Thank Heavens for Cloud Cover

Boy, were we relieved that temperatures never reached the record 120-something broached yesterday in the Valley of the Sun. One-oh-five? Bah! Our mini-squad of three contained two USAF Survival School graduates, but also a pasty-white-skinned redheaded teenager (yep, stepchild, even) and an overweight, out-of-shape transplant to the Sonoran Desert (that would be moi).







We sallied forth coated with sunscreen and stayed well-hydrated. I'd loaded a six-pack of frozen water bottles into a mini-cooler and Jon brought a gallon jug of water, in addition to personal water bottles we all carried. Nomex gloves protected off-hands from hot-hot black guns and lead-blasted target steel. My pistol was uncomfortable to handle with a bare hand, but that wasn't even a distraction after the starting buzzer sounded.



Terry and the League Course-of-Fire Committee whipped up a low-round-count but entertaining practice match. With three guys sharing a wagon, and no one sharing a gun, we decided to shoot shotgun first and leave the rifles in the truck. Here's Stage One.






Stage Two had shotgun steel on the left, pistol cardboard on the right, and a Texas Star that could be engaged from either box with either weapon. I got the essential double popper hit necessary to clean all the steel with the shotgun.








Stage Three was rifle-only and young Piter cleaned my clock. O' course, he has young eyes and optics! I shot from the seated position, but missed some of the required headshots. Jon struggled with a feeding problem.











Stage Four gave me a chance to catch up with Piter. Two poppers to be dropped by pistol, then an array of cardboard at a variety of distances. In rifle/pistol, Piter and I finished with 23 (not 2!) seconds of each other.

Update: Piter just reminded me that results are posted and he had beaten both Jon and me in rifle. He beat Jon by 2 seconds. I pointed out to Optics Boy that my 98.75 second match time beat his 105.66 seconds. I was King of the PumpGunners (and even beat one auto guy)! Jon beat us both handily, but he was using a semi-auto shotgun, so duhhh. Actually, Piter did darned good, but barely got to break in his brand new .45.