Mr. C. Tries Handgun Metallic Silhouette Shooting

It looks like everyone who attended the NRA Convention has had a good time. I would have liked to attend, but early this year when I was planning out my trips and matches, there just wasn't either the time or the money to attend everything. Maybe next year.

Last weekend Wayne F. and I went over to the Kitsap Rifle & Revolver club for another one of John D's great fun steel matches. The stages were challenging, and the socializing at the 19th. Hole Pub alone was worth the trip. It was great to meet some new shooters along with Bryce from the Gig Harbor club, and the usual suspects from KRRC. One of the highlights was when the scores were totaled seeing that first year shooter Wayne and his S&W 22A (tuned by yours truly!) had the fourth best time of the day! Great shooting, Wayne!

Yesterday I tried something new over at Holmes Harbor Rod & Gun club, where I'm also a member. Steel Silhouette shooting. I took my High Standard rimfire race gun that I usually use for steel challenge and decided to give it a try. The 4 MOA red dot was about the size of the 100 yard targets! The big question was if I was going to hit any of the targets at all, since I was sighted in for 25 feet, and the targets ranged from 40 yards to 100 yards. I did a little testing the night before and made some wild guesses as to how much I would have to move my point of aim to compensate. The time issue was going to be interesting, too. Usually I shoot five shots in a match in somewhere between two and four seconds. In silhouette I get two minutes for the five shots. Hmmmm. I wonder If I should take a cup of coffee to the line so I'd have something to do when I'd finished shooting? In speed steel you never wait for the perfect sight picture, as soon as you acquire the target you shoot and get on to the next target. When things are working for me I have the gun in motion all the time, and I never actually stop at any particular target unless it's a very small one and a long ways (for speed steel) away. Needless to say, my "Skill Set" was hardly appropriate for silhouette shooting!

I gave it a try, and to my surprise I managed to luck out and hit at least one out of five on every shot string! I considered that a major success. I ended up a long ways behind the winner, but I wasn't last either, and several other shooters weren't doing a whole lot better. The important thing was that I got to the range, gave it my best, and had a lot of fun trying a new shooting discipline.

While at the match I watched a number of shooters shoot in a class where you are allowed any shooting position you like as long as only your hands are touching the gun and the gun is not touching the ground. Those guys are a whole lot more flexible than I am, for sure! I DO have a heavy 12" target barrel for my High Standard, and it's got a good scope on it. I'll have to see if I can hit anything with it.........

Note: Silhouette match pic's will be posted in a day or so.

Shootin' With Mr. C.

Note: This is the second part of this series. Reading the first part before reading this part will make this part make more sense.

When I first started using the red dot sight I wasn't having much luck with it, and I was even slower and less accurate than I was with the iron sights, and that's REALLY slow and inaccurate. The more I used it, though, it started to work better and better. After two or three times at the range I was actually faster and more accurate than with iron sights. Like just about anything, it was obvious that how successful I would become would depend mostly on how much I wanted to practice. In those days the only handgun action shooting at the CWSA club was rimfire hanging plates, bowling pins, and bowling pin tops for the rimfire pistols. My first year or so, even with some practice, I was still lucky to finish in the middle of the pack overall.

One day while ordering some High Standard parts from Brownell's, the sales rep mentioned a new stainless steel and carbon fiber barrel from Volquartsen that Brownell's had just started to stock. I took a look at the pictures and decided that I had to have one! Twelve inches of barrel and a compensator too, how cool! It took me a while to scrape up the money, but finally I ordered one.

I snapped it onto my High Standard and mounted a red dot sight. The first thing I found out, shooting it from a sandbag, was that it was REALLY accurate. The close tolerances and tight fitting match chamber really made it shoot well.

Then I found out that even though it was quite light, it was still difficult to hold and control, especially if you were trying to move quickly from target to target. A little experimenting and I discovered that if I wrapped a couple of fingers around the barrel a bit back from the compensator I could hold it fairly steady and still move it around. Since there were no rules regarding exactly where you placed your weak hand on the gun, I started shooting that way to see if I could actually get fast enough and accurate enough to be competitive.

Over the next couple of years I discovered, addressed, and resolved a number of problems that cropped up. I found that I was having a large number of 'failure to fire' situations, and when that happened, you had to pry the round out of the chamber as the extractor couldn't grab it solidly enough to pull it out. I experimented with extractors and extractor springs, but the problem just wouldn't go away. Finally I figured out what was going on. The match chamber actually allows the bullet to engage the rifling in the barrel. Sometimes that engagement would keep the rim of the cartridge from fully seating against the face of the barrel. When the firing pin would hit the rim the round would move forward the last small amount and the firing pin wouldn't strike the rim solidly enough to fire the round. Changing the chamber to a standard depth chamber and polishing it a bit resolved the problem. I'm sure a little bit of accuracy was sacrificed, but not enough to affect action shooting.

All of this work and practice takes us up to a couple of years ago. The gun was running reliably and as a result of a ton of practice, I was starting to visit the winner's circle in the bowling pin top matches from time to time. Being fairly accurate but not particularly fast worked well in the rimfire hanging plate matches. Then CWSA decided to start running some steel plate matches, a little like steel challenge, and also to start running some rimfire falling plate matches. I shot some of those, but with very limited success. I was set up for pin tops, I practiced for pin tops, and that was where it all seemed to work together, along with the hanging plates.

At the start of last Summer I decided to try to take it to the next level, practice all I could, and then at the end of the Summer go to California and shoot in the Steel Challenge World Championships. The difference between a small local club shooter and a world class shooter is immense, but I decided to do the best I could, and try not to be dead last!

