Enough of that.
I want to show you how much FUN it is to shoot in IPSC matches. After all, that's why I originally created this blog.
While I've tried to keep the number of photographs down (because they take so darned long to load ... especially if you're accessing the Internet on a too-slow modem, as I am) I think I'll just show you the pictures and let you decide for yourself whether the game is worth the effort.
The first three pictures are from the Albany match 'last' weekend in April. We were blessed with gentle weather, and I think you should be given a 'baseline' picture of Good Spring Weather in Oregon so you can see how, uh, 'changeable' it can be. These photos were taken on April 9, 2005.
This first picture is of an 'unidentified' young lady shooting an IPSC stage. I know you're paying attention to the shirtsleeve weather, and the generally green background.
In that same match, here's a photo of SWMBO at the Load And Make Ready" portion of another stage (in this case the Classifier Stage.) Note her concentration:
... And in the final photo from this match, here's 'Barsoom' smokin' the "Drum Wall" stage. The stage was named because of the reverberations of the competitor's pistol (in this case, a Glock Open Pistol in .40 S&W) from the visquine (sp) fabric which was used to fabricate the walls. Barsoom absolutely crushed me ... and almost everyone else ... at this match, and ended up placing 3rd overall and First B-Open. (I was lucky to finish in the Fourth B-Open place and 10th out of 17 Open Division.)
The final two pictures are from 'this weekend in April' ... Sunday, April 17, 2005. The host club was Tri-County Gun Club in Sherwood, Oregon.
I didn't do well. It didn't have a lot to do with the weather; mostly I just wasn't turning myself loose to shoot to the edge of the envelope. Instead, I was much to conservative. It was a "Points Match" and deliberately designed to be edgy. The stages were tough, and most of them focused on accuracy rather than fast shooting. The thing is, you had to be accurate AND fast to score well in comparison to the other 74 competitors. And there was another factor: the weather turned on us.
It was a rainy day. Pretty darned rainy. Not the
It was a matter of grey skies with blue patches. Some people focused on the blue patches, some on the grey skies. (Note: the following picture is misleading; both of the gentlemen depicted here are of almost invariably sunny disposition. However, the accidental contrast was too dramatic to resist including it in this composition.)
The final photo is of SWMBO in a 'pixie-ish' mood. I don't know whether she's saying "hello", or "find me another mud-puddle to stomp", or "I know it's wet and rainy, and I should be glum, but I'm having a great time and I don't care!" As far as I know, she's saying "my fingers are frozen in an un-natural position from picking up brass from the mud puddles!"
I just included it because she's gorgeous, and charming, and any time I can sneak her picture into the conversation it makes it a Good Day for me!
Incidently, if you follow the link for the match scores, you will notice the Open Division is lead by a young man named "Kevin". He has been dominating the Limited 10 Division for the past year, and only in the past couple of months has he migrated to Open Division. As far as I know, he has been using the same gun for "Open" as he has for "Limited 10" ... a single stack!
I may be wrong ... I usually am ... but you will note he beat two Master Open competitors, two A-class Open shooters, and the other five B-Class open shooters (in which class I once again finished 4th of six.)
At the next club match I'll try to catch up with this relatively young open shooter (meaning, he's not a Senior like the rest of us B-Open shooters.) If I can, I'll tell you as much as he will allow about what kind of equipment he's using, how long he has been using it, and anything else I can learn about his amazing success story.
Can this be the next USPSA prodigy?
Stay tuned.
UPDATE:
Yup, it's true. I was wrong.
I've just heard from one of my 'sources' that the illustrious Kevin is not winning club matches shooting a singlestack in Open Division. He's using a big ol' STI with compensator, bigsticks and reddot sight. This revelation (to me) doesn't take a lot away from his shooting prowess, because this is apparently a situation where a talented shooter displays a "like a fish to water" affinity for getting the most out of whatever hardware available to solve the shooting problem.
I'm still impressed by Kevin's shooting, and I still intend to furnish more information later if Kevin is willing to be interviewed for an internet weblog.
No comments:
Post a Comment