(Wife and I took some time to tour Mississippi and just got home. I hate typing on the iPad, so sorry for the delayed report. We toured Gulfport MS and took us awhile to realize that all the Gulf front property for sale, use to have buildings on them. Sad how much Katrina took out. On the plus side the place looks very clean and they've come a long way in revitalizing it.)
Here are the "CLASSIC" scores. (If you want all the sordid details, got to Icore.org) While I went into the match Unclassified, I shot at the "B" level. Cool, cause on the actual Classifier stage, I score a "D" level. I was top Unclassifed Classic shooter (the only one). And actually if I had been "D" class I would have beat out the other three.
GM Reid, Roger 265.73 100.00
GM Frazier, Scott 265.92 99.93
A Williams, Mike 315.27 84.29
B Lowman, Jim 373.99 71.05
B Chan, Melanie 382.03 69.56
B Sauve, Alfred 421.97 62.97
C Malmos, Keith 453.89 58.55
C Podsiadlo, Donald 454.06 58.52
D Podsiadlo, Marsha 648.32 40.99
My scores were really good, it's just that my time was r-e-a-l-l-y slow. But then my goal was to be the most accurate in Classic division. Not sure I made it because GM Roger Reid, really super nice guy and was on my squad, did some impressive shooting as well. Here's what I have. ICORE scores by adding 1/2 second per point down. B is 1 point down, C is 2 and Misses or NSs are 5.
Stg A's B's C's M/NS
1 14 5 1 1
2 23
3 21 3
4 22 4 2
5 29 1
6 24
7 26 1 1 1
8 20 4
Now the long boring chronology of events:
Went over on Friday, 6 hour drive. Took our time, stopped in Tuscaoulsa and did some shopping. Got plenty of rest Friday night. My only concern was I had no match information and the MD didn't return my last email. So I drove down to the range at 7am, since that was the time listed on the ICORE web site. Naturally the match didn't start till 9am so my worries were for naught.
Magnolia RP range is only 8 miles south of Jackson (I-20) and is a beautiful range. Nicely done. I'd love to be able to shoot there every day. They kept apologizing for the mud, but it wasn't bad at all. They had lots of grass covering most of the stages.
I signed in and got my t-shirt and Course of Fire (COF) booklet. I tried to nap in the car but after looking at the COF I felt so tiny and so out of my league, I couldn't nap. I was intimidated by the Texas Star and the Polish Plate stages. There were only 46 shooters. I was a little disappointed it wasn't bigger with sponsor tables and prize giveaways, but I have to remember this is ICORE. It's not a big discipline.
Got my squad assignment and we went to our stage. 11 in my squad. Nice folks. And btw, all very accurate shooters. Also, ICORE has got a lot of "seniors", naturally, so I wasn't anything unique on that score. Chris Comer is THE Rules Director for ICORE was on my squad. Nice guy, master shooter and very interesting to talk with about the rules. Also why the IRC is trying to move.
Our first stage was 3 and everyone was complementing my accuracy. What a rush to have a master shooter ask if I shoot Bianchi. We decided to shoot through 6 stage and chrono before we broke for lunch at 1pm. (Chrono'd my .38SCs at 133 btw.) They served Chicken Premivera! Kudos to the range chief. Then we finished the last two (1 & 2) stages. Out by 2:30.
It was great to observe the other shooters and to be around such talent. A long drive, but the Orlando group drove 12 hours, so I can't complain.
Oh the Texas Star was fixed, not spinning, but it was a limited round count. 5 plates, 5 shots. The Polish Plate rack was 5 plates and took me 10 shots. I got a little rattled, but it was my first time. There were two very quick clam shells. Aced both, phewwww.
One side note on style. There was one target on one stage that was only 2 feet from the portal. TWO FEET. I watched almost everybody take aimed shots at it. This was coming off a reload for everybody. I reloaded and brought the gun up only as high as necessary to clear the portal and did a point and shoot and obviously got 2 A's. I attribute it to Gabe, my reading on technique and on the speed drills when I practice. It was the one and only target I figured I out shoot everybody else on.
Looking forward to my next ICORE. I may even get back to the local IDPA matches this week.