|
The 2012 IDPA Indoor Nationals
International Defensive Pistol Competition is the game for saving your life, with scenarios drawn from everyday events for concealed carry practice. The IDPA Indoor Nationals at Smith & Wesson starts the season with a major event. This time the match includes handicapped wounded warriors invited to compete.
Plus, a profile of the founder and Chairman of Crimson Trace. We found Lew Danielson thinking up new ideas on the back roads of Oregon, riding his hot-rod Harley.
The Smith & Wesson Indoor Nationals:
 IDPA stands for the International Defensive Pistol Association. The entire sport can be described as concealed carry training. Your firearm must be concealed, the stages of fire simulate real world locations and threats. Each year IDPA shooters start the competition season with the earliest match of the year. So early it’s shot indoors. And this is a milestone for the Indoor nationals, celebrating 15 years at Smith & Wesson competing on the state-of-the-art ranges at the S&W Shooting Sports Center in Springfield, Mass.
 Across the country IDPA membership is soaring as one of the fastest growing shooting sports. Executive Director, Joyce Wilson, sees the growth as an extension of the interest in concealed carry:
Joyce: “The last couple of years in particular there were a lot of new people who purchased firearms who didn’t have any experience with those. So the conceal carry market has come a long way, and those people need something to do, some way to practice. And the conceal carry instructors are catching on that this is a good way to teach their students.”
 There are several reasons IDPA is the perfect game for a new gun owner. One is the minimal equipment required. Purchase any Smith & Wesson, a few extra magazines, or moon clips, and a holster and you’re read to compete.
The tactics in shooting IDPA competition simulate defensive shooting. You can’t just run-and-gun an IDPA stage. You have to shoot using cover, and not exposing yourself to threat targets. It goes well beyond just gun handling skills, accuracy, speed of the draw; it’s how you can engage each scenario, and how your mind will work the solutions under pressure.
IDPA has five divisions for competition, defined by the choice of carry gun.
- Stock Service Pistol – Stock Double Action / Safe Action factory pistols such as Glock, Beretta, S&W M&P, Ruger, Browning and Sig.
- Enhanced Service Pistol – for Single Action 9mm / 38 Super / 40 S&W service pistols, such as the Browning HP, EAA Witness, and 1911 pattern pistols.
- Custom Defensive Pistol – 45 Auto single stack pistols and Hi Cap models in 45 such as Para, STI, SVI and Glock 20 / 21 models.
- Stock Service Revolver – for popular service revolvers loaded with speed loaders or one round at a time.
- Enhanced Service Revolver - revolvers loaded using moon clips.
- There will be a champion in each gun division with all competitors ranked according to their skill level: Novice, Marksman, Sharpshooter, Expert, and Master.
Related Links
Shooting USA Profile: Lew Danielson, Chairman & CEO of Crimson Trace
 In 1994 Lew Danielson headed a small group of broke engineers… so broke they had to take deposits on their new laser grips at the SHOT show to raise enough money to get home. 18 years later, Crimson Trace is a huge success, constantly introducing new products. We think it’s time you met the founder, Lew Danielson. We found him, riding the back roads of Oregon, thinking up new ideas, on his Hot Rod Harley Dyna Sport.
Related Links:
Hunting Tip – Wade Bourne on Pellets vs. Powder
 Modern Muzzle loaders have the benefit of using pellets instead of loose powder, it’s a lot easier and faster to load, but is there a time and a reason to use powder? Wade Bourne has the answer.
Wade says, “Back in the late 1990s the Hodgdon Powder Company of Kansas came out with a product that I’ve used ever since. These are the Pyrodex Pellets, little pre-formed powder charges in pill form. These pellets have revolutionized modern muzzleloader hunting.
 Pyrodex pellets originally came out in 50-grain form. Drop a couple of pellets down your barrel--100-grain charge-- you’re ready to shoot. And then in 2003 the Hodgdon Company came out with a product called Triple 7, which is very similar to Pydrodex pellets, except Triple 7 has no sulfur. It’s much easier to clean. You can clean your barrel with water. You don’t have to go with solvent or soap. Both these products caught on very quickly with hunters because of their convenience.
And what kind of performance can you expect? With either Pyrodex or Triple 7, two pellets, and a modern projectile, you can expect to shoot three-inch groups at 100 yards through any modern muzzleloader.
 Now, for you shooters who want utmost accuracy, fine precision, you may want to stick with loose granular powder. You can work up a load, each gun shoots a little differently. Through a lot of experimentation and shooting you can work up a load that will give you a little finer accuracy. You can expect maybe two-inch groups at 100, yards instead of three-inch groups.
So the choice is yours, Pyrodex or Triple 7 pellets, or loose granular powder. Either one, as you can see will get the job done. If you’re a hunter, the convenience of pellets are accurate enough. But if you want to be fine-tuned precise, stay with granular powder and get those tight groups.
New Product: Byron Ferguson Heavy Hunter Carbon Arrows
 Bow Hunters know about carbon fiber arrows, and know what happens when you make that slightly errant shot, and hit a rock, and you’ve got a pile of carbon fiber. Well that has changed thanks to master archer Byron Ferguson. Byron Ferguson’s Heavy Hunter carbon fiber arrows are virtually indestructible, even when shot into a concrete block.
More Information from Byron Ferguson’s Website
Pro Tip – Todd Jarrett and Trevor Baucom – CCW from a Wheel Chair
Wounded Warrior, Trevor Baucom teams up with Todd Jarrett for tips on not being a wheelchair victim of some punk. Todd has suggestions on Concealed Carry and Shooting in a Wheel Chair.
GET THE DVD
|
