Silence Of The Lambs

I use to compete in a sport called "Practical Shooting", which is where scenario-based stage designs are used to help people simulate 'defensive' pistol shooting scenarios.

One of the things we did in Practical Shooting Matches was to shoot at targets behind a partition ... variously called a 'baffle', or  'vision barrier..   What is was, was a wall that we had to shoot around.
You had to stand behind the baffle, and crane your neck (and upper shoulders) to get the handgun past the vision barrier far enough so you could engage the target.

You could't always manage to get the muzzle of your gun past the Vision Barrier far enough that you could see the target, keep your balance, and still keep the Vision Barrier between yourself and the handgun.

With the usual kind of handgun, that imposed a penalty of a LOT of the noise of the handgun firing bouncing back, so you heard more of the noise of the gun than was comfortable.

But some of us were shooting what were called "Open Guns".
They were guns which were fitted with Compensators.

Compensators were heavy metal additions to the 'front ends' (muzzles) of the barrel which (because of inertia) minimized the amount of "muzzle flip" between shots;  so that we could shoot two shots quickly with about the same sight-picture, but needed less time between shots, because the weight prevented the front part of the gun from 'bouncing' (recoiling) as much as it would without the Compensator.

Another factor of the compensator was that it had holes drilled in the top, and at the sides, so that the "muzzle blast" was directed both vertically and laterally so the "muzzle bounce" was not so extreme.  Thus, the word "Compensator" ... compensated for the nature tendency of the muzzle to rise dramatically between shots.

This allowed us to re-engage the targets faster ... we didn't have to wait the extra half-second for the sight picture to re-show us the target, so we could shoot two (or more) shots in quick succession.   Instead of waiting a second (or more) between shots, we could take our "double-tap" in "Split times" of 0.17 to 0.30 seconds.

In a stage with, say .... ten shots, that could save us as much as 2.5 - 3 seconds, depending on the number of targets we had to engage (it usually took us from 0.30 to 0.50 seconds to transit between targets, if they were placed close together).

And in competition, a full second is like an eternity. It can be the difference between first place and forget-it-ville.

JUST TO DEMONSTRATE the difference in seconds, here are two examples of shooting a 'stand and shoot' stage with a compensated and a non-compensated pistol.

(The videos may load slowly ... they are high-resolution files.)

(Later: Well, I can't get the videos to show.  I guess the 1MB+ videos aren't acceptable to Blogger.
Sorry)

The first competitor is using a non-compensated (limited-class) pistol:

The second competitor is using a compensated (open-class) pistol.

You can see how the compensator allows the competitor to get that 'second shot' at a target faster (and more accurately).

Well ... you can see it if my video load works correctly.



Underreported: How Gun Silencers Became a Health Issue:

Most people only know about silencers from what they see in the movies—a stealthy gun accessory that helps criminals more easily kill by suppressing the sound of the gunshot. But silencers, some say, is a misleading way to describe these firearm accessories. Why? Because they don’t actually silence the sound of a gunshot.

x

The YouTube School of USPSA Competition

I'm looking forward to teaching my Introduction to USPSA class this coming Saturday because it's going to be SO EASY!

The class is only 3 days away, and the sign-ups have been available for a month, but so far nobody has contacted me to pre-register!   Which is surprising, because it is sponsored by my home club, and we don't charge you for the class.

And it's too bad, because when you get a chance to learn about USPSA competition and it doesn't cost you anything but a few hours of your time (one Saturday afternoon) and a couple of boxes of ammunition.

That's a bargain that's hard to find.

 Looking at the USPSA website, I can't find any place where people can look up clubs which offer this training.  I think that information should be available for potential new shooters.   And I wouldn't expect to find it on the official website, because most of the people who are doing this training are offering private or semi-private lessons/classes.

But private classes take enough time to deal with each individual shooter to correct problems, provide guidance, and evaluate student performances.  Those which teach a group, rather than an individual, allow students to learn from each others' mistakes as well as their Good Practices.

One resource which I have found (for those who can't find or afford a private class) is You Tube.

I've spend the past  couple of evenings surfing YouTube channels for videos of training sessions.   I haven't seen anyone teaching an actual class, but several are available showing individual training sessions.

Unfortunately, even long videos don't show you everything you need to know to begin competing in USPSA matches.

Usually, the videos are limiting their content to one of three categories:

Custer (Washington) Club Matches: Challenging!

If it need be said, these are NOT 'my' videos; I cannot shoot to this level of expertise, but I admire the experiences of those who can.  It's fortunate that 'Gunbot' posts these match videos for the rest of us to enjoy.

Shooting USPSA in the Sand @ Custer | Gunbot!:

Custer’s range is one of the best run with very interesting bays which allows them to design fun and challenging stages. This month’s match had lots of low ports which makes it hard for aging knees to deal with, at least the bays had soft sand. I felt slow in some stages because I was waiting for a perfect sight picture instead of shooting early, calling my shots and correcting them if needed.

I competed at the Area 1 match at this range in 2001 ("The Space Oddity" match) and the range had not been anything like as well developed, nor as sophisticated in range design, as we see today.

You have got to watch this exciting run!
It's not on YouTube ... so please go to the underlined link above to see the embedded video.

Ron Avery, Sight Alignment and Calling Your Shot

When I first started to think that I might want to do a LOT of IPSC/USPSA shooting, I actually invested in a series of video tapes (yes, I am that old) which provided a basic course of "how to do this stuff".

The source: Ron Avery's Three-tape (VHS) called "Secrets of a Professional Shooter".

(It's still reviewed here on VHS, and available here on DVD.)

It helped me a lot, and I was impressed when I watched him shooting Pepper Poppers on the move; I was encouraged because I eventually discovered that I too could do that .... just a lot slower.

