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Steve, I'm glad you're coming to PSC for the match. We're going to keep the August match a simple one, so we can get finished before it gets seriously hot! We usually try to use a good number of props and mechanical targets, but not during July and August.

We can't use surprise targets or scenarios for the Texas State IDPA Championship, as it's a sanctioned match. However, we've done something similar in monthly matches. We have color codes or scarfs that we move between targets in a scenario, while the shooter's back is turned. On the buzzer, the shooter turns and engages the proper targets. We're going to use a Glock to make some cut-outs to put on strings and hang around the necks of targets, to take the place of color-codes and scarfs.

Again, shooting the gun hand is not much of an issue in IDPA matches, just in training. I'm playing amateur shrink, but my guess is that it has something to do with the different mindset in a match v. tactical training. In training, you're focusing on the area of the target where the hands would be, while in an IDPA match, you're just waiting for the buzzer and you know you're going to shoot COM.

Regards,
Chas.

Paladin wrote:I try to remember to look around (left, right, 6 o'clock) when there's a chance.

As simple as it sounds, this seems to be the key. My wife and I have been to Thunder Ranch more times than I can remember. I can still hear Clint saying "look left, look right, look behind you . . . Wolves travel in [packs] . . . get your head on a swivel . . ." and so on. Learning this tactic, if we can call it one, is like tactical training as a whole; you'll do in a fight what you do in training, only worse.

We also have to keep in mind there are at least two relevant time frames when we need to be concerned about tunnel vision. One is when we are actually shooting, the other is immediately after engaging. (Tunnel vision v. search & scan is not so much of a problem when responding to a possible threat, such as house clearing, or one of the common target indicators.)

Any good tactical school will teach that you have to see the potential threats' hands. This means the pistol has to be held low enough in the low ready position to allow you to do this and the angle required will vary with your height and the height of the threat. (My wife is 5' tall, so it's a very shallow angle for her!) When the potential threat becomes an actual threat, it is all to common for them to be shot in the gun hand or arm, or the area of the torso immediately behind the gun, wherever it is being held. This phenomenon is reported in police shootings and it's very common on the range (during training, but not so much during IDPA matches) when there is a gun or knife painted on the targets.

Remember, seeing a weapon is the "trigger" to start shooting, not the target. There is another thread on where you should try to hit and I won't go into that issue. Suffice it to say that the target area shouldn't simply be whatever is behind the pistol.

Regards,
Chas.