Columbia Cascade Section news

This information will be of particular interest to members of the USPSA's Columbia Cascade Section (CCS), which represents four clubs in NW and Central Oregon. However, the implications may be of interest to IPSC competitors in other areas because it represents the benefits of strong volunteerism in the section.

Our current Section Coordinator, Mike ("Mac") McCarter, has just been designated USPSA's Junior Coordinator, replacing outgoing coordinator Larry Houck. Mac has also a declared candidate for USPSA President. When the USPSA Board of Directors was asked whether there is any conflict of interest in the double filing, they decided that it was acceptable for Mac to serve as Junior Coordinator until the completion of the Presidential Election process in mid-2007. We're fortunate at USPSA to have such a competent, experienced and energetic volunteer available for these positions, although we in CCS are aware that we're losing so much vision and managerial ability in our local competitions.

The election of CCS Officers will be an interesting process this year, with some of our BOD running for their current offices again for the 2007 season, one (Norm) filing to advance from Secretary to Section Coordinator, a Club Rep filing to move to replace Norm as Section Secretary, and Chuck, who was Prize table Coordinator for the 2006 Area 1 tournament (a prize table of over $60,000) is filing for Competition Director.

There is still time and room for more candidates to file, and I hope we have more volunteers to come forward to offer their skills and energy at the Section level. But personally, I have a great deal of respect for the people who have already filed for office. This section can only continue to demonstrate the adage that success breeds success. A record of successful major matches, and a month-to-month presentation of quality 'club matches', brings in a consistent high number of participants. As more people are attracted to IPSC competition in the area, match fees are building the treasury of the host clubs and providing more funding for significant range improvements.

Perhaps more important, as successful matches become the standard rather than the exception, more 'quality people' are attracted to the sport. The term 'quality people' should be understood to describe people who are highly satisfied with the value of competition offered, and are willing and eager to contribute their organizational talents and time to serve in an administrative capacity.

Burn-out has always been a problem with IPSC competition. As an amateur sport, it is dependent on volunteers to do the real work of organizing matches; designing and constructing stages which are challenging, fair and consistent; establishing policies and practices to provide consistency across the section; and encouraging other competitors to step forward to make a similar contribution to "pay back" the sport which has provided them with so much rewarding competition.


The growth of IPSC competition in CCS is a reflection of the growth of each individual member club. Over the past few years, all four of the clubs in this section have re-invested their match fees in range improvement programs.

The Dundee Practical Shooters started it out with digging out new shooting bays, surfacing all bays in thick gravel (when it rains in Oregon, this is necessary to avoid slipping in mud), building new berms, building a new "Stats Shack" with electrical power from a generator, importing more porta-potties, installing a wash-up station (using water from the fast-running rill that runs through the range), pouring concrete pads, bringing in picnic tables, installing overhead cover on most stages, setting up a second Safety Area, buying more steel targets, building more props, and initiating a club-member core group known as "The Old Guard".

This last improvement may be the most important in terms of their ability to continue hosting challenging, fun matches on a monthly basis. The Old Guard members are distinguished by their distinctive shirts and hats, which they wear at every match. When competitors encounter problems on a stage (such as a range-equipment failure which requires immediate repair, or running out of tape, or discovery of a faulty timer, or a rules question which requires intercession by the Match Director), they can search out the nearest Old Guard member. That designated club representative will make every effort to see that the problem is resolved, to insure that the match continues as smoothly as possible.

It's The Old Guard designing and constructing stages, and seeing to it that they are torn down at the end of the match. (Usually, they charge an extra $2 in the match fees to pay for 'someone else' to tear down the stages, to the utter delight of often-exhausted competitors.

It's The Old Guard scheduling the matches, insuring that the stats are kept accurately and in a timely manner, serving as MD and RM, building innovative props, and seeing that match scores are posted to the internet within a day or two of the match ... often, the same evening as the match is completed.

Tri County Gun Club, in Sherwood (I've written about this club before), recently completed a HUGE range expansion program which has been advancing step-wise for serveral years. The first stage was little more than digging out a couple of extra bays and surfacing all bays in thick gravel. Some overhead shelter was provided, in part financed by private contributions from club members.

The last phase was completed in 2006, just in time for the Area 1 Championship Tournament. The surrounding hillsides were extensively dug out to make room for a total of 13 shooting bays, parking for 200 cars, and all of these surfaces were covered in thick gravel.

Berms were constructed of huge concrete blocks (similar to the "New Jersey" concrete barriers often found on interstate freeways, but of a different cross-section allowing them to be stacked and interlocked like Lego toys). The concrete berms were faced with dirt banks, to absorb the bullets and prevent the deterioration of the concrete due to bullet-strikes and the consequent splatter, spalling or recochets of bullets which would otherwise strike bare concrete.

More overhead cover was erected, and while not ALL bays yet have protection from sun and rain, most bays which are commonly used in IPSC competition have this improvement.

Some of the new concrete-bermed bays are fifty yards deep, and almost as wide, allowing a wide range of challenging stage designs to be presented there. Those bays almost invariably include a niche where a safety table can be provided for each bay. The convenience of a safety table is a great advantage where competitors can work on malfunctioning weapons (pistol-caliber carbine and practical/tactical shotgun matches are also held in this range) , practice their draw or reloading, bag and unbag safe weapons, and any other function which the IPSC rules allow to take place in Safety Areas.

They also installed a number of extra porta-potties for the relief of busy, active competitors. Speaking for the Super Senior contingent ... thank you, TCGC!


The COSSA Practical Shooter (as far as I can tell, COSSA stands for Central Oregon Sports Shooters Association) is located 22 miles East of Bend, Oregon, on Highway 20.

Because they are geographically located so far away from the Willamette Valley, which contains the other three clubs, their attendance is much smaller on a monthly basis. Added to the distance, consider that their Winter weather is much more severe than that found in the mild Valley, all of which combines to make a trip to Bend a real treat.

They joined the Columbia Cascade Section a few years ago, and one of their first acts was to add more shooting bays for a total of 13. The High Desert climate allows them to use the natural surface of the ground, which is sandy, so they don't have thick gravel in the bays.

They already have a huge area available for parking, vendor tent and other facilities, so it is easy for them to host major matches. So far they have hosted USPSA National Championship matches for two years, and the Area 1 Tournament in 2003. (I note that this took place in May of 2003, and the first day of the match we started out in a bit of snow. The local sporting goods store enjoyed a profitable run on rain gear, warm coats and waterproof boots that week.)


Albany Rifle and Pistol Club, located off "7 mile road" (take exit 228 from the Interstate 5, West of the Corvallis Exit) has, under the leadership of Mike McCarter, exhibited which must be the longest-running and most extensive period of range improvements in the section.

Starting with six muddy, wide-open bays, ARPC has (in approximate order of completion):

• Surfaced all bays in thick gravel OVER a visquine (sp) fabric base OVER a drainage system
• Used receipts from IPSC matches almost exclusively to pay for more and better targets, props and facilities on the North Range (which is the 'action pistol' range at this club)
  
• Provided 3-sided steel buildings to protect from sun and rain, on concrete pads
• Added porta-potties within a couple dozen yards of every covered bay
• Added a seventh bay, with steel building cover on a concrete pad
• Provided an internet connection to the already electrically wired and heated stats shack, so that match results can be posted almost immediately after the completion of the match
• Added 5 LARGE bays on the East side of Saddle Butte (which constitutes the 'back berm' for the entire range); some of these bays allow 50 yards depth, almost that much width
  
• In conjunction with the last bays ... which brings the total to 12 bays ... added another pair of porta-potties (at least one of which is designgated 'for ladies only')
• Added safety-tables between every other bay on the North Range
• Added CONEX or other steel-construction prop containers for some of the disciplines which use the North Range
• Placed a major emphasis on the Junior Program, to encourage younger shooters to compete. Some of the features of this local program include: providing pistols, ammunition and gear; a dedicated Junior Team coach, with scheduled practice sessions often monitored by their parents; shirts to help identify the Junior Team shooters; paid entry and transportation to the USPSA Nationals, with parents acting as chaparones
• A $2 addition to the monthly match fees pays a 'crew' to tear down stages after the monthly matches. (Note: this is usually members of the Junior Team, and their monthly 'payment' usually goes to the Junior Team bank account)

These improvements not only make monthly matches more enjoyable, but also make it possible to host Major Matches. For example, after completing ALL of the above improvements, ARPC hosted the USPSA Multi-Gun Nationals in July, 2006.





Summary:
Oregon gun clubs are active, shooter-friendly, busy, innovative, well-funded and the epitome of volunteerism. Burn-out is not a factor, because so many local participants are eager to step up to the mark and pitch you nothing but fast-balls.

The funding from increased participation, generated by better facilities and more attractive conveniences (such as tear-down crews), has kept participation levels high and competitor satisfaction even higher.

