2008 e-Postal Match Schedule

NOTE: I've put this back on top as new hosts have been added, and an additional e-Postal match in November has been added.

I now have the starting and ending dates established for this year's e-Postal Handgun match series.

Each match will be designed by a different gun blogger, and it will be hosted on his blog. The basic concept is that a target is designed or selected and made available for download. From the host's blog you get the rules for the match, and how to get the target. You shoot the match per the rules, then scan or photograph your targets and email them to the host blogger. When the e-Postal match closes, the host blogger then sorts out the scores and posts the results on his blog.

What do you win if you win? Well, the match, that's it! No prizes, just bragging rights.

Typically each match will start on the first Monday of the month, and will end at midnight on the last Monday of the month.

If you are a Gun Blogger and would like to host one of the matches, drop me an email or leave a comment and I'll get you on the schedule.

It's "First come, first served" so don't wait too long if you want to host one of the matches.............

Anyhow, here's the schedule:

March 3rd, START
March 31st. END
Host: Mr. Completely

April 7th., START
April 28th., END
Host: The Conservative UAW Guy


May 5th., START
May 26th., END
Host: Armes et tir passion

June 2nd., START
June 30th., END
Host: Snowflakes in Hell

July 7th., START
July 28th., END
Host: Captain of a Crew of One

August 4th., START
August 25th., END
Host: Call Me Ahab

September 1st., START
September 29th., END
Host: The Sentinel (VCDL)


October 6th., START
October 28th., END
Host: Traction Control


November 3rd., START
November 26th., END
Host: Curtis Lowe Blog

A big thanks to all of you who have hosted e-Postal matches in the past, and I hope you will consider hosting a match again this year!

e-Postal Match Closes Monday Midnight

The month's handgun e-Postal match, "Don't Abduct me, bro..." closes Monday night. JimmyB, proprietor over at The Conservative UAW Guy has come up with a really challenging match for us this month.

Get out there to the range either today or Monday, and get your e-Postal targets (and lots of aliens) perforated. For all the info on the match, the rules, and instructions on how to download the targets,

CLICK HERE!

"Freedom Never Cries" Video

I came across this video over at Thor's Hall. I happened to notice that I had been added to his blogroll, and I wasn't familiar with his blog at all. Thor is a Marine Veteran and a fine blogger with a sense of humor that is right down my alley. Go check out his blog, and be sure to scroll back a page at a time as far as your time allows. There's some really good stuff there!

Click on Image to watch the video. You won't regret it, it's excellent.

Yes, he's now over there on my blogroll. "Welcome Aboard, Thor!"

Todd Jarrett on Pistol Shooting

I think this video has been around for a while, but it's well worth watching it every once in a while, as there's a whole lot of good information that will improve your shooting. Watching Todd shoot is something to see.......



Thanks to Xavier at Xavier Thoughts for bringing this excellent video back to our attention!!

Useless Bay Tennis Academy

The work on the new "Useless Bay Tennis Academy" is now well underway, although it started out with some technical difficulties. The plan was for me to clear off the huge blackberry bushes with the backhoe. The bushes completely covered the area. In some places the blackberries were eight or nine feet deep! That went fine last week, and my backhoe operator skills are definitely improving.

Last Saturday morning My friend Wayne, owner of all these fun dirt moving toys, and I were going to start the excavating, using the Drott excavator. Wayne climbed in, turned the key, and was met with total silence. When the excavator was delivered to the site, the key had been left on, and the battery was dead. I strung a cord out to the excavator from the house, and we put it on the charger. So much for getting an early start!

We let the battery charge until mid-afternoon, so it would have a good charge, and so we could get some other projects done. Come late afternoon, we made attempt number two to get underway. Still no luck, as the key switch wasn't making contact, and it wouldn't energize the starter. We pulled the instrument panel and jumped across the terminals, and it fired right up. By now, we only had a few hours of daylight left, but we got a start on the digging before it got dark.

I had been planning to shoot in a bowling pin match on Sunday, but since Sunday was the only day we had access to the backhoe and excavator, I scrubbed the pin shooting in favor of the excavating.

