After 5 or so years of shooting....

... International Defensive Pistol Association (IDPA) matches, I finally moved up from Novice to Marksman! Considering how many thousands of rounds I've poured through various handguns in those years, I'm not sure how much of an accomplishment that is, but it's better than nothing. Especially considering: 1. I may have competed once this year before last Saturday (I've had so many conflicts this year I can't recall how many, if any, matches I've attended), 2. this match was the first I shot with my Springfield XD-40, and 3. this is only the 2nd Qualifier I've ever shot.

I still made some stupid mistakes. I mis-counted the number of rounds I had in my magazine in one particular string, so I had to re-load, which cost a second or two. Also, on the next-to-last string, I was supposed to fire 6 rounds at 3 targets from behind a barricade, reload, and then run up to a barrel & fire 6 more rounds.... problem was, I blazed through six rounds & took off running. Then I heard the Safety Officer yelling, "RELOAD!! RELOAD!!" I cursed and fumed, ran back to the barricade, reloaded & finished the string. Who knows how many seconds that burned.

Anyway, I feel great about progressing one classification, and I'm happy I had a weekend that I could compete. Hopefully I'll soon be cradling a brand new, full-size 5 in., .45 Para Ordinance LDA PXT with which I'll shoot even better .... but that's another post....