As each generation of volunteers provide fascinating, challenging matches, more funds are available to provide the next generation of competitors with bigger matches, better range facilities, and more 'important' matches.

This is the future of IPSC.

An involved, energetic leadership helps to grow IPSC competition. Wise re-investment of the match fees generates bigger, better clubs and bigger, better matches.

The Columbia Cascade Section is working hard to attract new shooters, keep the shooters they already have, and encourage a solid base of dedicated participants who are ready and willing to volunteer for administrative duties within the section.

If you are a CCS member, and you think you have something to contribute, please don't think that just because candidates already have been found for each Section office, you shouldn't file for office.

With approximately 100 competitors signed up for the Points Race alone (and remember that not everybody who competes signs up), there is a large base of participants who are available but who have not yet paid their dues by volunteering. This is your chance to pay back to the sport. Many of us help out with match set-up, or other activities. But there is no reason why you can't be part of the "Pointy End" of the spear of volunteerism. If you prefer not to give your time as a section officer, consider volunteering to help your home club by serving as a Club Rep. Many BOD members have served for multiple years, some are even holding both Club and Section offices, and they would appreciate your help

If you're not a member of CCS, the same encouragement applies to you.

Volunteer to help lead your section to a better competitive year. Or to work with your club, in whatever capacity you think would be the best way to temporarily take over for someone who has become almost a local institution. They would appreciate the opportunity to relax for a couple of years and just ... shoot!

Relax, you don't have to serve forever. Just for a year or two. Your choice. It's a great experience, and a satisfying one.

It's pay-back time.

Winter IPSC

I should have named this "The Wimpification of IPSC". IPSC in Oregon is getting thin on the ground ... which is dry, and firm and still green. We had snow one night a couple of weeks ago, but it was gone by noon.

And yet the competitive season is going into hibernation, for at least the month of December.

Dundee's scheduled match on the Fourth Saturday falls on the 23rd, and it has been cancelled because it is just before Christmas. I don't know why, something about a four-day weekend and spending it with the family.

Tri-County has a match on the 3rd Sunday, the 17th, and it will be a Concealed Carry match. Again, I heard some talk about "shoot with your coat on". Why would I want to do that? My hands will be numb anyway. Since I've given away my 9mm, I have only the Beloved Kimber to compete with in that kind of match.

(SEE the UPDATE below.)

Well, and the Taurus .357 4" revolver. Enough said about that.

SWMBO wouldn't be interested in any match where she can't shoot an open gun, and she wouldn't make the drive with me just to watch and shiver. We're invited to visit The Hobo Brasser and his charming bride Spicy (she introduces him as her "first husband") after the match, so we'll certainly drive north for that. We haven't seen Spicy in far too long, and The Hobo just might have a drop of The Jamison's in the cupboard.

But we probably will take a 'by' on the match.

Does this sound a little like the whining of a small boy who can't go outside because it's raining?

Good. You understand. Very few matches this month, and I'm pouting.

The good news is that Mac is putting on another of his excellent Second Saturday matches at Albany. Covered shooting areas, bring your space heater, the weatherman forcasts light showers and fifty four degree weather. He said the same about today, and we haven't seen rain for over a week now.

More good news, I have received my replacement Aftec Extractor from Chuck Bradley at Shooter's Connection. I'll be installing that this evening after chamber gauging the ammunition I reloaded at my freezing garage loading bench last night.

Tomorrow morning will be three or four layers of clothing (the weatherman can't be relied on even to be unreliable) and a water-resistant shell over my levis. The stumbling boots will be filled with wool socks and smelly feet, and we'll be at the range by 8am just in case the match starts early. (As if ... this IS Albany, after all, with it's traditional 9am start time that looks a lot like 9:30 by my watch. Mac has made great strides in making the start time correspond with the schedule, but once a club has a reputation it will never live it down.)

My goal for this match: Don't DQ.

I kind of forgot that one last month. I think I've picked up a bit of a reputation, too.

Speaking of which, at the Pistol Caliber Carbine match last month, Jeff was reading out the shooting order and announced me as "The Geek" instead of using my last name, which I had put on my score sheets. I asked him how he knew me. He said "You're Famous!" Is there anyone who doesn't know I DQ'd last month?

I'm kind of rushing through this tonite. Normally I don't blog on Friday Nights, as I'm busy packing my gear to go to SWMBO's place, from where we'll leave for the match in the morning. But I've got behind on my blogging. Most of the week I've been spending my evenings editing videos from last weekend. Then last night I couldn't get connected to the Internet.

I spent an irritated half-our trying to talk to Comcast today. The service technician suggested that I unplug my cable modem, let it sit for at least two minutes, then plug it in and try it again. So I worked through lunch so i could do some shopping (had to buy another 2L76 c-more battery to replace the one I borrowed from Rick last month) and get home to see if the technical advice worked.

I spent the waiting period getting all of my gear ready to load into the car, then plugged the power cord back into the socket and cranked it up. It worked!

I feel better now. Not quite as cranky as I was earlier. I'm having dinner with SWMBO tonite, getting the gun and ammunition ready for another great Albany match in the morning, and now I'm caught up on the blog stuff.



It isn't easy being Geek.


UPDATE - December 10, 2006:
No, there won't even be a Concealed Carry match at TCGC (see the comment from Norm the Ungrateful). As noted, this is 'post-season' and between the change in administration at TCGC IPSC Discipline (Norm will be the TCGC Club Rep to the Columbia Cascade Section in 2007) and the CCS (Norm has been nominated for CCS Section Coordinator), staffing was not available to put on the December, 2006 match.

Note to CCS members: there is no conflict with Norm serving as both Section Coordinator and Club Rep. Mike McCarter has been Section Coordinator for the past few years, and was also IPSC Director at ARPC. He managed to serve both positions with competance and verve, and there is no reason to expect that Norm will have any special difficulties wearing two hats. We're blessed with an abundance of competent, energetic and conscious people in this section. Look for more news about the Columbia Cascade Section volunteerism ... well, almost immediately.

Pistol-Caliber Carbine Match : MechTech Works!

I am delighted to report that the Mech Tech (MT) Carbine Conversion Unit (CCU) worked just fine in the "Pistol-Caliber Carbine Match" hosted on Saturday, December 2, 2006, at the Tri-County Gun Club (TCGC) in Sherwood, Oregon.

(UPDATE- December 4: Match scores are now available here. Good news for The Geek, I didn't actually zero any stages, although I got only 8 out of 120 points on one stage, and 3 out of 115 points on another! The low scores were not the fault of the gun, but rather a combination of an unfamiliar gun, crappy 'Polarized Filter' on the PDP1 scope which wouldn't keep its setting, and a shooter who wasn't as good as the equipment. Also, there are some videos available ... I will be adding more as time permits ... on Jerry the Geek's Video Shooting Gallery.)

UPDATE - December 8:
All videos have been edited and added to the Video Album.

No, I did not win the match. I didn't win a single stage. In fact, I finished the first stage (Bay 4) down six misses and one 'failure to engage' penalty.

This was after squad-member Chris showed us all how to do it with his AR-15 type carbine, with no misses and about half the time it took ME to finish the stage.

No alibies from me about using a ten-round magazine; Chris didn't spend a lot of time trying to find the targets, trying to find a comfortable shooting position (on that first stage "Bay 4: Sniper Qualified"), the available shooting positions included kneeling, and hunkered down in a semi-crouch. I managed to expand the position choices to "flat on my butt with my heels in the air" when I tried to stand up ... sort of, after kneeling for 45 seconds ... from the first shooting box.

Maybe I'm getting old, but I find it increasingly difficult to extract myself from the kneeling position. Or any other position besides standing, come to think of it. And this match was so challenging that I found myself in either physical or competitive difficulties in every single stage.

Except the last stage. By that time I was beginning to get the hang of shooting the MT-CCU and changed my mindset from "I think I can, I think I can" to "Wow! What a rush!".

Experience counts. Also, being allowed to shoot on the move at targets which aren't 'impossibly far away' add to the shooting enjoyment when you're not ... well, when you're not me.

BACKGROUND:
Let's go to the "Way-Back Machine" to November of 2004.

That month two years ago, the Albany Rifle & Pistol Club (ARPC) under the direction of Mike McCarter hosted a "Mech Tech Match". This was a "pistol caliber carbine" match intended specifically to provide a venue for competitive use of the Mech Tech Carbine Conversion Unit.

I didn't happen to own a MechTech, but I was fortunate in that The Hobo Brasser not only owned one but it was chambered in .45 acp. His own 1911 frame (I believe it was purchased some years earlier through the mail-order company Montgomery-Ward) was not entirely compatible with the CCU. However, some experimentation before the match established the fact that the Kimber Custom frame I had been using for competition worked perfectly. We were able to not only use my range-brass .45 ammunition, but his expensive .460 Rowland ammunition with equal reliability. In fact, we could mix the two ammunition types in the same magazine without any failure to function.

