holy belts and holsters!

There's almost no IDPA legal rig which does not end up with the muzzle pointed at some amount of the resident flesh. And clearly many of the DOH users in IPSC are in the same boat. The key is to keep the booger picker off the bang switch until the gun is clear and well on its way to pointing downrange.

If you want to play at both styles then you CAN do it with an IDPA legal rig. But you would be at a slight disadvantage in IPSC where there is no requirement to have the gun and mags close in to your body. The added spacing of the DOH holster and similar mag pouches makes for slightly faster draws and reloads. It'll be up to you to determine if you're good enough within your division to see this as a problem or not. If you find that you're a mere few seconds away from the top of the division then going to fully IPSC friendly gear could well make the difference to put you on the podium. If you're in the mid pack and need to shave a good 25 seconds off your day to threaten the top guys then maybe changing your rig to a more IPSC style won't be enough to do it.

Either way runnin' n' gunnin' is a helluva lot of fun. Good for you for wanting to try both events.
 
I second what (I think) BCRider was getting at....if you're going to be competative in both divisions, run 2 rigs. Running one rig for both will put you at a dissadvantage in one of the sports.
For IDPA I run a fairly rigid Riggers Belt (not sure of brand, but any will do), Concealment Solutions Sidewinder holster and leather double mag pouch (DeSantis). The one piece of advice for this is to stick to kydex for the magpouch. Leather is great and rides tight...but if you're running glock mags it'll be years before I get the leather worn in so it's smooth enough to ensure a good pull every time.
For IPSC I've recently moved to an HSGI Rig with their battlebelt and Taco mags with a bladetech (OWB Drop and Offset) Holster. While this isn't a CR Speed, etc etc etc and is probably blasphemous to some of the hardcore gun gamers out there...it works flawlessly, feels tighter to the body than the standard size belt with the velcro inner and the taco mags have a smooth draw like with some of the speed rigs, but with amazing retention.
 
While I agree with the last two posters on the belt there is a school of thought that suggests the shooter gains by sticking to one style of hloster and mastering the draw from it. This school tends to stick with the IDPA compliant holster for both sports. This school believes the draw time is not as important as some would have us believe and the added benefit of using the same draw all of the time exceeds any marginal benefit you get by switching. It is my opinion the draw time is sloghtly more important in IDPA over IPSC primarily because the stages are shorter hence the draw time makes up proportionaly more of the overall time and often in IPSC there is more movement before the first shot is fired giving the competitor time to draw on the move before reching a shooting position. Obviously this isn't always the case but I believe more so in IPSC then IDPA. As BC Rider pointed out unless you are fractions of seconds away from consistently wiining the draw time likely will have little effect on your placement and there are other aspects of the game you might want to work on.


Were I made a mistake on my belt and a mistake that you can avoid is buy the Wilderness/Riggers belt with the polymer buckle. I tend to wear the belt all the time with casual cloths and every time I fly the metal buckles force the removal of the belt going through airport security. It is a PITA frankly and one in which you can avoid. I would also suggest new shooters to buy the 1 3/4" wide belt for IDPA. A 1 3/4" belt virtually eliminates the muzzle /flesh issue for most body types when using an IDPA approved holster. I use a CR Belt and a DOH Bladetech for IPSC and for my body type the gun points to the ground.

Take Care

Bob
 
some excellent advice guys, thanks. I will be doing ipsc first and see how i do. I'm sure it won't take long at all, probably at black badge course to figure out what i need and don't need. For getting outfitted for the first time though, this has been really really helpful.
 
i've been on wilderness site and the belts i see are not a two peice velcro type belt like i thought. Or i'm looking in the wrong spot. I was looking at the original instructor belt and for 39.00 it can't be a two peice.
I think i'll try and set myself up for the best possible belt, holster and mag pouches i can for IPSC. Would the CR speed rig with DOH holster and mag pouches be best?
 
Wilderness belts are one piece, there are other brands with the same general idea (5.11 etc...) - many dealers have Wilderness 'style' belts. CR Speed is good, just use the outer belt alone for IDPA and remove the drop from a DOH rig.
 
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