I think your point has been made here even by those who advocate competition. I know that I have.
But what do you think? Who do you think, on average, would be better equipped to handle an attack by a wild animal? The individual that visits a range lone wolf and set up targets in various configurations, shoots at them and then goes home. Or the individual that competes on a regular basis, trains for competition, sets up a regular training program, handles his gun several times a week, dry fires several times or more a week, tracks progress by monitoring ranking in matches, works hard to move up in their classification and gets together with other like minded shooters, compares notes and gets into friendly side competitions? I'm taking about the individual that shoots 5-10K or more rounds per year because they compete in matches.
On average....
This is not intended to insult anyone. But who, on average has better gun handling skills? Those that compete or those that don't compete? Are their exceptions? Yes to both. But if talking about "on average", we all know the answer to that question.
That's a good question. And on the surface, I would say with confidence that the guy who shoots competition is going to be of superior ability in such a situation. On average, as you say.
But, when talking specifically about the scenario of a bear attack, I think who has the better chance of emerging success would largely depend on the focus of training undertaken by our 'lone wolf' character.
Is he practicing with the gun and the (I will assume powerful) ammunition he intends to carry in the field? - And therefore dealing with the same POA/POI, and recoil and recovery he'd face in an actual attack. And also in the case of revolvers and reloads, the same length of cartridge in his speedloaders vs the transition from .44 special to the longer .44 magnum.
Is he carrying his gun holstered and accessible in the same way during practice as he would in the field? - If a jacket is working in the field covering the gun, it would be wise to practice dressed as such. If a backpack waist belt is used in the field, how will that effect the draw.
Is he practicing retrieving his reload from where he would keep it during time in the field? - Whilst I think it's unlikely that anyone would get the opportunity to reload during a bear attack, it seems possible that the bear might initially be scared or injured enough to retreat, but then come back to try again. If this is the case, a reload may be possible. And if the gun is not run dry at this point I see an advantage in getting the reload in hand before beginning to open the cylinder, or release the magazine currently in the gun (particularly if the reload is not as easily accessible as it may be in competition). This way the gun would be in a non-firable condition for a shorter period of time, should a "tactical" reload (I understand that's what it's called) be deamed appropriate.
Is he setting up a target scenario to closely mimick the direct nature of a bear charge? - A bear will come from whichever direction the bear is relative to the person's body position. Not likely from a known location. And as I mentioned in a previous post, a bear is likely to attack in a linear fashion and will be lower to the ground than the COM of a human attacker. And it will likely advance incredibly quickly.
Is he practicing his draw and presentation regularly? Is he dry firing his chosen field gun regularly? - These are of course things a competition shooter would do. But if using a heavy DA revolver such as the Redhawk, I've found dry fire to be particularly helpful in gaining and retaining good trigger work when compared to the lighter and shorter triggers on many semi-autos.
If our lone wolf is doing these things, and so practicing for the particular scenario of a bear attack, I'd say he's more likely than the competition shooter to be able to successfully deal with the threat. Not only is he practicing for the specific type of threat, he's practicing with the gun and load he will use in the same manner in which he will carry it. And that gun and load are likely more powerful a combination than the competition shooter.
Now, whether or not an individual is likely to practice like this alone, is another question entirely. And do I think that absent that focused practice, competition is a very good option to improve skills? Yes, I do. But when DB began talking about maybe selling his Redhawk and changing guns, and has seemed so focused in where he is ranking in these competitions; I thought it might be worth bringing up his original motivation for beginning to compete in the first place. And suggest that, yes, there are other option to achieve his original goal. However, I can see merit in continuing to compete with a similar but more manageable revolver (such as the GP100), as this could well drive improvements that would fairly easily cross over to the .44 magnum Redhawk he has wished to carry for bear defense.
So I understand your point, Thomas, and I don't disagree with you at all. Competition makes us better. But in my opinion, there are other variables to consider, and other ways to achieve DB's primary goal that could perhaps be more beneficial to him (though he will have to decide that for himself).
