My Very FIRST IDPA Match

[cooptire]

This last Saturday, Brother-In-Law, nephew and I all attended our very first match of any kind. An IDPA match. Man was that a lot of fun! We got to shoot falling plates, simulated hallways and windows, "hostage", and others that I'm not even sure what they were called. We all had a great time and learned quite a lot about what we didn't know.

What I did see, which really opened my eyes, was the number of failures that  seemed to crop up around the groups. I even had a FTE with my M&P 9, which I had never had before in ANY of my pistols. That really made me open my eyes to the problem of failures right when you least need it. 

For those of you who have been to these matches before, is 10 or 12 failures in a group of 10 guys through 6 stages normal? Granted, one guy seemed to have more that his fair share of failures, but it still seems like a lot to have in one day. I have never had a failure to extract before and while this was my first match, I didn't handle the failure very well. I don't even really know how to set up to practice a failure to extract!

What do you guys think about the number of failures? How do you guys practice dealing with a failure to extract. Tap, rack, bang-I know and practice for but I've never had an extraction problem before this match with any pistol, rifle or shotgun.

Overall I had a great time and the match directors were helpful, friendly and fun to be around. I can't wait to try the 3 Gun and the end of the match and try the IDPA next month.

[DonWorsham]

Coop,

When you say failure to extract, what exactly do you mean? Were you shooting reloads?

[CJS3]

When I shot IDPA, I don't seem to remember that frequency of failure. The type of failures I do remember always seemed to be operator error. Either with sloppy reloading proceedures or pistol handling (usually limp wristing). Some of us, that reloaded our own ammo used to "load down" for less recoil and quicker reaquisition of target. It didn't take me long to realize that wasn't a good idea with a 1911. After a match with a LOT of FTE, I went back to tried and true recipes. Never had a problem after that. (Except for my SCORE)

[m25operator]

Coop if this is ammo that you have had flawless operation before, then I would go with limp wristing ( failure to back up the pistol fully ) due to a stressful full speed event, especially if it was 1 handed, shooting around barricades can bring this condition out as well. If you are using different ammo, then it may be too light to properly operate the slide fully to the rear.

More info would be helpful.

[ellis4538]

Coop, no that many failures are not typical.  Have no idea why these happened and I can't guess.  I will say that I have seen a number of so called "never jam" guns jam in competition but not that many that often.  I guess it's best to find out now and not when the SHTF!

Richard

PS:  I have been shooting IDPA since the beginning almost and USPSA for about 30 years.

[Sponsor]

[cooptire]

Coop,

When you say failure to extract, what exactly do you mean? Were you shooting reloads?

I only had 1 problem, other than technique and lack of skill, and that was a case left in the chamber and the gun trying to chamber the next round. I had to remove the mag, lock the slide back and shake/fish the casing out of the chamber. It basically fell out of the chamber once I quit trying to ram another round in the back of it.   I was using Winchester White Box with witch I've never had a problem with, 115gr. ball. I don't reload, at least not now or in the near future. There was a whole passel of new to IDPA shooters there with us so technique could very well be the problem for most of the failures. I'm 99% sure that I wasn't limp wristing it. One gentleman there had the majority of the failures and was loading from a manufacturers box so I'm thinking that he wasn't using reloads but couldn't be sure. He did act like he was the type of guy to tinker with his equipment a LOT so maybe his problems were in that. I wasn't comfortable enough with what I was doing to start asking questions of other guys. I was taking the sit back, shut up and watch philosophy of learning.

Even with my one problem, and my failure to adequately deal with said problem, I had a GREAT time! I can't wait to try it again. I SO need to take a good training course though.  It is more obvious to me know, even though I already knew that was something I should do and really want to do. I'm not sure where or when or how to pay for it, but someday I will.

[ratcatcher55]

Coop, no that many failures are not typical.  Have no idea why these happened and I can't guess.  I will say that I have seen a number of so called "never jam" guns jam in competition but not that many that often.  I guess it's best to find out now and not when the SHTF!

Richard

PS:  I have been shooting IDPA since the beginning almost and USPSA for about 30 years.

+1

Some guns are more ammo sensitive than others. Some ammo sucks. IMHO that includes S&B and Wolf pistol ammo.
My Springfield is very lube and ammo sensitive. The Glocks and Sigs run on anything.

I'm glad you had a good time.

[jnevis]

Welcome to the world of competition shooting.
I shot a couple IDPA matches and a friend drug me to a USPSA match a couple years ago and have shot them when I can since.  The guys I shoot with run the spectrum of experience and equipment.  The guys that "tweak" either the gun or the ammo tend to have the most problems in a match.  One guy we shoot with is constantly breaking SOMETHING after a "trigger job."  Another has a couple high dollar custom guns that he can't keep running, typically a slightly different reload than the last time since it won't run on any factory ammo currently available.

I usually look at a match as a place to see what works and what doesn't instead of a true competition.  My scores may not be great but my gear WORKS.  Now if I could actually PRACTICE more often and refine the techniques I'd be in there.  As for practice, dry practice failure drills and the other skills required for not only IDPA/USPSA but personal protection.  Get a couple EMPTY cases or snap caps and do holster presentations and reloads.  Change it up and practice failures recovery "TAP, RACK, BANG" including the double feed you mentioned.  You don't have to be at the range to do that, but you do still need to practice safe gun handling.  I usually practice in a different room as any ammunition, and verify every magazine in the room is either empty or only has a snap cap in it REPEATEDLY while still only pointing the pistol in a safe direction.