There is no direct correlation between qualification scores and gunfight survival results, but there is a stark and direct correlation for those officers who shoot competition with handguns. Jim Cirillo of NYPD Stakeout Team noticed it, Border Patrol noticed it, and only those with their own peculiar agendas to advance manage to blind themselves to it.
Cops who have shot a lot in competition are overwhelmingly more likely to win actual gunfights, and to have a hit ratio in the field hugely higher than their brother officers who have not been in a match. The reason is simple: handgun competition inures you to shooting under stress. When the fight-or-flight reflex hits, those without this conditioning often break under stress. For those who have this conditioning, stress with a gun in their hand has become the norm.
– Massad Ayoob, The Crucible Of Competition
Firearm User Network 
David B. Monier-Williams
Mar 21, 2012 @ 09:21:06
It’s true that any competition is better than none. OTOH, there are some competitions that lead to bad habits that when used in the real world can kill you, like putting your hands up in the surrender position before drawing your pistole. Yes, this was done, luckily the dumb cop survived. These types of competition are to be avoided, because there’s no guarantee that you wont pick up bad habits.
I knew both Jim Cirillo and his partner Bill Allard they both shot Bullseye and PPC too. However, today’s shooters need to concentrate on IDPA and bowling pin or steel plate as Ayoob suggests. They certainly need to avoid just the POST minimum requirements. I would encourage them to look way beyond and investigate a more fundamental shift in shooting methodology that of the Turnipseed Technique.
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John M. Buol Jr.
Mar 21, 2012 @ 10:48:01
>> there are some competitions that lead to bad habits that when used in the real world can kill you, like putting your hands up in the surrender position before drawing your pistol.
“Training scars” can be created anytime folks aren’t thinking their training through and that is true in competition, qualification (military or police) and training/classes. Practice doesn’t make perfect, it only makes permanent.
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