About 15 competitors showed up on an icy November morning, and the result (enhanced by a fortuitous warm air front which didn't appear until after the match started) was a gleeful appreciation of the advantages of using short-barrelled, pistol-caliber long arms in an IPSC-type competitive venue.

The smaller bays of a pistol range were completely appropriate to the caliber. Relatively long shots (about 20 yards) were not a problem with the barrel multiple times longer than the typical pistol, and the course designs even provided the opportunity for competitors to attemp, and succeed in, shoot-on-the-move techniques.

Unfortunately, follow-up matches were never scheduled, so this firearm genre received no further encouragement for the next two years.

BACK TO THE FUTURE:
In the summer of 2006, The Hobo Brasser (perhaps because of his acquisition of a Beretta CX4 "Storm" 9mm semi-automatic Carbine) determined that his MechTech was 'superfluous to his immediate needs'. He offered the CCU for sale at a price significantly under current list for a new CCU, and I bought it from him.

This was a "firearm" (so-called, because it was not legally a firearms due to its lack of an action) for which I had no definable use.

I had no sights for it either; the unit came with a sight rail suitable for Weaver mounts, but no iron sight mechanism was included.

I had owned a Tasco PDP1 for several years ... again, it had never been used ... and had sold it to a friend for use on his MechTech. I checked with him and discovered that he had replaced it with another sight, and was willing to sell it to me for the same price he had paid for it. For fifty dollars, I had a fine dot-sight and upon installation it was ready to run. It took a couple of trips to the range before I had it properly mounted and sighted in, but there were no doubts in my mind that it would shoot to point of aim at 30 yards.

The December, 2006 Match:
When the "Pistol Caliber Carbine" match was announced a week prior to the match, I was ready to sign up for it immediately.

Having determined where the match was to be held (there was some confusion in my mind at first, a situation which I find increasingly common lately), I showed up at the host range at about 9am.

SAFETY:
I didn't really know much about "practical rifle matches", but I did know that (a) this was to be run under IPSC-type rules, and (b) firearms must be either bagged when off the firing line, or shown to be unloaded by implementation of a Chamber Flag.

The Chamber Flag (also known as a "Chamber Checker" is a brightly colored device inserted into the chamber of a rifle and extending beyond the ejection port, designed to exhibit to the casual observer that the rifle has no ammunition in the chamber. I didn't happen to own a Chamber Flag, but upon talking to Match Director Gary T. I determined that all rifles must either be fitted with a Chamber Flag or transported between stages and to the firing line in a rifle case or bag.

I didn't own either of these. Fortunately, checking with other shooters on the range, I found that Shaun H. had an extra Chamber Flag and was willing to loan it to me for the duration of the match. (Note to Shaun: I still have your Chamber Flag, I'll give it back to you at the next IPSC match.)

After signing up for the match, this was the final hurdle in my qualification for entry into the match.

It happens that the majority of the competitors at this match were IPSC-certified, so they were aware of the proper range commands and the standard safety rules for competition. ALL participants had competed in 'action' shooting sports. However, some competitors were S.A.S.S. competitors only, and others were 'practical rifle' or 'tactical rifle' certified only. Since the rules of competition, range commands and safety standards to which they were accustomed were often significantly different from IPSC, we decided (at least in the squad to which I was assigned) to limit Range Officer (RO) duties to those members who were IPSC-certified as Range Officers. This provided a standard criteria for safety.

In fact, although my RO experience was limited to IPSC and two "Practical Shotgun" matches, I was able to serve as RO for part of the time during the match. The rules for this match were significantly different only in the actual considerations for unloading and showing clear, and safe stowage of firearms:

"If you are finished; bolt forward, hammer down. Bolt back, insert chamber flag or bag a safe weapon." (Or words to that effect.)

The Walk-Through:
As the match director walked us through the stages in the match, a couple of circumstances attracted our immediate attention.

First, the stages didn't always fit into the bays for which they were originally intended. The reason is that the stages were much LONGER than the bays would accomodate, so the stage numbers didn't always exactly fit the sequence of the numbering system. That is, the targets were very far from the place where we were allowed to shoot at them!

Second, the stages were not as 'user friendly' as I had expected.

Specifically, there was a positive dearth of up-close-and-personal hoser stages. ALL of the stages featured many very small reactive targets at very long (20 to 40 yards) distances, and at least half of the cardboard IPSC-type targets were either moving targets, largely masked by hard-cover or no-shoot penalty targets, or required "Mozambique" engagements: Three hits on the target, at least one of which must be in the upper A/B zone of the target. (For those of you who are unfamiliar with the terminology, this "A/B Zone" is a four-inch square flap at the top of the cardboard target. The highest-scoring A-zone here is a 3" x 1.5" rectangle in the center of the flap.)

STAGES:
On one stage (I believe it was in Bay 8 - "Delta Team Standards"), there were six steel targets, six IPSC targets (at 20, 30 and 40 yards distance) mostly overlayed by no-shoots so that the only practical scorable surface was the A/B-zone, and two "Mozambique" targets at 40 yards. This was presented as a "Virginia Count" (VC) stage, meaning that extra shots (to make up misses) would be penalized!

Some "whiney old guys" (The Hobo Brasser and some Geekish fellow) raised an immediate outcry, complaining that this was an egregious misuse of stage designer authority, without quite mentioning that such a stage would be illegal under strict IPSC rules which prohibit the use of steel targets in Virginia Count stages.

The MD was only slightly apologetic, so when walking through the rest of the stages in the match there were several loud comments asking that some IPSC targets be designated "Mozambique", and other times requesting that the stage use VC scoring. The MD promised to look into it to determine whether it was too late to change the computerized scoring templates to accomodate these requests.

The remark was made that "I hope the match is as much fun as the Walk-Through was".

Immediately after the start of the match, the MD came by our squad to announce that the stage in Bay 8 had been changed to Comstock, because of the unseemly complaints of a bunch of "Whiney Old Guys". Then he changed his story and admitted that there had been a printing error on the official Stage Procedure, and it had been originally intended to be a Comstock scoring stage all along.

In truth, it was because of a bunch of "Whiney Old Men". Just another example of "You Know You're Over 50 when ... you give advice, and somebody actually seems to be listening."

Our squad of 8 men started on Bay 4, which featured steel plates sitting on the ground (and their grey color was virtually indistinguishable from the gravel on which they rested), two five-target arrays at 40 yards consisting of Bowling Pins, and a Dueling Tree whose four steel plates were difficult to see against the brown-dirt background of the berm.

Chris started out with an excellent time and got all of his hits, using an AR-16 variation in, I think, 9mm.

My run was different.

I managed the bowling pins okay, but I only even SAW one of the three plates (it was in shadow and I never engaged it.) I got the Dueling Tree plates okay, but when I tried to stand up from the uncomfortable kneeling-over-a-table position, I lost my balance and fell on my butt. After that, I merely moseyed over to the second shooting box, got the two steel plates and the dueling tree plates 'okay', but couldn't hit a bowling pin to save my life. I emptied a ten round magazine at the pins (35 yards distance) without ever seeing where my rounds were hitting, and declared myself done.

Result: 1.5 embarassing eons spent on the stage, six misses and one failure-to-engage penalty. After the first stage, I had approximately zero points.

Everyone in the squad, including the 'first match' guy, Vic, finished with a higher score. Well, I knew I was shooting for fun before I got out of bed, but I didn't DQ so I figured I was ahead of the game.

As the match progressed, I became increasingly comfortable with the MechTech CCU. The .45 round was death on plates, which was not always the case for competitors shooting 9mm. Mostly, the 9mm killed plates when hit squarely and toward the middle of the plate. Often, the 9mm rounds would not knock down ground-based 10" square plates when hit close to the ground. But with the .45, if I touched it ... it was down. My ammunition was loaded a bit heavier than required in IPSC competition (about a 180 power factor), but the blow-back design of the CCU bolt didn't absorb as much of the power as I had expected. The 200 grain LRN bullet maintained sufficient momentum to spin-down or just flat knock down even the heaviest plate, which is more a recommendation for the CCU than for my personal accuracy.

The only criticism of the MechTech design is that the blow-back bolt is so massive, it moves slow enough to demonstrably slow-down the ability of the competitor to shoot fast splits. I found myself waiting for the bold to move back into battery. This sounds like a major criticism, but in this match the targets were so far away, or so tiny, I could rarely get back on target fast enough that the delay could be said to slow me down.

However, on a close-target 'hoser' stage, thsi would constitute a competitive disadvantage compared to faster actions.

