CWSA Pin Shoot & Range Construction

Sunday was a big day at the CWSA range in Coupeville, Washington. On the bowling pin range we had our first pin shoot of the year, and just to the side of the pin range the excavators were hard at it excavating and building berms for five brand new pistol bays.

The excavator and one of the dozers.

It doesn't take them all that long to dig down three feet and build the berms when you have two dozers and an excavator all going at the same time.

The berms aren't up to full height, but the 'floor' is finished.

In spite of all the racket going on with the excavating, Sunday was also the first pin shoot of the year. It was kind of a 'flat light' day, so I knew that the iron sight classes were going to be a struggle. For the first time KeeWee decided to shoot in the iron sight rimfire class with the Beretta Neos, as well as shooting the High Standard in the optical sight rimfire class.

As pin shoots go, we start by shooting four tables of five pins each against the clock for qualifying. Your three best times are added together and that's what's used to determine your first round opponent, the fastest shooters against the fastest shooters on down to the slowest against the next slowest.

Tony C. broke the previous range record of five pins in 2.46 seconds with a run of 2.43 seconds. If Tony hits everything with his first shot, no one's faster. Fortunately for us mortals, Tony misses some!

Today KeeWee grabbed the camera and took a few pictures. I entered every class, so I was pretty busy all day and didn't have much time for picture taking.

Mr. C. shooting the Taurus 9mm. PT92 'Econo Race Gun' Taco style in Centerfire Open class.

This picture was the second table against 'Evil Al'. Al was hitting the pins a little bit low and they were falling forward, staying on the table. A perfect hit on a pin is just below the label and very slightly to one side. That way the pin tips back and also moves back at the same time. Hitting slightly to one side sets the pin rotating so if the pin does fall on the table it may still be rotating enough to roll of the back edge.

Mr. C. and Tony in the Centerfire Optic final.

I actually managed to get past Tony for the win, but only because he missed a couple of pins. He's so much faster than I am that when he has a good run against you it can blow your confidence for the rest of the day!

When we got down to the rimfire classes the weather had finally improved a bit and it was almost pleasant. Not quite, but almost.

For rimfire we saw off the top 6" of the bowling pin and use just the pin top for the target instead of a full sized pin. .22's will send the pin top flying if you hit it squarely. If you don't hit it squarely it's totally unpredictable. It may jump, spin, or roll, and you may end up having to hit a moving target!

In qualifying for rimfire optical I shot my best ever single table, 3.43 seconds, and my best ever three table total, a 3.43, a 3.81, and a 3.81 for 11.05. That's the closest I've ever come to breaking into the ten's. I sure hope I didn't use up all my fast tables fro the year at the first pin shoot! In rimrire iron sight qualifying KeeWee struggled a bit on a table or two, but started to get it figured out on the third and fourth table. Her first opponent was Big Phil, a good iron sight shooter who has won the iro nsight class in the past. KeeWee knocked him out two tables in a row! With a bye she was then into the final, and although she lost, she did very well for her first try at it, and will certainly be a very competitive at future pin shoots.

All things considered, it was a good day at the range. All the guns seemed to run pretty well, and everyone had a good time. LouG., in spite of only recently having had the outside rod removed that was holding his left arm together while the bones set up, did manage to shoot his .38 revolver and not only was he glad to be back shooting, he made Evil Al work plenty hard to beat him!

After the shoot KeeWee and I headed to Oak Harbor to spend our prize winnings on a mexican dinner at our favorite mexican restaurant.

Then home, and a nap.....................