Worlds Collide: Shooting a Competition Stage

It’s shoot-off time as Rob Leatham and Rob Pincus shoot a competition stage with three positions: one target around a wall, two paper targets that have to be shot through a window, and seven steel targets. The handguns of choice are 1911s.

Both complete the stage, which includes having to do a reload, and score it IDPA style, based on time plus adding a one-second penalty for every shot out of the designated zone. Rob Leatham’s score is 12.55 plus 5, for a total of 17.55 seconds. Rob Pincus’ score is 21 plus 14, for a total of 35 seconds.

As with many handgun shooting drills, both Robs learned a few things from shooting this competition stage. Here are their key takeaways.

Takeaways for Competition Shooting

Rob Leatham reviews how he shot the stage and concludes:

• 1. He dropped too many points, enough that he would have lost a match. He needs to be more precise.
• 2. He did the sequences well and did a tactical reload.
• 3. He didn’t shoot the steel targets in the most efficient sequence. He waited for a target to fall when there was another target open, which he should have shot.

Takeaways for Defensive Shooting

Rob Pincus was shooting a Springfield Armory 1911 TRP 10mm with six-inch barrel and he’s a big fan of it. It’s the first 1911 he’s wanted to buy in a couple of decades. It’s also great as an appendix carry gun.

• 1. When fully loaded, the TRP’s magazine would not seat, so he had to give it some good hard smacks to get it to seat. Consequently he did a slower reload when trying to be faster.
• 2. If he were going to use the TRP as an everyday carry gun, he would download it by one round so it would seat properly and easily.

Conclusions

Shooting a competition stage will obviously teach the competition shooter some valuable lessons, but more importantly for PDN viewers, a defensive shooter can learn something from shooting it too. For Rob, this time the lesson was, fully test your self-defense gear before you need it.