January 12, 2002

T HAD BEEN OVER A MONTH SINCE I'D LAST BEEN SHOOTING, so I wasn't expecting much from myself at the Carolina Cattlemen's Shooting & Social Society match, and it was a good thing. Yes, I ended up with Third Place Duelist, which sounds impressive until you discover that there were only three of us shooting that class... Ah, well, I still had great fun.

It was a sunny day, but a little on the brisk side. The temperature was 24 degrees as Wiz and I climbed into the Explorer, and it hadn't warmed up much by the time we arrived at the range. The sheepskin lining in my black duster was a real blessing; when I removed the coat to shoot, it got real chilly, real fast. After each shooter, the Range Officer was right on when he yelled "Cold Range!" so the targets could be reset. Brrrr!

The posse I was put on was a fun one, with a few of my blackpowder friends (and Carolina Leadfoot asked me again when I was going to cross over to the "Dark Side"), some of the really fast shooters, and some new folks I hadn't met before.

Old Rifle: My favorite part of a stage is shooting the old Winchester Model 1892 in .44 WCF. Blackpowder coming soon! —photo by Pixelwiz

Stage One:
Dang, it was cold when we started! Good thing our first stage was pretty straightforward, because I had enough on my mind just trying to stop shivering and keeping my hands steady. I began behind a table, rifle in hand at port arms. At the beep, I had to put 8 rounds on the four rifle targets — any order, any way, as long as there was at least one round on each target. Fire both revolvers into the pistol targets, again, any order as long as at least one round is on each target. I took it slow and easy with the handguns, as I didn't want to make a serious mistake with cold fingers. Finished up with four shotgun knock-down targets. Fun stage, and I shot it cleanly despite the cold (though it was the last stage I'd clean for the day...).

Stage Two:
"On the wagon" — This was set up so we shot our long guns while seated on the table: 6 rounds with the rifle, 4 with the shotgun then stand and shoot the pistols. With the first pistol put two shots on each outside target, then one on the middle. Draw the second revolver and put two shots on the next target from the edge and then one on the middle. I screwed up and put the first shot with my second revolver on the outside target, too quickly for Stinky Jim (who was running the timer) to warn me about it. D'oh! Ah, well, I didn't miss any targets, but that brain-fade earned me a 10-second procedural penalty.

Me 'n' Stinky: Stinky Jim (r) does his best to keep me from screwing up the stage, though even with his help I still manage to botch it. —photo by Pixelwiz

Stage Three:
My brain-fade continued over to this stage, where there was a line of six steel cowboy targets and four shotgun knock-downs. Three of the cowboy targets were painted red (on the left side) and the other three were blue. We had to begin with the rifle in hand, loaded with 9 rounds. We had to start with the right-most red cowboy and sweep left for 3 shots, then pick up the blue cowboy on the right and sweep left (again) through all six cowboys — 9 shots. Well, I blew the order by hitting the left-most red cowboy with my first shot. D'oh! Another 10-second procedural penalty, and again it happened too fast for Stinky to warn me. He felt bad about it, but of course it was all my fault anyway. I didn't miss any of the rifle shots, though the pistols were another story. Put 5 shots on the red targets with the first gun, 5 on the blue targets with the second, any order. I missed one target with each hand. Finish up with the four shotgun blasts.

Stage Four:
This was the same setup as the previous stage, but this time it was Shooter's Choice — I wouldn't have to worry about a procedural penalty this time! We had the same round count as before, and we could shoot the stage however we pleased, as long as there was at least one shot on each target. I still managed to miss twice with my right-hand revolver.

Duelin' Boy: Shootin' targets through the window —photo by Pixelwiz

Stage Five:
This stage surprised me, since I missed twice with the Winchester. Same target, I missed it twice out of three tries. It was a Buzzard (Vulture) silhouette, angled off to the left, which had the effect of slimming down an already small target. There were two other rifle targets, and the course of fire was to Nevada Sweep the targets with 9 rounds, beginning with the buzzard. I think I missed it low & left twice, finally hitting it with my last shot. Argh! Normally I don't have to worry about the rifle, but I guess I have to pay a little more attention to it now. Anyway, after that disappointment, I managed to miss another target while shooting through the window with my right-hand revolver (of course).

Dump shells from the bag... ...and knock targets down! —photos by Pixelwiz

Stage Six:
"In the Bag" — This promised to be a slow, but interesting, stage. We loaded up our pistols, but left the rifle empty along with the shotgun. The ammo for those guns was placed in two bags, and we would have to dump the cartridges and reload on the clock: four shotgun shells and six rifle cartridges. We were allowed to stash extra ammo in each bag, since if a cartridge or shell hit the ground it's considered a "dead" round, and if you don't have any extra you'd have to take a miss. We began with the shotgun, and the only real change from the usual routine here was dumping the shells from the bag instead of grabbing them from my belt. It slowed down the process some, but wasn't a big deal. After the 4 shotgun knockdowns, we moved over to where the rifle was staged. I'd never loaded more than two rifle rounds on the clock, so this would be new. I had 10 rounds in the bag, I only needed six. I dumped the ammo out, and as far as I know didn't drop any to the dirt. I fumbled a bit getting the rifle into the position I wanted to load it from and pushed in the six cartridges and hit all my targets, paying special attention to that dang buzzard. I moved to the window to fire the pistols and missed one target with each hand.

No Misses: Sometimes I can actually hit targets with my right-hand revolver... —photo by Pixelwiz

For this match, I'd switched revolvers to see if the gun was the reason I was shooting so poorly with my right hand (maybe the sights weren't adjusted correctly or something) — so my usual left-side pistol was now in my right holster, and vice-versa. It didn't seem to matter much, so I guess it must be something about my right hand's grip on the gun. Oddly enough, I'm getting much better with my shotgun, which is my least-favorite thing to shoot in the match. I'm getting both barrels shot off very quickly, though I still need work on my loading technique... I'm fumbling with the shells more than I should. The old rifle shoots just fine, though it seems it's a little low and left. That may be me again, more than the Winchester though.

Here are the numbers:

Red Cent won the overall match and the "Shootist" class, (though he shoots Traditional-style) with a Total Time of 196.50 seconds and 20 Rank Points. J.M. Brown won the Duelist class (which was no surprise at all) with a Time of 237.38 seconds and 40 Rank Points.