Triangle Tactical Podcast and Blog on Guns, Gear, and Competition Shooting
Flying a bit under the radar of the firehose of SHOT Show news coming out this week is this announcement from IDPA, sent to members via email:
We are happy to announce that the membership clearly told us that they wanted a Compact Carry Pistol (CCP) division. The full details of that division will be coming out shortly but competitors and MD’s can start making plans now. The division is based on ESP but the guns must fit an IDPA box with a 1/4 inch plywood spacer inserted in the bottom of the box to reduce the box size. Barrel length may be no more than 4.1 inches and the magazine limit will be 8 plus 1 to help level the playing field. This division will use the 125 power factor as well.
In other words, a division almost tailor-made for the new crop of single stack and subcompact nines like the Shield and XDs (Glock still conspicuously missing). The email also says the updated rulebook “will be released to the membership on the website during the last week of January” and “will go into effect March 1st in order for everyone to have an adjustment period.” While a month is the shortest “adjustment period” IDPA has ever had, hopefully the changes will be minor and subtractive (i.e. removing dumb rules like the known-condemned flat-footed reload rule) rather than adding more complexity.
You may remember IDPA posed the single stack nine fanboys against the carry optics fanboys in a head-to-head deathmatch over who would get their division added in this rulebook. Although the carry optics guys lost this time, IDPA cryptically hinted that there might might be round 2, saying, “we are still going to explore the possibility of adding that in the future.”
Hit the link for the full text of the announcement with information on the IDPA World Championship to be held later this year in Tulsa.
So, who’s up for some CCP action come March 1st?
Note the somewhat covert “based on ESP” language (I would have guessed they’d base it on SSP).
Is this a tacit admission that even carry guns now undergo more modification than SSP allows?
I understand why they created this class, but I do wonder why they now have three pistol classes with classifier times so similar they’re basically the same. As much as this suits me (I carry a G19, and will probably shoot the new class), I do find myself wondering if an optics division wouldn’t have been a better move — a differentiated class of gun that’s gaining popularity.
Been mulling over that “based on ESP” thing too. That really only makes a difference in that you can have a stippled grip and Condition 1 hammer gun like a 9mm Officer 1911. Suits me just fine. My carry M&P9c came with a stipple job that takes it out of SSP, but the advantage could be charitably categorized as minimal.
Based on their statement, I’d guess they got more votes for CCP. Which makes sense to me. I think there are lot more PPSes and CM9s floating out there than RMR’ed Glock 19s. And as they point out, you can still shoot your RDS carry gun in Not for Competition. I’ve been seeing more and more results sheets with multiple entries in Not for Competition recently. I really think it’s one of the smarter things IDPA’s done recently. “You don’t have to play by our rules, but you can still come and shoot if you just want to have fun” appeals to a few of my more social USPSA buddies who just want trigger time.
But, I think, the rulebook is just like the bible: everyone believes in it but nobody actually reads it. NFC Division seems to have had very selective uptake. I don’t know any local matches that recognize it. (It doesn’t help that I have yet to hear a report of a single physical copy of the new rulebook being printed. They’ll probably have to fix that before the World Championship this year.)
I drive 1.75 hours to our “local” IDPA match, and while that group is pretty strict on the rules (I once stood around for 30 minutes while they argued), they didn’t recognize the NFC class when I brought it up after someone mentioned getting a red dot.
So I agree; NFC was a great move for an organization that wants you to learn to shoot better, but not everyone has read the bible.
Still, as any good shooter would, I see an opportunity here. I see my increased personal participation in the one activity which brings more satisfaction to the shooter than any other aspect of the shooting sports:
Buying More Gear.
(It’s the path to mastery.)
While I’ve never liked them, I’ve lived with the Sevigny carry sights (with single night-sight dot on the front) on my G19. Despite the fact they ran slower for me (the damned white dot surrounding the vial is far enough below the top of the post to cause real sighting issues), I figured they represented the sober, adult choice in sights.
With competition looming for my G19, I’m done with sobriety and looking to get a fiber optic.
I’m really starting to believe night sights are an elaborate practical joke being played on us by the industry, who at this moment are crouched behind the couch whispering “Do you think they’ll really buy them?!” to each other.
If it really is too dark to see the sights without the aid of radioactive materials (which are probably mutating my DNA as we speak), then I probably won’t be pulling the trigger.
See? I’m already bathed in the warm glow of retail therapy.
You’re cracking me up.
If you want to REALLY feel like an old guy, get bullseye, aka blacked out front AND rear, like the Defoors I keep rambling on about. No dots, no nothing to distract you. I don’t think they’re the sights to end all sights, but I think they teach you a lot of good habits by giving you nothing to line up EXCEPT the front blade in the rear notch. They’re pretty cheap too.
“elaborate practical joke being played on us by the industry”… So good.
That sounds just like IDPA. The culture is soon to shift away from single stack 9mms and they announce a single stack 9mm class. It’s the “let’s all shoot Bill Clinton AWB approved mags in our carry guns” 10 round rule all over again.
But heck, they maintain a special class for a 100 year old design gun so that they don’t have to compete against modern guns, so what the heck, let’s have another bad idea class.