Subsequent stages featured:
Bay 9 - "Search and Destroy"
Seventeen steel targets, including a Texas Star at 30 yards. Most shooters did fine when they hit the eight-inch plates on the star, but many found that they had bitten off a bitter chew when they engaged the lower plates first. This cause the target array to rotate around its axis, imparting ore angular momentum than was convenient to hit at that distance. I was impressed in that, although some competitors didn't know the best way to engage the targets with making it spin like the Mad Hatter's Tea Party, they still managed to bang-and-clang fast moving plates at even that great distance.

Bay 10 - "Fire and Maneuver"
In this stage, you had to shoot ALMOST all of the steel targets from the "Hell Hut", then engage ALMOST all of the IPSC targets from outside the "Hell Hut". Then you engaged three Pepper Poppers through a horizontal 'barrel'. Two of these three Poppers activated disappearing targets (DT); you had to engage the Disappearing Targets from OUTSIDE the barrel.

The kicker on this was that three members of our eight-man squad hit one of the activating poppers from through the barrel, but found himself with an empty magazine ... and unable to reload a fresh magazine and engage the moving IPSC target before it disappeared.

The funny/sad part of it was, the competitors went in with 40-round magazines (in once case, with a double-drum magazine holding something like 60 rounds), and were so confident in their 'everlasting ammo supply' that they either forgot to reload when they should have, or fully expected to shoot the entire 32-round stage without reloading.

Mozambique targets at distances from 7 to 40 yards. The most visually impressive display of shooting expertise on Mozambique targets was on the last stage we shot, in Bay 11 - "High Value Targets". We started out with two IPSC targets at 7 yards, starting position with the carbine resting on top of the barrel and the shooter's hands touching the rim of the barrel. Alex, at the buzzer, grabbed his Baretta Stormer in 9mm and shot two to the body, one to the head on both IPSC targets from the waist ... and got all of his hits (2-Alpha to the body, 1-Bravo, on both targets). I was the RO on that performance, and when he had completed the stage I cursed Alex for his stellar performance when I didn't have the camera rolling.

Actually, that was the most fun stage. There were plenty of opportunities to take steel targets on the move, and since it was the last stage our squad shot I was becoming fairly confident in my ability to shoot the gun. I would have loved to shoot the whole match over, which is probably a positive review of the match. In fact, the walk-through made the stages seem like difficult memory courses, but in the actual event it wasn't usually too difficult to know what you had to do to complete the course of fire successfully. Well, that was true if you weren't one of the first shooters; we all went to school on the mistakes of the first competitor on most stages.

After we completed that stage, I regaled some of the squad members with tales of IPSC competitors who had just recently move to Open division (with 25 round magazines) who confidently shot their first match in Open with full expectation of never running out of ammunition. They invariably, I recounted, ran out of ammunition somewhere during their first match; often on the first stage, necessitating a standing reload.

I found the story much more amusing than they did. Perhaps it's because they just experienced the phenomenon for the first time, while it has been a while since I committed the cardinal sin 'bad ammunition management'.

COMMENTS AND OBSERVATIONS:
I didn't impress anybody in my first Pistol-Caliber Carbine match, but it wasn't because of equipment limitations. Instead, by the end of the match a couple of squd members complimented my perfomance given my limited magazine capability. (Not that I would have done any better with hi-cap magazines; it's not the gun that ruins your game, it's your inability to hit the targets in a timely manner.) I appreciate their encouragement despite my poor personal showing, and I hope to find more opportunities in the future to use the Carbine Conversion Unit in competition.

Actually, most of the problems I encountered were due to my unfamiliarity with the firarm and the scope (the PDP1 has a paralax filter which rotated because of vibration of the wire-frame stock, so I couldn't clearly see the targets.)

I have posted still photographs of the match at Jerry the Geek's Video Shooting Gallery
( http://jerrythegeek.arpc-ipsc.org/gallery/mt06 for those whose computers or email hosts are link-challenged). At the moment, there are only a couple of dozen still photographs on this album, and they don't really show much of the stages or the action.

However, I have 26 videos (850MB in the original un-edited versions) which I will add as a sub-album as soon as I ... well ... as I edit them. Which may take a couple of days.

In the meantime, I want to express my appreciation to the Dirty Half-dozen who were willing to squad with me and, although they demonstrated no compunctions about laughing at me, were fun people to go spend a sunny day at the range with. In no particular order, they are:

• Jeff
• Vic
• Chris
• Alex
• Dave
• Gary
• Mark (The Hobo Brasser)

I made a conscious effort to film videos of each of the squad members, so please check back at Jerry The Geek's Video Shooting Gallery to see them in all their radiant glory. Except for Alex, who saved his best stage for when I couldn't take pictures. Well, all of them did that.

The Rascals.

IN APPRECIATION:

Match Director Gary from TCGC hosted the IPSC match this month, and cheerfully suffered through the criticisms of "whiney old guys" during the walk-through.

Gary also shot the match, and arranged it so that (for an extra $2 each) there was a support crew available who tore down the stages after the match so that the competitors didn't have to do it. We all appreciated it, except for the one guy who missed "the comeraderie" of tearing down the stages. Not me. I would have paid more not to suffer through stage tear-down, and it was a real selling point in my decision to shoot the match.

Most important, though, was that Gary saw the niche for this kind of match, and earned $360 into the club coffers at little expense to the club, plus got the stages torn down for under $50 ... which the participants were happy to pay. There's a lesson here for other clubs, although I can't think what it could be.

NOTE that the original reference to the TASCO PDP1 dot-sight includes a link to an image which is actually the PDP2. This was a deliberate error, because I couldn't find a reference to the PDP1 (which is no longer in production). However, the PDP2 looks very much like the PDP1, which is why I chose this link. The difference betweeb the PDP1 and the PDP2 is that the PDP1 has a 'Polarizing Filter'. This was probably provided to allow the shooter to reduce the effects of glare. Unfortunately, the adjustment ring which sets the polarizing effect tends to move during the course of fire, due to the vibration in the system caused by firing several rounds. The result is that, by the end of the stage, the competitor can't see the target clearly ... it's like shooting in the dark. By the last stage, I had learned to set the polarizing filter to 'wide open' and hold it in place with masking tape. Yes, I realize this sounds very much like an alibi. It's the best I could do on short notice, and when I come up with a better alibi I'll replace this section with the improved version.


I can't provide a comparison between the two generationally different models, but I note that the PDP1 uses a pair of A640 batteries. (I note it so I have a place to reference when I need to buy new batteries, but I forget which battery the scope needs.)

UPDATE - December 4:
If you've been reading the comments, you caught Jeff's note about who was using what firearms.

Jeff and Chris were using AR-style 9mm carbines.
Dave and Alex seemed to be sharing a Beretta Storm CX4 in 9mm.
Gary and Vic seemed to be sharing a Beretta Storm CX4 in 9mm with a forearm pistol grip.
The Hobo Brasser was using his own Beretta Storm CX4 in 9mm, and loaning hi-cap magazines to other squad-members when they thought they needed it.
And Jerry the Geek was using a MechTech Carbine Conversion Unit in .45 acp, with the frame from The Beloved Kimber and 10-round magazines.
Life is good, when you're me!

IPSC: You know you're over 50 when ....

A few years ago, the Unofficial IPSC List indulged in "IPSC HAIKU". Jeff Maass posted the results to the internet, and the response from IPSC'ers was surprising. (Thanks, Jeff.)

It's about time we tried that again, so I've chosen to publish a list of the things "You know you're over 50 when ..."

I stole the concept from the SASS Forum (my bad) but it looked like fun. So I'll try it here.

Got better ideas? Send 'em in. I'll add to the list, and attribute your suggestion unless you specifically say I shouldn't. Add suggests to the COMMENTS section of this page, or send me an email at the address listed at the very bottom of this page. Not the bottom of the article, the bottom of the PAGE.

You Know You're Over 50 When ...

1. (Geek) -You go to The Dark Side because you can't see those fuzzy sights on your Limited Gun.
2. (Geek) - On the firing line, you can see your pistol grips, you can see your magazine basepads, but you can't see your belt. Or your toes.
   
3. (Geek) - When you give advice, somebody actually seems to be listening.
4. (Geek) - You decide to shoot for accuracy, not for speed.
5. (Geek) - A new shooter calls you 'sir', and he's displaying Male Pattern Baldness.
6. (Geek) - You go to a match, and they've left your usual parking space for you ... by the privy.
7. (Geek) - During the match walk-through, you raise a finger and say "Excuse me", and the MD says "Oh geez, not again!"
8. (Geek) - Your best stage at the match involves no movement after the draw.
9. (Geek) - You win "Top Old Coot" prize for the match, and you are proud of your accomplishment.
10. (Geek) - You tell someone how long you've been shooting IPSC, and they're impressed.
11. (Geek) - You know the significance of "The Toilet Paper" version of the rule book.
12. (Geek) - You own a golf-shirt that looks like this on the back.
13. (Hobo Brasser) - You are beyond the point in the curve where ability (falling) and age (rising) cross.
14. (Mr. Completely) - You have three pairs of glasses, one pair to wear driving to the match, one pair if most of the targets are close in, and the third pair for when most of the targets are farther out. Even so, most of your shots are guesses!
15. (Your contribution here)
    

UPDATE (December 3):
I'm seeing a trend here.
So far, all of the contributions are by guys who are over 60.

