Often tactical shooters dismiss competitive pistol shooting as unrealistic and state that it will only breed and instill negative reflexive responses. On one hand I would tend to agree, however on the other I could also disagree. I believe it’s all in the approach.

Personally, I have always been able to separate competition vs. reality. I take my life and death profession very seriously and train accordingly. I also enjoy spending time with good people in competitive shooting environments that I just don’t take too seriously. I never got overly wrapped up in winning a match, however I often do… It’s more about having fun, spending time with friends and putting some lead down range. In the Tuesday night informal league that I participate in, it’s more about hanging out, BS a little and having some laughs, then competing or even shooting.

I’ve spent 25+ years conducting Investigations & Executive Protection operations including Training throughout the US and Internationally for corporate, high net worth, law enforcement, former cabinet members, foreign dignitaries, celebrity and law firm clients. Consequently I also maintain both professional and close personal friendships with some of the most accomplished career special operations personnel on planet earth, literally.

Recently I posed the question to a couple buddies, true “operators” while training: “How do you come from a career in a life-and-death operational occupation to now competing (on a one way range) on a grand master level without those two worlds colliding?”

On the surface the responses were very different: The first was “I’ve been all over the world operationally and seldom in two different places were the rules of engagement exactly the same” “We are professionals and have to adjust accordingly, when I step to the line in a match I’m just following the current rules of engagement (the rules of the game)…” The second was more blunt “If you can’t beat me with the rules of a game, how can you beat me without them?”

After digesting these responses, to me they were essentially the same answer! Just from two completely different personalities! It is profoundly logical in a practical sense. So there are many benefits to competitive shooting. Here’s just a few:

Stress: The human body does not differentiate between stressors. Emotional and/or physical stress produces the same effects on the body and mind, regardless of the stimulus. Therefore being able to perform on demand under the stress of competition aids in building smooth reflexive responses under real world life or death stress.

Time: Time is one of the critical factors in both competitive shooting matches and living, or not in a real world situation. In a high level match often only a fraction of a second can separate first and second place. In the real world awareness + movement + distance + reflexive responses = a time advantage, and a time advantage, however minimal, even a fraction of a second is critical to controlling your environment and prevailing in the real world, and second place in the real world is never a good thing.

Fine Motor Skills: Being able to perform a fine motor skill such as a “tactical reload“ or anything else that requires manual dexterity under stress in a competition, will certainly aid in building mental acuity and translate into a reflexive action in the real world.

Gear: Competitive shooting is also a good place to test your equipment, all of it. There is no better place to see what works and what does not. I tell people that use my guns or support gear in a course (often because what they brought to training failed…) to “run it like you stole it, and treat it like it’s a rental”.

Speed: Being able to shoot, move and communicate fast and accurately while using cover properly is a good thing in the real world and competition. Anyone who doubts this should sign up for one of our scenario based Force-on-Force training courses.

Bottom line is that you can participate in competitive shooting and benefit from it tactically. Choose to opt-out of anything that you deem inconsistent with your mission or reality. Do it your way, get out of it what matters to you. The good news is that all you might get is a “penalty”, and probably not win the match… No big deal. Sure there’s a few serious competitors who are all about winning, but who cares, they are not there for the same reason as you… Also, for the most part spending a day on the range with good people can be a lot of fun, and we still are allowed to have fun!

Donald P. Redl, Jr. – Managing Member Executive Options LLC

Don is a board certified investigator with over 25 years of experience, a member of ASIS and a published author: “Get Off The X” (2017) & “Fighting Handgun” (2019). He has personally led and/or conducted investigative, executive security and/or training operations from coast-to-coast and internationally, and has been deposed and/or testified, including subject matter expert testimony in both Florida and New York State courts.

As an instructor, Don is a member of IALEFI, The International Association of Law Enforcement Firearms Instructors and hold state instructor certifications as a firearms instructor and use-of-force/general topics instructor. He is an active shooter response instructor and scenario based force-on-force instructor. His experience and expertise includes 25+ years of continued study, training and teaching security and armed guard practices, judicious use-of-force, tactical firearms and scenario/reality based force-on-force training. The American Tactical Shooters Association has recognized Don as a Tactician and a past winner of the prestigious National Tactical Invitational.