Wednesday, May 10, 2006

Kentucky State Shoot

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Well, I'm finally warm again! The camping experiment (at least experimental on my part) was COLD and WET! Friday and Saturday were absolutely perfect weather days for shooting, problem is, it got down to around 40 degrees at night, thankfully, one of the vendors was selling blankets. Sunday morning brought the rain and I woke up with water dripping into my eye. Not fun...

As for the shooting, well, Judge shot well, he had his first clean match ever and is rightfully full of himself. I'm proud of him for resisting temptation and not blowing it. Oh, and listening to me when he counted wrong :) Copper Quincy shot pretty decently too, just not clean and I'm pretty sure he enjoyed his first large match.

As for how I shot, well, my pistol marksmanship needs a lot of work, I'm thinking a remedial class or something. There's really no excuse for it, I can do it, I just lose focus and don't do what I crowd.06need to do; lock out the arm, actually see the front sight, you know the hard stuff.

That said, I was happy with my speed, even though on a stage where I feel that I shot as well as I'm capable, the guy I'd like to beat still got me by 2 seconds while shooting black powder. I'm starting to think this one-handed thing isn't for me. I may try traditional shooting at the next match just to test the waters amongst the regulars at Thunder Valley. All the guys I could compete with seemed to have gone gunfighter or frontier cartridge on me. I ain't shootin black and I can't seem to get San Pedro Saddlery to send me a holster I ordered four months ago so I can shoot gunfighter (which is what I wanted to do from the get-go).

Copper Quincy has the pictures from the shoot and we'll post those as soon as they become available. Copper made the weekend much better with his camping knowledge and gear as well as taking pictures. He also kept me from destroying that guy who backed into my truck at the gas station, its hard to go postal on someone when your cop buddy is with you.copperhead.joes

I feel that every large match you attend is a learning experience, so what did I learn you ask?

  • 40 degrees is damn cold!
  • Don't lose your temper during a stage, 7 misses is rough on the overall
  • There ain't a better breakfast than one cooked on a Coleman stove
  • Spring Mountain Inn has a mean steak dinner
  • Don't mix tequilla, beer, whiskey and wine and then shoot the next day
  • Black powder shooters are a hangover's worst nightmare
  • Thunder Valley has a lot of good shooters
  • SASS participants are good people, most anyway (there's always a Pecos Pete)
  • It doesn't matter how large the target, someone's gonna miss it
  • Jackasses who drive while on the cell phone should be flogged
  • If you hold a state level match, you should know how to hang targets
  • Even if you're cold, wet and shooting like crap, its still better than nearly anything else you could be doing!
UPDATE: Copper dropped off the photos last night so I've added some to this post. you can see more of them on my Flickr account.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I see you have waited four months for San Pedro sadedlery to send holsters you ordered. I have been waiting 18 months for a rifle cartridge belt, and another person I know has waited over 5 years for a holster rig. Big Ed often does not deliver on ordered products, and then refuses to refund the money. There are a lot of unhappy customers out here, and consumer complaints are being filed. Any potential customer need to beware.