I started shooting on the average five days a week. The last month before I went to the World Championships I was practicing almost every day, and twice a day once or twice a week. I don't know the exact count, but I figure I shot approximately 20,000 rounds of rimfire in practice. Did I improve? Yes, definitely, but still miles away from the top shooters in the game. I was now winning the rimfire pin top matches and rimfire hanging plate matches at CWSA quite often, but still not every one. I had, however, greatly improved both the physical and mental parts of my competitive shooting. I took a lot of seconds in rimfire falling plates and speed steel matches. One shooter won just about all of those, and I couldn't quite catch up. Close, but not close enough! I also started entering every class at the bowling pin matches to gain additional match experience.

I took a break from shooting for a couple of months over last Winter, as I was starting to get burned out from all of the matches and all of the practice range time. In February, though, I was back at it, practicing all of those things I wasn't happy with. The first four matches of the year went well, and I won all four of them, a hanging plate match, a falling plate match, and two bowling pin top matches.

All of the work I had put in was finally paying off. I had learned a way to coax a bit of speed out of a shooting technique usually only used by silhouette shooters. I still wasn't as fast as the fastest shooters, but I would seldom miss. At the last bowling pin top match I broke the range record for pin tops, shooting five pin tops off the table, starting from a low ready, in 2.85 seconds. Sure, a really fast shooter could probably do it in sub two, but this is just a small club match. I was kinda proud of my time, even if it did involve a little luck!

At the World Steel Challenge Championships I ended up 49th out of 73 Optic Sight rimfire shooters. I know I could have, and will, do better, but for a first World Championship I was really pretty happy. I left that match with the will to practice even harder and see if I can do even better!

Then the bomb dropped. The CWSA club member who has absolute power as to the match rules, and who had up until this year won just about every CWSA match week after week, changed the rules. Under his new rules, in all bowling pin, speed steel, and falling plate matches my shooting method was now banned. You were now required to start with both hands on the rear grip. Taco grips and any other form of grip where you had your weak hand anywhere else other than on the rear grip at the start was now illegal.

Sure, I could probably learn a different way to shoot that complies with his rules, but really, why bother learning something new just for shooting at one club when the method I use is perfectly legal at the only other club in the state's Pin Shoots, and it's just fine under the Steel Challenge Association's rules, and it's just fine at the big Man of Steel match held a few weeks ago.

I shoot competition just for the fun of it, and there's no way I'll ever get good enough for a big bucks sponsorship. I enjoy the fellowship, I enjoy the chance to innovate, and I enjoy trying to shoot the best I can. If that gets me a first, or dead last, it really doesn't make much difference. If I had a good time, that's what matters.

As someone once said, a door closing can be a door opening, and perhaps that's the case for me. Perhaps it's time to travel farther to matches and shoot against stiffer competition, and thereby continue to improve.

Any shooter that takes shooting so seriously that they no longer are having any fun, so seriously that losing is a crushing blow to their ego, so seriously that they will change the rules so they can win, that shooter should ask themselves why they are even attending the matches in the first place. Sadly, they have lost something of great value, the ability to have fun and not take themselves, anyone, or anything too seriously.

"The Packing Rat" Attending GBR-III

I just got word that Derek, proprietor of The Packing Rat blog, has confirmed that he will be attending the Gun Blogger Rendezvous this October in Reno at the Circus Circus. It's great to see that not only will most of the regular suspects be there, but that there will be lots of new faces, too!

The more the merrier!!

Man of Steel Videos - Part 2

Thanks to Keewee's camera work, here's three more videos from the Man of Steel match held just South of Portland, in Sherwood, Oregon.



Jeff shot solid runs all day, making very few mistakes. (Won't say a word about that one stop plate, though!!) Jeff was the overall winner of the Rimfire Optic class.




These three 6" by 11" plates correspond to "A" zone hits in USPSA/IPSC competition. There is no stop plate, but you must shoot each plate twice.




This stage is called "Ryan's Speed", and it was a lot harder than it looked. The first plate (extreme left) had to be shot first, then the middle plate shot three times, then the extreme right plate (not shown in the video) was shot last. It was very difficult to get a smooth tempo going as the plates were three different sizes, the spacing and distances varied, and the "Triple Tap" in the middle really messed up your rhythm.

Although these stages were challenging, they were also great fun and they made you concentrate on skills you don't usually use in a regular Steel Challenge match.

Congratulations to all the winners, and a big "Thank You" to Nick, Ryan, and all the other folks that worked so hard to put on a first class match.

Well Done!

Man of Steel Videos

Here's the first videos from the Man of Steel match last Sunday just South of Portland, Oregon at the Tri-Counties Gun Club range.




Jeff, overall winner in the Rimfire Optic class, shoots the stage named "4 T 5". On this stage you had to shoot four plates, move to the forward box while reloading, and shoot the four plates a second time, then the stop plate. Neither of us did all that well on this one, as we both chose to be somewhat conservative and try to make no major mistakes.



This stage was named "Ryan's Speed". You shot the left plate once, the center plate three times, and the stop plate on the far right once. It was a lot harder to shoot fast than it looked.

I'll put up some more videos the first of the week.

Thanks to KeeWee for taking the videos.

2008 Man of Steel Pistol Match

Bright and early KeeWee and I jumped into our land yacht and headed South on Interstate 5 in the general direction of Oregon, specifically just South of Portland, to the Tri-Counties gun club. The traffic through Seattle and Tacoma only sucked to a normal level and fortunately there were no major backups. From Olympia clear to Kelso it rained, and rained, and rained even harder, making the driving much less than a fun experience!

Once we crossed the Columbia into Oregon, though, the weather wasn't bad at all, and by the time we got to the gun club it was quite pleasant.

