IDPA match at CCSC 5-12-2012

Had a great time at Central Carolinas Shooting Club down in Edgemoor, South Carolina. Pretty challenging stages. Had another two firsts today, one of which I froze on, and one I did ok on, but could have done better. I didn't keep track of my times or scores and they're not posted yet, so I'll update them when they become available, but after stage 1 where I started, let's just say I won't be competing with anyone for winning any trophies anytime soon. I did meet some new people, one of which was Tony Hill who is also a member of the North Carolina Gun Owners website. It's nice to meet people in real life that you've seen postings from on a website. I also finally joined CCSC. I've been shooting there for a little over a year now and I've been meaning to join for a while, guess when I hurt my shoulder, I put everything on hold wondering if I was going to have to have surgery or not. Still not 100%, but I'd say I'm about 98%. Gets a little sore every now and again, but maybe that's just me getting a little bit older. I am working out with weights a little bit more and it seems like I don't get as sore with free weights as I do with the machines, so maybe I'll stay with those. So, I guess we can move on to the stages.

We did four bays yesterday with bay 3 having stages on it. Please excuse the videos, they again are done with my android phone and stage 2 was done from distance so you could see the double charger with the drop turner at the end. 

Stage 1: You started close up between two targets with one a little further away, at buzzer, you draw, and from retention(from the hip) shoot the two nearest targets in tactical sequence (each of the targets must be engaged with 1 shot before any target gets a second shot, commonly known as 1-2-1 for shooting the two targets). Then while retreating, engage the further target with two shots (if you don't shoot the target while retreating, you get a procedural penalty). After that, you withdraw back down the "hallway" being careful to keep your muzzle pointed downrange, look around the corner, engage target with two shots, move forward to next corner, engage steel popper which activate a killer clamshell (engaged target pops up, then a non threat covers it)and double-drop turner simultaneously. After those, you turn the corner and engage two more static targets. I did great on everything except the clamshell and double-drop turner. First shot on clamshell was a 0, second hit the non-threat, just way too fast and truth be told, I wasn't prepared for how fast it was, nor did I shoot it correctly. I waited for the target to come all the way up. I should have been shooting at it as it was rising. By the time I fired my second shot, the double-drop turner was already on it's second turn, so no chance to even shoot that. In any event, not a great way to start the day, but still a lot of fun. Here's the video of someone shooting it. He had a lot of problems with his gun, but did fine once he got it cleared.

Stage 2: You start in a doorway and flip on a light switch, in front of you is a low non-threat target about 3-4ft tall, the light switch activates a double charging target, when this reaches the end, it activates the drop turner. From there, you can go right or left, doesn't matter, I went left, through the window is a non-threat with two targets behind it, you have to shoot the two targets, slicing the pie as they become visible through the window. After that, move to the right, and shoot two targets, one low right and on it's side and cut out like a dog, and one between two barrels. Here is a video of one of our better shooters engaging the course of fire. Again, it's from a distance so you can see the chargers and the drop turner. 

Stage 3: The two "strings" on stage 3 were designed to be revolver friendly. There aren't many revolver shooters out there, but we do have a couple of dedicated revolver shooters and CCSC does a good job trying to set at least one stage that is revolver friendly. The first string on stage 3 has 3 targets, one is upright, one is at about 60 degrees, and on is on it's side on the ground. At buzzer, you draw, shoot two to the body of targets 1 and 2 and one to the head of target 3. For semi-auto shooters, our mags were down-loaded to 6 rounds. We could reload if we missed, but it wasn't really necessary. I don't think we had anyone that missed and I think only one person took an extra shot and only because they weren't sure their headshot was a good score. See video below:

Stage3 - String 2: Standing behind 3 barrels, gun in box, magazine loaded, no round in chamber, at buzzer, you draw, engage two nearest targets around the non-threat with 1 body shot, 1 head shot, then kneel and place two body shots to far target which was about 20 yards I guess. Again, a revolver friendly stage. Minimum round count was 6 and that is what most people did. Poor Damon in the video. Well, you'll see. He's a great shooter and he did excellent for what happened.

Stage 4: Nothing really major here, just a lot of movement. Only thing is at start, you are looking perpendicular to down range. At buzzer, draw and shoot the first two targets in tactical sequence (1-2-1), turn 180, shoot third target that is perpendicular to down range. Come to corner, shoot fourth target that is WAY down range (25 yards was my guess). Move forward, shoot fifth target on the right while moving. Stop before corner on left, and shoot sixth target to left around corner. Turn left down hallway to right corner and shoot seventh and eighth targets behind non-threat. Sounds easy, right? Description doesn't do it justice. I took two videos. One of a shooter running the course, and then a walk-through. See both below.

Well, that's it for me. Remember, shoot safe, shoot straight!