This was my first match and I have to say that it was fun.
Now, I've seen the results and I don't remember which stages were numbered what but I know we were going out of order, so my rundown is listed as the stages we visited with descriptions.
The long range stage was first stage we visited and after listening to Taymoor whine that he had timed out the past two times he had tried that stage I was slightly more than apprehensive about it. I didn't time out, but I could only see an outline of the 300 yard target and I couldn't tell the 100 yard target was even there, I could only rely on hopefully consistant shots in the directions that Kurt told me to shoot.
Onto the second visited stage, the one I was truly worried about leading up to this event. The all shotgun building, the stage seemed very complex to me, but it was fun. I have a Remington 1100, and although its good as new it does a build date of 1967 on it and has some centimental value, so Taymoor procured a Bennelli for me to use via Jesse T. So I've got a gun I've never held before going to bat, awesome. Taymoor had purchased Magnum loads because that was the first thing he saw at walmart. Neither him or I knew that Jesse's hooker shotty didn't like those rounds so that plauged the both of us just a bit. Now I'm not going to say that my wrist is downward tilting and limp but after the Bennelli sent those slugs down range so gracefully I was nearly knocked off balance by the magnums shells and really had to tighten my grip up to get the next couple of shots to cycle. Gotta say that Bennelli is one smooth operator, it deffinatly loads more smoothly, cycles quicker and has alittle softer recoil than the 1100 i have. Jesse, I think I owe you a charging handle, I'm not sure if it was Taymoor or myself that hit it on the door, but I found it. Thanks for loaning us the gun Jesse, and Thank you Kurt for helping me out during the stage.
The third visited stage was right next door and was a really quick stage. It felt like a carnival game. There were a handful of widely spaced rifle targets and a row of metal plates. Ugh, pistols, I've never been much of a pistol shooter, just prefer rifles and only had 1 pistol worth shooting in my life. Anywho, The buzzer went off and I got all my shots off clean except for one plate that took my two shots. It felt really fast... AND really FUN. I nearly broke out a Ricky Bobby quote. But I turned around and saw Kurt and remembered that I am scum on the bank of a pond in comparison and just gave him a thumbs up.
So, this leads our group onto our 4th visited stage, and I really tried to help everyone out with some extra breeze on a hot day with the pistol texas star of death as I now refer to it. I am not sure why I shot the bottom target first, guess it just didn't seem hard enough if they were stationary or only moving slowly. I took measurements after match and did the math. It was spinning 23.4mph. I heard people laughing at me, which got me laughing too. And after telling my wife this evening she has started in with that great old Adam Sandler quote "They're all gonna laugh at you!" But, I perservered over the star and went through the rest of the stage relatively unscathed except for 2 rounds on a no hit and a miss, I think. I really just wanted to sit in that dugout for a longer period of time... Not embarrasement related, it just had the lowest temps of anywhere we went all day!
The final stage we visited for the day was deffinatly the funnest stage in my mind. Shotgun on a texas star... which I redeemed myself on if I do say. Then run and gun with the rifle and toss it in the trash can, thats about all most people think my sig is good for anyways. And do some sweet pistol action. I was did well in my mind, and felt it all went good until Rusty told me I stepped out of bounds. Guess I should have been at the walk through. I saw the wood on the ground but did not know that it was a go not cross zone. So I got a procedural out of that. I think I an FTE or FTN on one of the targets there as well? I'm not really sure. I didn't see anyone else pilfering the score cards so i didn't go look and I don't truly understand the scoring after seeing the results either so it doesn't matter right now. I'll just try and pay more attention next time.
That's right, I said next time... I'll be back out there. Not sure when exactly as I'm trying to force my way through a transition in career/employment. But now I know what kind of equipment I want and need so at least I have a shopping list, but that is a topic for a whole different segment of this forum.
Thanks to all involved for a great match!