I also received an email from friend Bob H. ("Antipoda") from Texas, who contends that the condition of being "over 50" is NOTHING compared to being "over 60". He's hoping to wake up and discover that 7 years and 5 months have been deducted from his age, so he is qualified to whine about being "over 50".

He is probably correct. I can attest to the fact that I didn't start slowing down until after I turned 50. But I still could see iron sights until about the time I turned 60. (Actually, a few months before my birthday.)

Perhaps I should have titled the article: "You know you're over 60 when ... ". I had thought that there would be fewer people interesting in discussing the differences between 40 and 50 than 50 and 60, but perhaps I was wrong.

Could be. I've been wrong before.

I'll let this run as "over 50" for a while, in hopes that someone will be able to pinpoint the trauma of turning fifty. And I'll detail an incident which is specifically pertinent to "whiney old men" (all of them over 60) in my forthcoming review of the "Pistol Caliber Carbine Match), probably later tonight.

Administrative: Comments by Holoscan

Last year I replaced the Blogspot comments function with Haloscan. I did that mainly to provide myself with more options to edit and filter the comments. I had been getting a lot of junk mailfrom people who were using my comments section only to tout their own "blogs", most of which were commercial websites completely unrelated to the subject matter in the article they were commenting on.

It worked just fine. Now, when I get junk mail on my comments, I can easily delete it and also ban the author from further posts. Mostly.

More important, I discovered, when I make a comment and later discover an error in what I wrote, I can correct my comment in place instead of having to write another comment describing the error and offering the correct verbiage.

Blogspot is working to improve their comment function, but when they finally catch up with Haloscan I probably won't change back because, well, by then Haloscan will have made even more improvements.

A couple of days ago, I installed one of those improvements. It's a summary of the most recent comments that appears on the sidebar, between the links and the archive directory. I had to modify the code a little bit to get the comment summary to appear against the dark blue background (comment text is in a dark grey, which keeps it subtle so it's not distracting when you're reading articles .... but it's so far down the extended webpage that you probably won't see it unless you're going more than a couple articles down the page, or you're looking for it.)

I added it mainly for my own convenience. Sometimes people comment on old articles, and I often miss them until I deliberately page through articles LOOKING for new comments. This way, it's easy to find them in the summary and then I can read, edit and even repond to them with a minimum of fuss.

Why do I care? The comments I receive on this blog are the reward I get for writing. True, I usually write because I have something to say, because I feel compelled to write. But your responses reinforce the effort. If I haven't made myself clear, or I've said something that is factually incorrect, it helps me to maintain minimum standards of quality in the text.

Often comments prompt me to either expand on the subject (cf: the MechTech article) or to write a new article on a related subject.

Most important, it's a measure of my audience. I read EVERY comment, even if I don't reply. Sometimes the comments give me a much better idea of what people are interested in reading.

I do have a statistics service which tells me how many people are reading me (summarizes the last 1100 visitors) and which articles are repeatedly read because they are are listed in search results. For example, every week I have at least 40 people who just connect to watch Travis Tomasie's "Perfect Reload", which they only find because they have searched for it.

But if a new article is of interest to people who read the blog regularly, the comments are the only indicator I have that readers are interested enough to reply.

I encourage comments. I very rarely have to delete comments, because the people who write them are courteous (with the possible exception of The Hobo Brasser) and on-subject.

In fact, most of the links on the sidebar are there for my use. These are the places I like to read, or which I frequently use as reference sources. It's easier for me to call up my own blog and then access these other websites by clicking on the link.

If you have an idea for a link which might fit within the general IPSC/USPSA Competition venue, please let me know. If I find it as interesting as you do, I'll add it to the sidebar.

Thanks for reading. And for writing back.

A case for Football Helmet Conrol?

A Florida home-owner assaulted a pedestrian with a football helmet.

The passer-by, who was innocently plying a screwdriver against the screen-door of the home, is "... nursing a bruised head ... after being beaten with a football helmet.."

This is clearly prima facea evidence that the mere possession of a football helmet is bound to drive an otherwise normal person to violence.

It's high time we, the American People, call upon our legislators to demand that they enact common-sense helmet control laws restricting private ownership of these deadly weapons.

Anyone who has witnessed a football game is aware that football helmets serve no useful purpose in the life of the average citizen. This deadly device is useful only as a blunt instrument to bludgeon our fellow man.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention has studied the problem, and determined that private ownership of football helmets almost invariably leads to aggressively violent behavior.

In a study of School Associated Violent Deaths, CDC offers the following observations:

FACTS: What has research shown to date about school-related violence?

To date, CDC research on school associated violent deaths found:

• The number of children and youth homicides that are school-related make up one percent of the total number of child and youth homicides in the United States.

• Most school associated violent deaths occurred during transition times such as the start or end of the school day, or during the lunch period.

• We have also seen that school-associated homicides are more likely to occur at the start of each semester.

• Nearly 50 percent of the homicide perpetrators (this includes adults, children and youth) gave some type of warning signal (e.g., a threat, a note) prior to the event.

• Among the students who committed a school-associated homicide, 20% were known to have been victims of bullying and 12% were known to have expressed suicidal thoughts or engage in suicidal behavior.
  

Given that High-School Football games are increasingly popular (especially in rural areas, where the residents are typically less well-educated than populations in urban centers such as Atlanta, Georgia), it's clear that this is the time to remove this deadly instrument of aggression from the hands of our neighbors, who may be driven mad from the mere possesion of a football helmet, and preferably institute helmet-control measures all across this great country.

As a recent caller on a radio talk show observed:

We don't need to hit people, and we don't need to carry around guns football helmets!

Write your congress-person today, and encourage him/her to sponsor federal legislation which will protect us from unfettered football helmet posession.

Do it for the children.

NEXT WEEK: Infant Deaths due to other deadly instruments in the home.

A clear case for governmental control of buckets, water, nipples and nursing, TV, chewing gum, bed sheets, plastic bags, toys, cribs and food.

4. Deaths due to Drowning and Other Asphyxiants
In this group, 11 cases of death due to drowning occurred (10 cases in buckets of water in the bathroom, 1 case in a bucket on the balcony); the eldest victims were aged four years.

Seven infants died during nursing by choking on the nipple (the eldest victim being 14 months of age), one was asphyxiated by a plastic bag on the head, one was smothered by the bed sheet, one by strangulation with crib cording and one by strangulation with a long TV cable while playing.

Fifteen of 17 children who died by foreign body (food) aspiration were aged 0-3 years. Fourteen had died due to aspiration of food, like beans, mandarins, or pieces of apple (found on the floor or while eating). In one case, a piece of a toy was aspirated. A 16-year-old girl died by aspiration after having fallen asleep with chewing gum in her mouth.

A case for piscean control?

A San Diego Man, a trainer for Shamu the Killer Whale, was attacked by his charge during a show at SeaWorld.

Also;

An Australian fisherman has survived being stabbed in the chest by a stingray, the marine creature that killed Aussie crocodile hunter Steve Irwin two months ago, police said.

Coming so soon after the death of Steven Irwin, this is an obvious argument against private possession of ...

uh ...

er ...

Never mind.

you tube down - temporary loss of videos

Tuesday Evening, 10:20.

You Tube was off-line for two hours, performing some scheduled maintenance. If you were looking for videos tonite, go check out Jerry the Geek's Video Shooting Gallery.

This post WAS just a temporary announcement, but it just occurred to me that I have a lot of edited videos (especially the most recent ones) which I have uploaded to YouTube, but not to my own video gallery.

While waiting for YouTube to come back up, I started posting some of these videos to my own gallery and put them in a separate album...


Look under the "Columbia Cascade Section 2006 Matches" menu at the very bottom for Blogspot Videos for 2006 (click to go there directly).

The link will also be added to the sidebar.

Note that these videos will ALWAYS be higher resolution (read: easier to see details) than the YouTube version, but they will also ALWAYS be bigger files, slower to download.

My webhost (Thank You Brian B!) provides download speeds at about the same rate as Comcast can take the feed, so if you have hi-speed internet access the delay shouldn't be a burden.

In the future, I'll try to provide the Gallery site address for videos which are presented in YouTube format. That gives you a choice, if you see something that seems interesting.

