In his latest "Jeff Cooper's Commentaries" (Volume 14, March), The Colonel makes a remarkable statement:
These lever-action rifles have proven most satisfactory over the years, but I feel that my devotion to the bolt-action principle was not totally justified. Actually reaction type makes little difference in field service. If you shoot well, you do not generally use a second shot. Recovery from recoil enables the shooter to operate any sort of action - including a single-shot - if he works at it.
My respect and admiration for this remarkable man is increased by his acceptance of the possibility that he may have been ... well, not wrong, but perhaps not 100% right.
(Have I used enough weasel words for one day?)
It's difficult for me to suggest error from this source. I've read Cooper for hears, going back to Cooper's Corner (as I have mentioned repeatedly) and thanks to the good offices of the Dillon I was able to acquire both Gunsite Gunsight Gossip volumes. I'm rereading the first, and soon will get to dive into Volume Two.
What surprises me, in re-reading Volume One, is not that I have forgotten so much of what he wrote earlier, but that so much of his writings are familiar.
It's like visiting an old friend, and I do hope The Colonel finds no further cause to find fault.
You know, you're at an IPSC match and you get what you think is a Really Good Stage ... and everyone who shoots after you do does it just a little bit better?
I have. Today was one of them
The second stage we shot at TCGC today ... Stage 5, if it matters ... was a fine, fun run&gun stage where you start out with an empty pistol and no magazines.
No pistol for all of that. There are 3 barrels along the 'charge line', and your pistol must be laying (unpropped) on the middle one. All magazines must be laying on the barrels as well. Your choice. If you make a reload, it must be from one of the mags you have pre-staged.
I'm fat&happy, thinking this is a great stage to have a 26-round magazine so you don't have to reload unless you seriously muck up the stage. There's only 24 rounds on the stage, and even though there are a couple of small plates to take care of, I can afford to miss&make-up two shots and still get through the stage with an extra round in the gun.
I have a great game-plan, because I get to shoot on the move. I love shooting while walking (but unfortunately, I'm not that good at it! I ignore this niggling thought that I ought to find a 'sweet spot' and shoot each array from there. I'm gonna Groucho the stage.)
I run into a little trouble with the small plates, but still end up without having to reload and complete the stage in 22+ seconds.
It's not until after the scoring starts that I realize I've got a mike on T4! But the time is good, I'm okay.
Then my Sweetie, SWMBO, shoots the stage the same way I did, but she doesn't muck up shooting the plates and doesn't get a miss. And she does it a second faster than I did! As happy as I am that she had a great run, I'm a little miffed that I ... well, muffed it.
Next, Big Dog shoots the stage and cuts HER time by a full second and change. 19.04 seconds, must be a new world's record! (Not quite.)
Finally, The Hobo Brasser *(who has adopted the annoying habit of referring to me as "Jerry the Loquatious" when he's acting as scorekeeper and announcing the line-up)* comes in with an eighteen second run.
And he shoots it without penalty, too.
I haven't seen the final scores yet, but I know that all of my so-called 'friends' have just kicked Geek Butt.
Don't get me wrong, I'm pleased that they have done so well on a challenging stage.
But next time, I'm going to shoot the stage LAST.
I'm convinced that there's an Oregon Vortex in play here .....
No, but with all of the really GOOD shooters on this stage, I'm not suggesting that we were the top four. There were 100+ competitors at this CLUB MATCH today, and many of them were far better than we B-open and C-open shooters. All I'm saying is that I'm rated as a B-class shooter in Open Division, thought I had done a good job on the stage, and watched three C-class shooters in Open Division kick me around like a soccer ball.
What am I going to do when they get bumped up to B-class?
Cheer!
(BTW, if the YouTube videos don't show up here, you can catch the original (5mb) videos on the Jerry The Geek Shooting Gallery website for The Geek, SWMBO, Big Dog and Hobo Brasser by clicking on the appropriate links, or by going to the entire sub-album here.)
