Reactive targets make your shooting experience more interesting. Several popular ones include the gravity turner (left), pepper popper (center) and swinger.

At our club, Pioneer Sportsmen in Dunbarton, New Hampshire, we have new shooters go through a safety orientation before they shoot their first IDPA match. Along with the safety rules, we also check their equipment to make sure it functions in a safe manner and go over basic IDPA rules. We hold this class with a lot of patience, and all questions are encouraged and answered. Several have commented, "It's like a free lesson!"

3. EQUIPMENT REALITY CHECK
This alone can be worth the price of admission ($15). I wish I had a buck for every pet carry gun that I've seen choke on an IDPA match. The look of disbelief on the faces of some of these gun owners as they clear jam after jam is sobering. I have a theory about this. I think sometimes people put up with a jam or two when they're practicing alone. They just shrug it off and hope it will go away. In other words, they are in denial. However, when they are shooting an IDPA match with the clock running and people watching, those little jams are magnified. In most cases this experience is enough to motivate shooters to deal with the problem (usually either a dirty gun, bad magazines or sloppy hand-loaded ammo).

Guns and ammo aren't the only equipment problems. We see floppy beaded belts that couldn't hold a gun and holster when they were bought on the Indian reservation 30 years ago. We also see holsters and mag pouches that look like they should be worn by a couple of guys looking for Dr. Livingston. The good news is that this stuff gets sorted out in the safe environment of a range rather than on the unforgiving street.

For example: We have a Vermont state police officer who started attending our matches a few years ago. Now, our friend is a big man--I mean total-eclipse-of-the-sun big. He used his duty gun (a high-quality semiauto) to shoot the matches. He had gone through his departmental training and also qualified with this gun.

Lo and behold, under the pressure and sustained use of a typical IDPA match, his large hands were literally smothering the gun's slide. The result was a gun that wouldn't function. So he took this information back to his department, and it issued him a larger pistol. Problem solved. Do you think our friend got his $15's worth?

Props like this hallway add a little realism to an IDPA scenario.

4. AN INTERESTING ASSORTMENT OF TARGETS TO ENGAGE
Tired of that stationary target you've been blasting away at session after session? IDPA encourages the use of targets that react when hit, move toward you, cross in front of you, swing back and forth, appear and then disappear, etc. Sound like fun?

5. YOU WILL BE BETTER PREPARED IF YOU DECIDE TO ATTEND A FIREARM TRAINING SCHOOL
As I've already said, shooting an IDPA match shouldn't be viewed as an alternative to seeking quality firearms training. Ideally, you should try to do both. So here's the scoop: If you can make Marksman on the 90-round IDPA Classification Course (for details go to the main menu at www.idpa.com, and click on IDPA Classifier Course of Fire), you will be at a higher skill level than most of your classmates in a basic Level I pistol course. So why is this important? It builds confidence. Instead of worrying about how you're going to perform, you can relax and get the most out of your class.

6. LEARN ABOUT TIME
The essence of IDPA is time. Virtually everything you do is on the clock. You gradually learn how long it takes you to do various tasks, and then you try to do them faster. I call this "time compression."

Before I go on, let me give you an example: The Tueller Drill is the study of the time it takes a person at rest to cover 21 feet and deliver a fatal injury with a knife. The answer depends on the condition of the attacker.