Yes, it takes a bit longer to upload the video to the internet (at about one fifth the download rate), but every time I present an edited video through YouTube I've already got about an hour invested in editing it, plus the time needed to load it to YT, plus the time for writing and editing the blog post. Another ten minutes added to the process isn't really that much of a burden. This isn't the sort of recreational activity one assumes without a willingness to spend a lot of time slaving over a hot keyboard.

Mothers, don't let your children grow up to be bloggers.

X Games

This is pure IPSC.

THere's no content in this post except for the stage design, and the way each person chooses to shoot it.

Twelve IPSC targets, shoot 'em as you see 'em. Vision barrier restrictions apply.

Here is the stage design. There's nothing clever about the stage, except that I didn't have a 'big stick' magazine so I knew I had to reload somewhere on the stage. As it turned out,the solution to the shooting problem I discovered was probably one of the best ways to shoot it. But I got a miss on one target, so I wasn't rewarded.

(The match scores are available here. This is Stage 6.)

I'm going to put them all together in one big file. You can decide what is the best way.

Hint the first shooter has a good solution, but it may not be the best solution.

You decide.

Mechtech: Heartache Tonight!

The Columbia Cascade Section, under the leadership of Mac McCarter, has announced that there will be a "pistol-caliber Carbine match" next weekend at the Albany Rifle and Pistol Club Tri-County Gun Club. (Saturday, December 2. Ice, snow, rain ... whatever the weather, we WILL be there!)

We did this a couple of years ago, but then it was announced under the REAL name:

MECHTECH MATCH!

A couple of months ago I bought The Hobo Brasser's MechTech (which I had used at the last MechTech match, with great glee), and I have .45 ACP ammunition left over from the summer Single-Stack Match ... because at that match I opted to take photographs, rather than compete.

I have experienced rapid degradation of my vision for the past three years, so shooting Single Stack with iron sights isn't as much fun as it use to be.

But I have a Dot-sight mounted on the MechTech, so there's no holding me back now.

If you're not familiar with it, the MechTech is an 'upper assembly' consisting of a stock and barrell, with a few frills attached.

To make it into a complete firearm, you need only remove the slide and barrel from a 1911 (or Glock) gun, slide the frame into the MechTech upper, lock it in place with the slide-lock from the pistol, and you're Good To Go.

I'm using The Beloved Kimber, in .45 acp caliber.

I've jazzed up the combination by adding a Tasco PP1 dot-sight, which makes the concept do-able for me.

The blow-back recoil system of the MechTech (including the bolt) is much heavier than the slide and recoils spring of The Beloved Kimber. The manufacturer recommends a heavy load, which is no problem for me because I load my .45acp ammunition heavy ever since I almost made Minor Power in the 1999 Area 1 match in Reno.

(When I competed in the 1999 Limited Nationals, a month after the Area 1 match, my ammunition chronographed at about 189PF; I haven't significantly lightened the load since then, except now I'm using 200gr SWC or 200gr LRN instead of my favorite 230gr LRN bullet.)


Even better, The Hobo Brasser sweetened the deal with a bucket of the robust .460 Rowland ammunition. I've already tested it. It feeds just fine in the magazines and into the chamber. I can even mix the .460 Rowland with .45 acp ammo in the magazine, and the gun doesn't hiccup.

And of course, the combination of the MechTech and The Beloved Kimber is much more attractive considering the ease of assembly.

The assembled gun is lightweight, easy to handle and (with the addition of the Dot-Sight) easy to use.

I would be happier if the reloading process was less cumbersome, but I'm not complaining.

I would be even MORE enthusiastic if the stock consisted of something more robust than a tuning fork; every time you shoot it, you have to put up with the "Twangggggggggg" in your ear until the spring-steel wire frame quits vibrating. However, the optional stock cover (a vinyl plastic jacket which wraps around the 'stock' and fastens with Velco) at least keeps it from tangling up in my beard.

The badnews is, when I first got the gun I tried to sight it in and I couldn't get it to zero. I ran the PP1 adjusting screws up so far that the came off the threads, and I was still shooting 3" low at 20 yards.

The good news is, when I went to Utah to visit my son Ben and his family, we went shooting and I adjusted the fit of the scope to the mount. Apparently, it wasn't seated into the notch in the rail before, so when I re-set the scope I was able to seat it properly and sighted it in at 30 yards with just a few shots

Ben tried it out, and consistently hit the 4" target at 30 yards. He liked it. It shoots like a .22.


UPDATE:
Due to input from Cowboy Blob, it occurs to me that this article could use some more 'straight from the source' information about the Mech Tech.

First, they (the good folks at Mech Tech Systems, Inc.) now have a different design for the stock. Two of them, in fact.


There's the telescoping stock (shown here with a Glock).
The manufacturer adds $69 to the $339.95 base price for this option. You can also buy the "retro-fit" kit for $119 to fit it on the MT you own now.

And then there's the "PolyStock Insert System" ($22.95), which I would assume provides a more rigid ... and relatively vibration-free ... cover than does the "Padded Nylon Stock Cover ($17.95)) that's on the Carbine Conversion Unit I now have.

Second, in the Technical Section of their website, MT emphasizes that your ammuntion must be 'hot enough' to reliably and consistently move the weight of the blow-back bolt. I mentioned this earlier, although I didn't emphasize it was a blow-back system. The website specifically states:

The first consideration is that the ammo must be 'hot' enough to reliably cycle the CCU with proper ejection. 'Target' loads and other pussy cat loads are too weak to do this and you can tell by the too-frequent occurrence of 'stovepipes' and other fail-to-eject phenomenon.

You can get a better idea of 'how hot' is hot enough by going to their Technical Page and refering to the table. For example, using a 200gr bullet in my .45, I need a load that chronographs to 950fps (although with a 230 grain bullet I can get by with 850fps. This works out to a power factor of about 190. These minimum velocities are measured in your 4-1/2" or 5" barrelled handgun, not through the Mech Tech.

Power Factor = bullet weight X velocity / 1000

And by the way, thanks also to The Hobo Brasser for including the comment that the match will be held in Portland, not in Albany as I had previously said. I have corrected my original error.

S&W659 Fieldstrip Video

Field-stripping the S&W Model 59 (the one shown here is the stainless 659) can be problematical, both in the disassembly and in the assembly.


The disassembly is difficult because the decocker interlock can cause the slide to hang up, even after the slide-lock is removed, if the hammer is not at full cock. I suspect this is a 'safety feature', because it insures that the slide has been pulled fully back before disassembly, insuring you a good look at the chamber to confirm that the gun is empty.

Or it may just be that S&W designers were in a grouchy mood, or ... well, certainly it couldn't be a design error.

Here's a look at the kind of difficulties you may experience if you fail to fully cock the hammer before attempting to remove the slide.

Figure 1: Disassembly The Wrong Way

Insuring that the hammer is fully cocked (locked back), however, allows you to:

1. remove the slide-stop (make sure the magazine is removed from the gun and no rounds are in the chamber, then move the slide back until the notch in the slide aligns with the slide-stop flange; then holding the slide in place, push the slide-stop pin from the right side of the frame, and use thumb and forefinger on the slide-stop on the left side of the frame to pull it out)
   
2. remove the slide from the frame
3. remove the guide rod from the slide assembly
4. remove the recoil spring from the guide rod (hint: compressing the spring while holding the muzzle-end of the guide rod against a solid surface, such as the top of the work bench, makes this much easier)
5. remove the barrel bushing
6. remove the barrel

Figure 2: Disassembly The Right Way



Note that the fieldstrip disassembly does not include removing the extractor, as this is a much more complicated operation than can be easily performed in the field.

For a more detailed cleaning, you may wish to remove the grip-screws and pull the grips.

A fully detailed cleaning would perhaps involve steps which are not covered here. Personally, since the 659 is stainless, I just put the frame and the slide in the dishwasher and run a full cycle ... with detergent and including the drying cycle. After the dishwasher performs its first-world magic, zap it with a degreaser/high-volitility spray such as brake-cleaner, lubricate THOROUGHLY with light oil, and reassemble, (The small parts you removed, especially including the barrel, would be cleaned by more conventional methods. If nothing else, this insures that nothing gets lost in the dishwasher.)

REASSEMBLY
The steps required to put the Model 59 back together are essentially the reverse sequence of disassembly:

1. insert the barrel into the slide
2. insert the barrel bushing, being sure to rotate it to full counter-clockwise lock
3. reassemble the guiderod/recoil spring (Make sure that the crimped end of the spring leads; you can check this by tugging on it. As is the case with the 1911 firing-pin spring, if the spring slides easily along the shaft of the guiderod, remove the recoil spring and lead with the OTHER end of the spring.)
4. Insert the guiderod assembly into the slide. The tricky part is here, as the base of the guide rod must be lodged firmly into a shallow cut on the barrel lug. This is often difficult to accomplish under the tension of the recoil spring.
5. Return the slide to the frame
6. Align the barrel link with the slide-stop hole in the frame and insert the slide stop.