Now he's got a quick video out on The Truth About Guns, called "Your Rear Sight Matters, Too".

He's still the master of 'shooting on the move', as far as I'm concerned.   And although the content may seem elementary to some viewers, there are pertinent tips about shooting in both a competition and in a self-defense situation.

One element which I thought was underplayed in this very short tutorial was the importance of 'calling your shots'.   I'd like to see someone put up a well-edited commentary on that methodology.

When I teach a class I try to stress the importance of 'calling your shot', but the class is too short (only four hours, one of those hours in lecture mode) to really TRAIN people in this important skill.  You can tell them "take a mental snapshot of the sight picture when the shot breaks, and replay it".  It's better than nothing, but I'm sure there is someone who can produce a professional level video which demonstrates the process.

Still, it's great to see Ron Avery back in the role of Tutor, which he does so well.

Now, if I can dust off the VHS player, I think I'll go re-watch his 3-part video.  I know there's still lots of stuff I can learn from Mister Shoot-On-The-Move.

Trashing a stage 101

Trashing a stage.

You know how it happens.

You've looked over the stage, you know where you're going to do your reloads.  You know how many targets there are, and of what type, and .. oh hell, you have got this staged KNOCKED!.

Then  the first shot goes all golly-whampus, and the game plan goes out the window.  You don't know what to do next, you don't even remember the game plan, because .. you had not expected this!

It don't matter what your plan was, or what the stage looks like.  All that matters is that you hear someone screaming "DO-OVER" ... and you realize, it is you.

I'm going to show you a video of that exact same scenario.  The shooter is experienced and competent, and when I saw it happen, I thought "Oh gee, tough break; but he'll do just fine as soon as he gets his "Do-Over" strategy.

But it didn't happen.   And that's a misery.

Here's how it looked:

Here's the breakdown on the stage performance:

1. GOT A JAM ON HIS FIRST ROUND.  Doesn't matter whether it was a high-primer, round loaded too long or too-short ... the shooter didn't have good ammunition (couldn't be a magazine malfunction) and he had to drop the magazine to make it go away.  Good choice.  but ..
2. FORGOT HIS GAME PLAN.    We can only assume  that the reason why he left the first shooting position was because he forgot that he had to engage three, not just two, targets from there.   He probably had walked it through carefully before he shot the stage, but was so distracted from the near-disasterous MALF (Malfunction) that when he rebooted his gun, he rebooted his brain.
3. FUMBLED HIS RELOAD.  This is something which he has probably practiced at home, and it's so thoroughly a part of 'muscle memory' that he doesn't even have to think about it.  But .. if he did "think about it", it completely trashed his stage.  If you have to 'think', or 'concentrate', you're not competing at 100% of your competence.
4. STOPPED TO PICK UP, AND LOADED, A DIRTY MAGAZINE.   If your magazine hits the ground, you are best off just forgetting about it and loading a new magazine.  Chances are that it will pick up dirt and grit (as it obviously did in the demo video), and it won't feed ammunition reliable.  And the grit will remain, even if you drop that magazine and grab a new, clean one.  The damage has been done, and until you clean your gun you can only expect more jams.  (WHY did he pick up his dirty magazine?  Probably because he only brought two magazines to the stage, and he had no choice but to risk it.   We can be pretty sure that he owned more than two magazines, but he was 'certain' that he wouldn't need more.   That decision certainly played a part in Trashing The Stage.  Can you say "HUBRIS", childeren?  I knew you could.)
5. QUIT, AND GO HOME MAD.   When your chamber is fouled, the best you can do is to quit.  Don't try to get more POINTS, because the TIME between each shot is going to trash your stage points anyway.  Use the time between now and the next stage to clean your gun, your magazines, and your ammunition.

Lessons Learned:

1. Carry more ammunition than you expect to need.
2. Carry more magazines  than you expect to need.
3. When you have a jam, just drop your magazine and grab another.  You have extra mags, right?
4. Never pick up a dropped magazine:  it costs time, you run the risk of sweeping yourself, and the magazine and/or ammunition may be dirty.  That will foul your gun until you can clean it, your magazine, and your ammunition.
5. When you've trashed your stage, perhaps the best thing you can do is to quit.  It's like the old adage:  When you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.

You may think that the answer is to go to OPEN Division, where you can carry 25-round magazines and you'll likely not have to reload that often.  SO ... when you're walking through the stage, you don't need to worry about Ammunition Management.

Wrong!

Ammunition Management is all about not having to make a "Standing Reload", except that it's also about not having to make more reloads than necessary .. if you can't make a reload 'on the move'.

If you are shooting in a class which requires a very low magazine capacity (eg: Production, Single-Stack, Revolver or Limited-10), the basic rule is:
If you're moving, you should be reloading!

Avoiding "Standing Reloads" is much more important .. and it should be the basis of your Game Plan no matter what division you're competing in.  Granted, in Limited or OPEN Divisions your magazine capacity may be from ten to thirty rounds (LIMITED Division has a maximum magazine length of 140mm in USPSA/IPSC competition, while OPEN Division allows magazines as long as 170mm).  For example, in my Limited gun, I can load either 17 or 18 rounds of 10mm (same diameter as .40 SW) in my 140mm magazines.  But in my open guns, I can usually load 25 rounds in my .38 Super (same diameter as 9mm Luger) in my 170mm magazines.  Some Open shooters can load more rounds in their Open Gun magazines.

The problem with shooting in Open Division is that one tends to become complacent.  You know that you have 'many' rounds in your magazine, and so you tend to equate that with  "I have ALL THE ROUNDS I'LL EVER NEED"  in your magazine.