It's hard to describe the amazing facility they have at TCGC. First, they own 263 acres of their own land for their facilities. On the club grounds is a large gravel pit, and the club sells gravel and rock out of the pit on a steady basis, producing income to run the club. The club has approximately 3,600 members, and the dues plus the gravel pit income allows the club to set up and run a first class facility.

When I got there I flagged down a Range Officer in his range officer marked car and asked him about the club and where the Man of Steel match was being held. He invited me to jump in to his car and he'd give me the tour! The facility is so big you really need to drive to see it all! There are long range rifle ranges, covered pistol ranges, black powder ranges, small bore ranges, and a whole bunch of bays for steel and IPSC competitions, all without interfering with each other. When I got there Saturday afternoon there was a group of Marines doing some rifle qualifying in one of the large pistol bays and also camping out on one of the long range rifle ranges. In two other bays there were a large group of cops doing various forms of of live fire training. On one of the small bore rifle ranges they were holding a junior small bore rifle championship match. On another range the Cowboy action shooters had been holding a practice session. In three other pistol bays they were doing IPSC certification classes. In a bunch of other pistol bays Nick, Ryan, and some other folks were setting up the target stands for the Man of Steel Match. All of this was going on without one activity interfering with any of the others. Amazing!

We were able to park the RV just a few hundred feet from the pistol bays where the Man of Steel match was going to be held the next morning. I even got a chance to shoot one of the stages a few times for a little practice. The stage was called Dragstrip, and I could either shoot slow and hit the plates, or try to speed up and miss! I just couldn't seem to figure out the right tempo, or something. I was kind of discouraged since Dragstrip was my favorite kind of stage, large plates, close together, and close in.

The next morning the shooters meeting and registration was at 8am in one of the clubhouses on the grounds. You could sign up for which ever squad you wanted to shoot with, but I didn't know any of the other shooters, so I just picked a squad that wasn't filled up, and that was squad number seven. Earlier that morning I had been visiting with Jeff, who mentioned that he was going to shoot the Rimfire Open class too. By luck, Jeff and I ended up on the same squad.

Our first stage was the classic "Outer Limits" Steel Challenge stage, and one of the ones I have the most trouble with as you shoot two plates from one position, then move to a second position and shoot the last three plates. First thing in the morning, barely awake, and I get to start with what's my worst Steel Challenge stage. "At least it will be out of my way!", I thought. My plan was to shoot it very conservatively and try really hard not to collect any penalties, or fall on my butt in front of everyone. I managed to better Jeff's time by a very small amount, but it was very close.

Jeff shooting a stage with his Ruger.

Our second stage was much more to my liking, but it was the Dragstrip stage I had struggled with the previous evening. What a difference a good night's sleep seems to have made. We shot five times at each stage, and on Dragstrip I shot a fairly decent time on the first run. Each run I tried to go a little faster, and after four really decent runs without a miss, I had a fifth "Throwaway" run to let it all hang out. I couldn't believe it when the timer called out 1.72 seconds for the five shots! Then Jeff came up, and Jeff wasn't going to take that lying down! Jeff ripped of five excellent runs, and tied my 1.72 seconds, but couldn't beat it. My total time for my best four runs was only one tenth of a second faster that Jeff's! It doesn't get much closer.

A great action pic showing Mr. C. moving to the second shooter's box while performing the mandatory reload. In the picture it looks like I knew what I was doing. The picture lies.....

One stage, called "4 T 5", required you to shoot four plates, then run to another shooting box while doing a reload on the way, then shoot the four plates again, then the stop plate. I have enough trouble just moving, and you want me to reload, too? Again I tried to keep it conservative and not stack up a lot of penalties. My times on this stage weren't great, but at least no penalties. Jeff shot the stage well, and the reload was no problem for him as he shoots IPSC matches with reloads all the time. By now Jeff and I were having a grand time kidding each other, making jokes, and just enjoying ourselves no end. As the day progressed we had a lot of fun pushing each other to try and beat each other's times.

Here's Jeff running the timer as another shooter in our squad (Forgot to write down everyone's names) reloads on the way to the second shooter's box.

I think this stage was called "Eight Inch Nightmare". The looked even smaller from the shooter's box. Not only are they small, they are spread far apart. Accuracy instead of speed is the key on this one.

As the day progressed the kidding back and forth finally involved just about everyone on our squad, and by the end no one was laughing and carrying on as much as we were. Jeff and I went back and forth, and on every stage we were just about the same with our times.

Most of Squad #7 in one picture.

More unidentified Squad #7 folks.

I really should remember to write down names.
Yup, I really should.........

After each shooter shoots, we would spray paint the plates so you could see the hits as they happened.

The weather was excellent, the folks in our squad a joy to shoot with, and all to soon the tenth stage was finished. I must admit, though ,that all that excitement and adrenalin was starting to take it's toll, and I was really starting to run down. Jeff and I had had a great time trying to top each other's times and wisecracks, and it had been a great day. Since we were both from out of town, and since we had no other Rimfire Open class shooters in our squad, we both had absolutely no idea of how we had fared against the other Rimfire Optic shooters. We could have been first, last, or anywhere in between. I was pretty sure that Jeff had beat my times, but not by a lot. I was also listed in the Super Senior class, and I had no idea how I had done there, either.

We packed up our gear and found something cool to drink and a shady spot to sit and wait for the results. When the results sheet was finally passed around, I was surprised to see my name in 13th place overall, with Jeff above me in seventh. Jeff had won the Rimfire Optic class, and I was second! I had posted the fastest time of all the Super Seniors. On the Dragstrip stage the 1.72 seconds for a single run shared by Jeff and I was the fastest stage time of all shooters, and my stage time was the fastest overall for the stage. You could have knocked me over with the recoil from a squib load! What a day. I even won an absolutely beautiful hunting knife for the second place finish. Very cool!!

