One of the most important responsibilities of owning firearms is getting educated on using guns. There is always something new we can learn from taking a class from a professional. It’s also essential that you train and practice with your firearms regularly. So, if you ever need to use one for self-defense, you would be prepared enough to respond quickly. One of the best ways to develop good gun handling skills and master the functionality of your firearms is by competition shooting.

Enhancing Your Skillset Through Competition Shooting

Shooting competitions cannot replicate real-world scenarios perfectly. However, there are many other lessons they can teach you that are valuable if you ever find yourself in a self-defense situation.

There are various shooting disciplines and several governing bodies for the different shooting sports. It’s essential to read each ruleset before attending or competing in a shooting competition to understand what is expected of you before, during, and after the match.

Your first shooting competition can be a humbling experience. But don’t let that deter you from going back and learning all you can.

Firearm Safety

No one is too good to learn firearm safety, even if you have been shooting for years. The biggest mistake I see gun owners make is thinking they know everything about guns. This attitude often leads to negligence later.

One of the best shooting sports to learn firearm safety is at a Steel Challenge Shooting Association (SCSA) competition. The rules are very clear and very strict regarding gun handling.

Shooters are given range commands by Range Officers, including when to unbag or unholster a firearm, shoot the course of fire, and unload and show clear before bagging or holstering the gun.

SCSA is the perfect entry into competitive shooting. Competitors as young as 10 years old compete in the steel challenge, and the youngest ever World Shooting Speed Champion was 13 years old.

SCSA teaches shooters to respect firearms, always follow the four rules of firearm safety, listen to all Range Officials, and how to function pistols, PCCs, and rimfire rifles. Be sure to familiarize yourself with how each firearm you own operates. And always follow the four firearm safety rules with every gun you pick up.

Loading Your Firearm

Every type of shooting competition will teach you how to load and unload firearms. It’s excellent practice to get used to the process of unloading and loading pistols, rifles, and shotguns.

Many types of firearms are available on the market today, and hundreds of manufacturers produce new models every year. You never know what kind of situation you may find yourself in. So, being knowledgeable about as many firearms as possible could one day save your life.

A few shooting disciplines will require you to reload on the clock during a stage. The added stress of performing a reload on the clock can exploit a shooter’s weakness. It doesn’t matter if you carry a subcompact or a full-size pistol, you should always have a spare magazine for additional ammo or in case there’s a malfunction with the magazine in your gun.

You can improve your reloading skills by shooting competitions like USPSA or IDPA until it becomes second nature. Even the best competitive shooters in the world still fumble their reloads. But it’s a lot less often than most gun owners because of their competitive shooting experience.

Drawing and Firing

If you carry a gun daily, you need to regularly practice drawing from a holster. Self-defense scenarios don’t play out in minutes. They happen in seconds. So, the time it takes you to draw your pistol from your holster and fire a shot could mean life or death.

No matter how you carry your gun, whether inside-the-waistband (IWB), outside-the-waistband (OWB), ankle, pocket, purse carry, or somewhere else, you are responsible for learning how to draw your firearm consistently.

If you switch carry pistols, get a new holster setup, or change how you carry the gun, you need to train all over again to get familiar with your new setup.

Shooting competitions that allow for drawing from a holster are USPSA, IDPA, 3-Gun, 2-Gun, Cowboy Action, and Steel Challenge. While the rules for these sports mostly require outside-the-waistband holsters and not concealing the gun, there are a few exceptions.

USPSA has recently made a rule change to allow shooters to use IWB or concealment holsters. But only if you can draw the firearm safely, re-holster it and not break any safety rules.

While IDPA doesn’t allow for IWB yet, they do require shooters to wear an outer garment over the OWB holster. So, shooters must draw their pistol while clearing clothing.

No matter what competition you choose to compete in, continuously drawing and shooting the first target is excellent practice for any real-world scenario you may find yourself in.

Shooting While Moving

You’ll rarely find yourself standing still in a self-defense scenario. You could find yourself trying to run away from an attack or aggressively standing your ground. Whether you carry a knife, pepper spray, firearm, or all three, it is essential to know your skill level before deploying a weapon of any kind.

In a matter of seconds, you will need to assess the situation, identify the targets you need to neutralize, and take a quick scan of your surroundings. If you fire a gun, you’re responsible for knowing your target, what’s beyond it, and any bullet’s final resting place.