The thing is, if you have a 23 round stage (for example) and you're sure you can complete it in 25 rounds or less, you may forget to manage your ammunition.  So, if you take an extra shot or two to make up a miss or a weak hit ... you lose the wisdom you had learned while you were shooting in divisions where you had less ammunition in your magazine.   Essentially, you forget that you really do NOT have "all the ammunition in the world!"

Here's how it looks In Real Life:

How You Tube Really sucks ....

How not to change a mag. - YouTube

Here is a video of an IPSC shooter who does a mag-change, with an Open Gun, and rocks with the next 18 (+/-) rounds to finish a stage on what appears to be in indoor range.


The shooter is shown without any reference to the target, so it's difficult to see the shooting problem which he is addressing.

But look at the comments on the video ... almost everyone who contributes to the discussion is critical, but they're not clear on why they denigrate the shooter.


Some of the critics mention the high-capacity (?) magazine, but even they are not clear on why they seem to think this is 'a bad thing'. Could it be because they are not permitted to have a magazine with 19 rounds capacity in their home country?


Okay, I'm not really sure why the commenters are so critical about this shooter. Sure, he bobbles the mag change .... but most people who care enough to contribute comments don't seem to care much about that, although those who DO mention it seem either to hot have mucked up a reload, or they have no idea what it's like to reload a 170mm magazine.

My personal evaluation is a combination of the above. Specifically:
(a) they don't like that he has a big magazine;
(b) they don't really understand what IPSC competition is about;
(c) they are envious that he has "better" equipment than he has;
(d) they are entirely ignorant about the nuances of IPSC competition
(e) they are a bunch of people who are so dominated by their country's political limitations on their persona freedoms that they can't understand that a man DOES have superior competitive equipment, because he CAN buy anything he can afford.

I think it's sad that this guy is denigrated by people who should be his "peers". The comments reveal their "Sour Grapes" attitude. Because they can't legally own equipment which is competitive, they feel the need to criticize him because he lives in a country which is constitutionally forbidden to deny his right to buy reliable pistols without restricting magazine capacity.

I'm going to keep an eye on that YouTube Video. Reading the criticisms there helps me to remind myself that a LOT of people do not have access to normal equipment ... and they are so pissed off about it, they are ready to criticize a man who has full rights to buy and use whatever equipment he can afford.

What a bunch of maroons!

Monster Match 2010

Here's the Bad News:

In the spring of 2010, land developers encroached upon what had been "safe" over-the-berm areas to the west of the Chehalem Valley Sportsmen's Club in Dundee, Oregon. Because all but one of the shooting bays at this Dundee range had been oriented to the west, it became necessary to go in with earth-movers and carve new shooting bays oriented to the south. At a club-cost of $40,000 to $50,000, the Dundee club had managed to get most of the earth moving done, and most bays established, by July of 2010. They still needed to do 'other' range work, including establishment of a semi-permanent building in what had been the "Croc Bay" to serve as a stats shack. Mainly because work was still in progress, the Dundee "You Got Bullets?" Croc Match was not scheduled for this year.

This high-round-count match has always been both a well-appreciated, well-attended match, but also one of the staples of the club's annual match income.

We local people were disappointed, especially because the 2009 match had been canceled due to the general unavailability of reloading components to the public -- due to the combination of heavy Military consumption of ammunition, and a general public 'run' on ammunition and components after the election of Barack Hussein Obama in the fall of 2008.

Here's the Good News:
This year the Albany Rifle and Pistol Club (ARPC) chose to put on a somewhat similar high-round-count match.

Scheduled for Saturday and Sunday of Labor Day weekend (September 4-5, 2010), the match criteria was: Eight stages in two days, OVER 450 round minimum required to complete the match, $50 match fee, and competitors ARE permitted to pick up their brass as long as it does not delay the match.

Speaking personally, that has been one of the main reasons why I have not been able to attend the annual Crock Match in recent years. Those matches were going to ten stages, 650+ rounds minimum requirement ... and the ammunition cost was often as high, or even higher than the match fees.

Thanks to the good offices of the Hobo Brasser in loading 1200 rounds of ammunition for me (all new Winchester .38 Super brass), I was able to attend.

Author note: I was unable to attend both days, for the simple fact that my recurring battle with Insomnia kept me from sleeping after the Saturday round. At 7am on Sunday morning, I had to call the MD, Mike McCarter, and notify him that I wouldn't be shooting that day as I was in no condition to run&gun. It is important to notify the statistician so that my missing score sheets would not cause them to delay release of the final scores. I ended up in 39th place.

The match ran smooth as clockwork and according to the final scores (apparently not yet available online) 50 people showed up for the match. Four DQ'd, and everyone seemed to be having a good time.


I managed to get videos of all of the 5 stages I shot. Too bad I didn't get to shoot the other three stages, because some of them seemed very challenging ... with lots of steel targets, including the Texas Star.

Here are the stages and the descriptions:


Stage 4: Swinging
This 240 point, 48 round was mostly shooting at cardboard, with the only 'gimmick' that the last two ports were covered by a door which had to be manually moved by the shooter to engage the second port, both of which were available from the same location. It should have been a hoser-fest, but as it was the first stage of the match for this squad, most of us were very deliberate in both movement and shooting pace. One squad member, Bill J., had gun problems within the first few seconds of this stage: broken extractor on his 1911 Limited gun. Fortunately, he managed to find a replacement pistol and completed the match.



Stage 5: Cross Over
This second stage (230 points, 46 rounds) was very similar to the first, without the door. There was an alley to traverse, targets available through ports on both sides, and at the end there was a mixture of cardboard and steel targets which couldn't all be seen from the same port.

