IDPA in Western PA??

[melD]

I just looked at the calender and talk about can't win. If I figured this right with me and the 2 other guys rotating call at the usual times, I would go on call that Saturday 4-14-07 and be on call till 4-20. Have to see if I can swap weeks. Hopefully I can make the 4-14 shoot work.

[dragonlibra]

Originally Posted by melD

Unfortunately I am on call this weekend where I work and don't think they would appreciate me going out of the area and then having muffs on so I can't here my phone . I really would like to go to some kind of orientation or a match to observe.

Right now I do not have a pistol to compete with. But the tax refund is on the way and I want to make an educated decision when I go to purchase.

After doing some reading and watching the video on the USPSA site, I think that is more the sport I had in mind. It looks like the one I remember seeing on ESPN and the like and thinking " I want to do THAT".

IDPA should have a video on their site, but here's a good one on YouTube so you can get an idea what it looks like.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWQdgyRtERo

Come down and try Hancock at least once - they have a really neat shoot house they built.

[melD]

More questions.....So in watching the videos and note reading the rules yet, are the shooting courses a timed event? Is scoring based on time and hits or just hits.
Seems like some guys run through firing as fast as possible while others seem to have a slower pace. I would be in the slower paced category.

[Lycanthrope]

Originally Posted by melD

More questions.....So in watching the videos and note reading the rules yet, are the shooting courses a timed event? Is scoring based on time and hits or just hits.
Seems like some guys run through firing as fast as possible while others seem to have a slower pace. I would be in the slower paced category.

Well it depends. Both games have fixed/par time option for a stage, but they are rarely used in this area.

Here it get's tricky.

In USPSA you are scored by a "hit factor". That is the amount of points you score (targets have different scoring zones) from your hits divided by the time. (paper targets usually get 2 hits and you must knock over steel targets). So...to a degree a very accurate shooter can beat out a slightly faster shooter if the faster shooter drops some points. The best shooter gets the max number of points for that stage and everyone else is factored off of him/her. So..say the stage is worth 40 points. The highest hit factor shooter gets awarded 40 points for that stage. Say they shot a 40 point stage in 10 seconds for a hit factor of 4. He's gets all the points...so he gets 40 for that stage. The next best shooter shot it in 9 seconds, but only got 30 points for a hit factor of 3.33. 3.33 is 83% of the best hit factor...so he gets only 33.2 points. You want the most points overall at the end of the match. Don't worry it's figured out for you.

In IDPA you take your final time and add seconds to it based on your target hits. (paper targets usually get 2 hits and you must knock over steel targets). Targets have scoring zones that denote how many points you are "down". Each point down adds .5 seconds to your final score. Like golf, you want a low final score.

Each game has select penalties for misses.

[dragonlibra]

Originally Posted by melD

More questions.....So in watching the videos and note reading the rules yet, are the shooting courses a timed event? Is scoring based on time and hits or just hits.
Seems like some guys run through firing as fast as possible while others seem to have a slower pace. I would be in the slower paced category.

Here's a good explanation of IDPA scoring. http://www.sportshooter.com/idpa/idpa_scoring.asp

Since this page was put up there is one change - on a Vickers Count stage you have to have at least one 0 or -1 hit otherwise you get an FTN.

For USPSA scoring I'm glad they figure it out, though you will know your time and points down on each stage, but I'm glad they have to figure the final score, my poor brain is boggled by that time. This site has a good explanation of USPSA scoring. http://www.gpsl.org/glossary.html

IMHO best to go for hits first, speed later. At the USPSA website you were looking at their top shooters and they are incredibly fast. At either USPSA or IDPA matches your going to see some really good shooters, the rest of us and some beginners. What's nice is the good shooters are willing to help out the beginners and middling shooters. And you sure learn watching them.

If you have Outdoor network on your cable or satellite system on Wednesdays there's a nice block of gun shows. Shooting USA for one shows USPSA and IDPA matches sometimes and Todd Jarrett who's does a tips section is a top shooter in both games.