IDPA DIARIES: First IDPA Match

IDPA DIARIES: First IDPA Match

IDPA: The International Defensive Pistol Association (IDPA), founded in 1996, is an organization based in Berryville, Arkansas, USA that promotes defensive pistol shooting as a sport, using equipment including full-charge service ammunition to solve simulated "real world" self-defense scenarios. Shooters competing in defensive pistol events are required to use practical handguns and holsters that are deemed suitable for self-defense use. The sport came about as a response to many perceived shortcomings of competitions organized by the International Practical Shooting Confederation IPSC. It was decided by the founders of IDPA (Bill Wilson, John Sayle, Ken Hackathorn, Dick Thomas, Walt Rauch and Larry Vickers), which included some of the founders of IPSC, that IPSC competitions had become too far removed from the reality of defensive shooting situations, using extensively modified guns, handmade ammunition, and speed-draw holsters that were impractical for self-defense. The IDPA founders believed that IPSC matches had become "gun races," which were heavily dependent on equipment. That is, you had to have the latest gun, sighting equipment, and competition holster to be competitive. Since alterations to the sidearm are carefully regulated in IDPA, and magazine capacity is limited to a division-specific maximum of 10 rounds, it is possible to be competitive in IDPA with a greatly reduced outlay of money