In September the Steel Challenge Northwest Regional Championships will be held in Albany, Oregon, and Jeff plans to be there. So do I. I better start practicing!!

After thanking Nick, Ryan, and the other folks that put on this fine match, we climbed back into our land yacht for the long drive home. We stopped near Kelso at a Denny's for a pair of apple crumble and ice cream desert sundays, topped up the petrol, and headed home. We finally pulled into the driveway of Castle Completely around midnight.

"Tired" wasn't even close.......................

Note: All picture credits to KeeWee, who did a wonderful job taking pictures and videos. I'll have some of the videos posted over the next few days.

GBR-III Circus Circus Room Rates

It seems like everything just keeps getting more and more expensive. The cost of a vacation can be staggering. The good news is that the rooms at the Circus Circus in Reno are exactly the same price as last year. They also don't charge any extra for a second person in the room, so if you are attending by yourself and you coordinate with another attendee, share a room, and split the cost, that saves you even more.

The Circus Circus room rates for Thursday, October 9th., and Sunday, October 12th. are $49 per night. The rate for Friday October 10th., and Saturday, October 11th. are $89 per night. All room rates also have an additional tax added to the price. Included in the room rate is free wireless internet (usually an extra $10 per day), and a package of coupons for some freebies and discounts.

To get all the details for the Rendezvous, how to book your room and get the discount rate, and how to register for the Rendezvous itself, click here to go to the Gun Blogger Rendezvous website.

See you in Reno!!

.....Best laid plans

As usual, plans didn't quite go the way I had it figured. I was hoping to get a big post, or perhaps two posts put together on the Oregon Man of Steel match I attended last Sunday. Monday I was pretty much worn out/road weary, and all that got done was whatever absolutely HAD to get done. Monday night Wayne, my friend in the earth moving and landscaping business telephoned and the dozer, backhoe, and excavator were all available on Tuesday to finish up the "Tennis Court" next to my house. Most of his equipment is usually parked here at my place anyway, so it didn't have to be moved in.

We decided to lower the "floor" of the bay another foot or so and raise the berms a bit at the same time. We also decided to wrap the rearmost berm around the side a bit so the side and rearmost berms overlapped, leaving a narrow roadway between them to enter the bay. My main job was to hold the surveying elevation stick and move around the area getting the floor flat and to exact grade.

That's what I spent most of yesterday morning doing, so not much blogging was done. I did start going through all of the pictures and video from the Man of Steel, though, and it looks like KeeWee got lots of good ones.

Maybe I'll get some of them posted later today, but unfortunately "W-O-R-K" has reared it's ugly head, so that will keep me busy for a good part of today.

More later..........................

Gun Blogger Rendezvous Attendees

Here's the latest list of those planning on attending the Gun Blogger Rendezvous AKA GBR-III, coming up in October in Reno at the Circus Circus hotel. This will undoubtedly be the shooting sports social event of the year, so you certainly won't want to miss out.

Planning to Attend:

KeeWee, from KeeWee's Corner

Phil & David, from Random Nuclear Strikes

US Citizen, from Traction Control

Ride Fast & the Commandress, from Ride Fast - Shoot Straight

Sebastian, from Snowflakes in Hell

Mr. & Mrs. JimmyB, the Conservative UAW Guy

Lou from Mad Gun

Kevin from The Smallest Minority

Dirt Crashr, from Anthroblogogy

Chris & Mel Byrne, from The Anarchangel

Uncle, From Say Uncle

Larry Weeks, from Brownell's

and, of course, me.....


Gonna Try/Not sure yet:

Countertop, from Countertop Chronicles

Glen Caroline, from the NRA

Ashley Varner, from the NRA

Ahab, from Call Me Ahab

Stickwick & Carnaby, from Carnaby Fudge

Joe Huffman, from The View from North Central Idaho

Retired Geezer & Mrs. Geezer, from Blog Idaho

Mr. & Mrs. BillH, from Free in Idaho

Murdoc, From Murdoc Online

If you are planning to attend and aren't on the list, leave a comment or drop me an email and I'll get you on the list. If you are hoping to make it but aren't sure just yet, let me know and I'll get you on the second list.

Don't forget, you don't have to be a Gun Blogger, of even a Blogger, for that matter, to attend the Rendezvous. If you are reading this blog, you qualify! For more GBR info, click on the link at the top of the page.

KeeWee and I are looking forward to seeing you all in Reno!

This Month's e-Postal Match "Pin Shoot Training"

I'm a bit late getting this post up, as I was in Oregon for the Man of Steel steel match and didn't get back until nearly midnight on Sunday night. Monday was basically 'Recovery' day recovering from a lot of hours on the road and a very long (but great fun) match.

Anyhow, this month our e-Postal match takes on an international flavor as it's hosted by Manfred at Armes et tir Passion, an excellent gun blog in France. Don't worry, the rules are in English, and Manfred's command of English is not only WAY better than my French (I know about ten words), his English is probably better than my English, too!

This month's match has a bowling pin shooting theme. Manfred and I are fellow pin shooters, and with the growing popularity of pin shooting, this should be a lot of fun. Don't think these guys are pushovers, though, as Manfred and his friend Leon took first and second in the iron sight centerfire class last month.

For the rules and instructions on where to download the targets, click on

RULES AND INSTRUCTIONS

While you're there, have a look around his blog! Some of it is in English, and some is in French, but not to worry, there's a (somewhat hilarious at times) Babel Fish translator button to convert the French parts to something similar to English.

