Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Competitive Shooting IDPA v. USPSA v. NRA Action Pistol

Has anyone shot in these? What did you like or not like? Why?

I shoot IDPA every month as a local match. I haven't shot any of the sanctioned events like the IDPA Indoor Nationals, although I would like to. IDPA is fun, its a good tactical "game", but it's got a lot of rules. And the rules are hard to keep up with and sometimes confusing.

My competitive shooting has only been CMP and NRA Highpower. My only exposure to any of the pistol stuff has been the rule books. First I went through the Action Pistol one and though, "well that's interesting and doable." Next I went through the IDPA book and was a bit puzzled about some of the stuff they worried about. Lastly I went through the USPCA. That seemed even worse.

Of course these are very different, and more would be obvious after seeing and shooting a match. The thing I found most odd coming from a rifle background is how the pistol competitions treat rounds that are not fired. In highpower saved rounds are just missed opportunities with no further penalties. The pistol rules treat saved rounds much more severely as though your first duty is to get the rounds and only secondarily care about if they hit.

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Not sure what you are talking about with “saved rounds” in action pistol.

The pistol group doesn't call them saved rounds. I borrowed that term from High Power. I'm talking about not firing all the rounds required by a stage, either because of time or malfunction.

Not engaging, or not hitting targets results in massive time penalties.

Exactly, that is what I was getting at.

NRA Action is like shooting skeet with a handgun. Same targets, same match.

IDPA - "I Don't Practice Anymore". Lotsa tacticool types that like to "get some and keep it real". Started when IPSC got crazy with the equipment race. Matches are usually pretty big and a basic rig will get ya shooting.

IPSC - fast and furious with pistols. You can spend yourself silly and shoot til the cows come home. Has some overtones of a puss fest in recent years because guys like to cry. They finally dailed it back a little with classes for the working man that doesn't want to refi his house for a competitive class to shoot in. I did open class for years until I realized I should eat something other than ramen noodles. Best gig going IMHO is a Glock and production class and buckets of 9mm. Not a lot of "this stuff is fo real man". It's a game and you play it.

As far as "which class to shoot" if you're rich without kids and want to be knee deep, Open all the way. If you're a normal Joe, Production.

Is this an Abbott and Costello routine?

Pretty solid summary.

I'd go with whatever was closest and most frequent.

I shoot both USPSA and IDPA on occasion. I use my duty gun for both and it’s practice that forces you to push yourself. If you’re like me and you hate to lose it makes you want to be more competitive so you start looking for edges in equipment instead of training more. So far I’ve seen my scores rise without new gear, but not sure how much longer I can stand to not tweak things or buy specialized gear that I won’t carry.
In an unlimited budget world I’d be talking about 3 different guns. But that world isn’t my world so I use my duty gun and holster.

Oh and if you don’t like to be humbled, don’t go. If you can stand a dose of humility and are willing to see how much better you can get, go shoot. When the Simpsons Comic Book Guy and the cute little Real Estate chick from all the for sale signs make your dick feel small, you’ll want to cry, but for some it’s good motivation to know how much you could improve. If you want to feel less sucky try IDPA first then USPSA. Either beat the [bleep] out of stationary targets and range plinking.

I’ve met nothing but nice people out there at two different clubs. I enjoy it and wish I had more time to go more often. Relatively cheap fun if you want to keep it cheap.

Everyone seems to have confirmed what I gleaned from the rule books. Frankly the NRA action pistol is the only one of the three that seems appealing to me, but I can see it being boring for others. I've heard one or two horror stories about stumbling demented child-kings being course designers for the others. Spending a day living & shooting in their fantasy world isn't what I'm looking for. Maybe I've got it all wrong though, I've never seen any of these matches. I like a known course of fire.

The only thing we have around here is Bullseye and 3 gun. I want to shoot with both hands, and I don't want to shoot a shotgun so that cuts those out.

If I was able to shoot three gun nearby I would look no further.

Fun and practical IMO. Although I look forward to the day that the shotgun is omitted and everybody sticks with two guns.

3 Gun seems like it would be expensive as hell to be competitive in. 3 guns = 3x the cost. Think ammo, backup guns.

Of course, you could do it cheaper and go without having backup guns. But a serious competitor wouldn't do that. Still, you have to practice with each weapon. 3x ammo costs.

If NRA action looks like your thing, go for it. I think it's more like "you against match" than the others. Like golf or skeet, you can easily measure your ability and progress. Hard with the others since you essentially become a percentage of what the best guy did. Whether it's your best day or the best shooters worst. 25+ years ago I won a stage at a match as a "C" class IPSC shooter, Todd Jarret being second. My best day, his worse. Only meaningful for 10 minutes of ribbing between the guys. I never made it out of "A" class and everyone knows how Todd faired...


Depends on what appeals to you. I like the game side and could care less about tactical procedures. Even prefer the international targets over the standard IPSC ones.


Last person I'd want shooting at my is an IPSC guy though.....or a 5' Filipino gal...