DAO for IDPA?

[DDGator]

I am supplementing my normal carry gun (Taurus 85 UL) with a larger autoloader for when weather and my mode of dress permits.

I like and have seen great deals on the CZ-100s -- which are a striker-fired DAO with the necessarily longer trigger pull.

In addition to carrying the gun -- I would like to get started shooting IDPA. My question is -- would I be hopelessly disadvantaged with a DAO only gun?

Anyone out there shooting DAO of any kind in the SSP division?

 

[3 gun]

If you are going to carry the pistol in real life don't worry about how well it plays games. Get the one that fits your needs best and practice the game with it. The CZ 100 would fit in fine in an IDPA match. You will see a lot of Glocks and DAO pistols SSP.

 

[bullseyekp]

Hopelessly disadvantaged? Probably not.

I know nothing of the CZ100 other than it is a striker-fired, polymer CZ. That being said, I can tell you a little bit about DAO guns versus DA/SAs and SAs. My father and I started shooting IDPA at the same time. He started with a Ruger KP95DAO and I started with at Ruger KP95DC (decock). Within a year and a half or so, Dad bought a decock model to keep up. Then, about a year later, he switched to a Glock. I on the other hand, stayed with the decock model and still shoot it. One thing has changed in the past year or so, as I moved up from SS to MA, and that is the fact that I can actually shoot faster than the gun. I attribute a major portion of this to the trigger having a lengthy reset, and slow slide velocity unless I'm shooting really hot loads, which creates a recoil problem.

The point of my rambling is that I doubt you will be too disadvanted with the CZ100 until you can actually shoot faster than the gun. We can refer to the old saying, "It's not the gun, but the shooter," and then add "95% of the time." If you get to a point where you can shoot that well and you want to go further, buy a new gun that you know shoots faster than you. During the past two months, I have shot a friend's G34 on the last stage of a local IDPA match. In both instances, I shot the stage 2-4 seconds faster with his gun (including points down) on stages that only took 10-12 seconds with mine. And I have fired a total of about 35 rounds through that weapon. I'll be getting one later this fall.

One more thing you may want to consider. If you know someone with any kind of double action gun, even a revolver, shoot about 150 rounds through it (or dry fire 150 times) in one practice session and see how your hands and fingers feel. Some people, myself included, get tired of the double action pull really quick. Hence the reason I drop a 9mm bullet between the rear of my slide and my partially cocked hammer during extended dry fire practices.