Also, one of our youngest shooters, Dante (son of Adam, who you will also see a couple of times in the videos) had more gun problems: his 1911 Open gun would not reliably return to battery between shots. There was a question whether his small stature and musculature just wasn't providing sufficient resistance to the recoil to make it function correctly ... a not uncommon situation derogatorily described as "Limp Wristing". Eventually Adam found someone who had a lighter 1911 Recoil Spring, which when swapped out for the original seemed to solve the problem.





Stage 6: Sit Back
Except four the round count (285 points, 57 rounds), this stage was somewhat similar to the preceding stage, in that it involved traversing an alley and engaging targets through ports on both sides of the alley. The targets were mixed cardboard and steel. A couple of barrel-stacks at the end of the alley made it necessary to engage targets from both sides of both stacks, and one of our squad just didn't see that sneaky US popper hiding behind the right-side barrel stack.

The shooting ports were 20" gaps between the (snow fencing) vision barriers, and more than one of us ... including myself ... ran past a port toward the end and had to back-pedal to complete the stage without Failure To Engage and compounded Miss penalties.

The necessity of starting out sitting in a soft car-seat, back touching the back of the seat, was a safety related concern for people who, like me, were using Race Holsters. The choice was to lock the pistol in the skeletal-framed holster and then fumble with it on the draw, or to be VERY careful in the way you sit, your posture, and controlling the gun when standing up. As far as I know, nobody DQ'd the match because of this issue during the match.

These three stages, in sequence, may seem boringly similar ... especially in that there is some lateral, then some deep "vertical" (uprange to downrange) movement required. In the actual event, each proved to have its own challenge, and represented variations on the theme of requiring the shooter to be thoroughly familiar with target disposition and the best place to engage them. This is particularly important because of the large number of targets, and the limited number of places from which they could be engaged. If nothing else, they emphasized what must be every IPSC shooter's mantra: "Do a thorough walk through, know each target and shooting position, and be VERY aware of the need for tight ammunition management!"

Yes, in this match this was very true even for hi-cap shooters.

Note that every stage was carefully designed to be 8-round neutral. As is always the case in high-round-count matches, Revolver shooters had to be very aware of places where they could minimize standing reloads, and 10-round limited (Limited 10, Production) shooters experienced ammunition management challenges throughout the match.





Stage 7: Double Stack
This stage (220 points, 44 rounds) was a sudden change in design. The access to targets were not so much restricted by vision barriers as it was by the need to engage them while positioned in one of five boxes .. and the last two target arrays could ONLY be engaged from the box farthest downrange.

Again, having a good game plan before starting the stage proved critical. It was possible to shoot the mirror-image stage without visiting all of the boxes .. but the two targets behind the barrels before the last box are extremely difficult to hit from that position, exposing as they do less than a couple of inches of target from the fifth box. Better to engage them from the middle-right box, as you will see both shooters in this video doing.

I, being the first shooter, didn't do such a good job. As I was crouching in the last box to get below the last vision barrier, I realized that I had not engaged those two deep central targets from the fourth box. Faced with the need to either move backwards to the fourth box, or take the slim margin available from my last shooting position, I chose to lean to the right and shoot around the barrels. I got double-D hits on the lower target. The upper target exposed the B-zone and the upper A-zone, so I got one hit on each target. Major penalty of time involved in making such careful shots, but it took less time than moving backwards.





Stage 8: Watch Your Step

This last stage was ARPC's answer to the well-beloved "Jungle Run", as the similar stages at the Croc Match have historically been called. It was a high-value stage: 270 points, 54 rounds minimum.

The Croc Match built its Jungle Run along a path following a small creek. There was a little up-hill running, some down-hill, but it was mostly level.

This Jungle Run was uphill, all the way!

When we came on the stage, we took the better part of a half-hour just walking through the stage trying to find all of the targets. This was necessary, because at least two targets were not visible to competitors who just followed the narrow road which defined the course of fire.

After getting to the top of the road, a path branched off to the right (still leading uphill) where ten cardboard targets and two pepper-poppers lurked. The competitor could stop just a few feet from the turn, and engage all of the targets ... many of them at long ranges (in excess of 50 feet, especially for the steel.) But that turned out to be a Bad Idea, because some of the targets were double-stacked ... an obvious target stacked high on the target frame, and another target below it on the same frame, which could only be seen by running (or in my case, trudging) another 20 feet up hill. The problem? The targets were sited in thick, thigh-high underbrush, and could only be seen from the uphill shooting position.


One of the first shooters in our squad elected to not move any further uphill, but engaged the visible targets (10 IPSC, 2 US Popper) from the turn. He got miss and FTE penalties on the two hidden targets, and panting while engage steel targets from 50 feet is a very tiresome exercise ... especially when it takes a dozen hits to down the steel.

I made several trips up and down that hill during our extended walk-through, and ran the score-sheets up and down the hill for the first 4 or 5 shooters. Well, I was far down in the shooting order, I thought I could do that and still do well.

I was wrong. By the time I turned the score sheets over to another (and younger!) squad-member, I was in pain and out of breath. When my turn to shoot came up, I didn't do a lot of running.

But I knew where every target was, and I had no miss or FTE penalties. Of course, it took forever for me to get through the stage. I took over 73 seconds, all of it uphill. The top shooters were completing the same COF in half the time. (Yeah, but can they program in COBOL, SQR, SQL and Pro-C? I think not!)

The video below shows a pair of shooters, from my resting position uprange of the starting box. They are not very good, because I was shooting into the sun (hence the purple haze on the video) and because you can't always see the shooter. I left the camera rolling for one shooter as he went out of sight, just to capture the sound of many more shots from his hidden position around the turn. And on the last shooter, I allowed the camera to drop JUST when Iain was doing his fanciest shooting ... double-tapping a close target on the way past it, strong-hand only.




