Triangle Tactical Podcast - Competitive Shooting, Mostly

We received a question from a listener about where to start in competitive shooting, and what the differences between IDPA and USPSA were. For beginners, looking to shoot their very first match, Ben and I agree IDPA is generally the best place to get your feet wet. Ben breaks it down into three areas:

IDPA requires less stuff to get started. All you need is a pistol, holster, and a mag pouch, and you’re good to go for a bit.

IDPA stages are shorter, and they give you a plan to follow (start here, shoot these targets in this order, etc).

IDPA is more forgiving of less perfect gear. Plenty of folks own something like a S&W Shield that they carry, and that pistol is just fine in IDPA, but I wouldn’t recommend it for USPSA.

Para is “going out of business”. They aren’t really, Remington is just killing the brand when they move everything over to the big super-plant in Alabama. Sounds like you’ll still be able to get your favorite pistols, they’ll just say Remington on the side instead of Para.

IDPA sent an email to their membership last week that clarified a lot of the decisions that they made in the new rulebook. Most notably, they had DM and M level shooters shoot the classifier on the same day with SSP and CCP firearms, and found that classifier times with CCP sized guns were 7-24% slower than with SSP sized guns.

[email protected]

[email protected]

(919) 295-6128

I was standing in line at the coffee shop this morning when I got a text from a friend asking if I had seen the new IDPA rulebook yet. I haven’t been an IDPA member for several years, so I didn’t get the memo that the new rulebook had been posted.

I started getting text messages with all of the new changes, and I have to say, I’m shocked to see that they listened to the membership and have made a lot of positive changes in the new rulebook.

No more stuffing magazines on the clock. I’ve never come across this in a match, but there was a video from a Major match a few years back where the stage required shooters to stuff rounds in their magazine at the buzzer, and then shoot the stage. IDPA is a shooting game, not a magazine stuffing game.

8.2.4 Compact Carry Pistol Division is a go! 4.1″ or less, 8+1 capacity, and ESP division rules.

8.2.6 Back Up Gun (BUG) Division is REQUIRED for all Tier 1 matches per the new rulebook! As we mentioned last week, this is really exciting for us. It gives the new shooter who only has his small carry pistol a place to shoot. Sure, under the current rules they could shoot their LCP in SSP division, but putting new shooters with LCP’s in the same division as guys running Glock 34’s isn’t very confidence inspiring for them.

9.2.1 “Shooting and completing a Sanctioned IDPA match in the last twelve months (without a DQ or DNF) also counts as shooting a Classifier in the division in which the shooter competed.” So, if you shoot at least one Major IDPA match every 12 months, you don’t have to worry about shooting a classifier for the next 12 months. This is a great move, because whenever a club runs a classifier match it’s always a nightmare (tons of people show up, it gets bogged down, etc).

4.14 Hits on Non-Threat Targets: These are now scored PER-HIT on the non-threat target, instead of per target. Example: If I shoot a non-threat target 10 times, I’ll get 10, 5 second penalties, where under the old rules it would only be the one 5 second penalty per non-threat target.

8.8.1 Knee-pads don’t have to be concealed under your pants anymore. Soft-shell knee pads are now legal for the game, but if you’re going to use them, you have to wear them for the entire match. Simple rule, allows the folks that need them to wear them, and keeps the gamers from using them as an advantage only on stages where they are needed.

8.8.4.3 No more tactical flashlight finger rings: “Rings or straps that go around any part of the shooter’s body (finger, palm, wrist, etc.) are not allowed.”

8.8.2 Cleated shoes are now legal, as long as the cleats are soft enough to dig into with a fingernail.

8.6.2.7 “Bullets Out” magazine pouches are not allowed.

7 Very specific rules for disabled shooters. It’s nice that they laid this out so people have a resource for what’s legal and what isn’t.

So there you have it, a bunch of changes, and the only one that still irritates me is the outright ban on bullets out magazine pouches. I’ll deal with it, and I might just become an IDPA member again in the future. Let’s hope they continue to make good decisions like this.

(919) 295-6128

A concealed carry permit holder walking into a Walmart was tackled and stripped of his pistol by someone who saw him putting it on in the parking lot. This video brings up a lot of things that both concealed and open carriers need to be aware of:

If you open carry, you should really do so in a holster that has active retention. I really like the Safariland ALS series of holsters, and I abhor the Blackhawk SERPA.

For more on why the SERPA isn’t recommended and weapon retention, check out Episode 85 of the podcast with Chris Clifton from Defense Concepts NC.

Sometimes folks categorize open carry as the “easier” way to carry, since they don’t have to put on an extra layer to cover the pistol, or shop for a comfortable holster, etc. You can open carry just about any pistol in just about any holster, although as I mentioned above, getting some type of quality retention holster is a good idea. Open carry shouldn’t be the easier way to carry, because when your pistol is hanging on your hip, you need to be extra aware of who is around you, who is getting close to your pistol, and be ready to retain it should an attack happen.