The pictures pretty much tell the story as the work progressed. The final dimensions of the "Floor" will be roughly 33 feet by 70 feet. The berms will all be 8 feet high. Counting the cut below the elevation at the base of the berm, that will give me nearly 16 feet of backstop berm. The side berms plus the cut depth will taper from the 16 foot height at the backstop end to 8 feet high at the bottom end. The berm on the end opposite from the backstop will also be 8 feet high.

Last week, the blackberries cleared off, and waiting to start digging.

The first buckets of dirt.

The hole is starting to grow, and the backstop berm is started.

Much of the backstop berm is in place, and the right side berm is growing.

Backstop and side berms almost to size. The floor still needs to go down a couple of feet.

Now for some backhoe work. That's a 4wd Case 580, although it's painted up like a John Deere.

Here's how far we got by the time it was getting dark on Sunday night.

We still need to get a little more dirt on the berms, but we're pretty close to height in most places. We shot the elevations with a laser gizmo, and we're within 6" of grade just about everywhere.

Plans are to hydro-seed the berms in the next couple of days to get grass growing to stabilize the dirt.

As I get it closer to finished, I'll post some more pictures.

Some time in July or August one the weather gets warmer, plans are for a BBQ and "Patio Party". Too bad it's such a long ways from here to Texas, It'd be great to have US Citizen run the BBQ and show us what REAL BBQ is all about!

German Parade Float

From a parade float in Germany..........

Hat tip to Rufus!

Tennis, anyone?

What the heck's going on with the weather? Whatever it is, it's sure doesn't have anything to do with warming. I see that Juneau just set a record for snowfall, breaking the old record by several inches. Here it is April 19th and it's been snowing off and on all day, and we're only a couple of hundred feet above sea level.

Plans had been to fire up the excavator and get most of the digging done for my new "Tennis Court" next to the house. Unfortunately someone had left the key on when they last used it, and the battery was flat. After charging up the battery for most of the day, we discovered that the wiring was messed up and we couldn't get the starter motor to go. Turns out that the ignition switch was bad, although it had just been replaced. Fortunately it had exposed terminals and I was able to jump across two of the terminals and it fired right up. By now there was barely two hours of daylight left, and the weather was starting to go bad again. We worked until dusk ,then called it a day.

Tomorrow morning we'll get back on the project, and we should have it pretty well finished up by mid-afternoon. Unfortunately, tomorrow is also a CWSA pin shoot, and I won't be able to be there. Pin shoots re probably my favorite event, and it's a rare situation where I miss one, but the diggin's gotta happen when the digger and the digger driver are available, and that means no pin shot for me tomorrow. I've been taking a few pictures as the tennis court comes together, and I'll get them posted when I can.

Shooting "Three-fer" - Part 3

After leaving the CWSA Hanging Plate match in Coupeville, Wa. KeeWee and I swung by the house, picked up some extra ammo, and headed for the Clinton - Mukilteo ferry. A short wait for the ferry, then a fifteen minute ferry ride and we were on the mainland and on our way to Gig Harbor for their handgun clay pigeon match scheduled to start at 4pm.

The traffic through Seattle and Tacoma in I-5 was miserable, but not nearly as bad as it can get when it gets really ugly. At the South end of Tacoma we took the Tacoma Narrows exit and crossed the old Tacoma Narrows bridge, a spectacular suspension bridge with the newly constructed new Narrows bridge on our left as we crossed. It was a short drive from the bridge to the Gig Harbor range. I met Bryce there at the range and got his recommendations for a nearby place to grab some early dinner before the match. He suggested a place called the Harvester, and the food was good.

From the Harvester it was a short drive back to the range, just in time for the match. I made a quick detour through the range safe area and did some quick gun cleaning and lubricating. While I was at it, I also checked the magazines that had been acting up earlier. They seemed to be just fine.

