Personal Protection Match

WHEE! I had a blast yesterday!

I shot my first Personal Protection match at the Dallas Pistol Club Saturday morning. This type of match requires one to draw from a holster. In the past, I shot as a novice and was at the “low ready” position before I shot.
“Low ready” is when your pistol, a .22, is already in your hand and pointed at the ground before you are given the “GO” command. Yesterday, after loading the Browning High Power [the 9mm not the .40 caliber]; making it safe at the firing line and with the Range Officer watching, I re-holstered. Then the R.O. asks, “Shooter ready?” When the shooter affirms s/he is ready, then the “GO” command is given and the timer starts.

In a Personal Protection match, you must shoot from behind cover to neutralize multiple threats to innocents. There are 5 stages. Each is set up in a different bay. The shooters are assigned to Range Officers, usually 4 -5 on each “team”. That term is an anomaly since we are all competing for the best time and accuracy.

My team was three men and me. I joked that it was gonna be like having 5 peeps since I'd take twice as long as anyone else. There was another woman competing, but she was on a different team.

On one stage, we went from shooting behind a barrier in a standing position , shoot while walking to the next barrier [a barrel in this case] while neutralizing 3 “bad guys”. Getting down on my knees was a challenge since my arthritis had been acting up and my right knee was swollen. Getting back up was even worse.
My favorite stage was the one with the “evil, bad dogs” attacking two innocents. All the targets were laying on their sides. The “dogs” closest to the innocents had bloody fangs painted on them.
Other than my time [which was, in fact, about twice as long as my fellow participants] I was pleased with my performance. Some targets I hit with the first shot, although it was hard to only use ONE shot. In other practices, I'm used to “double-tapping” the target. A double tap is shooting the target twice. There's even an old exercise called the “Mozambique Drill” that requires two shots to the chest and then the Coup de gras to the head.

What was most challenging was moving and shooting at the same time. However, as the rules say, “Who stays still in a gunfight?” These competitions are good practice for real life. Should you ever [Gawd forbid] be fired on, you will at least have practiced shooting from cover and while moving.

I don't even care that I will be in last place when the scores are published. I had so much fun, I can't wait to shoot this type of match and the “Real World” match again.

A Lovely Time Was Had by All

Yesterday the fam gathered to celebrate the ABG's birthday. As you regular readers know, her actual b'day was Friday, but she had another celebration to attend Friday and a hockey game to play Saturday, followed by a St.Pat's celebration, so Mama's cookin' had to wait until Sunday.
I had asked her which of my specialties she wanted me to make, and without hesitation she choose Chicken Spaghetti. I made an extra pan so she could take some home to enjoy for a few days.
What was a total surprise for her was the dessert. She had planted the idea last Sunday when she asked that I bring her a Banana Pudding shake from Sonic. She has loved B.P. since she was a small child. When the Dearly Beloved and I were dating, he would bring his super-duper Banana Pudding to special dinners. Once you've tasted his B.P. you will never settle for ordinary Banana Puddin' again. Nothing is as good as his. THe only day of the year ABG would get up early when she was a teen-ager was the Friday after Thanksgiving. Wasn't to go shopping, no way. She got up early to beat me to the left over B.P. for breakfast.

When she arrived, with her Grandmother in tow, yesterday, I fetched her a glass of tea, then told her to look in the 'fridge for dessert. You probably hear a high-pitched squeal from this direction about 1:15 p.m. That was ABG discovering the HUGE bowl of Banana Pudding and the slightly smaller bowl to take home.

Now my Tall Son was home for the weekend, too. I didn't neglect him just because it was his sister's b'day. He's not particularly fond of Chicken Spaghetti, and since I had made Lasagne Saturday night...his fav meal, he had leftover lasagne while we had C.S. and he had Reese's Cup cookies while we had banana puddin'. For a man who eats "Mass Quantities" of food, I am amazed how skinny he stays. 6'6" unless he stands up straight and maybe 180#. But then he doesn't like a lot of sweets, pumpkin pie and those cookies are about it.

Anyway, ABG is coming back up today. Her Daddy gifted her with a shotgun and the Dearly Beloved and I are taking her out to shoot it later this morning. Probably shoot a few other things, too. As she put it, "I have a 'crush' on that Browning." She was referring of course to the Browning Hi-Power in 9mm. I told her, "That's because you have good taste."

Part III of the CarMan story either later today or tomorrow. I promise I won't pull a "LawDog" on y'all.

Reality Is Intruding

into my illusions again.{see editor's addition at end of blog, please} Flo was talking about Grey's Anatomy and an inconsistency in one of their medical scenes. She and Ambulance Driver and Dragon -from DragonWatch were discussing how they get ticked when a medical TeeVee show or movie lets "Drama" overrule reality. I won't go over the same ground, just go read her blog about GA, including the comments, I'll wait. OK, now, wasn't that fun?

MY pet peeve, on a related subject, is the "Magic Ammunition" and the bottomless magazine that is only found in Hollywood. You shooters know what I mean. Those of you unfamiliar with the world of firearms may need a little explanation.
When a person is shot with a handgun, they don't fly backwards 5' or 3' or even 1'. I promise. Not even with a .45 caliber; not with a 9mm or a 10mm handgun. Sometimes class, in the REAL world, they will stagger and then drop. But they will not FLY BACKWARDS through the air when shot with a handgun.

Also, semi-automatic handguns have "magazines" not "clips" that contain cartridges, not bullets. Bullets are a component of a cartridge.
Magazines, depending on the handgun for which they are designed, have varying capacities. In my limited experience, this can be as few as 5 to as many as 17, IIRC. {Unless we are talking about the Glock extenders or a Browning Hi-Power extender, but those are somewhat bulky and not practical for concealed carry} If an additional cartridge is in the firing chamber, this would give the shooter a total of 18 rounds before the slide locks back and s/he needs to insert a new magazine in order to begin shooting again.
So when you see a shooter fire more than 18 rounds from a handgun...they have one of those bottomless magazines found only in Hollywood. It's just plain insulting to the millions of gun owners and shooters when a director ignores this fact for the sake of dramatic effect.

When the Dearly Beloved, who taught me all this "gun stuff", and I watch a movie or TeeVee show that contains these inconsistencies, or has characters, who should KNOW better, using incorrect terminology, we immediately go into Shooting Science Theater mode: we start making fun of the characters and their ignorance and their fantasy weaponry. Oh, yeah! It's sooo much fun. Kinda like Will Smith in Independence Day when he enthuses, "I gotta git me one of these!" We want handgun ammunition that will blow our foes not only to kingdom come, but back 5'; we want a magazine that will never run out of ammunition like that. Well, a girl can dream, can't she?

Added Wednesday, 9:30 a.m.:
I wish I had thought to put this in when I was writing the first time, BUT thanks to the wonders of the editing feature, I can say it now...
Actors, I don't care what the Director tells you; and I don't care HOW the gang bangers do it; keep your finger OFF the TRIGGER until you are ready to shoot, dang it!!! That's the way REAL shooters do it, so please for the sake of realism, keep your pointer finger alongside the slide, or even on the trigger guard until you are ready to pull the damn thing. Don't know what a slide or trigger guard IS? Ask your prop person, or your tech adviser, they will be more than happy to tell you, I'm sure.