If the IDPA guys want to do it for free all the more power to them but the old adage you get what you pay for comes to mind.
Walter I try to avoid these threads that can quickly sink into a we - they situation but this comment is just so much nonsense. I don't know what 4 hour course is being put on at EESA but it isn't the IDPA New Shooter Orientation Course we have developed for club use.
I can tell you too that I have taken the Black Badge Course ($125. + $45. to cover the first Qualifier). In BC you have to shoot a Qualifier without getting DQ'd before you get your Black Badge. Most manage not to get DQ'd, some do. My Black Badge was relatively inexpensive to what has been posted here. It was an excellent course by the way run by a very good instructor - Ed Morris.
The two courses are near identical. The chief difference is the IDPA course spends about four to five hours going over the shooting rules of the sport using a power point presentation. Time spent on the rules is instructor dependent, the size of the class and the amount of time spent in answering individual questions regarding the rules. There is a dry fire session where basic draw techniques are demonstrated and practiced by the students. The dry firing exercises are then followed by range time where several different drills are practiced. Students who demonstrate their abilities to the satisfaction of the instructor are passed. Those that don't, aren't.
My Black Badge course followed essentially the same format with the obvious exception that IPSC rules were covered. We were given ahead of the class an exam paper along with the rule book. We had to look up the answer to the question and quote the applicable rule and page number the rule was located on in the rule book. The "test" had to be completed prior to the course and was marked during the course. The dry fire and range drills were similar.
Like Onegoth I wanted to shoot IPSC and the Black Badge was a prerequisite. Was I happy to pay $125. Yes. Would I have paid $250. for the course. Not even. Following your quoted comment above my reply would be to your fee you charge, "There is another old adage, dealing with the every day occurrence of people being born."
I have not approached Sean with the idea of recognizing our course because our course does not teach IPSC rules and I believe it is important for new shooters of either sport to know the basic rules in order to play. Too, it serves both sports well to have shooters demonstrate on at least one day they have a certain level of competence in handling firearms and handguns in particular.
IDPA has from the beginning been a volunteer sport and none of our instructors receive anything more than their expenses to run our courses by rule, world wide. It works. IPSC has chosen a slightly different path and it works. Please don't confuse the volunteer aspect of IDPA with quality of instruction or the quality of the graduates. I have yet to see any evidence that one group of shooters is any more or less safe than the other.
The cost to shoot IDPA vs IPSC is a wash if you compare IDPA Divisions to IPSC Production and Standard Divisions. Some may argue IPSC Standard Division is slightly more expensive but it need not be. For most shooters an M&P .40cal/Glock 35 will out shoot the talent behind the gun and are about as inexpensive a gun as you can buy. I need three mags to play IDPA and five to play IPSC no big deal. There is no equivalent Open Division in IDPA so it really is unfair to quote this division as being so expensive to shoot.
There are two common aspects of our two sports that drive up the cost of participation:
1. Over the course of a season it isn't the cost of ammo or equipment that is expensive it is the travel costs if you do any amount of shooting. A hundred km trip to an IPSC match costs the same as a hundred km IDPA trip.
2. Ego - In both sports you can spend your brains out on equipmnt and still get your head handed to you by some kid with a Glock 17 or an M&P 9MM sitting in an Uncle Mike's holster wearing a street dress belt and his mags in his back pocket. .
Take Care
Bob
