My First IDPA

[JonJ]

or any competition for that matter.

Round Gun Shooter, Gary has been trying to get me down to the Bass River Club's IDPA shoot for a long time. He's even offered to meet with me on his off time to show me the ropes. I never took him up on it. Until today. The stars were aligned and I took a vacation day from work to make it.

I have never shot in any competition. I was a bit apprehensive about going. I was regretting never meeting with Gary for that one on one he offered. Why? Well, I didn't want to dent my ego (we all have one whether you admit it or not) and being a cop, I was worried "What would people who know what I do for a living say if I shot like crap?" I bit the bullet. I showed up early and found Gary. There was about 15 other people there and everyone I passed while looking for Gary, greeted me. Once I found Gary, he took me to one of the ranges and we made my pistol safe. He went over the general range and IDPA rules/procedures with me. He then showed me a couple of stages. I was still a little nervous about this but this looked like it could be fun. As more people arrived, I found there were a few other newbies. Gary did another briefing with them and I listened in on this one to make sure I "had" it.

Once everyone was signed in, we were divided into 3 squads. I think there were 7-8 shooters per squad. Gary saw to it that I was squadded with him. We had a couple of other newbies in our squad as well. All the squads then went to a stage. There were 4 stages set up. I won't get into what the stages were but they were not difficult. You did have to think about what you were doing, safety and tactical wise. The atmosphere was laid back, no pressure but very safety conscious.

How did I do? I don't really know. I didn't have any "Failures to Neutralize" I have the yellow copy of my scoring sheet and Gary explained the scoring to me. It isn't hard to figure out but I have no idea how I did as compared to the others in my classification, which is "unclassified" right now. I believe something will be emailed to me showing where I placed. I do know that I had a freaking blast! The whole morning was just pure fun.

I met some real nice people today. I don't remember all their names but I did meet NESer CapeCodder who had good things to say about NES and it's staff I'm sure there were other NESers there, maybe they'll chime in.

For equipment, I brought my full size M&P .40, 4 mags, 100 rounds of ammo, eyes/ears. I didn't have a mag holder so Gary scared one up for me. As it turns out, I didn't use it and I kept my spare mag in my pullover pocket. Other shooters had semis in different calibers and I was surprised at all the revolvers. I think there were 3 in our squad. Can anyone guess who one of them was?

All that I can say is, if you've wondered what this is all about or have been thinking about doing but are a wee bit apprehensive, just DO IT. You will not regret it. If Gary has made the offer to you and I know he's made the offer many times here, take him up on it!

Gary, thank you and please pass on my thanks and regards to all the other range officers there today. Everyone there made me feel welcome and comfortable. I will be back!

 

[Supermoto]

Gary is a great guy. I think you find in either IDPA or USPSA, shooters will go out of their way to help out the new guy. Welcome to the addiction

 

[Lugnut]

Now just keep going to keep the addiction satisfied. Glad you had fun.... I've said it before- the people make it even more fun than it is.

 

[jkelly]

Gary is a very good source shooting information and an all around good guy, he’s well worth knowing. The Bass River group is a top notch bunch.


Respectfully,

jkelly

 

[Chuck]

And he's like that with everybody. Gary that is. He took my IDPA newbie brother-in-law and showed him the ropes just like you described. Class act. And all the other Bass River shooters I've met as well.

And I missed the match because I thought I wouldn't have to be on Cape today. HA! I just drove down-n-back because my last renter didn't put the bloody keys in the gosh darn lock-box so the new renter couldn't get in! Grrr!

cheers,
Chuck

 

[jamz]

All that I can say is, if you've wondered what this is all about or have been thinking about doing but are a wee bit apprehensive, just DO IT.

Can I get a Hell Yeah to that? Last year was my first year in IDPA and I loved it. Can't wait for this season to start.

 

[TY43215]

Thanks for the kind words. Now I need to add. Jon and all the shooters that came to Bass River are what made the day great. All helped, all were safe and no one scared the range officers

IDPA and USPSA (as well as other action sports) are driven by the people that play. Once upon a time someone helped you get involved. I have always felt it is my duty to help others as a way of thanking those that helped me.

I will repeat the offer, anyone wanting to try these games, send an e mail to TY43215 at comcast.net. I will answer. If I am not close enough to you I can usually point you to someone in your area. Over the years I have gotten to know shooters from all over New England and there is not a better bunch of people out there.

With JonJ, I think we have just hooked another one

Regards,

 

[Lugnut]

IDPA and USPSA (as well as other action sports) are driven by the people that play. Once upon a time someone helped you get involved. I have always felt it is my duty to help others as a way of thanking those that helped me.

+1! That's what it's all about.

 

[dwarven1]

The stars were aligned and I took a vacation day from work to make it.

Glad you had a fun day, even if you weren't at Harvard! (we did have a guy who drove down from Maine just for the Sunday session, BTW... you wouldn't have been the only one there for just Sunday.)

being a cop, I was worried "What would people who know what I do for a living say if I shot like crap?"

We'd proably say something like "Practices are on the first and third Mondays at 7:30 PM; come on down!", ya turkey!

Seriously, I've never had anyone snickering at my shooting OR my stupid mistakes at IDPA; everyone there just wants to have fun and do it safely. Most all the shooters I know leave their egos checked at the door and are a really fun bunch to shoot with. I need to get back into it, too...