Conclusions:
It is difficult, and perhaps unfair, for my to draw conclusions about the whole match when I didn't experience the whole match. I can truthfully say that I regretted not returning for the second day, in which we only had to shoot 3 stages. I think they were probably the most interesting stages.

About the only criticism I can feel good about is that the Jungle Run stage was more a test of strength, stamina and endurance than about shooting skill. And that's small potatoes, when you consider that IPSC started out by depicting real-life "combat shooting" situations, as my be experienced by Law Enforcement Officers. In truth, I think that Col. Cooper, the Father of IPSC, would have approved of this stage.

It would have been MUCH better, in some ways, to have a dedicated RO and taping team running this stage. They would have had to be Iron Men, though. And not working the stage doesn't provide the average shooter with the opportunity to understand the stage and identify each target, and from where they best can be engaged.

Ultimately, the best I can honestly say about this match (or the portion of which I attempted) is:

It kicked my ass!

(Oh, and I will definitely be back again.)

_______________
Later:
It took me 2 weeks to complete this blog article .. sorry for the delay. It took one day to edit the videos into something that was even reasonable acceptable, and 4 hours tonight to load the videos and write the text.

The rest of the time, I was wondering what the heck I could say to make the article interesting, at least to the folks who were there.

I hope there's some interest also for the folks who were not participating.

Norm's Unforgivable Gift

I have been focusing on the misfortunes of others. That's unforgivable, indicative of a low sense of humor and faithlessness toward one's friends.

Perhaps I can make it up by showing something 'fortuitous' that happened on the range. Specifically, at an IPSC match.

Really, I'm amazed that it has not previously occurred to me, that I should report on Norm's Unforgivable Gift.

Again, this happened at Tri County Gun Club a few years ago, on a soggy damp morning in Bay Two.

I'm not entirely certain, but I think this was a classifier stage. A very simple one, at that.

The shooting problem was to knock down six mixed steel (Pepper Poppers and U.S. poppers), reload, then knock down six more.

Norm The Ungrateful was up, and we were primed for a six-second run, maybe seven seconds, max. And he had it going in, but he fired the first four shots ... and got a jam!

While Norm was fiddling with his pistol, trying to clear the jam as quickly as possible, the fifth popper just ... fell down.

It may have been a matter of habit; when Norm shoots, the steel falls like tenpins. Norm would probably be inclined to think he had knocked down the first four poppers so solidly that it set up a tremor in the earth. Or else, he just intimidated it down.

Whatever the reason, he was saved a shot (which shaved something like a quarter, perhaps a third of a second, off his stage time, which was a total of 11 seconds rather than the expected six seconds).

When he completed clearing the jam, he just knocked down the sixth popper, reloaded, and knocked down the last six. I'm not even certain that he realized, at the time, that one steel had sacrificed itself in a paroxysm of terror.

What amazes me now is that I have apparently never thought to post it here.



The thing is, we were all in such jaw-dropping awe that the Range Officer just recorded the time and score and let him walk away from what would normally be a "Range Equipment Failure".

We all knew he was going to win the match anyway, and it was only a Club Match. At least, that's what we told our private selves.

The truth was, we weren't entirely certain that this wasn't the way he had planned to shoot the stage.

[YouTube Link here]

The First "Fish Flop"

Given the great kerfuffle about yesterday's post describing WhiteFish's demonstration on "how to take a fall and come up shooting", it seemed necessary that I provide some visual documentation.

June of 2006, Tri County Gun Club, Stage 1.

Starting prone on a platform, grab your pistol from one of the barrel and engage all targets as they become visible.

Unfortunately, the barrels were staked down using 9" spikes. The ground was so hard, they weren't pounded in very deeply. it was difficult to avoid them when moving from one side of the stage to the next.

The inevitable happened ... to WhiteFish!

Fortunately he recovered quickly and with a minimum of damage.

The video wasn't filmed from the best angle, but it's obvious that he managed to keep the muzzle pointed in a safe direction while rolling around in the dirt, and although he had to quickly clear a jam he kept his head and finished the stage as aggressively as he had begun it.




The man has the reflexes of a cat!

(NOTE: The title on the video is in error. The match was in 2006, not 2009.)

El Presidente - The Hard Way

A five-shot snubby at an IPSC match? Well ...



... perhaps not the most competitive choice, but at least it's "Revolver Reliable".

Congratulations to "Mikey Scribbles" for boldly going where no man has gone before. And shouldn't.

H/T: Yawn

Let's Go To The Hop

Moving on with the ARPC Club Match for September, 2009 ...

Stage 1 was "Walk The Plank". An easy stage, there should be no problems, right?

Starting in Box "A", step up on a short stool on your way to a horizontal platform and there shoot all the targets (11 IPSC targets -- four to the right, four to the left, 3 in the center with some vision barriers to make it interesting.)

Easy ... unless you can't keep your pistol in the holster.

I was actually the first shooter on the stage in my squad and I kept my hand on my pistol (securely locked in my Race Holster) on my way up to The Plank.

Unfortunately, a following shooter declined to manually retain his pistol, and it popped out of his holster and hit the ground when he stepped up on the stool.

There was a bit of a hush, and then the Range Officer performed his duties of moving the competitor away from the grounded pistol, then picked the pistol off the ground, cleared it, and carefully handed it back to the competitor.

The shooter said: "What now?"

The RO said: "Now you go home".

Of course, the pistol was safed; but the USPSA rules have always been clear on this point.

If a pistol hits the ground when not under deliberate control of the shooter, that is cause for a Match DQ. The shooter is always responsible for the gun. There are no valid arguments against a Match DQ in this situation.

In this case, the stage acted as a "Holster Retention Test", and we all learned from it.

