Earlier this month I came across a thread on the PAFOA Forums announcing another informal shoot being held at Oley Valley Fish & Game. I enjoyed myself at the last one and thought I’d sign up and shoot once again.
This time around conditions were less than ideal and I wound up chilled to the bone. When I left my house, wearing a sweatshirt, I thought it was a bit chilly but assumed it would warm up as the day went on. To my surprise, when I got on the other side of the mountain, there was a half inch of snow on the ground.
I spent most of the shoot with my hands tucked inside my pockets in an attempt to keep the feeling in my fingers. Needless to say, I was grossly unprepared for the cold and had to tough it out the best I could.
The first stage consisted of shooting a few rounds from the hip, then taking a shot using the sights. I did rather poorly shooting from the hip but had well placed shots when aiming. The video shows a fair amount of this type of shooting and I edited out even more (I didn’t find it very exciting, and I was there, so I assumed you saw enough).
The later stages involved some twenty-five yard shots and shots while moving. I wasn’t shooting full speed since the courses of fire were small and choppy (we took a few shots, stopped, and walked to another area to start the cycle over again).
Despite being cold, I had fun. One of the interesting things about these informal shoots is that we always wind up shooting in a manner that I’m not accustomed to (Shooting from prone, shooting from the hip, etc).
Nice shooting, your head stays nice and still I noticed that the more I watch your videos your keeping your head locked on and less movement. Question how do they get those girls to stand out there all day in Bikinis when there is snow on the ground??? haha Happy New Year
Corey,
I never noticed my head being so still until you mentioned it. I guess it is from practice (dry fire mostly). I Position my head where I think it should be then bring the gun up to my line of sight. Bringing the gun up then moving my head to it was a habit I was trying to break.
Those girls show up every match. I guess they are grateful to be out of the match directors closet…. LOL
Walt you did man up though , even the fact that you were frozen to the bone didn’t stop you from hanging around to shoot a couple extra mags with me:) When the match director told me I was moving the fastest I knew it was because you knew there was no time , and you were not dressed correctly. This little shoots are good pratice but it seems you have a different mindset when it comes to an acutal USPSA match and you are driven to do well. I know I am a pretty laxed and laid back guy but am going to try to take USPSA more seriously next season and if you need a friendly rivial to help push each other to do better I’ll gladly fill that viod untill you totally surpass me:)
Scott,
Not to take anything away from the match, but those couple of mags at the end were the funnest part of the day. I always enjoy shooting new guns and you opened my eyes to a potentially new USPSA Production Pistol.
If we were permitted to shoot the course as we saw fit and didn’t have to stop and holster between arrays, I would have shot much faster (would have tried to, I should say, my fingers were pretty cold). I appreciate Shawn asking what would be most beneficial to us as practice for USPSA, but I felt limited with the way things were setup. I thought I would just take my time and have fun.
I definitely have a different mindset when it comes to full blown USPSA matches versus these informal matches. At these small shoots, the courses of fire are small due to the way the club is setup. There is no helping it, so you wind up shooting in small steps (the actual shooting feels kind of choppy, if that makes much sense).
At USPSA matches, we read the course description and are left to ourselves when it comes to the actual shooting. I enjoy the walk-through and finding a way to shoot the stage to the best of my ability. How do I approach the targets to allow for the most convient reload? If I shoot it this way I can dump the mag before I run dry. Determining how I am going to adress the stage is fun. I don’t get that kind of freedom at these small informal matches.
I think it would be great to have a partner, of sorts, next season. However, I think if you take the matches more seriously you’re probably going to wipe the floor with me. I’ve seen you avoid a walk-through, shooting a stage with no game plan whatsoever, with a cigarette hanging out of your mouth, and you still beat me…. LOL