[t-rav]

I have had an interest for a while to shoot, I am getting the new springfield range officer 1911 and will be using that to shoot. I am looking for some insight and ideas before I get started. I know best thing to do it go to one and watch. Well driving to one is gonna cost me enough so I might as well shoot in one.
I currently shoot in tactical leagues with pistol and shotgun and rifle. I already shoot competitive shotgun in trap&skeet, sporting clays, and 5 stand. So I have been looking in the shotgun IDPA also but do not have a high capacity shotgun as of yet.
From experienced shooters is there anything I need to further research into other than going and watching first hand.

[jtischauser]

I'm not quite sure what you're asking? Do you need anything special to go watch a match?

[t-rav]

Im just looking for ideas on where to get started and the best way to get into the sport of comp pistols.

[jtischauser]

I think you will find some info about matches here.

KR Training - Central Texas' best firearms training

There are a bunch of central Texas USPSA and 3 gun shooters on the Brian Enis forums A's well.

[utf59]

You can find rules online for USPSA, IDPA and Steel Challenge, and probably for other organizations as well. There's no need to memorize the rulebook, but it would be a good idea to look through it. There might be a few surprises.

IDPA, for example, insists on reloading behind cover, and they frequently (if not always) require "retention" reloads, where you put your spent, or mostly spent, mags in a pocket instead of dropping them.

You'll want to make sure you bring enough magazines to complete a course of fire.

And you'll want to make sure your holster and other equipment meets the organization's specs.

[t-rav]

Which organization is the best to start off with?
I am looking into IDPA because I have an interest of starting the shotgun events too.

[utf59]

As far as I know, IDPA matches are either pistol-only, or 3-gun (pistol, rifle and shotgun), though they may have side matches at some events. The same is true, I think, for USPSA.

The real question is whether you are just looking for some competitions to hone your skills or whether you want to get ranked and compete at a national level. There's nothing wrong with both, BTW.

What I would do (and we all know what one person's opinion is worth) is look around at ranges in your area. Check out their websites. If they are like the ranges around me, they will have a section on competitions. The reason I would do that instead of going through the organizational (i.e., IDPA, USPSA) websites is that some ranges hold non-sanctioned competitions.

In my area, for example, an fairly new range started hosting "action pistol" competitions. They used USPSA/IPSC targets, rules and scoring, but they didn't use the name because they weren't a sanctioned club. Now they are sanctioned, so they host USPSA matches. But they also kept up the non-sanctioned event and began a rotation of pistol one month, carbine the next, then pistol and carbine combined.

Once you know what's available in your area, you can decide what's best for you. The range will also likely have contact information for every discipline they host. You can then find out more about the local matches. In my case, my decision was to shoot Steel Challenge because I work a lot of Saturdays and the IDPA and USPSA matches are on Saturdays, while the Steel Challenge matches are on Sundays.

Once you find something you like, you can decide if you want to concentrate on one organization, travel a bit farther, etc.

Hope this helps.

[t-rav]

Thanks for the info.

I would like to hone my skills but also moving up in ranking would never be a bad thing. I will have to start looking into this as it is my goal this year to shoot in matches besides my normal sporting shotgun ones.

Thanks
Travis

[ocpd806]

Originally Posted by t-rav

I have had an interest for a while to shoot, I am getting the new springfield range officer 1911 and will be using that to shoot. I am looking for some insight and ideas before I get started. I know best thing to do it go to one and watch. Well driving to one is gonna cost me enough so I might as well shoot in one.
I currently shoot in tactical leagues with pistol and shotgun and rifle. I already shoot competitive shotgun in trap&skeet, sporting clays, and 5 stand. So I have been looking in the shotgun IDPA also but do not have a high capacity shotgun as of yet.
From experienced shooters is there anything I need to further research into other than going and watching first hand.

What are your rifle and shotgun? Have you looked into shooting 3-gun Heavy Metal?

[t-rav]

I shoot a AR that I built, and shotgun thinking of getting a pump tactical mossberg.