K for a 1911. It wasn’t a good 1911 day. My 1911’s always work. Maybe it’s because I don’t mess around with mine much, lube them right, and I use standard ammo. Maybe it’s my heavy arms that support the 1911 well. I don’t know what the magic formula is. I took a brand new RIA (NIB $370) to the range day before yesterday with every weird, stupid magazine I could find, and the gun ran flawlessly, except for a failure to lock back on a no-name Chinese knock-off mag. I was trying to make it act up, but there were no feed failures, double feeds, or any of that stuff. But Saturday morning, I watched guys with $1K-2$K custom 1911’s choking like they were $80 Saturday night specials. The XD-9 Tactical is going to be my match gun for the foreseeable future, at least for the gamey matches like KPDL. I will use the 1911 for serious self-defense sessions, but not for the IPSC-like stuff that KPDL does.
The hardcore tactical people will often disparage these kinds of matches as being “gamey” and unrealistic. In truth, you would probably not jump out of your car and engage fourteen armed individuals alone with a handgun unless you were tired of living. Hard-edged tactical reality is not the point of a match like this. These matches are fun. You shoot a lot of rounds, test your skills and your equipment and enjoy some good fellowship with like-minded individuals. I do think it’s important to distinguish between fun matches and serious self-defense training. There are significant differences in technique and mindset between competitive and self-defense shooting — movement, use of cover, and what constitutes a cessation of action differ greatly between the two disciplines, and unless you are a purely sport shooter who never carries a gun for self-defense, it’s important to distinguish the two sets of techniques, and practice the “real” one. If you do carry a gun for self-defense, it’s important to get real training in defensive pistolcraft, and not to con yourself into thinking that the local IDPA match will suffice.
The best example of the disparity between the two techniques is the “unload and show clear” that is almost universally practiced at competitive shooting events. This is a safety measure that I guess is supposed to protect people at the match from having people running around with loaded guns (not totally sure about the logic there, but that’s the tradition). After you have shot the course of fire, the range officers says, “Unload and show clear.” You drop your magazine, rack the slide to eject the chambered round, and hold the slide open so the RO can verify that the gun is unloaded. He will then say, “Hammer down,” and you point the gun in a safe direction and pull the trigger so that the hammer will drop. I HATE TO UNLOAD MY GUNS! I unload my guns to clean them and store them, but if they are not locked up, assume they are loaded. If you pick up one of my guns, point it at your head and pull the trigger, you will probably die because it will be loaded. UNLOADED GUNS CAN’T DO WHAT GUNS ARE SUPPOSED TO DO — SHOOT.
At the end of action in a real fight, you would be doing very different things. You would be reloading and scanning in all directions for more threats. The last thing you would want to do at that moment is to unload your gun because you wouldn-t know if the action was truly over or if other threats existed somewhere. There are other examples that could be given, but this example illustrates fairly well the distinction between the fantasy of the run-and-gun pistol match and real life. And, this is not to say there is anything wrong with competitive pistol matches. I love them. They-re good sport and politics, and I try to miss no more than I have to. Yet, it is to say that if you are going to carry a pistol for self defense, it pays to get some training in defensive pistol, preferably from someone who has “seen the balloon go up.”
We have the “unload and show clear” command because you may be one of the best shooters on the range “but” we as a group may not know you or if you can handle your firearm safely when away from the range officer, thusly the cold range rule.
What we do is a competetive sport and in any sport there have to be rules to ensure the safety of all even if from themselves.
I once was squaded with a brand name gun writer and his gun handling actually scared me, I’ve seen safer gun handling from ladies who have never handled a gun. He was finally DQ’d for AD’ing into his holster.
Just because some one knows a lot about guns or shooting does NOT mean they can handle a gun safely. Like the old saying goes, those who can’t do, teach.
What does “IDPA” stand for? International DEFENSIVE Pistol Association. The implication here is that IDPA is the practice of defensive pistolcraft. My contention is that it is not, in fact, defensive pistolcraft or defensive pistol training. If they wanted to call it “The International Sport Shooters Competition” I would have no problem with it. However, there are many techniques that are dogma in IDPA that are contraindicated for successful self defense with a handgun. “Unload and show clear” is one of them. I would also add the use of cover and reload methodology to the problematic IDPA doctrines.
In regard to “cold ranges,” when I arrive at the match, my pistol will be loaded; when I leave, my pistol will be loaded. What kind of message does it send that we can’t trust each other with loaded firearms? What kind of training teaches people to run around with unloaded guns? I have been to a lot of matches and I have never had anyone come close to accidentally shooting me. If we can’t handle our guns safely, we have no business at the match.
My basic point here is that there are gun games and there is defensive pistol training, and they are not the same. As long as someone draws a clear distinction in their mind between the game and the training, I have no problem with it. But, I believe that many in the IDPA-type sports community delude themselves into thinking that participation in these matches is “training” and that is a dangerous delusion.
P.S.
“Daniel” or whatever your real name is, when you post on this blog and use a bogus e-mail address, your credibility drops to less than zero. So take your weenie “we can’t trust ourselves” crap somewhere else.