Watching my first match

Figured I'd break up the posts a bit as they're getting a bit long lately. Saturday, I went and watched my first match. I traveled to the Central Carolinas Shooting Club located in Edgemoore, South Carolina. I arrived a bit early and spoke with Bill Wells who is the IDPA match director. I told him I was there to watch and help out picking up brass and pasting targets. He introduced me to Richard Hart who is president and Joe Delaquil who is the vice president of CCSC.

I helped setup some tents to provide shade for folks and staple some targets. After preparation, I attended the "new shooters" meeting even though I wasn't shooting so I could hear the club specifics. Each club has specific rules and new shooters should definitely be understanding of the rules regarding whether the club is a hot or cold range and places where you can practice your draw.

At this match, there were about 36 shooters with around 8 new shooters on hand. CCSC is looking for more shooters and members of their club. CCSC has five shooting bays, four of which are berm protected and one is in the woods shooting into a safe area. Each of the four berm protected bays are well laid out and provide a great amount of safety. The fifth bay is open into the woods, but is not berm protected. It is all land that is owned by the club and safety marked. I actually liked the fifth bay the most. It felt more like you were in the woods and running the scenario more lifelike.

Each scenario was a little different and required different shooting skills such as strong hand only, weak hand, standard two hand shooting, shooting at moving targets and pop-ups. My favorite course of fire was stage five in the woods. The premise of the scenario is that you are setting up a camp fire in the woods when you hear wild pigs around you. You are in a kneeling position facing away from the targets and must turn while continuing to kneel, once you face the targets, you can draw and fire at 5 targets arranged in a pattern of about 130 degrees. You do this while shooting through some brush. Most targets are fairly clear, but there are some where you need to pay close attention to your shots.

Other courses of fire included a return to your home which has been invaded in which you must clear it. Your first two rounds here were weakhand while your stronghand was holding a cell phone (you're calling the police). The second course of fire you are being assaulted. You push down a popper which releases a turning target and a popup and drop target. After shooting those, you retreat and fire rounds on two other targets on each side until you reach cover and fire at two more targets on each side from cover. This one was very difficult as you don't have much time at all to hit the turning target or the popup before they're gone. The third scenario is you are carrying your briefcase when evildoers assault you. You fire tactical priority at 3 targets with your strong hand, get to cover, drop your briefcase and go to the end of cover and engage three more targets.

Anyway, I won't go further into the rest of the courses of fire other than to say they were challenging to the shooters and has their basis in everyday possible situations.

All in all, I had a great time with the folks of Central Carolinas Shooting Club and look forward to going back out there again to "play the game".