Lessons from Shooting my CCW Rig in an IDPA Match

Earlier this evening I shot the PDHSC/Shoot2Live IDPA match in south Raleigh. I decided that today I would shoot my actual concealed carry setup in the match. Even though it’s a match tailored for concealed carry, I usually shoot IDPA with my Glock 34 from what is essentially a competition specific holster (even though it’s within IDPA’s rules, it’s not something I’d carry with outside of a shooting range.)

The Gear:

Pistol: Springfield XDs 9mm
Holster: Crossbreed MiniTuck
Mag Pouch: Springfield XD Gear (It’s garbage, by the way)
Belt: Two Fools Leather Goods Fat Boy Belt
Concealment Garment: T-Shirt

I’ve shot the XDs 9mm in matches a few times in the past, but I can’t say that I’ve ever done it from an IWB holster under a t-shirt. The t-shirt ended up being a bit of a challenge. I usually shoot using my IDPA tactical fishing vest for concealment, which I can flick out of the way on my draw stroke, but the t-shirt needs to be pulled up over the top of the pistol, and I’ll be the first to admit that I could use some more practice with this setup. I worked out pulling my shirt up with my weak hand while my strong hand goes for the pistol, and it worked out okay, but I need to be able to speed it up a bit.

The second challenge came from seating the magazines during reloads. When I would eject the 7 round mag, and insert another 7 round mag I would consistently not seat the magazine which would result in it popping out when attempting to chamber a round. With the slide forward on the XDs, loading a full 7 round magazine requires a bit of force, and I tend to ride the slide release a bit on the XDs, so it doesn’t lock back consistently when the last shot is fired. The solution here is to work on getting my strong hand thumb away from the slide release when shooting, and positively seat the magazines when reloading the pistol.

The third issue I ran into was getting a positive grip on the pistol quickly. I practice a lot with my Glock 34, and it’s always in the same place, always the same shape, and I’ve always able to get the same grip on it, every time. Knowing this, getting the pistol out of the holster and on target quickly isn’t a problem. The problem comes from changing pistols, holsters, positions, etc. Tonight I did all of those things, which made me a little slower than I’d like on most of the stages shot, and on one stage when attempting to really get on the gas I got a bad grip, with the web of my hand being up behind the slide. When I fired the first shot, the web of my hand stopped the pistol from cycling (ouch) and cost me a bunch of time clearing the spent casing from the chamber.

All in all though, I’d call shooting my concealed carry rig in the match a success. I picked up on a bunch of things that I need to work on, and I think I’ll start working concealed carry dry-fire into my rotation once a week, and I should probably designate a particular match every month to only shoot with my carry gun. I ended up taking 9th overall with it, and 1st SSP Expert. I’ll take it.

The only unfortunate side of all this is that I’m now thinking that I want a doublestack gun for winter carry. I’m thinking there’s a Glock 19 Gen4 in FDE in my future…