Still, it was a bit scary. We always tend to over-react when a Safety Rule is violated, however inadvertently.

Fortunately, I was not filming the shooter, so we need not indulge our "slow down to look at the car wreck on the Freeway" tendencies.

but I did film a couple of shooters in the same squad, who heeded the lesson and were very careful to control their pistol when mounting the step-stool to The Plank.

Here's how it SHOULD be done.

ARPC SIngle Stack Championship, May 9, 2009

I was unable to attend this years annual Single Stack Championship at the Albany Rifle and Pistol club, but fortunately the inimitable Trevor ("TrevorMaster") did and he filmed this video of the entire match.

I think it's the entire match. I haven't counted the number of stages on the 3:25 minute video.

And he didn't actually film it himself; it only includes his own performance on each stage.

Still, it's nice to have a chance to see what it looked like. From this point of view it looked very challenging to me ... even though Trevor made it look easy.

Kids, don't try this at home. When compared to the performance shown here, your results may be disappointing.

Dundee - Geek Steel

No, I didn't impress anyone at the Dundee match this weekend.

I was lucky to end up 25th of 60 competitors, 11th out of 14 Open Shooters, 6th of 7 B-Open competitors.

But it doesn't take away from my enjoyment of the match. Long ago I realized that I was not 'competitive', and I have been rewarded by any stage where I felt that I have performed near the limits of my ability.

Here, on Stage 6 ("S"), we were challenged to weave a tortuous labyrinth to engage 9 IPSC targets and 11 steel targets ... five of which were on a Texas Star and 6 on a Plate Rack. I took a couple of extra shots on the Star, and another couple of extra shots to take down the Plate Rack.

I could have done better ... most of my direct competitors did a better job ... but I was only a tenth of a second slower than the next-faster B-Open shooter for the exact same score.

Perhaps it would have turned out better if I would have practiced a time or two this year, but this didn't happen.

I'm not unhappy with my performance. To have done better, I would have needed to work at it.

This probably exemplifies the best I can do without practice, on a stage where I was the first shooter in the squad, and in a match which was very challenging.

No, I'm not making excuses. To do well at IPSC/USPSA competition requires a dedication which I just don't feel this year.

For me, the important thing is ... I had fun this day, and there were times when I did better than I expected. I got to see my friends, I got to shoot up a lot of ammunition, and (as long as I don't have films of all the people who shot the stage much better than I did), I looked good on video!

How much better does it get?

It Does WHAT?

Above The Groucho Line
Mike McCarter ("Mac") competed in a "Plastic Gun" match in Idaho last month. As ARPC Executive Officer, when he saw an innovative new IPSC-type target in the Vendor Tent, he couldn't resist the temptation. He bought it.

This is the guy who brought the first Texas Star target to the Columbia-Cascade Section (CCS -- Oregon) a few years ago.

Mac, being Mac, couldn't resist the temptation to premier the new target in a highly restrictive, challenging stage design, either, as you can see from the accompanying video.

The Groucho Line

The thing is, we've got a video of a stage with two main elements:

1. You can shoot the majority of the targets from the side curtains (ala "The Wizard of Oz"), or you can shoot them from ...
2. The Barrel. "I once shot an elephant in my pajamas. God only knows how he got in my pajamas".
   

Why would you engage the targets from the barrel? Well, it's the only way to save the stage-time which would otherwise be spent moving from one side of the stage to the other. "Time spent on movement is time lost'".

Why would you NOT engage the targets from the barrel? It's impossible to push your body into the barrel unless you're tall, lean, agile, and can point-shoot because HEY! It's hard to acquire the target, and achieve sight alignment, when you're cramped in this confining environment.


Yes, the position not only sucks, competitively, but it is awkward and undignified. Still, a small percentage of the competitors CAN manage to successfully engage all of the targets through the barrel and (arguably) save some stage-time by doing so.

Still, it makes you look like Winnie the Pooh, cramming himself into a small hole in the hillside, just to grab a jar of "hunny".


.
Below The Groucho Line:
I don't know what would be an appropriate name to assign to the target array. I know the names that The Squad used, but they are not appropriate in a Family Blog.

Those of you who competed in this match ... heck, anyone who has watched the video ... are invited to suggest a name for it.

For now, we are merely calling it "The Idaho Bobber".

You can download the full-fidelity 10mB version at Jerry the Geek's Video Shooting Gallery, or you can access the YOU TUBE URL here, or you can watch it here:



I don't know what to call it, but I know what it looked like at the match.

I've got a quarter to award the person who suggests the best name ... see me at the next match.

YAWN

You will recall that yesterday I posted a video which included a mere few seconds of Jan (pronounced "Yawn") shooting the "I Love Steel!" stage.

My camera had failed me (details not important here) and I was disappointed because this young competitor had specifically asked me to film his performance on this challenging and fun stage.

Fortunately, reader (and squad member) Mitch was also filming, unknown to me. In subsequent correspondence, I mentioned my disappointment to Mitch. He graciously edited and uploaded his "YAWN" video to YouTube, and I am grateful to him for providing the opportunity to make good my promise.



Jan did an excellent job on the final Texas Star target ... much better than I did the first time I attempted to drop all five plates on the rotating platform. He remembered the advice given him: "Always shoot the Top Plate" and never lost track of this goal.

Congratulations, Jan, and all the other New Shooters who successfully completed their Certification Match.

ARPC May, 2008: I Love Steel

After an extended period of not-shooting-many-matches, I think I'm getting back into the swing of things. I'm way out of practice, but assuming I can get the minor problems with my XL650 (decapping die 'broken') fixed soon I'll be shooting at least 3 times a month in the near future. Unfortunately, SWMBO is still fighting the "Walking Pneumonia" which has plagued her for the past month, so while it's fun to shoot the matches, it's not as much fun to attend without her.

