2023 Competition Schedule

[alfsauve]

My friend and fellow Steel Challenge Club 13 member, Mark Hu  (and yes when he's the first shooter on a stage we all shout Hu's On First) has set our primary goals for us.  Now mind you we probably won't win, or place or even show, but we'll be there, rubbing elbows with the pros.  Or at least the semi-pros.  Or some very good amateurs.

IDPA WORLD (once every 4 years it comes to the US) is at CMP --- check
STEEL CHALLENGE WORLD (every other year in the US) is at CMP --- check

To get into IDPA I need tiered matches so I'm planning on:

GA State - River Bend Gun Club (GA)
TN State - Soddy Daisy, TN
Double Trouble - Belton, SC  (actually it's 2 matches in one day)
Rolling on the River - Valdosta, GA

All but the latter are within 2hours drive.
Also ICORE Southern Regional at JM's range in LA.  IRC is too far away this year.
Not planning on any USPSA matches this year.

LET THE GAMES BEGIN and MAY THE ODDS BE EVER IN ALL OUR FAVOR

[Rastus]

No USPSA?

[alfsauve]

Too much else going on.  I stand some chance of placing in IDPA, or at least moving up to Expert.  USPSA times have gotten pretty much out of reach for me.  Though I like shooting it because it helps me break questionable habits ingrained by IDPA.

If the GA State USPSA match is local I'll probably go to it.  Depends on schedule.

[alfsauve]

Belton Double Trouble 2023 IDPA Match.   Day match from Noon to 4pm.  Night match from 7:45pm to midnight.   18 stages total.

1st Place Revolver Sharp Shooter.   

Man was I tired.  And then drove back to Atlanta arriving home at 2:30am

My Olight Baton 3 worked like a champ for the night match.   And let me tell you, shooting AND scoring in the dark is a challenge.  Finding the your magazines/speedloaders/moonclips a real challenge.  No, before you ask, there were no lights on the range.  Spooky at times.

[alfsauve]

For those wondering.  The Belton (SC) match uses the same courses of fire for the night match as the day.  I couldn't imagine trying to shoot a totally new COF in the dark.

Which brings up an interesting question.  Does it take longer to shoot the stages in the dark.   An advantage is of course we all knew the courses of fire and had "practiced" them with the day match.  So for my area coordinator, I did an analysis.  Many shooters changed divisions from day to night to use weapon mounted lights.  I only used data on the people who shot in the same division, of course and who completed all 18 stages.

So here's a chart showing the percentage increase of the Night scores over the Day scores.  There were 4 shooters who had lower scores at night (and one with an almost 0% change), but on average shooting at night add about 15% to the scores.   This ignores any fatigue factor and we did have several drop out before they finished that night from fatique.

[Sponsor]

[alfsauve]

WORLD SPEED SHOOTING CHAMPIONSHIP

 ME!  There!  Two Division, ISR and PCCI.   Great time.  Great group of people.  I should have kept track but I think I came close to meeting people from all 50 states.  Alaska was the furthest away.

Won my Classification in both divisions, even beat some A and B shooters.   

Weird thing about PCCI.  It's top heavy in Grand Masters.  15 GMs, 5 Masters, 4-As, 1-B and 1-C.  I beat the B and one of the A shooters.   And in the process I got moved to B classification.   I don't think they do "bumps" like in USPSA and IDAP because every stage is a classifier, so you either got it or you don't.

With ISR it's more normal distro.  There was Michael Poggie, GM, then 4-As, 3-Bs, 2-Cs and 1-D.  I was high C finishing ahead of 1-B and 1-A as well as the D shooter.  My goal was to beat Annette Aysen from ICORE, but my lack of practice really showed.

Sadly, it'll be November/December before I get back to SC unless GA ICORE has to cancel.  They're the same weekends.  From now until October I need to work on IDPA and ICORE to get ready for World IDPA and IRC.

[alfsauve]

Only the local ICORE match….. BUT

For those who don’t know ICORE has very few rules regarding stage design.  It has to be safe of course, but compared to the pages of rules in IDPA & USPSA  it’s almost anything goes.

This past weekend, 5 paper, 3 - 6” plates, 9 pepper poppers, 6 - 8” plates AND a Texas Star.

If that wasn’t fun enough we shot it a second time with the following rules. 

Paper - free style
Steel on the left side of the firing lane - left hand only
Steel on the right side -right hand only
Star….. Strong hand only

We all just went to the line and did it. All 14 shooters.  I think the most extra shots anybody used on the star was 3.  Collectively we all went home and then it hit us.  We just shot the Star one handed.  Nothing IDPA  or USPSA can throw at us will ever be intimidating.

[Rastus]

That's a good accomplishment shooting one handed.

[Majer]

Now try it with a single action revolver like we do in Cowboy action shooting (Duelist)

[alfsauve]

0-dawn thirty Miss Kitty and I are off to visit with Jerry at his range near Shreveport.  Southern Reginal ICORE Championship, brought to you by Ruger.  8 stages +Chrono.

I’ve become such a gamer, I’ve put a drop-offset on my CT holster.  I’m one of the highest class shooters in Classic Division, assuming Jerry doesn’t suddenly decide to shoot.  If I buckle down and take this seriously, I could take home the hardware.  Wow! Just wow!