First IDPA match today!

Yes! What a blast! Ok, so this is what I have been missing. I did my first IDPA match at Mecklenburg Wildlife Defensive Shooters club in northwestern Charlotte. They have a great club over there. There were 6 courses of fire and all were pretty challenging for this newb shooter. I was only able to get pictures of one COF and it was my last one. I wasn't really thinking about getting pictures and COF information, so I blew it there.

Anyway, first things first. I didn't get disqualified for breaking any safety rules. That was my number one priority at this match. Shooting and having fun came next and I did both. The folks at MWDS were very friendly to new shooters. I think we had about 80 shooters and between 10-15 first time shooters. I don't know what my scores were and truthfully, I wasn't really worried about them. I do know I had one procedural penalty, one failure to neutralize, and one hit on a friendly "no shoot" target out of a total of about 35-40 total targets. Five of the six stages were using standard vickers scoring which meant you could shoot as many shots as you wanted, just takes you longer and one stage was limited vickers which means you can only shoot the number of rounds prescribed for each target. Also had one stage where we needed to shoot while moving, this being the 2nd time I've ever done that. I also had one "doh" moment.

My failure to neutralize came on my first stage. Guess it was a bit of "stage fright" and adrenalin. I think it was six targets and I hit five pretty well, but my last target from about 15 yards I hit in the 3 zone and one just outside the scoring area. If you don't get at least one shot in the 0 or 1 scoring zone, it's a failure to neutralize.

One of my "doh" moments came and my one procedural came on the first shots of another COF. You were supposed to draw and shoot the target in front of you twice while retreating, then advance and shoot two targets that were behind walls. Well, I drew, shot the front target twice, then retreated. "DOH!". I probably could have shot two more times after I had retreated, but wasn't thinking about that at the time.

Another "doh" moment came in another COF. I was at the point of reload and couldn't get my magazine to drop. Push, push, push, no drop. It was then when I realized I was pushing my slide lock instead of my magazine release. "Double-DOH!". Got the magazine out finally, replaced it, and racked the slide to get a round chambered and continued on.

I think I hit the friendly "no shoot" target on my first or second course of fire. I only grazed it. The rest of the no shoots I did fine with and I think there were at least 3 or 4 others that I did not hit.

Last stage for me was the one I got a picture of. The scenario was that while walking through the woods, you come upon a field of pot. One bad guy needed to be shot with two rounds and then you needed to shoot five targets which were on their side. This was like a dog running at you that needed five rounds to take down. Big dog I guess. Each dog target required 1 shot in either the 0 or 1 scoring area or it was a failure to neutralize. After shooting those 5, you moved to cover and shot another target at around 15 yards which signified someone carrying a rifle. You had to shoot him 6 times.

Great time today. I also met Morgan Allen. For those who don't know, in September, Frostproof, Florida will be holding the IDPA World Championships. Morgan is going to be representing the US at this match. It's also cool that he's a member of Mecklenburg Wildlife Defensive Shooters and the Central Carolinas Shooting Club. So, GOOD LUCK MORGAN! He's a real treat to watch shoot. AND, I found a video of him shooting the stages. Here you go.

Anyway, that's it for me. Remember, shoot safe, shoot straight!