Thunder Bay Combat Club

The Thunder Bay Combat Club incorporated in 1980 but its history begins somewhat earlier than that. Originally the Thunder Bay Police Pistol Combat Club, our founding members were active shooters enjoying many aspects of the shooting sports and members of different pistol clubs. Initially our club was formed because of the interest in shooting Police Pistol Combat, or PPC, a relatively new discipline that at the time was all the rage. Since 1972 the Canadian Police Combat Association has been actively involved in the development, promotion and support of Police Combat shooting in Canada. In 1977 the CPCA received its federal letters patent,formally recognizing it as the national governing body for Police Pistol Combat shooting. In the early years the CPCA focused primarily focused on promoting the sport to police officers in an attempt to help them improve their ability to use their firearm effectively should the need arise while on the job. It soon became obvious that there was a great deal of civilian interest in the sport and in 1989 the CPCA welcomed civilian shooters as full participating members. Today civilians make up a sizable portion of their total membership.

Thunder Bay Combat Club has a rich history in Police Pistol Combat and has produced many outstanding competitors, police officers and civilians alike, many achieving the highest honours the CPCA has to offer.

Over time new shooting sports were being developed and promoted such as Cowboy Action, IPSC and IDPA. Although its popularity elsewhere in Canada and Europe maintained strong, in Thunder Bay interest in PPC sadly began to dwindle and all but a handful of diehards kept shooting it as their primary discipline.

Roughly a decade ago our club adopted a then-CSSA run discipline known as Canadian Defensive Pistol or CDP. A Canadian version of IDPA (International Defensive Pistol Association) with certain rule differences to accommodate the restrictions Canadian gun owners have regarding magazine capacities and firearm legalities. The scoring/penalty system is based on Virginia Count or Limited Vickers, where there is a prescribed number of shots taken per target.

CDP grew in popularity quickly and is now our club's most attended monthly m