Every now and again somebody asks me about the benefit of competition for the person who is not really interesting in “playing the game” but is interested in building or maintaining skill for serious self-defense. I respond with, “Yes it is valuable, but…”
The “but” is simply how you look at it and proceed. I have been shooting off and on in competition for over 40 years. I have shot USPSA, IDPA and Steel Challenge. I attempted to look at all of them as training rather than competition.
The thing that you can get from any of these competitions are valuable. Rapid sight alignment. Firing grip. Stance. Trigger operation. General gun handling, including reloading under pressure. All of these are valuable to the self-defense shooter.
Even Steel Challenge, which involves very little movement (which appeals to old farts like me) still teaches you how to whip it out, get a good, fast sight picture, and track from target to target. There isn’t much in the way of solid practical-tactical going on there but there isn’t much in the way of BAD tactical-practical going on either.
Many people who carry a gun for self-defense shoot rarely, perhaps only as needed to qualify and maybe a modest amount of practice shortly before that. Shooting is a fine motor skill that goes stale if you allow it to. You don’t have to get crazy about it. I shoot about once a week casually and compete about three times per month in addition to that. I can afford both the time and the cost. Many people can’t. I do believe however that once or twice a year is not enough to maintain a good level of skill.
A lot of police departments now qualify with their duty handgun four times per year. That is IMHO a good minimum level to go for. When the excrement hits the air circulation device you want to be able to hit what you are shooting at if it comes to that. If you approach competition as training the money and trigger time you invested will probably serve you well.