With everything ready to go, we signed up for the match. Chuck went over the range rules with us, and explained how the match was run. Nine clay pigeons were clothes-pinned to a chicken wire target frame in a horizontal zig-zag pattern. The center pigeon was only 3" in size and was completely black. Yes, it WAS hard to see at 25 feet! Each shooter was allowed only five rounds in the magazine, and when the start signal was given, you were to shoot the four clays on your side of the center clay, then shoot the center one, before your opponent shot it. Your score was the number of clays you managed to hit including the black one if you got it. You shot two runs against each of five randomly drawn opponents, for a total of fifty possible points, or hits. Six lanes were used, so a lot of shooting was done in a short time. You barely had time to catch your breath and you were back up on the line for your next match up. I could see a lot of strategy was involved, as if you shot too quickly you would miss hitting the clay pigeons, but if you shot too slowly your opponent would shoot the "Stop Clay" first, thus stopping you from scoring any more hits. I tried a little too hard on my very first run and missed one clay. I managed to hit all the rest of them until the final match up, a very fine shooter, indeed! Unfortunately, I can't remember his name, so if one of you who was there will leave his name in the comments, he deserves the credit! On our first run ,we both pushed a little bit to fast, and we both missed one. On the second run, we matched shot for shot, and both shot the stop clay at virtually the same time. The referee and other observers decided that I had been beaten to the stop clay by the smallest fraction of a second. With my eyesight, I just couldn't tell, but they are used to calling these things, so I'm sure they got it right, but it couldn't have been any closer.

I ended up with a total score of 47 out of 50. My final opponent of the day had missed a total of 4 through the match, giving him 46 points, which was good enough for a second place finish. Dan, shooting his brand new Colt Gold Cup shot the best center fire score with an outstanding 43.

I suspect luck played a big part in my final standing. It's not unusual for the winning shooter to shoot a perfect 50 out of 50, but no one did that this time, fortunately for me! When they announced the score I was really surprised, as I figured only getting a 47 would have put me well down the list! When they announced that I had won, they gave me a very cool little plastic gold medal on a ribbon. Sure, it's only plastic, but that's not the point. Some day, when I'm long past my shooting days, I can look at this little plastic gold medal and remember the Sunday afternoon I spent with a really great bunch of folks in Gig Harbor at the Gig Harbor Sportsman's club shooting clay pigeons with a pistol.

That's worth WAY more than money.........

Pin Shoot Announcement

Central Whidbey Sportsman's

Bowling Pin Shoot

This Sunday, April 20th.

9 AM.

Weekend Shooting "Three-fer" - Part 2

When I got home from the KRRC Fun Steel match Saturday night, I still had to clean my High Standard rimfire pistol as shooting all day Saturday had left it pretty dirty and gungy. I stripped down both KeeWee's High Standard and mine, and got them all ready to go for Sunday's double matches, then hit the sack for some shut-eye before Sunday arrived.

At 9am Central Whidbey Sportsman's Assn. was having the first shooting event to be held in the newly excavated pistol bays. At 4pm Gig Harbor Sportsman's Club was having their weekly Clay Pigeon pistol shoot. It was a about two and a half hours from CWSA to Gig Harbor, counting a ferry ride. Not a lot of time to waste along the way, but enough time to get to Gig Harbor, and even stop for something to eat along the way. Here's the match reports:

Central Whidbey Sportsman's
Rimfire Hanging Plate Match

The five new pistol bays are now ready for use, and the hydro-seeded grass is just starting to sprout on the new berms. In the past we held the hanging plate matches on the 75 yard range, but if we were shooting a match, no one could use the range for any non-match shooting. Now, with the new bays we can hold hanging plate and speed steel matches without interfering with any of the shooting on either the 75 yard or the 200 yard ranges.

I've covered the hanging plate match rules before, but to recap, you get three runs at the plates at each of four distances, 10, 15, 20, and 25 yards. You get six seconds to take six shots, hopefully hitting each of the six plates once. As the distance is increased a larger plate is used, starting with 4" plates at 10 yards and ending up with 7" plates at 25 yards. Your score is the total number of plates you manage to hit. We shoot both an optic sight and an iron sight class.

