Rather than just criticize, here are my ideas on what makes good competition.
COMPETITION: WHAT'S GOOD
So, what makes for good competition? How can you maximize the advantage that competition offers? Obviously, good competition is competition that encourages you to perform in a tactically sound manner. Another key component is good, tactically minded shooters. You can have the most wonderfully sound courses of fire but if the shooters aren't serious (or can't shoot), then all is wasted. Also, using realistic targets, preferably 3-D, is mandatory. Finally, you need really evil/imaginative people to develop stages.
I have searched high and low for such competition and found it to be pretty rare. I have shot several IDPA matches and they didn't cut it in my mind. The best examples I've found either discarded IDPA completely or heavily modified and adapted its rules to their needs. What follows are some ideas to maximize competition’s advantages:
SHOOT WITH SERIOUS SHOOTERS
First, only shoot with people who are serious about the defensive use of firearms. This isn't always easy but when you attract like minded shooters, you get a great sense of comradery and you'll make each other shoot better. This also gets rid of the whining and gamesmanship because the shoot is no longer a game - its training.
SURPRISE!!!
We're not talking birthdays here, we're talking scenarios. I've seen shooters sit around for five minutes and discuss how to shoot a stage. In real life, we don't have five seconds to figure out what to do. I believe that whenever possible, a shooter shouldn't know where targets, threats and non-threats, are located. At best you should get a quick look to understand the layout of an area and then you turn your back and the targets are added. This gives you enough time to ID cover like you do in real life (you do, don't you?) and then react to whatever presents itself.
ONLY SHOOT THREATS
This leads into another idea, only shooting visible threats. Any target you shoot in competition should be a target you could justifiably shoot in real life. Any target that is to be punctured should have a knife, a pistol or some other reason to be shot (and no, a Handgun Control Inc. T-Shirt isn't enough). To integrate these two, take this example: you approach a stage and only see six targets, none of them presenting a threat and several objects that represent cover. You turn your back and the RO adds guns to certain targets but not others and then explains the scenario. When the scenario begins, you have to ID threats before shooting. If you want to be real nasty, put a target with a firearm at ~20 yards next to a target with a knife. Almost all shooters will shoot both targets even though a guy standing 20 yards away with just a knife isn't a "shootable" threat unless he charges.
RANDOMIZE THINGS
Since life can be chancy, I like to add a factor of randomness to scenarios. How do you determine which targets become threats? Roll dice and find out. An excellent example of this is a slug drill my “friend” Max uses. A shooter loads his shotgun as he would carry it, typically all buck with some slugs readily available. The shooter faces four pepper poppers and two paper targets at longer distances. The shooter rolls two dice. Whichever numbers appear are the order in which the paper targets must be engaged with slugs. Roll a three and a five, you had better shoot one paper as your third target and one paper as your fifth target.
USE STEEL TARGETS
I really like steel targets because they reward shooters for shooting the most powerful round that they can effectively control. You don't want to bring your pip squeak 38 special loads to shoot on steel - they either don't work or you practice your head shots - a lot. I really like pepper poppers, especially when you modify them to make them more life like. Your scenarios shouldn't be all steel but one or two thrown in really makes life interesting.
REWARD DOING RIGHT
A great way to minimize the impact of shot timers is to reward proper tactical action by reducing a shooters time for “doing right”. What do I mean? Take this scenario for example. The shooter has three visible targets down range with a piece of low cover nearby. The shooter turns his/her back and the targets are randomly “armed:” one with a cardboard AK, another with a pistol, and the other with a set of “surrender hands.” At the buzzer the shooter turns and engages the threats. If a shooter just stands there and blasts everything as it stands he gets his straight time. But, if the shooter engages the target with the rifle first, he gets one second taken off of his time for prioritizing threats. If the shooter drops to a kneeling position, and then engages the threat, he gets two seconds knocked off his time for using cover. If the shooter goes to a roll-over prone position, completely behind cover, take four seconds off his time for really using cover. In my mind, the reward for a tactically correct response should be greater than the time it takes to perform that action. This will encourage shooters to “do right” because they are rewarded for it.
PRACTICE WITH JUST ONE HAND
While a two hand hold is ideal, it isn't always possible. Have shooters carry a baby during the scenario and make them shoot with just one hand. Or start the scenario with a "bag of groceries" in your arms. This will teach you that unless you're carrying a baby - you'll have to instantly dump what to have in your hands to fight.
