Pima Tactical
Another beautiful day in Catalina's Mt. Lemmon foothills! It didn't occur to me until during the match that I'd for once be competing against the new shooters (Tactical Iron guys) I'd taken under my wing over the past few matches. I'd be overjoyed if they beat me by showing marked improvement--but after my horrible first stage, I was worried that my early match performance would stink up the range...and the rest of my effort. Must Beat the New Guys, At Least!
The stinky stage was diabolical: engage three targets with pistol, then drop prone(!!!) and engage seven stationary clay targets with riotgun(!!!). Oy, we pumpgunners were hating life, and my missing twice required me to reload. Don't try to reload an empty 870 through the bottom! A Failure to Neutralize with pistol made this stage even suckier.
Our next stage was all shotgun on steel. Russell (left) had some cycling issues with his new Remmie 1100, but did pretty well. Jeff was slower on reloading his borrowed 1100 (they both shot 870s last time). I blasted through the stage rather well, but fumbled with the same empty-gun brainfart as last stage. I pulled even with Russell, timewise.
The next two stages were rifle-only, which I saw as the only chances I had to make up lost ground. On the first stage, Jeff was too careful on the close targets, Russell racked up a buttload of FTNs, and I cleaned the mofo! with a respectable time! For the next stage, I was near the bottom of the order, so I got to watch lots of approaches to the stage. One of the eventual class winners shooting behind me noted that I was the first in our squad to use the first shooting port as a rest when shooting the headshots downrange. I had one FTN in hardcover, but a darned good time.
The last stage was pistol-only...14 IPSC metric targets, most of them painted with some degree of hardcover. Jeff (left) ran his Ruger through its paces methodically, while Russell tried to wail away with his Glock. Russell's FTNs would nullify his faster score. I cleaned this stage and IIRC, beat Russell minus his penalties.
After we tore down the stages, they announced the results; I was at the very bottom...of the top half of TI shooters (we had more than a dozen)! The New Guys were well near the bottom of our class.
I guess it turned out that I needn't have worried about getting beaten by the new shooters...gotta wonder how much that worry motivated me to shoot me better. Ya think I could drum up that motivation without having a bad stage next time? Or maybe beat Jon on one of his good days?
The stinky stage was diabolical: engage three targets with pistol, then drop prone(!!!) and engage seven stationary clay targets with riotgun(!!!). Oy, we pumpgunners were hating life, and my missing twice required me to reload. Don't try to reload an empty 870 through the bottom! A Failure to Neutralize with pistol made this stage even suckier.
Our next stage was all shotgun on steel. Russell (left) had some cycling issues with his new Remmie 1100, but did pretty well. Jeff was slower on reloading his borrowed 1100 (they both shot 870s last time). I blasted through the stage rather well, but fumbled with the same empty-gun brainfart as last stage. I pulled even with Russell, timewise.
The next two stages were rifle-only, which I saw as the only chances I had to make up lost ground. On the first stage, Jeff was too careful on the close targets, Russell racked up a buttload of FTNs, and I cleaned the mofo! with a respectable time! For the next stage, I was near the bottom of the order, so I got to watch lots of approaches to the stage. One of the eventual class winners shooting behind me noted that I was the first in our squad to use the first shooting port as a rest when shooting the headshots downrange. I had one FTN in hardcover, but a darned good time.
The last stage was pistol-only...14 IPSC metric targets, most of them painted with some degree of hardcover. Jeff (left) ran his Ruger through its paces methodically, while Russell tried to wail away with his Glock. Russell's FTNs would nullify his faster score. I cleaned this stage and IIRC, beat Russell minus his penalties.After we tore down the stages, they announced the results; I was at the very bottom...of the top half of TI shooters (we had more than a dozen)! The New Guys were well near the bottom of our class.
I guess it turned out that I needn't have worried about getting beaten by the new shooters...gotta wonder how much that worry motivated me to shoot me better. Ya think I could drum up that motivation without having a bad stage next time? Or maybe beat Jon on one of his good days?
posted by Cowboy Blob @ 6:00 PM
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