In the Optic Sight Class at 15 yards I had one cartridge that failed to fire, even with a good solid firing pin strike. By the time it was cleared the time had expired. costing me 3 plates. Bummer! I had already shot one "Flyer", so I was down by 4 plates early in the match. Not a good start. On the next run one of the magazines (that I didn't clean and lube the night before like I should have done) decided not to feed any ammo after the second shot and a slap and rack didn't work to get the next round into the chamber. The next run, with a different magazine, I just flat out missed one of the plates. Now I was 9 plates down only half way through the match. Not a good start, for sure!

I quickly unloaded the three magazines I was using and dipped a bore brush into some Hoppe's #9 and gave the mags a quick scrubbing. I wiped them clean and put a drop of oil in each one, then reloaded them for the upcoming round at 20 yards. I usually don't look at the scores in mid-match, but I had such a lousy score at mid-match I was curious to see just how far out of it I actually was. Since it was the first hanging plate match of the year perhaps everyone was a bit rusty and was struggling a bit too. "Evil Al" was three plates in the lead, I was barely in second, and Scott, Lou G., KeeWee, and Rainy were right behind.

I tried to focus on the remaining six runs and put the other stuff behind me. That's really hard to do as a bad run tends to stick in your mind, and that just generates more bad runs. I finished up with a 5-6-6 for 17 out of 18 at 20 yards, and 6-6-6 for a perfect 18 at 25 yards! For such a terrible start I had at least pulled it together for the last two distances.

When the scores were totalled, Rainy was fifth, KeeWee was fourth, Al had slipped to third, Scott was second, and I had managed to pull off a miracle with a near perfect finish after a disastrous start.

In the Iron Sight class Al showed everyone the way, shooting a beautiful S&W Model 17 with an 8" barrel. I managed a second, and Scott was third.

Hanging plate matches are an interesting challenge. The rate of fire is fairly slow, but perhaps the most difficult part is to stay focused for every shot since you don't get any extra shots to make up for misses.

After helping to load up the plate rack and plates for storage, KeeWee and I loaded our gear and headed for the Clinton ferry to get to the mainland for our drive to Gig Harbor, South and a bit West of Tacoma.

.... End of Part 2 - Part 3 Tomorrow

(Yes, the picture is from a hanging plate match last year - The grass hasn't grown that much yet in the new bays)

Weekend Shooting "Three-fer"

Last week as I was looking over the calendar with the upcoming shoots marked on it, I saw that I might be able to actually shoot three different matches, at three different locations, all over the course of two days. On Saturday over at the Kitsap Rifle & Revolver club in Bremerton was their monthly Fun Steel match. I try to make every one of those I possibly can, as they are always a whole lot of fun. Sunday morning at CWSA in Coupeville was going to be not only our first Rimfire Hanging Plate match of the year, it would also be the first time to use one of the five recently excavated pistol bays. The Hanging plate matches start at 9am and are usually over before noon. The Gig Harbor Sportsman's Club in gig Harbor, roughly a ferry ride and then an hour and a half South of here, shoots a pistol clay pigeon match on Sunday afternoons starting at 4pm. Hmmmm...... Yup, if I don't waste any time I can make all three with time to spare!

Here's the reports:

Kitsap Rifle & Revolver Club Fun Steel Match

John D. at KRRC always puts on a great match, mixing six stages of steel challenge like layouts, a falling plate stage, and a few sadistically designed stages of his own design. KeeWee had to work on Saturday, so bright (?) and early Saturday morning Wayne F. and I jumped into my van and headed over to Kitsap. From Whidbey Island to anywhere else requires either a ferry ride or a bridge. Unfortunately the bridge is on the wrong end of the island, so a ferry ride it was going to be. I could take the Keystone ferry to Port Townsend and then it's only an hour's drive to the KRRC range, or I could take the Clinton ferry to Mukilteo, then drive to Edmonds and take another ferry to Kingston. Once in Kingston it's perhaps 20 minutes to the match. However, the Keystone ferry is often cancelled on the early morning runs due to fog, or wind/rough conditions. If you go to Keystone to catch that ferry, and the run is cancelled you don't have enough time to take the other route and get to the match in time, so to be sure I got there, we took the two ferry route. Even so, that doesn't get you there with much time to spare, but at least you know you'll make it.

