The Down Range Forum
Member Section => Down Range Cafe => Topic started by: alfsauve on July 10, 2011, 05:01:51 PM
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So I've never shot at the Cherokee Gun Club (Gainesville, Ga) and this past Saturday was their scheduled IPSC match. Easy stages, they said in an email, not a lot or running or physical stuff, because of the heat. Stages will go quickly and we'll get out of there early. It's 65 miles, but I thought this would be a good chance to see this club.
Well, everybody including Team Glock had the same idea. Over 100 of us showed up! I was feeling like a pretty small fish in a rather large pond. I learned a lot about "gaming" the system, too.
First who was I rubbing shoulders with? Well here are the GM, M and A class shooters, for starters.
Sevigny, Dave GM Limited10
Lund, Erik GM Limited
Munier, William GM Production
Litt, Tod GM Production
Eusebio, KC GM Open
Nied, Larry M Open
Rogers, Randi M Production
Arrowood,Randy M Limited10
Romero, Rob M Single
Penrod, Devon M Limited
Gingco, Gerard M Production
Koon, Jason M Production
Oliver, Peter A Open
Abbate,Jessica A Open
Cochran, Kaci A Open
Ellington, Brian A Production
Marcellino, Tony A Single
Wasielewski, M A Open
Well, maybe I wish I could rub shoulders with a couple of them. Several local competitors, but you recognize some of the names as "big time" shooters.
Now this is a nice facility and the club members work very hard to put on a fine match. Some stages did require a bit of thinking but were basic in design while at the same time requiring a good combination of speed and accuracy. They do this other neat thing. They drew 5 names out of the hat and those people got $25 cash. Paid for the entry fee and gas money.
The problem came about in squading. It was a big white board that you just signed your name on. When I got there I thought I'd do the gentlemanly thing and sign into the squad with the least names. Well this turned out to be their big bugaboo. No one monitored the squad signup so some squads had only 13 and others over 20. Created some bottle necks. (I also think that if your squad isn't shooting you need to stay out of the other squad's range and out of their way, until they're finished.)
I also understand now why my squad had so few people signed up initially. My squad started with the qualifier stage and no one wanted to shoot the qualifier cold. Ah - ha. Lesson learned.
First shot didn't get off until after 10am and it took about an 75 minutes for my squad to complete the first stage. By the third stage all the other squads were starting to stack up behind the largest squad. To hurry things along the ROs were taking some short cuts in scoring. On one stage I barely was able to get downrange before they had my targets pasted. Not that anybody did anything wrong or cheated me out of any points, but.......well it wasn't as fun as it could be. My calculations were that it would be after 5pm before we finished. I had only planned on staying till 2pm. So I dropped out after 3 stages. No regrets.
THE BEST STAGE: I liked it. A lot of people went to the Range Master before the match started to complain. I think they were upset because you couldn't double tap. Here's how it went. 4 targets downrange at 25yds, 6 targets on each side from 5 yds to 20 yds (forming a U shaped set of targets). A total of 16 targets. 4 shooting positions each putting you progressively down range and putting some targets behind you. No all targets were visible from all positions. You fired 8 and only 8 shots from each position and then you had to move to another position and reload. You could only fire one shot per target from any one shooting position. Score best two shots per target. Had to think on that one and remember which targets already had one hole and which had none.
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Alf, I don't know about you, but I will cheerfully rub shoulders or anything else Jesse Abbate will allow me to rub without shooting my ass, and do so without complaint. ;D Sounds like you had an interesting day.
FQ13
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FQ is SOOO fussy, I wouldn't complain even if she did shoot me. ;D
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FQ is SOOO fussy, I wouldn't complain even if she did shoot me. ;D
No Tom, I don't expect you would, mostly because you wouldn't have time to. Bang, thump, game over ;D.
FQ13
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Sounds like a good day to me Alf! You left out exactly what it was you were shooting with though! Pics are nice. ;)
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No Tom, I don't expect you would, mostly because you wouldn't have time to. Bang, thump, game over ;D.
FQ13
I meant in a non fatal spot. ;D
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Alf, I don't know about you, but I will cheerfully rub shoulders or anything else Jesse Abbate will allow me to rub without shooting my ass, and do so without complaint. ;D
I'm with you bro!!!!!!!!!!!! :o
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Pictures: That was the other bummer. I left my camera at home. I guess I could have gotten out the cell phone, but I left it in the car. I don't like carrying anything I don't have to. Maybe in a few days, someone from their club will post some pictures.
I was shooting Production with my XD-9 Tactical.
Another little point I learned, when shooting multiply timed strings, don't put the partially used magazine in the mag holster between strings. Throw it on the ground, stick in your pocket. YEP, I grabbed the partially used on instead of a full one on a reload. Had to reload an extra time, just for the last shot, which was a weak handed string, so the reload took like forever.
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Aren't mags for that thing like forty bucks? :o Carefully place those emptys lovingly in your pocket!
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Aren't mags for that thing like forty bucks? :o Carefully place those emptys lovingly in your pocket!
Mags are typically under $30. Stainless. Plus I got 4 mags and 2 mag holders from SA as part of the promotional deal. With some other trading going on I ended up with 8 mags without paying extra. If you don't like dropping mags in dirt and mud then don't shoot USPSA outdoors.
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Alf, I don't know about you, but I will cheerfully rub shoulders or anything else Jesse Abbate will allow me to rub without shooting my ass, and do so without complaint. ;D Sounds like you had an interesting day.
FQ13
HEY!! Show some respect!! You're talking about my future wife!! ;D
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HEY!! Show some respect!! You're talking about my future wife!! ;D
If your current wife reads that I'm going to need a new VP. ;D
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Great job Alf! When are we going to see your name on the GM list?
I know the feeling of "fish out of water." My first USPSA match was a Fredericksburg and I had no idea what i"d gotten myself into. Walked up to the safe area to get my gear settled and the shooter next to me started talking with me, helping me out. Come to find out it was Scott Warren, of Warren Sights. Turned around and Todd jarret was a couple spots over, who also said hi at least. We squad'ed with friends and started the match. This young lady would stop in and see what we were doing throughout the day, come to find out it was Julie G.
I really need to get back out and bloody SHOOT!