I shoot a lot of IDPA, and enjoy it greatly, but I won't BS myself that it's "tactical" or training in any form other than improving gun handling skills, because it flatly isn't.
In fact, IDPA's insistence on finding cover, may very well get you killed in a real gunfight. Look around you - see any hard cover? In real life, hard cover is pretty rare, and seldom available in the sorts of places where you might need to use deadly force. So turning around and looking for cover may very well get you killed, when you should be shooting instead. Sheetrock and plywood are not cover. Throw in goofy tac-loads, and some of idpa's other quirks, and "tactical" becomes a non-sequitor to the sport.
On the other hand, as a shooting game, IDPA is a bunch of fun. Highly recommended. I shoot USPSA too, and while the style is a little different, the two games are basically the same, with minor differences. Shoot both, have twice the fun, and resist the temptation to become a pompous tacticalberry.
If you want to be truly "tactical", then consider that the real skill that wins gunfights is raw, naked, aggression and fury. As important as gun handling skills are, they take a distant second place to the simple agressive willingness to actually *use* the gun.
I've been unlucky enough to be there a couple of times. I lost two, and won one. The one I won, I did with a piece of heavy chain. I won, because I was mad clear through, and wouldn't back down. The ones I lost, I lost because I couldn't make myself gamble on dying, and stood like a sheep.
The one thing training can't do for you, is to make you commit. Anger, on the other hand, makes you *do*. Trust me on one thing - you won't be icily in control of your feelings. You'll be scared spitless, and probably frozen in place - unless you get mad.
In fact, IDPA's insistence on finding cover, may very well get you killed in a real gunfight. Look around you - see any hard cover? In real life, hard cover is pretty rare, and seldom available in the sorts of places where you might need to use deadly force. So turning around and looking for cover may very well get you killed, when you should be shooting instead. Sheetrock and plywood are not cover. Throw in goofy tac-loads, and some of idpa's other quirks, and "tactical" becomes a non-sequitor to the sport.
On the other hand, as a shooting game, IDPA is a bunch of fun. Highly recommended. I shoot USPSA too, and while the style is a little different, the two games are basically the same, with minor differences. Shoot both, have twice the fun, and resist the temptation to become a pompous tacticalberry.
If you want to be truly "tactical", then consider that the real skill that wins gunfights is raw, naked, aggression and fury. As important as gun handling skills are, they take a distant second place to the simple agressive willingness to actually *use* the gun.
I've been unlucky enough to be there a couple of times. I lost two, and won one. The one I won, I did with a piece of heavy chain. I won, because I was mad clear through, and wouldn't back down. The ones I lost, I lost because I couldn't make myself gamble on dying, and stood like a sheep.
The one thing training can't do for you, is to make you commit. Anger, on the other hand, makes you *do*. Trust me on one thing - you won't be icily in control of your feelings. You'll be scared spitless, and probably frozen in place - unless you get mad.