IRON GUN 2002
match four: Thornfield Rangers, Eden NC
March 10, 2002

HERE WERE A LOT OF DIFFERENT THINGS I'd heard about shooting with the Thornfield Rangers in Eden. "The targets are small and placed in amongst the trees," or "That club is real exclusive and doesn't take in new shooters much," or "It's the best place I've ever shot," or "When you miss, everybody knows it, because the bullet goes 'splash!' into the lake." Well, for this Iron Gun match I shot up on the Virginia border for the first time, and I had a wonderful day.

It's true that the targets are a little on the small side compared to many of the ones other clubs use (though not as small as the knockdowns used in the Raid on Andersonville) and they are placed in the trees, and you are going to hear a "plunk" and see a splash if you miss a target and hit the lake instead... but everyone made us feel very welcome (and invited us back) and it is one of the best places I've ever shot.

The atmosphere is especially good, as there are many permanent buildings and props set up on the range, including a two story hotel, a fort and a stagecoach among others. Add in the trees, the lake and the dry cow patties on the ground and you have a place that just feels very Cowboy. It was a sunny day, but the wind made it feel pretty chilly in the shade; in the afternoon, the breeze died down and it became downright warm.

Stage 3: The Bank of Thornfield
The 46 shooters split up into three posses, and ours began on this one. Pixelwiz found herself a perch up on the second floor of the hotel to get some photographs, as I situated myself inside the door of the Bank. At the beep, I fired my Winchester nine times through a Nevada Sweep onto three targets set back in the trees, then secured the rifle and grabbed the shotgun to blast a pair of targets. I drew my first gun and engaged the three pistol targets, putting three rounds onto the center target, then one each onto the left and right plates. The scattergun came back into play again for two more shots, then it was back to the revolver for a three-target Nevada Sweep, finished off by another pair of shotgun targets. Whew! that's a lot of transitions!

After my miserable pistol shooting in South Carolina the previous day, I vowed to take my time and hit my targets — and I did, too. I began the day with a clean (but slow) stage, which made me happy.

Stage 4: Hotel Carolina
This stage promised many a procedural penalty, and it delivered (though not with me!). I began outside the hotel doorway with my Winchester in hand, loaded with eight rounds. At the buzzer, I moved to the left window and had to shoot four (and only four!) times, sweeping the rifle targets and then not work the lever on the rifle to eject that spent fourth case — because I had to move back to the doorway to fire another four-round sweep at the rifle targets. Safety rules dictate that we don't move with a cocked hammer on a gun, even if there's no round in the chamber. So in this case, if a shooter levered the rifle, he or she was committed to shoot the second sweep from the window (and take a 10-second procedural penalty to boot). After finishing with the rifle, I set it inside the door and drew my left pistol to sweep five targets (two of which were pretty far away) left-to-right. I holstered that gun and picked up my double-barrel to hit a pair of shotgun targets, then finished with another sweep with the second revolver. I missed a far-away heart-shaped target with both pistols! I think I pulled the rounds down and over to one side, and because of the heart shape, there wasn't any steel for me to hit there. If it'd been a square, I think I'd have cleaned this stage, too. Oh, well.

Stage 5: Thornfield Stage Lines
There was a nice big stagecoach prop at this stage, but we didn't use it, we just shot in front of it. The targets were set down in the trees and I began with a pistol in hand at Low Ready. At the beep, I swept five targets, holstered and picked up the rifle to triple-tap three steel plates. Securing the Winchester, I drew the second revolver for another sweep, then finished by shooting four rounds with the shotgun. I missed once with the right pistol and once with my fourth rifle shot — I was trying to go too fast, and pulled the trigger before I had picked up the second target in my sights. I hate when I do that.

Stage 6: 'Cross the Lake
I didn't know how I was going to do on this stage; there was a target on the other side of the lake that we had to hit with our rifles, probably 85 yards away. I've never shot the Winchester at that distance and had no idea where the gun would put the bullet. There was also a nice, stiff breeze blowing through which might also affect the shot. Any shooter that could hit all the targets on this stage would be rewarded with a 10-second bonus.

I started with the shotgun empty and in-hand, and at the beep I blasted two targets, secured the gun and drew my left pistol. The target order for the five pistol targets was: P1, P5, P2, P4, P3 (working alternately from the outside in). Repeat with the other revolver (and I missed the far right target with my right gun), then two more shells through the shotgun. Finally, I picked up my rifle and double-tapped three targets, each farther away than the last. I'd asked prior to shooting whether I could use the side of the building as a brace to shoot the farthest target, and the Range Officer told me that the directions didn't say I couldn't ... So I moved over and lined up that steel rectangle in my sights and squeezed the trigger: Crack! ... a miss! Off to the left, somebody called, which was no surprise, what with the wind blowing that way (and me probably pulling the shot anyway). So, I took aim a little more over to the right and squeezed ... Crack! Ding! I hit it!

I didn't clean the stage, so I didn't earn the bonus. If I had the chance to reshoot it, I would have just taken the two long shots offhand instead of moving over to use the building as a rest. I lost a lot of time doing that, and after missing the pistol target before the rifle shot, I couldn't have had the bonus anyway. But I was certainly happy to hit that rifle target at least one time!

Stage 1: Fort Lizard Lick
This stage was certainly different. We had to shoot through little cut-out "ports" in the wall of the fort on top of a hill. I began with a pistol in my left hand at Low Ready, and at the beep fired a sweep at five targets, but I had to shoot through a different port for each target. After that, I reversed direction and did the same thing with my right side revolver. The rifle was next, and I swept the four targets from one port, then moved to a different one to shoot another four rounds. There was a 10-second bonus target (a really small "eagle," which I called the Bonus Chicken), but I missed it. Probably low and left. To end the scenario, I moved to the outside of the fort and fired at a pair of knockdown targets with my shotgun. They were nice and close together, and I was able to nail them quickly. I like it when I can do that. No misses, and so I chalked up my second clean stage of the day! Now if I could do it again, I'd be 50% on the day.

Stage 2: the Smiths
We took up position inside the blacksmith's shop for this stage. This was the most shotgun-intensive stage of a shotgun-intensive day: 8 targets. I had my shotgun staged on the table in front of me, my rifle against the wall to my left. At the buzzer, I loaded two shells and hit the targets with the scattergun. I drew my left pistol to shoot the three targets with two rounds on the left, one on center, and two on the right. I holstered the gun and shot at the two shotgun targets, but I missed one and had to shoot it again. The right pistol came out for a Nevada Sweep, and I missed the big target right in the middle once during that; there went my third clean stage, dang it! Anyway, after holstering the revolver, I went back to ... you guessed it, the shotgun, for two more blasts. I put the side-by-side down and picked up my rifle to do a 10-round Nevada Sweep of four widely-spaced targets (including a very small one, right down on the lake). That wasn't the end, I still had another two shots with the double-barrel before I finished. That was my slowest stage of the day, and if I would practice loading my shotgun more I could have shaved off a bunch of time.

Here are the stage results:

Marshal Harland Wolff (SASS #5019) came in first overall and in the Traditional class with 12 Rank Points and a Total Time of 205.28 seconds, which was light years ahead of the rest of us. The second place shooter, Sidewinder (SASS #4097), came in with a Time of 242.52 seconds and 18 Rank Points. The Duelist class winner was Carolina's Longarm (SASS #4146) with a Time of 310.72 seconds, 77 Rank Points and an Overall Rank of 10.

The Iron Gun scorecard still has Splinter in the lead with 80 points, but Big Jake is close behind with 77 points. I picked up 6 points for my two clean stages and have a total of 25 points, still languishing down near the bottom of the list.