August 2005 Newsletter

A cool and foggy morning gave way to a full summer day. Summer vacations and lazy shooters kept the number down to only 15, but it was maximum fun in a match consisting of 4 stages by Dan and one from Rich. We were pleased to see first-timer Kevin who arrived early to help set up and stayed late. Expect to see him again. Another treat was seeing Yuki and Heeday whom we haven't seen for a while. Heeday volunteered a stage for our October match, as did Cedric. A special thanks to Dan for coming early and busting his butt to get his stages set up.

The stages: Heads Up: A devilishly clever group of 6 targets and 7 plates, carefully placed behind a field of barrels. At most, the top half of the plates and targets were peeking out, hence the name. Remain in the single box and shoot the popper to activate the swinger. Then decide to take the swinger before it stopped with only the tiniest bit of A ring showing, or use the full view at the ends of travel. Neither method worked very well. Dan must have practiced this mentally on his drive to the range, as he outdistanced everyone. Two of the barrels were augmented with tires on top to ensure the plates were hidden. The smell of burning rubber wafted gently in the morning air as Pete put plenty of hot lead into those tires. Harry took a simpler approach as his direct hit just shoved the tire off and knocked the plate off the stand. Nelson's slow motion .45 slugs simply bounced off, flopping on the ground harmlessly. Except for the rifling grooves, they could have been reloaded. Limitations: Simple enough - 3 boxes, 3 targets and 3 par time strings of 4 seconds each. Hit the big rectangle for minus 1 second, the big plate for minus 2 seconds and the tiny plate for minus 3 seconds. Unknown if the title came from the famous Dirty Harry line in "Magnum Force," but the decision on which plate to to go for did require confidence in one's abilities. Most opted for the "sure thing" rectangle. Many discovered that hasty shooting was not rewarded. Optics had a huge advantage, although John did admirably well with his Limited 627, coming in second behind Ron W. Funny, but Dan said everyone liked the design before they shot - not many positive comments afterwards. Flasher: Named for the nifty target that Rich saw at the Rocky Mountain regional and recently added to our inventory. The real name is a "Max Trap." Regardless of what it's called, when activated, the front no-shoot flips forward to reveal all the shoot target behind. At the bottom of travel, a sliding weight drops off and then the no-shoot returns. The A and B zones were only available when the no-shoot was down, but if you dawdled, the C zone could still be used. The gamblers hit the popper, then an adjacent paper and then returned for the trap shoot target. The remainder of the targets were "as you see 'em" from the first and one more box downrange. Total of 4 poppers and 8 targets for 20 rounds. Pete wasted no time and redeemed himself on this one. Throne: Imagine you are sitting in the "reading room" with your trusty revolver loaded on the table beside you, roll in hand just finishing up. Uh oh, somebody's knockin', so kick the door open, grab your revo and take care of the two rectangular steel, the solo round plate and tag the single paper for 2 hits. All the while remaining seated and being careful not to drop the roll, since the job's not over until the "paperwork" is done. The door was simulated by a popper that had to be kicked down. Three strings, righty, lefty and both. Yes, you could drop the Nice 'n' Soft on the third string. Mike P wiped out the rest of the shooters with the top score. Rich M got careless and left a skid mark, but it was from skipping a round off the top of the table on the lefty side. A little overeagerness on the trigger prep spoiled Rich's score. Warp: Not a Star Trek reference to speed, but more likely an evaluation of Dan's mindset as he concocted this simple, but twisted, stage. Five targets in an X array and two boxes only a step apart. Start in either, facing uprange. Turn, then try to remember to shoot the correct diagonal, as it was reversed. Step into the opposite box while performing the mandatory reload and grab the remaining targets. Shots limited. Bob M lined up on the wrong target but a loud "NO" from squad buddy Ron J helped him avoid the procedural. Seems that Ron had learned that lesson the hard way on his attempt . . . And, just to make it interesting, Squad 2 didn't read the instructions and therefore started facing downrange. Dan added 1 second to each Squad 2 score to allow the stage to be kept in the match. More generous than a 5 second procedural for everyone. Squad 2 loves Dan, especially Ron W who wouldn't have won the stage otherwise. Thank you, Dan.

September Rimfire Match

Even though Rich is going to be cruising in Alaska, the match will go on. Same format as before, 3 stages of pistol/revolver, then repeat with extra plate using rifle. Braggin' rights only, unless we choose to have some sort of annual points championship. Does anybody have an opinion? Juniors pay only $5 so bring the youngsters. Newbies are $10 as usual.