Back in the day, I had a boyfriend who shot IPSC matches. (International Practical Shooters Confederation is the global parent of USPA, the United States Practical Shooting Association.) I’d met him while I was working in a retail gun store in Northern Virginia, one that had an indoor handgun range that hosted a bunch of the local match shooters for a weekly group practice session, so it wasn’t long before I got involved in the sport, too.
I had a ball shooting IPSC (and was lucky enough to have one of the national stars of the sport and a good friend, Todd Jarrett, live locally and shoot all the matches with us), had great fun dumping money into a speed draw holster, customizing my stainless Colt 1911, and waiting for those shiny rounds of .45 ACP to tumble off the boyfriend’s Dillon 500 press every Friday night.
Alas, I was also shooting competitive sporting clays at the time, and not having the time nor the money to shoot both well, I turned in my Velcro belt, took the colorful bumpers off the end of my magazines, and relegated my .45 to the nightstand.
Now, as much joy as I’ve derived swinging my shotgun at orange clay discs over the years, after reading Chad Adam’s Complete Guide to 3-Gun Competition, I wish I’d stuck around IPSC a little longer and witnessed the evolution of that action-shooting sport into the explosive and unbelievably exciting sport of 3-Gun. Whether you’ve been actively involved in IDPA or IPSC, whether you’ve barely picked up a handgun or rifle for target practice, or heck, even if you’ve been taking out targets in cowboy action shooting and want to see what the sport’s like with modern firearms, this is the sport you want to get involved in.
Most recreational shooters claim they never get a real chance to expend all the ammo they want. If that sounds like you, then this sport is calling your name—loudly. Gotta tell ya, Chad had me so hooked by the end of the first chapter, that I put this sport tops on my bucket list out of all the other shooting games out there. You will, too.
So grab your 1911, your Remington 870, and your M14, or your triple-port 2011, your AR-10, and your FNH-USA SLP semi-auto shotgun, and get your gun on. Oh, and grab a copy of Complete Guide to 3-Gun Competition on your way to the shooting range. You’re gonna love both the book and the sport.