This match, the March, 2008 Albany Rifle & Pistol Club match, was a gas!

The weather was just about perfect ... warm (60+ degrees) but overcast, no wind, no rain.

We had 86 competitors turn out, which was expected because MD Mac had broadcast a 'local' alert that it would be an exceptional club match. And it was. I'll be blogging about this match for a couple of days, time permitting, and providing some video as well.

Just for a teaser, here's a video which Squad Member Mitch posted on You Tube this week.


_______________________

I was especially interested in this match because most of the 13 students we hosted at the Certification Class last weekend would be competing, as well as some of the OSU Pistol Club members who have been turned on to IPSC competition by Mac (Mike McCarter, USPSA Junior Coordinator). We are all glad to see so many new shooters, and are determined to see that they have a safe yet rewarding Certification Match.

(FYI: Match Results are available here.)

It's difficult to demonstrate the full flavor of a single club match in one article, without making it too long and eventually too boring. So for now, we'll focus on the single most exciting stage of the match:

Stage 6: I Love Steel
Two Texas Star targets, seven other steel targets (Pepper Poppers and U.S. Poppers, mixed), and two cardboard IPSC targets are combined to test accuracy, reward hits with falling targets, and include some Cardboard which (in real life) are easy to forget because they blend in with the cardboard-brown background of the berm.

This was our last stage, and in many ways it was the most challenging because it forced the competitor to shoot accurately yet quickly.


How did I do? Not so well; I ended up 35th out of 86 competitors, and I felt that I was lucky to do that well. I definately need to practice.

In fact, while we were leaving the range at the end of the match, I caught up with one of the Certification Shooters, Jan (pronounced "Yawn".)

"Well, Yawn, what do you think?" I asked.

Jan didn't slow down his trudging, but turned to me and said: "What do I think? I think this IPSC shooting is a gas. And I think I need to practice!"

Well, Yawn, you've been hooked. And you think exactly that which you should think.

Welcome to the USPSA.
This video can be downloaded (15MB) here. All videos from this match can be downloaded here. All still photos and all available videos from this match can be downloaded here.


The evolution from camera to website may take a while. I'm lazy.

You Tube is "down for maintenance" right now, so we'll show the Blogspot version.



UPDATE: Tuesday, May 13, 2008

The YouTube version of the video is now available here.

Dangerous Corner

At the Dundee USPSA match last week, we were treated to a lot of interesting challenges. Generally speaking, it was a fun club match and it helped us to hone our skills in preparation for future Level II and Level III matches.

It also provided the opportunity, if not intentionally, to learn about stages which had been built with challenges which might prove dangerous to all but very experienced competitors. In fact, almost EVERY competitor was challenged by the target engagement problem on the left side of the stage, which required shooters to lean far beyond the optimal point of body balance to engage two IPSC targets.

While it's not permitted for shooters to protest that a stage is 'too difficult', this particular stage featured a body-position far out of balance along with the need to run to the shooting position, stop on the exact location where the targets could be successfully engaged, and then move to the next (far downrange) shooting position.

I personally found the stage exceptionally difficult to shoot, because the footing was poor (there was a metal prop support there, made of L-Frame steel, which was a tripping hazard) and the angle of shooter-to-targets was uncomfortably close to the 180-line. In this uniquely designed bay, shooters were never confident that their muzzle was safely within the legal direction dictated by the confines of the shooting bay, and there was a real concern that the gun might inadvertently end up pointing in the general direction of the spectators.

This stage would have been much safer to shoot if the restricting vision barrier had been moved a few inches farther downrange, allowing the shooter to achieve a balanced stance and to NOT maneuver his pistol muzzle so close to the 180 line in order to clear the vision barrier support, both while going into, and exiting the narrowly defined shooting position.

I'm sure I'm not the only one of the almost 50 competitors who found himself so off-balanced that he almost fell.

And while the good news was that Left-handed shooters didn't experience this near-vertigo imbalance, the stage clearly offered an advantage to left-handed shooters.

After I had shot the stage, and as I was drafted to work as the Range Officer, I asked SWMBO to position herself in a spot where she could easily view the shooters at this position in the stage layout, and record some videos of the various ways in which participants resolved the shooting problem.

In retrospect, I do wish I hadn't asked that of her. If a competitor had actually broken the 180 line at that point, it would have placed her in a position of some risk.

In the actual event, no unsafe conditions (speaking in terms of having the muzzle of the gun pointing at SWMBO) were ever experienced. However, this happy state of affairs is more a credit to the gun-handling skills of the members of the squad, than to my own judgment.

The following video demonstrates poor vs good techniques. My own run is demonstrably "poor", in that I almost fell at the Dangerous Corner. The final clip, "Dave", shows how the stage may be safely engaged. I may be amiss if I don't mention that Dave is left-handed, and the state is certainly much easier for a 'lefty' to shoot than a 'righty'.

If nothing else, this situation emphasized the value of every USPSA match ... even a "Club Match" ... to conduct a walk-through before the match actually starts. Had I seen this stage earlier in the day, and had I the option, I would certainly have objected to the safety hazard demonstrated on this stage.

Watch the video, identify the unsafe situation, and please comment.

Nyle Leatham

Shooting Wire: "One of the best-known and liked figures in competitive shooting, Nyle Leatham died last Friday after a short bout with pancreatic cancer. In addition to being the father of Rob 'The Great One' Leatham, twenty-one time national USPSA Champion, Nyle is widely recognized as the innovator in using remote photography to document the sport of practical shooting. It was Nyle's innovation that in the 1980s and 1990s first allowed readers of shooting magazines to actually see the faces of shooters in action. " [Ed: Emphasis Added.]

