Summary: I was standing in line at the coffee shop this morning when I got a text from a friend asking if I had seen the new IDPA rulebook yet. I haven't been an IDPA member for several years, so I didn't get the memo that the new rulebook had been posted. Here's the new rulebook .PDF if you would like to peruse it I started getting text messages with all of the new changes, and I have to say, I'm shocked to see that they listened to the membership and have made a lot of positive changes in the new rulebook. 4.1/4.2 No more "Vickers"/"Limited Vickers" scoring. Stages are still scored the same, but it's called limited/unlimited now. This sounds like a little thing, but I can tell you the "Vickers" name was confusing to me as a new shooter years ago. No more stuffing magazines on the clock. I've never come across this in a match, but there was a video from a Major match a few years back where the stage required shooters to stuff rounds in their magazine at the buzzer, and then shoot the stage. IDPA is a shooting game, not a magazine stuffing game. 8.2.4 Compact Carry Pistol Division is a go! 4.1" or less, 8+1 capacity, and ESP division rules. 8.2.6 Back Up Gun (BUG) Division is REQUIRED for all Tier 1 matches per the new rulebook! As we mentioned last week, this is really exciting for us. It gives the new shooter who only has his small carry pistol a place to shoot. Sure, under the current rules they could shoot their LCP in SSP division, but putting new shooters with LCP's in the same division as guys running Glock 34's isn't very confidence inspiring for them. 9.2.1 "Shooting and completing a Sanctioned IDPA match in the last twelve months (without a DQ or DNF) also counts as shooting a Classifier in the division in which the shooter competed." So, if you shoot at least one Major IDPA match every 12 months, you don't have to worry about shooting a classifier for the next 12 months. This is a great move, because whenever a club runs a classifier match it's always a nightmare (tons of people show up, it gets bogged down, etc). 4.14 Hits on Non-Threat Targets: These are now scored PER-HIT on the non-threat target, instead of per target. Example: If I shoot a non-threat target 10 times, I'll get 10, 5 second penalties, where under the old rules it would only be the one 5 second penalty per non-threat target. 8.8.1 Knee-pads don't have to be concealed under your pants anymore. Soft-shell knee pads are now legal for the game, but if you're going to use them, you have to wear them for the entire match. Simple rule, allows the folks that need them to wear them, and keeps the gamers from using them as an advantage only on stages where they are needed. 8.8.4.3 No more tactical flashlight finger rings: "Rings or straps that go around any part of the shooter’s body (finger, palm, wrist, etc.) are not allowed." 8.8.2 Cleated shoes are now legal, as long as the cleats are soft enough to dig into with a fingernail. 8.6.2.7 "Bullets Out" magazine pouches are not allowed. 7 Very specific rules for disabled shooters. It's nice that they laid this out so people have a resource for what's legal and what isn't. So there you have it, a bunch of changes, and the only one that still irritates me is the outright ban on bullets out magazine pouches. I'll deal with it, and I might just become an IDPA member again in the future. Let's hope they continue to make good decisions like this. Contact luke@triangletactical.net ben@triangletactical.net (919) 295-6128
