July 10, 2011 Gig Harbor Sportsmans Club Clays Match Report

22 Guns entered in today's match

 

     3 Ladies - Class won by Gitti Anable with a score of 37

            2nd Place Lady - Carrie Morton with a score of 35

            3rd Place Lady - Jennifer Iverson with a score of 13

 

     3 Juniors - Class won by Mary Stevens with a score of 35

        2nd Place Junior - Brian Tinner with a score of 27

        3rd Place Junior - Kirk Foreman with a score of 24

 

   11 Open Guns - Class won by Hal Hansen with a score of 46 + 5

     2nd Place Open - Darren Foreman with a score of 46 + 4

     3rd Place Open - George Stevens with a score of 45

 

   11 Limited Guns - Class won by Steve Tinner with a score of 44

      Tie for 2nd Place Limited between Todd Anderson and John Iverson, both with scores of 38

      Tie for 3rd Place Limited between Tim Anable and Dan Redmonds, both with scores of 35 

 

     Good evening Ladies & Gentlemen, and welcome to a truly beautiful Summer Sunday afternoon at Gig Harbor Sportsmans Club.  The temperature is 70 degrees, the sky is blue with a few puffy white, non-threatening, clouds and short sleeves and just plain shorts are the order of the day.

      Thanks to our Match Staff for a great match.  Thanks particularly to our Match Director Chuck Nicodemus for organizing and presenting such a great event.  Thanks to our Scorekeeper & DJ Doug McLean for scoring and running the line, and keeping the event moving smoothly, and most importantly, Safely.  Thanks as well to our Arrays Impressarios Chuck Treat and Darren Foreman for bringing us Page 1 of the Great Equalizer Series.  Of course, Chuck & Darren added a twist today, and for future matches into the future, just to keep the challenges interesting.  Henceforth, until further notice, the black micro in the middle will sometimes be replaced by a bottle cap 1 3/16 in wide.  Now, the good news.  The bottle cap will be Red.  The mediocre news is that, on the face of the cap will be a black Shoot N See Dot, so everyone can see if a round has struck the bottle cap, just in case it doesn't break.  The caps are made of plastic, and often the round will just go straight through.  With the Shoot N See Dot, it will be pretty obvious if the round struck the target.  The bottle caps will replace the black micro in the middle anytime the Arrays Impressarios get the urge, and will remain in place for as many rounds as is deemed appropriate by Chuck & Darren. At a distance of 10yds , a 1 3/16" plastic bottle cap requires a bit of attention to hit.  So, let the fun begin.

 

Round 1

     The round starts with 4 orange micros in a line on the top row, and 4 Green Standards on the bottom row.  If entered in the Limited Class, the Green Standards are your targets.  If entered in the Open Class, then the orange micros should draw your rounds.  Either way, in this round at least, if you are successful in breaking all of your primary targets, the black micro in the middle

is your ultimate goal.

 

Round 2

     Round 2 remains exactly the same.  This gives the shooter a false sense of security, causing a mild case of complacency.  Don't do that!!  These targets are hard enough to hit without starting to daydream.

 

Round 3

     Now the top row has 3 orange micros and the innermost clay is a Green Standard.  On the bottom row, the first three targets

are Green Standards, but the innermost target is an orange micro.  And now in the middle of the screen, for the thus-far successful shooter, is a red bottle cap with a black dot on it's face.  After shooting the primary clays so quickly, the shooter best slow way down and concentrate fully on a good sight picture, good trigger prep, and a smooooth trigger pull.  Good luck.

 

Round 4

     Round 4 remains exactly the same as round 3, complete with the bottle cap in the middle.  Go fast, then go slow.  Now it's on to round 5.

 

Round 5

     The top row now starts with a Green Standard Clay target.  The next two clay targets are orange micros, followed by another Green Standard.  On the bottom row, an orange micro leads the parade, followed by 2 Green Standards, followed by one more orange micro.  The Red, but mostly black bottlecap remains anchored in the middle.  Well, let's see how the shooters did with this challenging course of fire.

 

     In the Junior Class, Mary Stevens took the honors, shooting a score of 35.  Brian Tinner followed with a score of 27, and Kirk Foreman finished 3rd with a score of 24.

 

     In the Limited Class, Steve Tinner won it all with a score of 44.  We had a tie for 2nd Limited between Todd Anderson and John Iverson, both with scores of 38.  Tim Anable & Dan Redmonds tied for 3rd Limited, both turning in scores of 35.

 

     In the Open Class, we had a tie between this reporter, Hal Hansen & Darren Foreman, both shooting scores of 46.  It looks like we are going to have a shootoff.  The target screens stay at 10yds, but on each side of the screen are 4 black micros.  In the middle of the screen is a Red Bottle cap, that is mostly black.  Our Scorekeeper & DJ Doug McLean makes the call:  Shooters to the line, load 5 rounds.  Shooters Ready?  FIRE!!  Darren quickly engages the black micros, while Hal takes a breath and concentrates on trigger squeeze.  Each round breaks as a surprise to Hal, and with each round fired, a black micro clay explodes.

Finally, only the bottle cap in the middle remains, and no more shooting comes from Darrens side of the screen.  Hal takes a deep breath, exhales, and focuses on the Dot in the optic, keeping it pinned to the bottle cap.  The trigger seems to take forever to break, but when it does, the bottle cap explodes just as the micros all had done.  Hal Hansen takes the Open Class Victory Today with a score of 46 + 5.  Darren Foreman takes 2nd Open with a score of 46 + 4, and George Stevens take 3rd Open with a score of 45.

As I said earlier in this report, those bottle caps take a bit of effort to hit.  No sense getting in a hurry.  One cannot miss fast enough to win.  

 

     OK folks, that's it for today.  You know what you have to do to compete successfully in this match.  Make sure your pistol is sighted in perfectly.  Know what your sight picture is supposed to look like. Concentrate on trigger prep and trigger squeeze, and when the shot breaks, concentrate on follow through, virtually willing that bullet to hit your target.  Practice a lot, and practice properly.

Remember your priorities:

 

"SHOOT FAST!  SHOOT ACCURATELY!! BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY, SHOOT SAFELY!!!"

 

Hal