PRACTICE OTHER SKILLS
If you're serious about shooting for self-defense, you need to practice skills other than shooting. I immediately think of weapons manipulations like reloading and malfunction clearances. For instance, during your man-on-man stage, require a reload before engaging the final target. My favorite example of this was done by Bob Shimuzu at a SunDog Shooters Match: The only target in this stage was a generous 12"x12" steel plate about seven yards from the shooter. The shooter turned his/her back and four pistols/revolvers with magazines were placed on a bench between the shooter and the target. The shooter simply had to pick up each pistol and hit the target three times with each weapon. Sound easy - well, three of the four had some type of malfunction like, a cylinder not closed properly or some variation of a Type I, II, or III malfunction. This was a pass/fail drill with shooters needing to have all of their hits in roughly sixty seconds.
PRACTICE WITH OTHER WEAPONS
Don't just limit yourself to handguns. Shoot stages that require a shotgun or rifle. Better yet, combine the two. For instance, have a man-on-man event with three poppers for each shooter. Allow the shooters their shotguns loaded with ONLY TWO rounds. At the signal shoot your shotguns until dry and then transition to the pistol. (This will really make you focus on your hits with those two rounds in the shotgun) I have also seen a stage that require a close range hostage shot from an AR-15 after a shooter had engaged other threats with their handgun. Apparently, many people don't know about the difference between the bore and the sight line and this resulted in many shot "hostages."
SHOOT REALISTIC TARGETS
In an ideal world, we'd all shoot on reactive 3-D targets but that’s pricey. Instead, make your targets as realistic as possible. For instance, throw a T-shirt over them to make cover the scoring zones. Use different target styles. Mix IDPA, photo-realistic, and steel targets so that shooters are always confronting something different.
SHOOT REACTIVE TARGETS
Here imagination is all important. There are a variety of ways to make targets reactive. I've seen a neat yet simple system involving coat hangers, paper clips and balloons that which I hope to photograph soon. Do you have IDPA targets with their 8" scoring ring shot out (we all do right?). Instead of throwing them away, cut out the 8" circle and insert a balloon. It is plainly obvious when the target is struck and you're still teaching yourself to shoot for an anatomically significant area. This system works really well when you need to determine in which order a shooter engaged targets. This is also a great time to plug steel targets - guess what - pepper poppers are reactive!
SHOOT MOVING TARGETS
There are great systems available for several thousand dollars that will move your targets anyway you want. The problem is most of us can't afford them. So what’s left - be creative! At a Paladin match, a particularly horrible RO took his kid’s Little Red Wagon (I'm serious) and strapped a target stand into bed. He then attached a rope that was pulled (from behind the shooter) by a random lackey and voila - a moving target (and scarred children). I’ve also seen a charging target that was manufactured out of simple materials yet worked great (pictures hopefully to come)
ALTERNATIVE SCORING
Set up a match that is pass/fail. This is an option that really removes the time pressure from shooters. Instead of timing shooters, develop criteria for proper actions that would constitute “living” and “dying.” I shot one match like this and it was amazing how few people survived everything. Another excellent way to force people to shoot good (versus fast) is to change the scoring rings. For instance the standard IDPA scoring is 8" circle -0, next box -1, fringe area -3. This strikes me as very generous. How about: 8" circle -0, next box -2 for major calibers or -3 for minor calibers and -5 for the outermost box. This way not getting good center hits is really penalized and shooting the most powerful weapon you can control is rewarded. Another option I haven't tried but seems promising is the use Comstock scoring. Basically, your time is adjusted for your hits, meaning that fast but less efficient hits aren't rewarded.
BREAK UP THE TIMING OF COURSES OF FIRE
If you're going to use a shot timer, break a course of fire into several stages and time each one separately and then combine the times. For instance, a shooter faces three targets. On the buzzer the shooter draws, engages all three, and then retreats backwards toward cover. Once the shooter is behind cover, generate a second start signal. At the start signal the shooter must perform a tactical reload and then engage additional threats. By doing this a shooters ability to run isn't rewarded. Instead their ability to perform a tactical reload well is rewarded - a huge difference. Also, this more accurately resembles real life, engage threats, retreat, top off, engage more threats - this is just another way to reward “doing right.”
USE DIFFERENT START SIGNALS
Many of us get tuned to reacting to the beep of a shot timer. This is nice but not many attacks are preceded by a warning beep. Especially when shooting man-on-man, use something like "GUN!!!" to start shooters. At Paladin they had a really nasty rule. At times, the RO would yell "Police!!! Don't Move." If you moved, you automatically lost - excellent training for the real world.
SHARE RO/CREATIVE DUTIES
Finally, having to come up with five to seven scenarios each month will rapidly tax even the most creative mind. Don't make one person responsible for all courses of fire at every match. Come up with your own ideas - don't suggest them - but run them. This will give the regular match coordinator a break and give you an entirely new respect for the job.
