Guest: ARPC Single-Stack and Glock Matches

In response to my plea for someone who actually competed in these two matches, WhiteFish gave permission for me to post part of an email he sent me on the day after the match.

... Shot both the single stack and Glock matches over the weekend. The results from the single stack were best left there, however, I did have some good stages and bright spots.

You would have enjoyed watching Bob H*****, the god of steel, bang away with 8 shots on a mini-popper and then 6 shots at a regular popper on the next stage - only to discover the screw in the rear sight had come out and it was sliding from side to side with each shot. It was something to behold! H***** proving that he is actually human! I let Bob shoot my Kimber on our last stage which had some difficult long shots with no-shoots attached (and two low ports with swingers).

Al Austen won a Springfield .45 at the post-match drawing, as did Bruce Bennett. Scott Springer won the single stack match.

The weather at the Glock match was miserable. I was drenched (and eventually cold) even with a Goretex raincoat. I shot the new Glock 35 in 40 S&W - only about a hundred rounds through it prior to the match. It proved to be a "shooter". Finished 25th overall out of 55 shooters with a overall % of 64.5%, 3rd C Limited, and 6th of 14 Limited shooters overall with a Limited match % of 85% - not far behind Bob Scheussler, who is now in B Limited. That effort earned me a plaque that will be coming from Emanuel Bragg. Lots of shooters were bunched very close together, so I wasn't far out of the top 20 overall.

I shot with Bruce Bennett and Bill Mayne, essentially a squad of WA shooters except for me. BTW - Trevor Ott is nothing short of amazing. Trevor beat, shooting Production, 6 open Glock shooters, including Bill Marrs, while shooting a borrowed stock 9mm Glock belonging to his father!

My calves ache today, but otherwise I survived the weekend.

Note that the weather in the Albany, Oregon, area was threatening on Saturday, but the Single-Stack match was conducted under semi-dry conditions. For Oregon at the end of September, that's as good as we can expect.

The Glock Match started out on a wet, cold, breezy Sunday morning. The rain was minor drizzle all morning and intermittent rain the rest of the day.

You've heard that the Eskimos supposedly have a hundred words for snow? That may not be true, but the fact is that all languages have built-up words (such as German) based on a root word, and many phrases or expressions which are variations on the theme. In Oregon, we tend to be more discerning about the way we describe rain. For example: mist, 'light rain', shower(s), 'intermittent rain', rain, 'slanting rain' (rain and wind combined), 'heavy rain', "hard rain', downpour and 'gully-washer' might be considered a descriptive progression of precipitation.

As a Native Oregonian, I carry boots, gloves, umbrella and rain-gear in my car from Labor Day to Independence Day. When we go to matches during this period, SWMBO and I typically don boots and rain pants before we leave the house. Sometimes we find we don't need this much protection, but I can state with confidence that we wear raincoats and rain-pants at 90% of the matches during the 9-month "rainy season" in Oregon.

I'm surprised to see WhiteFish commenting on the weather here. I've seen him shoot all day wearing no more protection than a wool shirt over the same clothing he wears all year. When he says he "... was drenched (and eventually cold) " is remarkable. I was amazed to learn that he even owns a Goretex raincoat.

In the ten years we've been shooting together, I've never seen it.

Forget "Global Warming". It appears that Oregon has entered a "mini-ice age", folks.

I've also received email from other competitors, commenting on the experience of back-to-back eight stage matches. Gary G-Man had invited us over for a BBQ after the Saturday Single-Stack match, which we regretfully declined because SWMBO is still recuperating from Surgery. He writes:

Last weekend would not have been the best time to have a get-to-gather anyway. I always forget how tiring it is to shoot 8 stages in a day, let alone shooting another 8 stages the following day. My ol body rebels when my mind says it can do it.

Yeah. Well, at least you stepped up to the line and did it. The closest I came to the match was when I went to the 7-11 to buy the Sunday Papers, so we could do the crossword puzzles.

I've also heard that these two matches will again be presented back-to-back next year ... but in the summer. Sounds like a good idea.

UPDATE: 06-OCT-2007 - Match Results
2007 Single Stack Match
2007 Glock Match