I mentioned last week that the Albany Rifle and Pistol Club would be hosting a couple of "Special" matches on the weekend of May 31 and June 1, 2008.
Single Stack Guns:
Unfortunately, I was unable to attend the 12th Annual Oregon Single Stack Championship, because of Family considerations. Also, I haven't seen the front sights of a 1911 since 2003, so it's probably just as well that I didn't compete, although it would have been nice if I had shown up to take some pictures and report on the match. You can see the scores from this match here.
It's absolutely no surprise that Keith T. won the match, and that Chuck A. took 2nd and Rob S. was 3rd ... just as it would have been not surprising if the order of finish was shuffled among them. This is the Triumvirate of Top Finishers in any Oregon match, even though Chuck usually competes in Production Division.
These three men are deadly with any pistol in their hands. Keith and Chuck are LEOs and Rob is a gunslinger of high repute, and is currently expanding into his own gunsmithing business. (I call on Rob to perform maintenance and repairs on the pistols that SWMBO and I use.)
Scroll back a paragraph: note that the top two finishers are LEOs. If you are a devotee of the concept that Cops Can't Shoot, I invite you to consider that 4 of the top 11 competitors earn their living with a badge, a uniform and a pistol.
In fact, the only surprises are the two DQ's in this field of 86 competitors, and the presence of USPSA Area 1 Director Bruce Gary and USPSA Executive Director Dave Thomas. Bruce competes in as many Area 1 Major Matches as he can, but Dave is more often found behind a camera than behind a gun.
Now I'm really disappointed, that I was unable to visit with these two USPSA stalwarts who have given so much to the sport over the years.
As for the DQ's, both are experienced competitors and are not known for unsafe gun-handling; rather the opposite.
Also, please note that there are two Divisions represented in the match: Single Stack and Limited 10. This was not a "pure" Single Stack match, in that Double-Stack shooters are invited to compete. Note also that the top 11 overall finishers were competing in Limited 10 Division. I'm sure this is a meaningful statistic, possibly in that Limited 10 is allowed to use 10-round magazines while Single Stack Division competitors are limited to 8-round magazines. But then, I wasn't there ...
Plastic Guns
This was originally hosted by the ARPC as "The Glock Match", but this year it is a "Plastic Gun Championship". (Match results are available here.)
Again, I was unable to attend due to other obligations, and again I am disappointed that I missed the opportunity to watch an interesting "Special" match.
Not that I would have been able to shoot it. The only "Plastic" gun I own is a Kel-Tec P3-AT in .380 caliber, which is not legal in this kind of Practical Pistol competition. Not only can I NOT see the sights, the sights are minimal at best and it is hardly a competitive pistol ... although it is not a bad little Carry pistol.
The 53 participants competed in four divisions (to my surprise) : Open, Limited, Limited 10 and Production.
The over-all results were a hodge-podge of finishers, and I saw no logical evolution of placement. Some of the competitors who finished high in the match were not who I would have expected, and some who were way down in the order of finish are those whom I would have expected to turn in much higher relative scores.
Twenty-five of the fifty-three competitors were 'category' shooters: 2 Juniors, a scattering of Super Seniors, and mostly Seniors.
Cutting the commentary short (for once), I can only say that the people who chose to compete in this match were obviously highly motivated, and often they were shooting pistols with which they were very familiar.
This was not often the case in the Single Stack Championship Match. Most of the competitors there were not known for regularly using the pistols with which they there competed.
The "Plastic Gun" match, on the other hand, may have been set up with a much more lenient definition of acceptable equipment. (I note that of the top six competitors, four were competing in "Open" division.)
____________________________________
Congratulations to everyone who competed, special attention to those who finished high in the list, and special commiseration to those who ... as I would have ... found themselves overwhelmed by the exceptional quality of competition.
I suspect that next year the competition will be much tougher, as the reputation of these matches attracts even more competitive participants from around the country.
____________________________________
UPDATE: 3-JUN-2008
In my recognition of USPSA luminaries, I completely overlooked Dave Stanford, who signed a USPSA membership card or two for me, and whom I would have loved to finally meet in person. Thanks to Bruce Gary for correcting the oversight in the comments section, and unintentionally giving me one more reason to regret skipping the match.
Also, when I went back and reread the article today, I noticed that I had bemoaned the lack of an appropriate "Plastic Gun" to shoot in the eponymous match. I hadn't realized that the STI Tru-Bore was acceptable to compete in Open Division, even though I did mention in the article that this was one of the available divisions.
No comments:
Post a Comment