Shooting while moving will force you to become comfortable running with your firearm. Likewise, it will test your ability to shoot accurately while moving. Shooting accurately is already a challenge, but learning to shoot accurately while moving is a different ball game.

The other challenges you’ll encounter in different shooting disciplines are partial, no-shoot, and other penalty targets.

Shooting Various Competitions

IDPA incorporates non-threat targets, or innocent bystanders, throughout a stage to force shooters to fire accurate shots. USPSA competitions use hardcover targets, so only a portion of the A zone is available.

If a shooter hits anywhere in the hardcover part of the target, it does not count for a score or penalty. No-shoot targets can overlap scoring targets in different configurations that when the no-shoot target is hit, a penalty incurs.

In 3-Gun competitions, no-shoot targets can be some of the most challenging shots on a stage. For example, when shooting paper targets up close with a rifle, you must compensate for height over bore by aiming the rifle a few inches higher than where you want the bullet to land.

Another example is when a penalty steel target is in front of a scoring steel target that must be engaged with a shotgun. To make a clean shot without earning the penalty, you must know your shotgun patterns through the chokes you have and where to aim to knock down the scoring target only.

Now, mix in movement with all these target arrays, and you’ll find stages a little more challenging to shoot cleanly.

Reactive Targets

There are pros and cons to both reactive and static targets. Being able to shoot paper targets accurately is the pinnacle of success in the competition world. Not to mention, neutralizing a threat in real life.

Paper targets used in USPSA, IPSC, IDPA, GSSF, and other shooting disciplines have different scoring zones and systems. All these targets have in common a center mass zone that neutralizes the target when shot.

When defending one’s life, always aim for center mass if you can. The negative to shooting paper targets is that you don’t get immediate feedback on whether you neutralize the target.

Reactive targets such as falling steel, static steel that makes a sound when impacted, or clay targets give immediate feedback when the target is neutralized. Reactive targets can be a fun learning tool for newer shooters to get comfortable neutralizing targets. As well as increasing speed without focusing on accuracy.

The negative side of reactive targets is the lack of precision required to neutralize targets. If you only train on steel or clay targets, you miss the feedback of knowing exactly where you are impacting the targets. Only paper targets can tell you if you are an accurate shooter or not.

Shooting moving targets is one of the most difficult challenges to master. It is all about timing the shot right and understanding how the target is moving. And follow-through is essential in hitting the target.

There are usually only one or two opportunities to neutralize moving targets. So, they present more of a challenge than any other target. Trap and skeet competitions are great for shooters to learn the fundamentals behind shooting moving targets.

After that, it’s a matter of practicing during dry-fire practice, during live fire on the range, and studying different moving target presentations.

Competition Shooting Tests Your Gear

While this is not a skill, shooting competitions put gear to the test better than any other activity. Additionally, they can teach you a hard lesson about what you can trust to work when you need it most.

In shooting sports that are more rigorous such as 3-Gun, 2-Gun, The Tactical Games, and even USPSA, you will have holsters come loose, magazine pouches and shell caddies break, belts do not hold up, and all sorts of other malfunctions.

The best place for you to have gear break, a gun malfunction, and other issues is in training environments or competitions where your life is not on the line. And I promise you, you will learn some tough lessons about gear and maintenance.

I highly recommend testing it out if you can use the exact belt, holster, magazine pouches, gun, and ammo you plan to carry concealed in a competition. As you continue to compete, you will also learn the importance of gear maintenance.

Did you know you need to clean magazines regularly, just like firearms? Other small items to check and replace if damaged are screws, spacers, clips or wings, and any other hardware on your carry gear.

Always use an adhesive like Loctite on the hardware you want to stay in place. If you use a red-dot, light, or laser on your self-defense firearms, check the battery often. Replace it as needed or before it’s needed.

Aspects of Self-Defense That Shooting Competitions Cannot Replicate

There are two aspects of self-defense scenarios that shooting competitions cannot replicate. They are the element of surprise and that no one is shooting back at you.

No shooting competition will ever be able to prepare you for the exact time, place, and situation you may find yourself in a defensive scenario. But they can train your firearm skills.

Basic firearm skills are necessities that directly transfer over from the competition world into daily concealed carry life.

Also, if you are new to shooting, we have a Gun Primer for new shooters with links and first-time shooter content, entirely free.

This article was originally published in the Personal Defense World June/July 2022 issue. Subscription is available in print and digital editions at OutdoorGroupStore.com. Or call 1-800-284-5668, or email subscriptions@athlonmediagroup.com.