I've been a Life Member of USPSA for at least 20 years, and I was a member for at least 7 years before that. I was a certified USPSA Range Officer for over 12 years, until I grew weary of trying to keep up with the rules of the multitude of semi-arbitrary class divisions and let my RO certification lapse. As a competitor, I am still classed at "A" in Open, and "B" in Limited. I've been a member of IDPA since the second year it existed, and hold Expert classifications in both CDP and SSP classes. I competed at a high level in two Texas 3-Gun championships and one 3-Gun Nationals. My view is that, while all trigger time is potentially good time spent, the rules of both organizations REALLY suck in many respects, when compared to what makes the most sense in the real world. A penalty for dropping a mag holding one round, or even an empty mag? Dumb, dumb, DUMB! Mag capacity restrictions, or requiring that a magazine be loaded with less than its full capacity? Even dumber. .45 ACP for CDP, but not 10mm? Super Stupid. A course of fire requiring 30+ rounds but only 2 firing positions? Dumb, dumb, dumb. Shotgun courses that require multiple reloads on the clock? Please! And the list goes on and on.
Be all that as it may, the experience one gets from shooting under the pressure of the clock and onlookers is valuable, as long as we recognize that it is a game until the targets shoot back or run at us with a knife or a club. We can only be so realistic in the context of competition, and with a committee formulating rules, some (most?) of the rules will be flawed. Nonetheless, I always encourage my CHL students to shoot at least a match or two, under either USPSA or IDPA rules, to see how they perform under time pressure. Truly realistic or not, what we learn about ourselves about how we perform under time pressure is of genuine value.
