Pete and Re-Pete

When I talked about the Memorial Day Dundee Match, I neglected to mention a couple of IPSC shooters in our squad that we had never met before.

Mitch M. and Ramiro R. usually compete at the COSSA Practical Shooters' Range, 21 miles east of Bend, Oregon. (This was the site of USPSA National Matches in 2003 and 2004, where SWMBO and I both competed and worked as Range Officers.) I'm not sure what COSSA stands for. "CO" is obviously "Central Oregon", and "A" is "Association (I think), but I have no idea what the "SS" stands for.

It doesn't matter, and by this time next week I'm pretty sure someone will have clarified the issue for me.

It's enough that Mitch and Ramiro left Bend at 5am to get to the match in Dundee by 9am. I assume it's because they love to shoot and have precious little opportunity to shoot IPSC matches every weekend, being as they are sited in the middle of a state the approximate size of Iraq.

We weren't acquainted with Mitch and Ramiro, so we asked if they were 'new shooters'. They laughed, and said that no, they had shot a couple of matches. (We later learned that they were B-class shooters ... clearly no tyros here.)

We enjoyed the company of Mitch and Ramiro, but as the match progressed we realized that Ramiro was experiencing some problems with his pistol. Worse, we watched as he experienced some Range Equipment Failures which necessitated reshooting the stages. That never works out well for the shooter, and by the time we started the 4th stage I was Range Officer when Ramiro came up to the line.

Hi, I'm Jerry and I'll be your Range Officer for this state, and also for your Reshoot.

Ramiro groaned, accused me of jinxing him, but managed to shoot the stage clean (and beat me on the stage with his STI Race Gun!)

By the time we got to the last stage, I had told them that I was renaming them from Mitch and Ramiro to "Pete and Re-Pete". More groans.

I'm going to be in the Bend area this weekend, and I told them so. As it happens, COSSA iss putting on an "IPSC Steel" match this Saturday. This is an IPSC match in which no cardboard targets are used. This is the High-Plains version of an IPSC Winter Match. No problems with soggy cardboard or tape not sticking. No need to cover targets with plastic bags. They use only steel targets, which simplifies 'bad weather' matches.

"Pete and Re-Pete" were enthusiastic about encouraging me to attend the Bend June Match. The even offered to invite me to squad with them. So I'll be shooting in Bend this weekend, and I hope to have some interesting photos here.

By the way, you may ask:


Why in the WORLD do they need to hold a "Bad Weather" match in June?

In response, I remind you that the 2003 Area 1 match was held in Bend, the first full weekend in May. It snowed. Why did it snow? Because it was too cold for rain.

Wish me luck.