Sir Walter USPSA is starting to use Practiscore for their match registration and squadding for the February match. If you haven’t registered yet, you can do so here.

I’m soliciting some feedback from those of you who purchased shirts from the last run of green/blue/white shirts.

How was your experience with the vendor that printed and shipped the shirts?

Would you buy them again?

Anything else I need to know?

Basically, I’ve been a little disappointed with the latest run of shirts, and I’ve caught wind that some others were as well, so I want to get as much feedback on them from those of you who purchased them as I can so I can decide whether or not to use this vendor again in the future. Shoot an email to , or leave a comment below this post.

IDPA has announced that the Compact Carry Pistol division is official. It’s going to be for pistols with a 4.1″ or shorter barrel length, and pistols will be limited to 8+1 capacity. Ben wrote a more in-depth post about it here, and the discussion in the comments is worth a read as well.

This week we combined the “Just the Tip” and “Plug of the Week” segments into one. The tip part is in regards to this video of a girl being put into the trunk of her car and driven away by a gun wielding assailant. The plug portion goes to friend of the show Andrew Branca (Law of Self Defense) for his comment on the above post. He makes a really good point that I wanted to share:

And don’t ever, ever, ever let the bad guy take you to another location. That new location will NOT be more favorable to your long term survival than wherever you are currently at. I will absolutely let myself be shot before I will let myself be abducted. If they want to drag my 200lb+ carcass around with them, fine. But I will be 100% non-compliant. And perhaps have an opportunity to change the course of events while being non-compliant. This all applies more particularly to women, of course. You’re almost certainly better off taking a bullet on the sidewalk than stepping into that van.

–Andrew, @LawSelfDefense

(919) 295-6128

This week we talk about gun belts. There’s a lot of BS spewed on the internet about belts, and we sort through it based on our experience. Some folks like leather belts because they have a more traditional look, and they tend to flex and form to your body real nice. Other folks like the “tactical” nylon type belts because they are more adjustable, and can be extremely stiff.

I started out carrying concealed with a Wilderness Tactical CSM belt (the one with the kydex stiffener) and later moved to the Two Fools Leather Goods Fat Boy Belt after Curt from TFLG sent me one for review. Some years later, I’m still wearing the leather Fat Boy Belt. I miss the infinite adjustability of the nylon belt, but the leather, while being really stiff and sturdy, has a little stretch and give to it that makes is perfect for carrying a pistol for me.

As you’ve certainly heard, the BATFE changed their mind about the Sig SB-15 Stabilizing Brace. No, the braces weren’t made illegal, even though some headlines would have you believe otherwise. Basically, they decided that shouldering an AR pistol with an SB-15 brace attached constitutes redesigning the firearm into an unregistered short barreled rifle. How it can go from perfectly legal to illegal when you hold it up to your shoulder is beyond me, but that’s the new ruling. What’s next, will they say that pulling the trigger really fast makes a gun a machine gun?

Magpul announced that they will be making Glock 17 magazines. Yep, aftermarket, US made, 100% polymer Glock magazines. MSRP is $16. I’m stoked.

This week we plug the Pricelaw Blog. They post some really good, in depth analysis of gun laws. They can do this because they’re lawyers, not college drop-out bloggers like me. Check them out, and subscribe to their blog in your feed reader, it’s good stuff.

(919) 295-6128

I’m back! I’ve been away from the podcast for almost a month because we did the 2014 “best of” show, and then I got really sick. Started out with a cold, then the flu, then an ear infection, and finally a ruptured ear drum, but I’m back! Due to my absence I haven’t been able to get out all of the things that have been bothering me over the past several weeks, so this week I told Ben to clear the main topic for me so I could vent, and I did.

(919) 295-6128

Ben recorded this episode solo because I'm still under the weather, but I plan to be back next week. Anyways, he talks about his plans for 2015, and makes some predictions for what the future may hold for guns and the shooting sports.

Contact:

We didn't have much to say for our last show of 2014, so Ben did something completely different, and it's completely awesome.

It's the end of the year again, and that means it's time for another "best of" podcast with our favorite clips from the year. If you want to hear the full episode from any of the clips, hit the links below:

We'd also like to know what your favorite podcast clips of 2014 were, hit the comments below and let us know!

Shownotes forthcoming...

Contact:

If your goal is to become a better shooter, competitive shooting has 3 “pillars” that are advantages over just shooting at the square range:

Legislation introduced in Ohio would allow for Active Duty military personnel to carry concealed handguns without a permit in the state.

USPSA issued a statement (.pdf) on the security breach of their website. Turns out they didn’t encrypt the passwords for a specific reason.

(919) 295-6128 (voicemail line)