We tried it. Our club got on board early (1997) and wanted to make a go of it. MY IDPA # was A-1812.
There was too much tension when we'd go North and shoot. We literally had an SO (Safety Officer) follow us around from stage to stage in the state match telling the other officials to "Watch them, because those guys are USPSA shooters...."
He harassed us the whole weekend. You see, there was an agenda in play to make sure we were penalized/scrutinized as much as possible. The match director allowed this to continue during the entire event. But, there was only so much they could do. Our group smoked the field, took all the palques and prizes home and never went back.
We disolved our club thereafter.
And, look...I don't want to talk bad about another shooting sport. There are lots of nice people in IDPA. I've met some in Dallas, TX when I shot a local match there in 2008 for fun. This was just our experience in MIssissippi. Most of those so-callled shooters who were pulling that crap are probably gone by now as this was 12 years ago. At the time, we had USPSA clubs in Vicksburg, Forest and Byram. Just think of how big IDPA in Mississippi might have become had this all not happened. The Jackson metro area has about 500,000 people to draw from.
In almost 21 years of competition I've shot USPSA handgun, USPSA 3-Gun, centerfire and rimfire bowling pin, Steel Challenge, ICORE revolver, concealed carry matches, and bullseye. Even without everything that happened, IDPA was the least fun of anything I'd ever done. It just didn't offer much of a challenge once you'd shot USPSA. It was just too easy and not for me.
Having said that, if there are shooters out there that like it, enjoy yourselves. Bring a new shooter to your matches because it can be a good steppingstone to other shooting sports.
Have fun. :thumbup:
There was too much tension when we'd go North and shoot. We literally had an SO (Safety Officer) follow us around from stage to stage in the state match telling the other officials to "Watch them, because those guys are USPSA shooters...."
He harassed us the whole weekend. You see, there was an agenda in play to make sure we were penalized/scrutinized as much as possible. The match director allowed this to continue during the entire event. But, there was only so much they could do. Our group smoked the field, took all the palques and prizes home and never went back.
We disolved our club thereafter.
And, look...I don't want to talk bad about another shooting sport. There are lots of nice people in IDPA. I've met some in Dallas, TX when I shot a local match there in 2008 for fun. This was just our experience in MIssissippi. Most of those so-callled shooters who were pulling that crap are probably gone by now as this was 12 years ago. At the time, we had USPSA clubs in Vicksburg, Forest and Byram. Just think of how big IDPA in Mississippi might have become had this all not happened. The Jackson metro area has about 500,000 people to draw from.
In almost 21 years of competition I've shot USPSA handgun, USPSA 3-Gun, centerfire and rimfire bowling pin, Steel Challenge, ICORE revolver, concealed carry matches, and bullseye. Even without everything that happened, IDPA was the least fun of anything I'd ever done. It just didn't offer much of a challenge once you'd shot USPSA. It was just too easy and not for me.
Having said that, if there are shooters out there that like it, enjoy yourselves. Bring a new shooter to your matches because it can be a good steppingstone to other shooting sports.
Have fun. :thumbup:
