[Dan H]

So whats the difference between the two? I get them mixed up as IPSC is at Bullseye every Tuesday night however IDPA is up there twice a month. Differences? Pros cons?

 

[gsusnake]

If I recall correctly IPSC is geared towards competition shooters, and IPDA is more of a practical, real-world situation and has some fairly strict equipment entry requirements.

 

[budder]

While IPSC is more competition and IDPA is more practical, neither of them are particularly practical. The P in IDPA is more a description of the situations than the type of shooting involved. They're both games and great for learning how to shoot from a holster. However, if you're strictly following competition rules when facing multiple BGs, you're probably doing something wrong.

 

[b8fish]

IPSC emphasises speed and accuracy in completing a course of fire; there are different divisions for different types of handgun ranging from off-the shelf Production guns (Glock, XD, etc) to highly tuned and customized "Open" guns with optics and compensators.

The only relevance to "practical" scenarios is you practice safe gun handling, while moving and throwing lead downrange as fast as possible with some degree of accuracy across multiple targets.

As someone said, "speed is a tactical advantage".

See http://gpsl.org/faq.html for more detail - GPSAL shoots IPSC matches every Wednesday night in Lawrenceville. Many of the same folks shoot at the Bullseye in Cumming also.

I have not shot IDPA, but I understand emphasis is placed on shooting from behind cover, and other elements of style.

Neither is really "real-life" as the targets do not shoot back and they are both against the clock.