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C-dub wrote: ↑Sun Mar 19, 2023 11:22 am Anyway, I don't compete to see how I do against others. I compete, when I can, to stay sharp. Which, God forbid hopefully never happens, may help me to come out ahead if I ever have to compete for real.

Yep, absolutely agree.

The word competition may throw some folks off. There is no reason you have to view it as a "you vs everyone else" event. It's you vs what you can do under pressure on the clock. That's it.

Another thing I love about competitions is that they force me to get uncomfortable and grow. When we practice on our own, we tend to practice the things we are already good at. That makes us feel good, and range time and ammo are limited so we enjoy reinforcing the positives.

I wouldn't practice things like strong hand only or weak hand shooting nearly as much if I didn't shoot competitions, because its not fun and I don't enjoy working either skill into a self motivated range session.

Paladin wrote: ↑Sat Mar 18, 2023 10:31 am Force-on-Force was really the next "Level" for me. Much more realistic. I'd encourage action pistol competitors try Force-on-Force because it can be just as eye opening as your first competition.

Yep, done two force on force classes and they’re great.

Have a gnarly picture somewhere of a nice sims doubletap a friend delivered to my guts.

Beiruty wrote: ↑Fri Mar 17, 2023 12:16 am Are you asking about the benefit of competition shooting for someone who carries?

Not really, just seeing if there are people who carry who haven't tried out matches that I can encourage to do so.

I firmly believe there are benefits of competition shooting for defensive carrying of firearms.

FastCarry wrote: ↑Thu Mar 16, 2023 11:41 pm I used to when I was younger and could barely afford ammo. Id like to again but i wish there were more “for fun” clubs or events. Everything Ive been to everyone seems to have a better than thou attitude, and all the rules and boxes things have to fit into ugh.

I have some cool pistols, i want to just shoot what I have and not worry about measurements.

Sorry you had a negative experience. I know some clubs and matches are moving more toward allowing "outlaw" divisions precisely to get folks who aren't there to "game" but just want to get out and shoot the guns they own and might carry....which I think is a great idea.

Tex1961 wrote: ↑Thu Mar 16, 2023 8:52 pm Good poll and thread. Me personally, I have no desire to compete against anyone except myself. When I shoot it’s purely for the love of shooting. Any tactical or defensive training is solely against the clock and my own aspirations. I tried competing a few years back and I just couldn’t get into it.

Even in competitions, I'm not shooting "against" anyone but myself. I know people who are there to try and win their division, the match, etc but I try to keep my competition purely personal.

I spent several years after getting a CHL only practicing at B27 sized targets in a traditional target range setting and thought I was a pretty decent shooter. Going to my first IDPA/USPSA matches opened up my eyes to what good shooting looked like and how woefully far from the right end of the bell curve I really was.

I'm still a pretty mediocre competition shooter, but at the more defensive minded classes I attend I'm usually above the class average, which would not have been the case before checking out matches and getting in to them, so I still see value in competition even if I'm not winning them (and part of why I wanted to encourage folks here to try one out if they hadn't, in case they had a similar experience to me).

To answer my own question: yes

I've shot IDPA, USPSA, steel challenge, 2 gun matches, run and gun events, carbine matches, even the occasional sporting clays charity event.

I personally think shooting under even the minimal stress of a timer and an audience is useful for getting your brain to work quicker under stress, which is a huge positive for any self defense situation, in addition to the benefits of learning how to shoot fast and accurate while stressed.

Full disclosure, I'm hoping to motivate/excite some more people to get out and try a competition with this thread if they haven't shot one before.

Wanted to get a feel for how many folks here shoot competition. Quick blub about what you shoot, why, or why you haven't tried it yet or aren't interested in trying it are welcome as well.

(full disclosure I love competition shooting and think everyone should at least try it).

Hopefully I can put up a decent poll here