Friday, October 31, 2008

Range Report

In the “Better late than never” category, I give you my last range report.
Last Saturday [the 25th] I participated in my first “Real World” match at Dallas Pistol Club. Just like the “Personal Protection” match a couple of weeks ago, it was a HOOT. I had sooo much fun.
The scores haven't been posted, yet, but my score will be low. The score is incidental, except as an indicator of my improvement from 2 weeks ago [if any]. I think it may be slower, because I was conscious of slowing down for the sake of accuracy. I KNOW I've improved on both accuracy AND being able to shoot while moving from point to point. I was also more comfortable with the procedural part of the match.
The Dearly Beloved, an old hand at competition, gave me some pointers on drawing from a holster and reloading more efficiently.

I wore my NEW tee to the match. Farm Girl had told me about Smith & Wesson making these KEWL tees for women shooters. Mine is black, has a pink S&W logo, and says, in white script, “Yeah, I shoot like a girl.”

There were the usual 5 stages, each with a different set up. Unlike the Personal Protection match, these stages had no 'innocents' to avoid hitting, just bad guys. We also had to shoot the most immediate threat instead of the closest target. When shooting from behind a barricade, exposing as little of yourself as possible, this means shooting the furthest target first and then take out the next target you see by leaning out farther and farther from behind your concealment .

I messed up on only half of one stage, shooting nearest to furthest. I just had a brain fart and forgot the rule.

What I was proud of was the stage we practiced the “Mozambique Drill”: two body shots with a final head shot. Managed to hit all of those accurately.

The final stage required shooting from a seated position. I don't think that was especially “real.” If I'm sitting at a restaurant, or in a church pew, or in an office and a bad guy opens fire...I'm getting behind Somethin'! I'll crouch down behind the desk or pew in front of me, or I'll get on the floor or turn a table over for concealment. Possibly, I will do a combination of the above, but I won't just sit there waiting to get hit.

Whenever I think of a restaurant shooting, I am reminded of the Killeen Luby's massacre. A Belton man, George Hennard, crashed his pickup through the front window of the Luby's in Killeen, TX on October 16, 1991 then got out and opened fire on unarmed diners. Although there were Texas Department of Public Safety officers there, NONE of them were carrying their sidearms! And since this was before CHL laws in Texas, no patrons were armed, either. [ or there was no one willing to violate the laws of carrying in public]
I actually had a cousin dining there, that day. She was uninjured, Thank God. But other patrons were not so lucky. Twenty-three people were killed and another twenty were wounded.
This tragedy was part of the reason Texas citizens now have legally sanctioned concealed carry. What a shame we didn't have it THEN. Perhaps a well trained citizen could have ended Hennard's rampage before the death toll rose so high.

Anyhoo, that's one reason the seated scenario seemed appropriate, if not especially “real.”
The match was a good way to spend a beautiful North Texas morning. If you're a shooter, I can't recommend competition shooting high enough. It sharpens your skills and it's FUN, FUN, FUN!

6 comments:

Julie said...

ooh, i want one of those "t's" where do you get them from?

glad you enjoyed the shoot!

HollyB said...

Julie,
I got this at www.smith-wesson.com
They have other cutey tees, too.

Julie said...

thanks for that, now it's a choice between "Yes, I shoot like a girl" and "Armed and Sexy" ... oh, and a wait for the aussie dollar to do a bit better against the american one :)

cheers
Julie

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