CWSA Bowling Pin Handgun Match

Mr. Completely with a Smith & Wesson 422/Barska red dot up against "Evil Al" and his Smith & Wesson model 41 in the Optical sight class.

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Ben and Tony going at it in one of the semi-final matches in the iron sight class.

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Mr. Completely and Mountain Man Phil in the other iron sight semi-final.

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Mr. Completely and Ben in the iron sight final.

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The weather started out looking a bit threatening, but the rain stayed away, and it wasn't too cold, so for this time of year it wasn't a bad day for a pin shoot.

Since the 42mm. Simmons red dot sight had been taken off of my S&W 422 to be mounted onto the new High Standard Sport King I'd set up for KeeWee, I needed to get something else mounted. I've been talking up the value of the 25mm. Barksa red dots in previous posts, so I decided to give it a try. Time to practice what I preach, I guess!

I entered my usual long barreled High Standard and the S&W 422 in the optical class, and another High standard with a 7" barrel in the iron sight class. Everyone seemed to be having a hard time getting up to speed in the qualifling and no one shot very quickly. I ended up with the two fastest qualifying times in optical sight, and fastest time in iron sight, but the times were really slow.

In a single elimination match it's a lot easier to make the finals if you don't have to shoot against the fastest shooters in the first round, so sometimes perhaps some folks don't shoot quite as fast as they can in qualifying. I always try to shoot as fast as I can shoot in qualifying, as I look at it as a chance to get "dialed in" for the real matches. If you DO manage to have fast qualifying time, no one can accuse you of sandbagging, either!

In the first round of optical sight class I came up against my nemesis and arch-rival, "Evil Al". No one makes you work any harder than Al, and today was no different. It was close, but Al took the first round.

Then my S&W 422 and I were up against JimP. Jim and I have always had some really close matches. I narrowly got past Jim to advance to the next round, where who was waitin, but "Evil Al" again!

The S&W/Barska combinationwas working well, shooting with a "Taco" grip. Al won the first table, but not by much. I narrowly won the second table. Al then won the third and deciding table by a margin that must have been barely hundredths of a second. At first I thought it might have been a tie it was that close!

KeeWee, shooting the new High Standard Sport King 103 won her first round match-up, but then narrowly lost in the second round. A combination of some ammo feed problems combined with being a little un-familiar with the gun cost a little time, but it was still close. By the next pin shoot she should have it dialled in!

"Evil Al" cruised on to the finals, and chalked up another victory in the optical sight class.

A couple of new faces were at the shoot in the iron sight class, young Ben, and his Father. In one of the early round match-ups Papa came up against young Ben. Ben beat him, and Papa couldn't have been prouder of his son! It was a great moment!

In one of the semi-final matches Ben came up against young Tony, an already good but rapidly getting better shooter. Tony had earlier finished second to "Evil Al" in the center-fire revolver class, beating some decent shooters along the way. Ben went on to retire Tony for the day, and put himself into the finals.

I worked my way up to the semi-finals, where I ran into Mountain Man Phil. I don't know what it is about Phil and I, but we seem to always bring out the very worst of each others shooting! We both managed to stumble, fumble, and bumble our way through the match-up, with me barely getting the win. Had Phil not had a mis-fire, it could have gone either way.

That put me into the final against young Ben, who was clearly on a roll and gaining momentum! Ben got a little bit "Over Adrenalin'ed" on the first table and tried to shoot too fast, and missed some pins, allowing me to win the first table. I went over and had a talk with him.I told him he was shooting well, but he had to calm down and shoot as he had been doing, and to not try to shoot too fast. He apparently took my advice, as he beat me on the next table! I figured I'd given him enough advice for one day. (You gotta beat these kids when you can, because not too far down the road they become dang near impossible to beat!) The final table for all the marbles was close. Ben shot well, but missed a few pins with his first shots, and I shot one of my better tables, giving me a close win.

After the match I congratulated Ben on his shooting and told him that he not only shot well, but that he was only going to get better! Ben and Papa were both a couple of happy campers!

Overall I ended up third in optical sight, and first in iron sight. KeeWee was fourth in optical sight class.

It was a really good day at the range.........

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All of the photos were taken by KeeWee, that's why I'm in some of them! (Some dummy forgot to bring his camera!) For a picture of KeeWee and the High Standard have a look here.