I've started a few articles this way, and as usual I have a story or two to tell.
This match was especially rewarding to me, because SWMBO had such a good experience in her 2nd Chemotherapy treatment that I felt justified in celebrating by going out with the boys and having a good time. (Interpretation: going to a USPSA match.)
Besides, my last match of two weeks ago had ended early, and unsatisfactorily. Then, my C-More sight failed on the first stage, and I was unable to replace the battery because the 'slot' on the tiny allen-screw holding the battery cover was stripped so I couldn't replace the battery. I had reluctantly given the STI Race gun to Fish to deliver to Rob Shepherd of Major Nyne Guns for repair, and gone home.
This morning (Saturday) I stopped by Rob's house in Salem to retrieve the pistol, and got to the range at Dundee just as they were starting the walkthrough. I was anticipating a good day. The weather was perfect ... fifty degrees when I got there, up to over 60 degrees by the time the match completed (at 3pm), and no wind or rain expected.
The Hobo Brasser had already signed me up on the same squad, so after I signed up and paid my $17 match fees, which also paid "somebody else" to tear down the stages and put all props and targets away, I joined The Hobo Brasser on our first stage.
Curiously, almost everyone in the 15-man squad experienced gun problems on that stage. I'm sure it was only coincidence, but most of us discovered that from time to time the slide would lock back when trying to bring the next cartridge up from the magazine. I had this experience in 3 of the 6 stages, but some competitors (such as Anthony, who switched guns after the first stage), experienced it on most if not all stages of the match.
I mention this only to justify the generally poor performance of most competitors at this match ... an only incidentally as an alibi for my own generally slow times. Even Norm The Ungrateful, who was Match Winner, had so many firearm reliability problems that he switched to his back-up pistol after two bad stages.
I never discovered why so many people suffered so many reliability problems in this match. For example, I stopped by the the Safety Table after the 2nd stage to visit with Norm while he was carefully cleaning his backup gun before he continued. It is possible that many of use (like me) had been delinquent in continuing a consistent gun-cleaning regimen after the end of the Competition Year.
________________________________________
On our third stage (for this 15-man squad, this was stage 4 -- "Stock Market Crash" -- in Bay 4 in "The Rifle Bay", which is a bifurcated area with two shooting bays at Dundee. You will be familiar with this Big Bay if you have ever competed in a Dundee Match ( especially including the Croc Match).
This stage involved lateral movement, and required us to move an attache from somewhere in the middle of the bay and deposit it in a half-cut plastic barrel repository on either side of the bay. There was a fault line running laterally across the bay. Watch the video, you will get the idea.
Because I was kept busy during the day, I only managed to film The Hobo Brasser on this stage. (YouTube version here)I want to focus on THB, because he was shooting Glock today (quoth he, several times: "I will be SO glad when I get my Open gun back" ... said Open Gun being at the Open Gun Doctor place undergoing a general rebuild.)
I was impressed that he managed to hit all of the US Poppers in this very challenging stage.
Here's how it looked:
Yes, THB did a good job of catching the teensy-weensy US Poppers on that stage, but that does not excuse him from being picked on.
________________________________________
While we were waiting for our turn to shoot Stage 5 "Roadblock", I happened to spot a small orange spot in the gravel covering the floor of the bay.
I looked, looked again, and for all the world it appeared to me that someone had put orange fingernail polish on the front-sight of his pistol, and then lost that front sight.
Bending to pick it up, I noticed that there were several other-sized of black composite material with orange color on one side. I surmised that someone had used orange-painted Clay Pigeons as targets on that bay (not unusually in 3-gun and Multigun competition, as well as Tactical/Practical Rifle and Tactical/Practical Carbine matches), and the shards of these Clay Pigeons virtually covered the floor of the bay.
Still, I was entranced by the similarity of this small piece of orange-painted bonded clay to the front sight of a pistol.
I took it to where The Hobo Brasser was sitting on his golf-stool, handed it to him and said:
"Look! A Front Sight for an early model Glock!
THB took one look, and promptly threw it at me. It bounced off my manly chest, and was lost forever in the gravel floor of the bay.
Guy Neil, also in our squad, laughed aloud at these antics as I berated THB for his intemperate Irish temper. "I was gonna blog about that pot-shard. You ruined my article, you Philistine!" I berated him. "Now what am I going to do for a Sunday Night Blog?"
The Hobo Brasser, as his habit, was unmoved by such a gentlemanly plea for help. He got up and shot the stage (YouTube version here) ... and missed a LOT of US Poppers!.
Okay, he didn't actually "miss a lot" of the steel targets. He took a couple of extra shots at a couple of the small US Poppers. I only exaggerate the difficulties for the sake of making the story more interesting.
Still, I ask you ... doesn't that shard of clay look to you as if it might be a prototype front sight for a Glock
Oh, right. It's only applicable if you are a Glock-o-phobe.
Well, that works for me.
No comments:
Post a Comment