I was going to post this as a response in the "what 1911 for IDPA thread" www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=35448 but I figured that we had inflicted enough thread drift on it for one day.
The question is can you use your actual carry gear to win at IDPA? Some of our posters (and a very experienced one at that, who could probably whoop the pants off of me at IDPA, so I'm not naming any names Wakal ) think you can, but don't plan on winning with it.
I've got to disagree. I carry 2 different guns. A Stainless Springfield (full size govt.) that I carry in a belly band in IWB position with my shirt tucked in over it. (this is for a certain place that I spend about 8 or so hours dressed in "business casual" a day that has a certain rule about no guns in the workplace ) And when I'm out where I can wear a concealing garment (usually just an untuckted t-shirt) I carry a Kimber/Bul poly doublestack in a Rosen pancake holster. Once in awhile if I'm just going to run out for an errand like taking the movies back, or picking up something at the grocery store, I'll just slap on a G-Code kydex paddle holster and go.
Obviously I can't use my belly band in IDPA, because I pretty much need to take my pants off to reholster it. So I use my Kimber. I have to download it by 6 rounds to be legal to compete in CDP. But when I compete I am actually using the same gear that I normally would carry. I do okay, and honestly I don't think that I'm really giving anything up to people who have guns/gear specifically for IDPA.
Now I can see the point that if I carried a compact, sub-compact, or teeny tiny gun. Don't expect to win. That is why honestly I think that we should add a BUG division.
So I guess it really depends on what you carry vs. what you like shooting with. I won't disagree that IDPA is a game, but if I was going to get into a gunfight and I could bring a friend, I sure as heck wouldn't bring somebody whose idea of practice was plinking at cans once in awhile. It is a game, but it will help you shoot better under stress, and I think it is about the best practice you can get.
The question is can you use your actual carry gear to win at IDPA? Some of our posters (and a very experienced one at that, who could probably whoop the pants off of me at IDPA, so I'm not naming any names Wakal ) think you can, but don't plan on winning with it.
I've got to disagree. I carry 2 different guns. A Stainless Springfield (full size govt.) that I carry in a belly band in IWB position with my shirt tucked in over it. (this is for a certain place that I spend about 8 or so hours dressed in "business casual" a day that has a certain rule about no guns in the workplace ) And when I'm out where I can wear a concealing garment (usually just an untuckted t-shirt) I carry a Kimber/Bul poly doublestack in a Rosen pancake holster. Once in awhile if I'm just going to run out for an errand like taking the movies back, or picking up something at the grocery store, I'll just slap on a G-Code kydex paddle holster and go.
Obviously I can't use my belly band in IDPA, because I pretty much need to take my pants off to reholster it. So I use my Kimber. I have to download it by 6 rounds to be legal to compete in CDP. But when I compete I am actually using the same gear that I normally would carry. I do okay, and honestly I don't think that I'm really giving anything up to people who have guns/gear specifically for IDPA.
Now I can see the point that if I carried a compact, sub-compact, or teeny tiny gun. Don't expect to win. That is why honestly I think that we should add a BUG division.
So I guess it really depends on what you carry vs. what you like shooting with. I won't disagree that IDPA is a game, but if I was going to get into a gunfight and I could bring a friend, I sure as heck wouldn't bring somebody whose idea of practice was plinking at cans once in awhile. It is a game, but it will help you shoot better under stress, and I think it is about the best practice you can get.