Go get the targets and rules, and get out to the range. Take every handgun you've got and get in lots of entries. Take a buddy or a new shooter along. This could be a good time to take a new shooter to the range! Don't wait until the last minute, as it always seems that when you do, something comes up and you end up missing the match.

Most of all, be safe, and have fun!!

Racially Intolerant in Canada

I was down at the local garage yesterday and got to talking with Larry, one of the mechanics. It turns out some friends of his were up in Vancouver, CA. a short while back, and got a fairly expensive lesson in "Racial Intolerance". Larry's friends were walking down the sidewalk in Vancouver when a fellow wearing a turban (a Sikh?) came out of his shop and started shaking a small rug, presumably shaking the dirt out of it.

"What's the matter, buddy, can't get 'er started?", one of Larry's friends wisecracked. (I think it was the Persians, not the Indians, with the flying carpets, but, whatever....).

The Indian gave them a dirty look and went back into his shop. A block or so farther along, Larry's friends were accosted by the Indian guy along with a Vancouver policeman. "That's the guy!" the Indian said, pointing at Larry's friend.

The policeman told them that he had broken the law by making "Racially intolerant remarks", and would have to go to the police station and pay a $500 fine for his remarks. He was also told that if he wanted to contest the fine or his guilt, he would have to spend the weekend in jail and appear in court on Monday, as it was already Friday afternoon.

They paid the fine, and immediately headed back to the United States, vowing never to return to Canada under any circumstances.

If you are planning a trip to Canada, and particularly to any of their larger cities, be sure to keep your mouths closed, or you might end up in the same situation.

For me, I'll just stay out of Canada...........

Fact of the Day........

Back in 1912, Best Foods mayonnaise was manufactured in England. In fact, the Titanic was carrying 12,000 jars of it scheduled for delivery in Vera Cruz, Mexico, which was to be the next port of call for the great ship after its stop in New York.

This would have been the largest single shipment of mayonnaise ever delivered to Mexico. But as we know, the great ship did not make it to Mexico. It sank after smashing into an iceberg.

The people of Mexico, who were crazy about mayonnaise, and were eagerly awaiting its delivery, were disconsolate at the loss. Their anguish was so great, that they declared a National Day of Mourning, which they still observe to this day.

The National Day of Mourning occurs each year on May 5th and is known as "Sinko De Mayo".

Thanks to Lorie for this one!

........ on the road again........

Here it is Friday already, and KeeWee and I are getting everything packed, cleaned, oiled, and ready to go. Once a year they hold a big Steel Challenge like match just South of Portland, Oregon, called the Man of Steel. This year, I decided to go give it a try. This match is aptly named, as it consists of ten stages of steel. Even the World Steel Challenge Championship was only eight stages, and by the time I got near the final stages at that match I was running out of gas!

Some of the stages are the same as the Steel Challenge stages, and some of them are completely different. Some are "big targets - in close", my favorites! One stage has not only movement from one shooting box to another, it also has a mandatory reload. No big deal for you IPSC shooters, but but for old clumsy folks with fumble-finger-itis this stage could be ugly.....

We plan to drive to the match on Saturday, and hopefully get there before the SASS Cowboy Shoot is over, so we can watch the cowboy shooters. Saturday night we plan to stay in our sumptuous and extravagant land yacht. At 8am Sunday morning the match starts, and it should take most of the day to complete. After the match we plan to drive back home, so we'll be ready to go back to work on Monday (BAH!)

Look for reports and pictures "Monday-ish"

Pin Shooting with Mr. C.

Quite a few years ago I went to the Central Whidbey Sportsman's range and entered my first bowling pin shoot. To be more specific, it was actually a rimfire bowling pin top match. The competition was head to head and single elimination. The pistol I was using wasn't very competitive, but neither was I, being both slow and inaccurate. I considered it an outstanding run if I could clear the five pin tops off the table in seven seconds and only have to use one magazine's worth of ammunition in doing so.

In those days the centerfire classes were absolutely dominated by one shooter who won every time, and no one else was even close. The rimfire competition was the same, the same shooter won every time. Sometimes a new shooter would show up, get trounced, and never come back. Of course, any new shooter who expects anything else than getting beat the first times he tries it has a lot to learn. Everyone loses a lot when they start.

Of the shooters who used to show up at the bowling pin matches back then, very few do we see today at the pin matches. I too could have gotten discouraged and given up, but that's not my nature. I took a hard look at what I was doing, and took a good look at what was needed to be competative. I could see that the pistol I was using wasn't up to the task. I started researching all the .22 pistols on the market looking for one that was rugged as a tank, easy to work on, and preferably all steel so it wouldn't get loose after tens of thousands of rounds of practice. It also had to be accurate, and left handed shooter friendly. I finally narrowed it down to either a Smith & Wesson model 41, a Browning Buckmark, or a late model series High Standard. The model 41's were by far more expensive, so I narrowed it to the Browning or the High Standard. The Buckmark's aluminum frame was a consideration, but it seemed to be really well made, so I was willing to give it a try in my effort to become more competitive. I started asking around to see if anyone had either one for sale used. By luck a friend of mine had just sold and traded some guns to a friend of his and had ended up with a High Standard Supermatic Citation in the deal. I went and looked at it and it even had a set of left hand grip panels with it. As soon as I picked it up it just felt right, like an extension of my hand. We negotiated a price, and I went home with my new pistol.