Figure 3: Re-Assembly



Note that the OTHER difficult part of reassembly is that the two levers at the rear of the frame rails must be manually depressed before they will fit into the grooves in the slide. Hold the frame in your strong hand, move the slide back along the rails with the weak hand, and as the back of the slide is about to touch one of the two frame levers just push it down with your strong hand thumb. The levers (safety interlocks) are spring-loaded, and the springs are very weak.

Perhaps next week we should go through the whole process again, but this time using still photographs to illustrate each step in better detail. If you're interested in step-by-step photos (especially of assembly of the guiderod assembly into the slide assembly), I hope you'll let me know by writing to me at the email address cited at the very bottom of this page.

I should mention that the person performing the disassembly/reassembly is my son, Ben. Ben hadn't even held this pistol in his hand since 1997 (when he used it to beat me in the first stage of his first and only IPSC match). It took him several tries, and several minutes, to disassemble and reassemble the 659 when he first tried it again last month. After a few run-throughs, he was able to disassemble it in 30 seconds and reassemble it in about a minute. Eventually, he was able to reassemble it as quickly as he disassembled it.


Who, me? No, I couldn't do it that quickly. Fortunately, Ben is smarter than his father.

UPDATE: January 9, 2007
Thanks to reader MARK, I've finally been encouraged to post the still photos which show the steps on both disassembly and assembly of the Model 59 S&W. You can see them here, and I've also included detailed information about the process.

Here's what Mark had to say:

Jerry loved the page on the SW659 my neighbors husband died and she gave me his model 59 with no manuals or anything and as you may know this model hasn't been around since the 80's I searched the web and found your videos so I could get this thing apart to clean out the decades of dust and dirt. You mention you have photos of the dis/reassembly if you still have that it would be great to have for reference. I must admit as my first S&W it sure takes some agility and finese versus my glock but I love the look of this gun. I may never own one of the fancy 1911 race guns but this one still has the look. Thanks again and if you get a chance I would love to email you about competition shooting sometime too I'm thinking about getting into that to justify shooting next spring.

Good neighbors are hard to find.

So long and thanks for all the fish!

ATTENTION !

ALIENS ARE COMING TO ABDUCT ALL THE GOOD LOOKING AND SEXY PEOPLE ON EARTH.

YOU WILL BE SAFE; I'M JUST EMAILING TO SAY GOODBYE.

J

(H/T to AJ, who has been spaced since the 6o's)

Bad Plates

According to USPSA/IPSC rules, plates must be set up so that a scoring hit will 'knock down' the plate.


APPENDIX C3



A small block of wood (indicated by dark shading above), approximately 2cm x 2cm, and about the same width as the plate, should be affixed in front of the base of the plate, to help prevent the plate from turning sideways when shot.

Unfortunately, in club matches, this rule may sometimes be abrogated during set-up because of accident or because the people setting up the stage just don't understand the rules (or don't understand the reasons why some sort of 'baffle' is included in the plate stand.)

Here we see a situation where the host club has used bolt/nut combinations in the plate stand to establish a mechanism which is intended to stop a plate from turning sideways when shot.

The stage procedure is to start sitting in a (very comfortable) chair with unloaded pistol and all magazines on a low table in front of the shooter. On the start signal, pick up & load the pistol, then engage two IPSC targets, two 10" plates, and two US Popper on one side of the stage. Then make a mandatory reload, engage a mirror-arrangement of IPSC targets, plates and US poppers on the other side. The average (Median?) stage time was about 20 seconds.

The plate stands are set up backwards, so instead of serving the intended purpose, they prevent the plate from falling when hit with a low (but legal) 'hit'.

Here's what it looks like, from the target point-of-view. Note that the impediments (the nuts) would have worked well to insure that the plate is always set to present the same aspect to the shooter. Instead, rather than preventing the plate from "turning sideways when shot", it actually serves to INSURE that the plate turns sideways when shot, and prevents the plate from falling, when it is hit low (so that reaction is prevented by the bracing nut/bolt combination).

During the match, in a single squad we witnessed four incidences of the plate setup acting as a detriment to the competitor being awarded credit for the first-round hit.

In the first incident, Doug (not pictured) hit the second of four plates low, with a hit which would have obviously knocked down the plate. Doug did not contest the Range Equipment Failure, but instead continued to engage the plate until it fell from the plate stand. This increased his stage time by two or three seconds.

In the second incident (not pictured), SWMBO likewise struck a plate "low", and continued without protest to engage the other targets on the stage. However, after completing the stage she protested the Range Equipment Failure and was granted a reshoot.

In the third and fourth incidents, during SWMBO's reshoot she hit the 2nd plate low and turned it, but continued to engage the plate and knocked it down with the next shot. However, on the fourth plate she again hit it low which caused it to turn over thirty degrees so that the aspect presented was a target which was only 3 or 4 inches wide, rather than the original ten inches wide. She shot four more times until she was able to knock the plate down.

Her choice was to accept the stage time, which was at least 8 seconds longer (on a 20-second stage) than should have been necessary to clear the stage. The alternative was to accept ANOTHER reshoot due to Range Equipment Failure, and as this was the last stage of the day it was a Hobson's Choice.

Here's how it looked in the actual event.



The stage should have been corrected when the first squad shot it. Because it was a "Club Match", the stage wasn't tested and the error wasn't noticed until the last squad shot it. Consequently, the scores ... however erroneous ... were allowed to stand.

Note that your host (Jerry the Geek) DQ's due to an AD on that stage.

RO Question: If the stage results had been discounted ... if the stage had been 'thrown out' ... would the DQ have been allowed to stand?

Interesting question. There is no real reason to champion one opinion (allow the DQ and the stage to count) over the other opinion (disallow stage points to count as match points, disallow the DQ and allow the Geek match scores to count) because the match had no significant meaning.

However, if it was a Major Match such as the USPSA National Match, I wonder how the Arbitration Board would have ruled?

What do YOU think?

Geek KaBOOM!

It wasn't a true "KaBOOM!", at least not in the classic sense which I've described (or linked to descriptions) here and here before.

But the gun did go "Bang" when I didn't really expect it, and I did accept (insist on!) a Match Disqualification (DQ).

It happened on the last stage of the monthly IPSC match ... ironically, on Veterans' Day; I don't get no respect! ... and AFTER I had successfully completed the course of fire. The 16-round stage had the shooter sitting in a chair while firing, and the chair was situated under overhead cover. We had expected rain, so all of the firing positions for the entire match were set up inside the 3-sided buildings on Bays One through Seven which make it so nice to compete at the Albany Rifle and Pistol Club (ARPC) during the rainy season (nine months out of the year).


In retrospect, the only draw-back I can perceive in reference to shooting under cover is that the light-source is attenuated. That is, it's not bright enough to provide an acceptable level of brightness to a round in the chamber. This wasn't obvious at the time, but read on; you'll eventually see that this is a factor which must always be considered in terms of range safety.


After I had completed the course of fire, Gene the RO gave me the normal "If you are finished, unload and show clear" command. I dropped the magazine and racked the slide. I didn't see the last loaded round fly out. I blinked.

The RO looked in the chamber, didn't see a round there, and appropriatedly gave the next command:

"IF clear, hammer down, holster".

This is right out of the rulebook (2004), and has been slightly changed from previous versions which were:

"Gun clear, hammer down, holster".

The reason for the change in verbiage?

It absolves the RO from all responsibility if the gun is NOT clear.

Keep this in mind, because it is an important point, if subtle. The RO is NOT responsible for the consequences if the chamber turns out not to be 'clear'. However, if the RO isn't satisfied that the gun is unloaded, he will not allow the shooter to prove that the gun is not clear by dropping the hammer (by pulling the trigger).

This is not intended as an excuse; it merely acknowledges that the next action by the shooter is entirely up to the shooter. If that person is not entirely confident that the gun is clear, he should NOT continue with the normal chain of events. That is to say, the shooter should NOT pull the trigger.

Moving on:
Normally, I hold the pistol approximately gang-banger level and when I rack the slide the round flies into the air. Inappropriately, I usually catch the live round so it doesn't hit the ground, but I was sitting down and the stage was sufficiently bizarre that I changed my normal routine a bit.

Puzzled, I racked the slide again. Again, no round is ejected.

I looked at the ground around my feet. Didn't see an ejected cartridge lying at my feet ... but there was a short-legged table in front of me (the stage started with unloaded gun and all magazines on the table) and I couldn't see EVERYTHING; I thought the ejected live round must be lying under the table.

Just to be sure, I squinted at the chamber while holding the slide back. Nope, couldn't see the glint of brass in the chamber.

