CWSA Hanging Plates - Dingin' The Dishes!

KeeWee and I are back from the CWSA hanging plate match, and we had a grand time of it! The wind was a bit blustery, but it wasn't too cold, and at least it didn't rain. Being Father's day may have affected the turnout, as the number of shooters was down a bit below average. When the weather looks marginal, or there's a holiday, the good shooters still all show up, however. It seems that it's only the middle shooters and newer shooters that stay home!

Steve, John, Evil Al, Rainey, LouG, KeeWee and I all showed up at 9am., along with some other shooters. Mark and Lisa from Shoreline came over to give it a try, although Lisa decided to watch one first before giving it a try. Mark however, jumped right in and was very respectable somewhere around 4th. in the Optical sight class with his Smith & Wesson 22A. Not only is Mark going to be one to watch, I know for a fact that Lisa shoots better than Mark does! They may make it back for next week's pin shoot to give a pin shoot a try.

I shot both the iron sight and the optical sight rimfire classes, and in iron sight I finished one plate behind Evil Al, who took all the marbles. I think he was just fooling around, though, 'cuz he can run away and hide from me when he tries!

Once again I was "snake-bit" in the optical sight class, although I still ended up OK. I've been trying all year to put together a perfect score of 72 out of 72, and something always seems to happen to spoil it. Today was no exception!

At 10 yards, I hit 18 out of 18. A good start, but there's a long way to go!

At 15 yards, again, 18 out of 18. 36 out of 36, half way home.

At 20 yards, the first shot string of six shots, six for six. Then disaster struck. The second string of six, BANG, DING, BANG, DING, ......... silence ....... Stove pipe! Yank the slide back, clear the fired casing, snap off a quick shot that misses, and the buzzer goes off. Time expired. DANG!

"Shooter - Load and make ready".

Gotta get my concentration back onto the next six plates. Deep breath, exhale.

"Shooter ready?"

Focus! Aim for 1 inch above the bottom edge of the plate to compensate for the distance.

"Ready"

The buzzer goes off and I come up on the first plate. I was a little impatient, and shot just a fraction too soon and just slightly under the plate. I moved across the remaining four plates, this time remembering where to aim, and got the four of them OK. Good shooters don't let the last shot mess up the next shot, but it's really hard to do!

18 more shots to go, this time from 25 yards. The rest of the shooters finished their turn at 20 yards, and we moved the shooting station out to 25 yards.

At 25 yards it went smoothly, 18 for 18, and I ended up with a 67 total. 67 plates hit, two flat out missed, and three shots not taken....

When the scores were tallied up, KeeWee, John, and Mark were in almost a dead heat for 3rd., 4th., and 5th., and I don't remember exactly who finished where. Al had missed a few along the way, and I ended up ahead of him by a plate or so. You'd think I'd know better than to beat Al the week before a pin shoot!

There was a lot of really close shooting, and everyone had a grand time! What a fun way to spend the day.....