I shot a few pin matches with the new High Standard, and it was a definite improvement. I was still finishing way down the list, but I was starting to make a little progress. I could see that a red dot sight was faster and also much easier to shoot quickly, especially for old eyes like mine. The first year I competed, the iron sight and optic sighted guns shot in the same class. The next year it was split into two classes. Looking through the Brownell's catalog I came across a Lebanon Machine Products 5.5" bull barrel for the High Standard that was drilled and tapped to accept their Weaver type sight rail. Out came the credit card! I also ordered a Simmons 42mm. red dot sight to mount on the new barrel.

Once the BTH (brown truck of happiness) arrived, I quickly put the new barrel on the High Standard and mounted the sight. Off to the range to try it out!

The first time shooting with a red dot was a definite learning experience. I learned the "C-More Shuffle" as it's called. When you raise the gun to firing level, if you don't have it aligned properly you can't see the red dot. You then wiggle the gun back and forth and up and down until you find the dot! You look even more silly if you have forgotten to turn the sight on in the first place, as no matter how much you "shuffle", the dot never appears! First lesson, practice A LOT until the gun comes up with the dot centered every time.

The next thing I learned is to keep both eyes open, and focus on the target, not the sight, as you would do with iron sights. More practice need here, too!

When I first tried the red dot sight I was not only slower than with iron sights, I wasn't any more accurate. I could see I needed to put in a lot of work if I was ever going to get the hang of it.

I also learned that the faster you try to shoot, the better your trigger control needs to be. 95% of the mechanics of pistol shooting is trigger control, and trigger control isn't something that comes easily. Most of the top shooters shoot in excess of 20,000 rounds a year, and to get really good trigger control you need to not only practice a lot, but practice regularly. If I don't practice for a week or so, I really notice the drop in trigger control. Fortunately, it returns fairly quickly!

....... end of Part One - to be continued.

2008 e-Postal Match Schedule

NOTE: I've put this back on top as new hosts have been added, and an additional e-Postal match in November has been added.

I now have the starting and ending dates established for this year's e-Postal Handgun match series.

Each match will be designed by a different gun blogger, and it will be hosted on his blog. The basic concept is that a target is designed or selected and made available for download. From the host's blog you get the rules for the match, and how to get the target. You shoot the match per the rules, then scan or photograph your targets and email them to the host blogger. When the e-Postal match closes, the host blogger then sorts out the scores and posts the results on his blog.

What do you win if you win? Well, the match, that's it! No prizes, just bragging rights.

Typically each match will start on the first Monday of the month, and will end at midnight on the last Monday of the month.

If you are a Gun Blogger and would like to host one of the matches, drop me an email or leave a comment and I'll get you on the schedule.

It's "First come, first served" so don't wait too long if you want to host one of the matches.............

Anyhow, here's the schedule:

March 3rd, START
March 31st. END
Host: Mr. Completely

April 7th., START
April 28th., END
Host: The Conservative UAW Guy


May 5th., START
May 26th., END
Host: Armes et tir passion

June 2nd., START
June 30th., END
Host: Snowflakes in Hell

July 7th., START
July 28th., END
Host: Captain of a Crew of One

August 4th., START
August 25th., END
Host: Call Me Ahab

September 1st., START
September 29th., END
Host: The Sentinel (VCDL)


October 6th., START
October 28th., END
Host: Traction Control


November 3rd., START
November 26th., END
Host: Curtis Lowe Blog

A big thanks to all of you who have hosted e-Postal matches in the past, and I hope you will consider hosting a match again this year!

e-Postal Match Closes Monday Midnight

The month's handgun e-Postal match, "Don't Abduct me, bro..." closes Monday night. JimmyB, proprietor over at The Conservative UAW Guy has come up with a really challenging match for us this month.

Get out there to the range either today or Monday, and get your e-Postal targets (and lots of aliens) perforated. For all the info on the match, the rules, and instructions on how to download the targets,

CLICK HERE!

"Freedom Never Cries" Video

I came across this video over at Thor's Hall. I happened to notice that I had been added to his blogroll, and I wasn't familiar with his blog at all. Thor is a Marine Veteran and a fine blogger with a sense of humor that is right down my alley. Go check out his blog, and be sure to scroll back a page at a time as far as your time allows. There's some really good stuff there!

Click on Image to watch the video. You won't regret it, it's excellent.

Yes, he's now over there on my blogroll. "Welcome Aboard, Thor!"

Todd Jarrett on Pistol Shooting

I think this video has been around for a while, but it's well worth watching it every once in a while, as there's a whole lot of good information that will improve your shooting. Watching Todd shoot is something to see.......



Thanks to Xavier at Xavier Thoughts for bringing this excellent video back to our attention!!

Useless Bay Tennis Academy

The work on the new "Useless Bay Tennis Academy" is now well underway, although it started out with some technical difficulties. The plan was for me to clear off the huge blackberry bushes with the backhoe. The bushes completely covered the area. In some places the blackberries were eight or nine feet deep! That went fine last week, and my backhoe operator skills are definitely improving.

Last Saturday morning My friend Wayne, owner of all these fun dirt moving toys, and I were going to start the excavating, using the Drott excavator. Wayne climbed in, turned the key, and was met with total silence. When the excavator was delivered to the site, the key had been left on, and the battery was dead. I strung a cord out to the excavator from the house, and we put it on the charger. So much for getting an early start!

We let the battery charge until mid-afternoon, so it would have a good charge, and so we could get some other projects done. Come late afternoon, we made attempt number two to get underway. Still no luck, as the key switch wasn't making contact, and it wouldn't energize the starter. We pulled the instrument panel and jumped across the terminals, and it fired right up. By now, we only had a few hours of daylight left, but we got a start on the digging before it got dark.