From The Shooting Wire (and also from so many other sources, such as the Michael Bane Blog), we learn of the passing of one of The Greats of Competition Shooting.

It may be a diminution of Nyle Leatham's Legacy to emphasize that he was the father of The Great One ... Rob "TGO" Leatham. But I doubt Nyle would object to this. I'm sure he was immensely proud of his "over-achiever" son.

Instead, we might take a minute to focus on Nyle's contribution to Competition Shooting, as is mentioned in Jim Scouten's "The Shooting Wire" eulogy.

Leathem was indeed the innovator who introduced the "Remote Camera", and provided us with fascinating photos of the faces of competitors during the actual target engagement and moving-toward-targets which added such excitement to (for example) cover photos for "Front Sight" magazine.

As a wanna-be photographer on a limited budged, I was never able to invest in the expensive equipment which safely allowed me to place a camera down-range. But I always sought the vantage point which would provide me with even a monentary glimpse of the face of The Shooter.

I was ever dissatisfied with "Butt-Shots", no matter how interesting they may be due to unusual circumstances.

Why? Because Nyle Leatham showed me that a frontal view of the shooter (or even a profile) was a much more interesting shot, and while I never expected to be able to provide, the sharp, exciting views which he provided as a normal state of affairs, I knew that there were always opportunities for a better view.

The quest for close, personal and identifiable Moments in Shooting Competition led me to situations which were momentarily hairy, but afforded me some of the best film footage (emphasizing videos, rather than static photos) of my career to day. I've been 'swept', I've been terrified ... but I have always chased the standard of competition photography which has been established, and exemplified, by Nyle Leatham.

Angle, lighting, close-action and context are EVERYTHING in Action Photography. These things I have learned from Nyle Leatham.

Nyle, this shot's for you.

Rainman

Yesterday (November 19, 2007) there was an IPSC match at Tri County Gun Club (TCGC) at Sherwood, Oregon.

SWMBO and I had originally planned to shoot the match, but Family Emergencies interrupted our plans ("Life Happens") and we spent that morning driving to Eugene, instead.

I admit, I wasn't terribly disappointed.

We have experienced some of our most difficult matches in November at TCGC. It's not the fault of the club, or the range ... it's the fault of Oregon!

If you remember the movie "Jeremiah Johnson", you may remember the line toward the end of the movie:

"March is a wet and muddy month. Some folks like it. Farmers, mostly." (said by Will Geer to Robert Redford.)

Well, in Oregon, November is a 'wet and muddy month' and nobody likes it very much; especially the folks who have to be outside and do things in the wet and the mud.

The weather in November and December is so inclement (read: nasty!) that the December match at TCGC is traditionally a "Concealed Carry" match ... which supports the tendency of IPSC competitors to show up with lots of warm clothing.

The November was not (as far as I know ... remember, I wasn't there) a Concealed Carry Match, but I know how hard it was raining where I was in Oregon, and I'm certain the weather was not much better in Sherwood, Oregon.

I'm often asked by friends and co-workers "What do you do when it's raining? Surely you don't go shooting as you do most of the year!" The truth is, IPSC matches in Oregon are poorly attended, mostly because of the cold and the wet. The difficulty in pasting bullet-holes on targets, the wind and the rain, the mud puddles found on the most 'advanced' gravel-surfaced bays ... all of these factors tend to make most of us think again at 7am whether we would rather go shooting, or stay home for the home-made Eggs Benedict with Mimosas, watching the telly and working the Sunday Crossword puzzle.

It is for this reason that I applaud the 25 hardy souls (sorry, match results not currently available ... it's rainy out here, you know) who actually showed up and packed steel back to the Conex storage at the end of the match. When they were cold, and wet, and tired ....

All of this is intended as an introduction to Trevor O., who provided some videos of what it's like to shoot an IPSC match in genuinely yucky weather.

Sorry, no music. This is the way it looks, this is how it feels. Pay close attention to standing ground water, and Trevor's t-shirt 'rain gear'. He's shooting a revolver this time, although he usually competes in Limited 10 Division. (Note: there were only 3 Open-Division shooter on this day.

Enjoy!

I'm liking it. I wasn't there, freezing my Personal Private Parts off and trying to tape soggy targets. (YouTube link here.)

There are some advantages to being a cranky old man. Mostly, you no longer feel obliged to prove that you are an Iron Man.

Or ... a RainMan!

She's B-A-A-A-A-ACK!

SWMBO (She - Who Must Be Obeyed) went through major surgery on September 26, 2007. She's be recovering quickly, returning to work after only 3 weeks instead of the six-to-eight weeks predicted by her surgeon.

But she hasn't felt up to shooting an IPSC match until last week-end, when we both went to the Albany Rifle and Pistol Club (ARPC) Points Match.

We had agreed that if either of us felt like dropping out, it was 'okay' with the other. (I had been out half of October with the Flu, which makes us a pair of Sick-O's.)

As it happened, we both managed to get through the whole match, and in fact both did our share of officiating, taping and brassing.

To our mutual surprise, we were blissed out the whole day. We knew we missed our friends and the mild exercise available through IPSC competition, but the surprisingly best part was --- it was fun!

Sometimes it's easy to be so focused on "being competitive", it's easy to lose track of the real reason why we spend so much time and money on competitive shooting: it's fun!

If we did nothing else last weekend, we got back to the root-cause of the investment in shooting.

It's fun!

Here's the video of SWMBO's first stage in her first match in two months. Note the smiles, note that both She and the Range Officer have big silly grins and are laughing though most of the movie.

Did I mention the most important thing about IPSC competition?

It's fun!