Just to be sure, I racked the slide two, three, four times more. Nothing happening here folks, move along.

It was the last stage, and I felt a certain amount of urgency because we all wanted to get off the stage so the rest of the squad could complete the stage before the threatened big rains came. (We had about 10 minutes of gusty winds and light rain earlier in the day, and we felt lucky that we hadn't had to bag the targets, because that makes it terribly difficult to see your hits AND to paste over the hits for the next shooter.)

Ultimately, I sighed, pointed the gun carefully at the berm down-range, and pulled the trigger.

Ka-BOOM!

Hmmmmmm ... I guess there was a round in the chamber after all.

Absolute silence in the bay, followed by a flurry of comments.

Gene, the RO, said "I saw you rack the slide, several times, and I thought it was empty!"

I said "Me too, but it wasn't empty. My responsibility. I'm DQ'd."

And so it was, after another flurry of comments.

The Hobo Brasser, the Match Director who was in the same squad, said "I wasn't watching because I was talking to someone, but I HEARD you rack the slide several times. The only way that round couldn't have been extracted is if your extractor was broken. " (There's a rule that if a discharge was caused by a mechanical failure of your gun, it's not a DQ.)

I opined that under these circumstances it didn't matter. I was the shooter, it's my responsibility to make CERTAIN that no round is left in the gun before I complete the "Unload And Show Clear" sequence. I pulled the trigger, there was a round in the gun, I'm outta there.

I wasn't really upset, there was no safety issue (the gun WAS pointed downrange), and I wasn't sure that it was safely unloaded. I admittedly did not KNOW that the gun was safe, pulling the trigger was my decision and I pay the penalty.

I was unhappy later when it turned out that I came within small percentage points of having actually won a stage, and I'm disappointed that the things I "did well" wouldn't get the recognition I felt I observed. In fact, it was one of the better matches I have shot recently. Except for that "one thing" (shades of "Curly" in City Slickers!)

----

The Next Day

The Hobo Brasser sent me an email citing rule 10.4.9:

10.4.9 Exception: When it can be established that the cause of the dis­charge is due to the actual breakage of a part of the firearm and the competitor has not committed any safety infraction in this Section, a match disqualification will not be invoked, however, the competitor’s scores for that course of fire will be zero. The firearm must be immediately presented for inspection to the Range Master or his delegate, who will inspect the firearm and carry out any tests necessary to establish that an actual breakage of a part caused the discharge. A competitor may not later appeal a match disqualification for an unsafe discharge due to the actu­al breakage of a part if they fail to present the firearm for inspec­tion prior to leaving the course of fire.

When I read this, I immediately dismissed it because I had pulled the extractor and performed a cursory inspection. I looked at the AFTEC extractor, and it looked okay to me. Besides, it doesn't matter if the extractor was broken. I pulled the trigger, it's my responsibility to make SURE that the gun is safe, and I failed in my responsibility. The reason for the Ka-BOOM is that I pulled the trigger. Nothing else matters.

But when I was checking the gun, I took some digital pictures as well, from several angles, because I thought it was a good subject to write about.

When I got home this evening and downloaded the photos, I discovered that the naked eye is NOT the best way to best way to inspect an extractor. My bifocals were not up to the requirements; I needed a lot of visual enhancements to perceive the problem, which you can only get with a strong magnifying glass OR photo enlargement.

(NOTE about the following photographs: the thumbnails you see are much-diminished in resolution. When you click on the image, you see the full-size image. To give you an idea about how much enlargement is required to perceive the damage to the extractor, look at the background. The extractor is presented on a background of a commercial cleaning patch. The grey grid you see in the enlargement is the weave in the material!)


Picture 1, looking square-on at the extractor, looks fine. This is what I saw when I looked at the photo through my bifocals. You can't see squat by looking at the extractor through bifocals, or via the thumbnails. You really need to click on the FOLLOWING pictures to see the full-size image.



But Picture 2, looking at the left corner of the extractor, displays a chip out of the metal. (This probably shows up better in the full-size photo ... click each picture to show it full-size.)

Picture 3 shows the right corner of the extractor, which isn't typically involved in gripping the case. This is what the left corner SHOULD have looked like.

Picture 4 is another square-on view of the extractor, under slightly different lighting. You can see the shadow indicating that the extractor material doesn't reach all the way to the left corner.

The extractor typically fails at the left corner, which is the fail-point of the part because the extractor doesn't usualy engage the case at the center of the extractor face, which is what you would naturally expect.

Typically, the only portion of the 'hook' of the 1911 extractor which catches the rim of the case is the left (or 'lower') end of the engagement face. This may be a design flaw, because I've had a half-dozen extractor failures in the 23 years I've been competing in IPSC and ALL of the failures were caused by a chip out of the left corner of the hook.

So far we've established that the reason the round didn't extract was because of extractor failure.

But why didn't I, or the RO, notice that there was a round in the chamber?

After careful consideration, I went back to my ammunition.

They're color-coded.

SWMBO and I have a routine we follow in loading ammunition. I tumble all of the brass we pick up, and reload it.

Then SWMBO (usually) inspects the ammunition by first using a case-gauge to determine whether it will fit into the chamber. The STI Open Gun she is using is the same caliber as the STI Open Gun I am using ... .38 Super.

However, the chamber in the gun she is using is much less forgiving; ammunition which is too fat for that gun will often fit quite reliably in the gun I am using.

Also, she has an extractor which is tuned for one case profile only: .38 super.

The gun I am using is fitted with an Aftec extractor, which will reliably eject .38 super, .38 super comp, .38 TJ, .38 AP, and any other rim-size.

After the case-gauge, she boxes the ammunition in Dillon ammunition boxes and the subjects it to a visual inspection. She is looking for high primers (which are pulled and either placed in the "BAD AMMO" bin or run through the primer-seating stage of the XL650 reloading press; the advisability of this step is a subject for a later article, which will probably never be written by ME because I obviously don't see a problem in reseating a primer in a loaded cartridge.)


Consequently, we mark our ammunition in hopes that people who brass after the stage has
been completed will know who 'owns' the brass:

RED: Every round which drops cleanly into the case-gauge, and is not some variation of .38 super comp, is marked red and she can use it with confidence.

RED WITH BLACK STRIPE: Rounds which drop cleanly into the case-gauge, but are a variation of the .38 super-comp, are marked RED with a BLACK STRIP so we know I can use it in my gun, but it may not extract reliably in her gun.

NO MARKING: Rounds which are too fat to fit the gun she is using, but drop clean into the chamber of the gun I am using, are not marked. If we don't get it back when we brass after shooting, we're not too worried.

BLACK: During ONE loading this month, I decided to mark FAT/COMP brass separately ... for no good reason. I suspect it was because I wanted people who were brassing the stage to be able to identify OUR brass, and return it to us rather than confuse it with the .38 super brass that they had shot without marking it. Admittedly, it was an experiment.

BLUE: Every round which is loaded using new (Winchester) brass is marked BLUE on the base. It has also passed the case-gauge test, and she can use it with confidence. Because we want to be SURE to recover this never-fired brass, we mark it specially so we only use it in classifer stages or any other stage where we are reasonably confident that we can find all of the brass,.

I'm not certain about this, but I suspect that the BLACK-marked brass (really, should have been saved for practice) was mixed up with the lighter-color-coded brass. We had used most of it the previous match, at Dundee, and got some of it back. But I noticed a few rounds of this black-based brass before the ARPC match started, and failed to consider that it might cause a problem.

NOTE: I've been competing in IPSC for 23 years, and STILL didn't see any way this might cause a problem.

Conclusion:

IPSC/USPSA safety regulations represent the Belt AND Suspenders And Staple-to-the tummy approach to multiple safety factor insurance. If, after all of the safety rules have been compromised, any unhappy moments experienced are the fault of the shooter.

1. At UNLOAD AND SHOW CLEAR, you (as the shooter) need to make certain that your chamber is really really clear. If you have any doubts, don't worry about slowing up the match. Notify the RO that you're not certain that the chamber is clear, even if it requires calling for a Squib Rod to ensure that the chamber is not occupied by the EEEEEEVIL Loaded Round.
   
2. An expansion on Point One: If you are not comfortable pulling the trigger ... DON'T PULL THE TRIGGER!
   
3. It's a really BAD idea to mark your brass by applying a 'dark' color to the base of the case. Use only bright, 'happy colors' to mark your brass. Test your marked brass to be sure that they show up when the chamber is inspected under 'normal' light levels.

FINAL QUESTION:

Here's an RO test for you.

If you find yourself in a similar circumstance, and discover that the reason that the live round in the chamber didn't eject because the extractor was broken, does rule 10.4.9 apply? Or instead of the shooter sticking around for the awards ceremony, does he spend the afternoon salving his conscience at Dairy Queen?