I had been planning to shoot in a bowling pin match on Sunday, but since Sunday was the only day we had access to the backhoe and excavator, I scrubbed the pin shooting in favor of the excavating.

The pictures pretty much tell the story as the work progressed. The final dimensions of the "Floor" will be roughly 33 feet by 70 feet. The berms will all be 8 feet high. Counting the cut below the elevation at the base of the berm, that will give me nearly 16 feet of backstop berm. The side berms plus the cut depth will taper from the 16 foot height at the backstop end to 8 feet high at the bottom end. The berm on the end opposite from the backstop will also be 8 feet high.

Last week, the blackberries cleared off, and waiting to start digging.

The first buckets of dirt.

The hole is starting to grow, and the backstop berm is started.

Much of the backstop berm is in place, and the right side berm is growing.

Backstop and side berms almost to size. The floor still needs to go down a couple of feet.

Now for some backhoe work. That's a 4wd Case 580, although it's painted up like a John Deere.

Here's how far we got by the time it was getting dark on Sunday night.

We still need to get a little more dirt on the berms, but we're pretty close to height in most places. We shot the elevations with a laser gizmo, and we're within 6" of grade just about everywhere.

Plans are to hydro-seed the berms in the next couple of days to get grass growing to stabilize the dirt.

As I get it closer to finished, I'll post some more pictures.

Some time in July or August one the weather gets warmer, plans are for a BBQ and "Patio Party". Too bad it's such a long ways from here to Texas, It'd be great to have US Citizen run the BBQ and show us what REAL BBQ is all about!

German Parade Float

From a parade float in Germany..........

Hat tip to Rufus!

Tennis, anyone?

What the heck's going on with the weather? Whatever it is, it's sure doesn't have anything to do with warming. I see that Juneau just set a record for snowfall, breaking the old record by several inches. Here it is April 19th and it's been snowing off and on all day, and we're only a couple of hundred feet above sea level.

Plans had been to fire up the excavator and get most of the digging done for my new "Tennis Court" next to the house. Unfortunately someone had left the key on when they last used it, and the battery was flat. After charging up the battery for most of the day, we discovered that the wiring was messed up and we couldn't get the starter motor to go. Turns out that the ignition switch was bad, although it had just been replaced. Fortunately it had exposed terminals and I was able to jump across two of the terminals and it fired right up. By now there was barely two hours of daylight left, and the weather was starting to go bad again. We worked until dusk ,then called it a day.

Tomorrow morning we'll get back on the project, and we should have it pretty well finished up by mid-afternoon. Unfortunately, tomorrow is also a CWSA pin shoot, and I won't be able to be there. Pin shoots re probably my favorite event, and it's a rare situation where I miss one, but the diggin's gotta happen when the digger and the digger driver are available, and that means no pin shot for me tomorrow. I've been taking a few pictures as the tennis court comes together, and I'll get them posted when I can.

Shooting "Three-fer" - Part 3

After leaving the CWSA Hanging Plate match in Coupeville, Wa. KeeWee and I swung by the house, picked up some extra ammo, and headed for the Clinton - Mukilteo ferry. A short wait for the ferry, then a fifteen minute ferry ride and we were on the mainland and on our way to Gig Harbor for their handgun clay pigeon match scheduled to start at 4pm.

The traffic through Seattle and Tacoma in I-5 was miserable, but not nearly as bad as it can get when it gets really ugly. At the South end of Tacoma we took the Tacoma Narrows exit and crossed the old Tacoma Narrows bridge, a spectacular suspension bridge with the newly constructed new Narrows bridge on our left as we crossed. It was a short drive from the bridge to the Gig Harbor range. I met Bryce there at the range and got his recommendations for a nearby place to grab some early dinner before the match. He suggested a place called the Harvester, and the food was good.

From the Harvester it was a short drive back to the range, just in time for the match. I made a quick detour through the range safe area and did some quick gun cleaning and lubricating. While I was at it, I also checked the magazines that had been acting up earlier. They seemed to be just fine.

With everything ready to go, we signed up for the match. Chuck went over the range rules with us, and explained how the match was run. Nine clay pigeons were clothes-pinned to a chicken wire target frame in a horizontal zig-zag pattern. The center pigeon was only 3" in size and was completely black. Yes, it WAS hard to see at 25 feet! Each shooter was allowed only five rounds in the magazine, and when the start signal was given, you were to shoot the four clays on your side of the center clay, then shoot the center one, before your opponent shot it. Your score was the number of clays you managed to hit including the black one if you got it. You shot two runs against each of five randomly drawn opponents, for a total of fifty possible points, or hits. Six lanes were used, so a lot of shooting was done in a short time. You barely had time to catch your breath and you were back up on the line for your next match up. I could see a lot of strategy was involved, as if you shot too quickly you would miss hitting the clay pigeons, but if you shot too slowly your opponent would shoot the "Stop Clay" first, thus stopping you from scoring any more hits. I tried a little too hard on my very first run and missed one clay. I managed to hit all the rest of them until the final match up, a very fine shooter, indeed! Unfortunately, I can't remember his name, so if one of you who was there will leave his name in the comments, he deserves the credit! On our first run ,we both pushed a little bit to fast, and we both missed one. On the second run, we matched shot for shot, and both shot the stop clay at virtually the same time. The referee and other observers decided that I had been beaten to the stop clay by the smallest fraction of a second. With my eyesight, I just couldn't tell, but they are used to calling these things, so I'm sure they got it right, but it couldn't have been any closer.

I ended up with a total score of 47 out of 50. My final opponent of the day had missed a total of 4 through the match, giving him 46 points, which was good enough for a second place finish. Dan, shooting his brand new Colt Gold Cup shot the best center fire score with an outstanding 43.

