Recently saw this on YouTube, from a grandmaster competition shooter who is also in law enforcement.
I agree with him. I’ve said for years that while a shooting match is not a gunfight, a gunfight most certainly is a shooting match. Competition experience makes shooting under pressure the norm. Wyatt Earp competed in the informal matches in the cow towns before the OK Corral and the “vengeance ride.” FBI’s most famous gunfighter, Jelly Bryce, got into police work in the first place after a senior policeman saw him perform spectacularly at a pistol match and offered him a job. Col. Charles Askins, Jr., a contemporary of Bryce, won the national pistol championship in the mid-1930s and left a trail of dead bad guys as a Border Patrolman before, and of dead German soldiers thereafter in WWII. The two most successful gunfighters on the NYPD Stakeout Squad, Bill Allard and Jim Cirillo, both competed successfully at the national level.
AMEN! Learning how to run the gun without thinking about it and dealing with the-to borrow the phrase-compressed times of competition while still getting good shot placement are basic skill enhancement. Along with safe muzzle direction under stress.
Actually, for public/private LE, the NRA holds Tactical Police Competition matches. The courses of fire are somewhat more realistic than many others. Duty guns, not space guns, much more real world oriented. There will still be “gamers” but don’t get discouraged. You can get more information, find and borrow some courses of fire (if you’re not LE) from: https://lecompetitions.nra.org/tactical-police-competition/past-courses-of-fire/
If you’re new to competition, don’t get discouraged, there’s a learning curve to everything. You might want to start of with something a bit less driven. Most clubs are happy to help newbies.
BTW, in the video I was wondering what the heck a couple of those guns were until I realized they had optical sights.
Regular training and competition are important factors in maintaining proficiency with a handgun. I’ve found that shot placement for my first few magazines or cylinders varies in relation to how long it’s been since my last session. I’ve had friends come to shoot on my home range that struggled to even hit the target at 7 yards yet still feel confident that things will work out well in a life or death situation. Go figure.