May 3, 2010 Gig Harbor Sportsmans Club Plate Match Report

11 Guns Entered     Match Won by James Austin

 

                                2nd place - Lee Lewis

 

                                3rd Place - Mathew Seagraves

 

     Welcome back to Gig Harbor Sportsmans Club, where we have a windy, 53degree but dry evening for our plate match.  We now have overlapping poppers to decide close duels, and if history is any teacher, we'll have some close duels.  11 Guns entered the match tonight, to contest for fame, fortune, and a weeks worth of bragging rights.  Well, OK.  Mostly bragging rights. 

 

     At the end of the competition this evening, James Austin walked away with the honors.  One nice thing about a relatively small field is that there is virtually no standing around waiting to shoot.  It seems it's always your turn to shoot, and that is a really neat feature of our match, al least so far.

 

     Thanks to our Match Staff tonight.  With only 11 shooters, everyone got a chance to do almost everything, but our match was directed tonight by Mathew Seagraves & James Austin.  James Austin ran the scoretable, shuffled and dealt the duels, and called the shooters to their duels.  Mark Kimura & Mathew Seagraves ran the line and with this excellent organization we got in 5 rounds & A Sudden Death Finale.

 

     Toward the end of the finals, Lee Lewis put Mathew Seagraves on the trailer, and Mathew Seagraves ended up our 3rd Place Finisher.  This left James Austin & Lee Lewis to duel for the win, and they both came to the line looking steeley-eyed and serious.  Mathew Seagraves called the action, and here it is.  Shooters, load & make ready!  Shooters ready?  Stand By!!

The challenge was, 5 & 1,  5 plates & a Popper.  At the horn James Austin, with his Smith & Wesson .45ACP Model 645 Revolver,  and Lee Lewis with his .45ACP NightHawk, engaged the plate racks and dropped their 5 plates, then swung in to the overlapping poppers and engaged those.  When the noise ebbed, and the dust settled, James' popper was laying tight to the ground, with Lee's popper on top.  I guess this is one time when it's not a good idea to come out on top.  String to James Austin, Match to James Austin, And assuming he can find anyone to listen, 2 week's worth of bragging rights to James as well. 

 

     OK folks, we'll see you in two weeks.  On May 17, 2010 at 6:00pm, right here at Gig Harbor Sportsman's Club, we'll do this again.  It'll probably be less windy, maybe warmer, and we'll be older and wiser.  Hopefully also, we'll be better shots.  Practice hard, shoot often, and always remember:

 

                        "SPEED IS FINE, BUT ACCURACY IS FINAL."

 

Hal