I suspect luck played a big part in my final standing. It's not unusual for the winning shooter to shoot a perfect 50 out of 50, but no one did that this time, fortunately for me! When they announced the score I was really surprised, as I figured only getting a 47 would have put me well down the list! When they announced that I had won, they gave me a very cool little plastic gold medal on a ribbon. Sure, it's only plastic, but that's not the point. Some day, when I'm long past my shooting days, I can look at this little plastic gold medal and remember the Sunday afternoon I spent with a really great bunch of folks in Gig Harbor at the Gig Harbor Sportsman's club shooting clay pigeons with a pistol.

That's worth WAY more than money.........

Pin Shoot Announcement

Central Whidbey Sportsman's

Bowling Pin Shoot

This Sunday, April 20th.

9 AM.

Weekend Shooting "Three-fer" - Part 2

When I got home from the KRRC Fun Steel match Saturday night, I still had to clean my High Standard rimfire pistol as shooting all day Saturday had left it pretty dirty and gungy. I stripped down both KeeWee's High Standard and mine, and got them all ready to go for Sunday's double matches, then hit the sack for some shut-eye before Sunday arrived.

At 9am Central Whidbey Sportsman's Assn. was having the first shooting event to be held in the newly excavated pistol bays. At 4pm Gig Harbor Sportsman's Club was having their weekly Clay Pigeon pistol shoot. It was a about two and a half hours from CWSA to Gig Harbor, counting a ferry ride. Not a lot of time to waste along the way, but enough time to get to Gig Harbor, and even stop for something to eat along the way. Here's the match reports:

Central Whidbey Sportsman's
Rimfire Hanging Plate Match

The five new pistol bays are now ready for use, and the hydro-seeded grass is just starting to sprout on the new berms. In the past we held the hanging plate matches on the 75 yard range, but if we were shooting a match, no one could use the range for any non-match shooting. Now, with the new bays we can hold hanging plate and speed steel matches without interfering with any of the shooting on either the 75 yard or the 200 yard ranges.

I've covered the hanging plate match rules before, but to recap, you get three runs at the plates at each of four distances, 10, 15, 20, and 25 yards. You get six seconds to take six shots, hopefully hitting each of the six plates once. As the distance is increased a larger plate is used, starting with 4" plates at 10 yards and ending up with 7" plates at 25 yards. Your score is the total number of plates you manage to hit. We shoot both an optic sight and an iron sight class.

In the Optic Sight Class at 15 yards I had one cartridge that failed to fire, even with a good solid firing pin strike. By the time it was cleared the time had expired. costing me 3 plates. Bummer! I had already shot one "Flyer", so I was down by 4 plates early in the match. Not a good start. On the next run one of the magazines (that I didn't clean and lube the night before like I should have done) decided not to feed any ammo after the second shot and a slap and rack didn't work to get the next round into the chamber. The next run, with a different magazine, I just flat out missed one of the plates. Now I was 9 plates down only half way through the match. Not a good start, for sure!

I quickly unloaded the three magazines I was using and dipped a bore brush into some Hoppe's #9 and gave the mags a quick scrubbing. I wiped them clean and put a drop of oil in each one, then reloaded them for the upcoming round at 20 yards. I usually don't look at the scores in mid-match, but I had such a lousy score at mid-match I was curious to see just how far out of it I actually was. Since it was the first hanging plate match of the year perhaps everyone was a bit rusty and was struggling a bit too. "Evil Al" was three plates in the lead, I was barely in second, and Scott, Lou G., KeeWee, and Rainy were right behind.

I tried to focus on the remaining six runs and put the other stuff behind me. That's really hard to do as a bad run tends to stick in your mind, and that just generates more bad runs. I finished up with a 5-6-6 for 17 out of 18 at 20 yards, and 6-6-6 for a perfect 18 at 25 yards! For such a terrible start I had at least pulled it together for the last two distances.

When the scores were totalled, Rainy was fifth, KeeWee was fourth, Al had slipped to third, Scott was second, and I had managed to pull off a miracle with a near perfect finish after a disastrous start.

In the Iron Sight class Al showed everyone the way, shooting a beautiful S&W Model 17 with an 8" barrel. I managed a second, and Scott was third.

Hanging plate matches are an interesting challenge. The rate of fire is fairly slow, but perhaps the most difficult part is to stay focused for every shot since you don't get any extra shots to make up for misses.

After helping to load up the plate rack and plates for storage, KeeWee and I loaded our gear and headed for the Clinton ferry to get to the mainland for our drive to Gig Harbor, South and a bit West of Tacoma.

.... End of Part 2 - Part 3 Tomorrow

(Yes, the picture is from a hanging plate match last year - The grass hasn't grown that much yet in the new bays)

Weekend Shooting "Three-fer"

Last week as I was looking over the calendar with the upcoming shoots marked on it, I saw that I might be able to actually shoot three different matches, at three different locations, all over the course of two days. On Saturday over at the Kitsap Rifle & Revolver club in Bremerton was their monthly Fun Steel match. I try to make every one of those I possibly can, as they are always a whole lot of fun. Sunday morning at CWSA in Coupeville was going to be not only our first Rimfire Hanging Plate match of the year, it would also be the first time to use one of the five recently excavated pistol bays. The Hanging plate matches start at 9am and are usually over before noon. The Gig Harbor Sportsman's Club in gig Harbor, roughly a ferry ride and then an hour and a half South of here, shoots a pistol clay pigeon match on Sunday afternoons starting at 4pm. Hmmmm...... Yup, if I don't waste any time I can make all three with time to spare!

Here's the reports:

Kitsap Rifle & Revolver Club