Lou G. and Tony C. decided to try the Keystone route, and the run wasn't cancelled, so they got there just fine, too. Rob and Dan from Gig Harbor whom I met last month at the KRRC showed up too, and this time brought along reinforcements, Bryce and Rebecca! There were 23 shooters and a total of 30 entries, so it was a good turnout.

The stages were all challenging, with John coming up with new wrinkles to psych everyone out. On one stage he had a small white plate overlapping the stop plate. You don't want to hit the stop plate before you have hit the other plates, and with them so close together some shooters chose to shoot a slower and safer order rather than risk the consequences.

On another stage, John had a small plate on the extreme left and almost on the ground, a second plate on the extreme right up at eye level, and the stop plate in the middle. Only three plates meant a double-tap on each of the outside plates, then the stop plate in the middle last. The outside plates were small enough and far enough out that getting the second shot of the double on the plate wasn't easy! Lots of folks missed.

As the match progressed the weather kept getting warmer and warmer, and by mid-afternoon it must have been 75 to 80 degrees! For those of us acclimatized for 50 degrees and rain this time of year it was getting downright hot! Our squad was lucky in that our last two stages were back in the trees, so it wasn't quite so hot.

We all had a great time, and all too soon hte match was over. It's a Kitsap Fun Steel tradition that as soon as the plates have been put back into storage, everyone heads to the 19th hole, a local pub, for lunch and refreshments. While we're eating we sort out the scoring. I didn't write down the final results, but Tony and Rob both had really got days, if I remember correctly. Wayne, a first year shooter, turned in some very respectable scores for his first 6 stage steel match. I did OK in rimfire and ceenterfire open, although the new extractor I had just installed in the Taurus Econo Race Gun wasn't always extracting like it should. (I wonder if I cleaned it once in a while if that would help?) .

When the results are posted, I'll add a link in this post for anyone who's interested.

As soon as we finished eating, it was time to get back on the road. I decided to take the Port Townsend ferry back to Whidbey, as it would save me from having to pay for two separate ferry fares. We only had an hour and a half wait at the Port Townsend ferry dock, and they we were on our way across the Strait of Juan De Fuca back to Whidbey. After reaching Whidbey it was a little over twenty minutes, and I was home.

It had been a long day, but lots of fun!

..... end of Part 1 - Part Two Tomorrow

Gun Blogger Rendezvous Star Attractions!

Well, I don't know about "Star Attractions", but perhaps the main reason to attend the Gun Blogger Rendezvous AKA GBR-III, is to meet and hang out with some absolutely amazing folks. Of course, spending an entire day at a fabulous range shooting all sorts of interesting stuff is a big draw, too.

So who's going to be there, you ask?

Here's a partial list, and new names will be added as we get closer to the Rendezvous. It's still a ways off.

Planning to Attend:

KeeWee, from KeeWee's Corner

Phil & David, from Random Nuclear Strikes

US Citizen, from Traction Control

Ride Fast & the Commandress, from Ride Fast - Shoot Straight

Sebastian, from Snowflakes in Hell

Lou from Mad Gun

Kevin from The Smallest Minority

Dirt Crashr, from Anthroblogogy

Chris & Mel Byrne, from The Anarchangel

Uncle, From Say Uncle

Larry Weeks, from Brownell's

and, of course, me.....


Gonna Try/Not sure yet:

Countertop, from Countertop Chronicles

Glen Caroline, from the NRA

Ashley Varner, from the NRA

Ahab, from Call Me Ahab

Stickwick & Carnaby, from Carnaby Fudge

Joe Huffman, from The View from North Central Idaho

Retired Geezer & Mrs. Geezer, from Blog Idaho

Mr. & Mrs. BillH, from Free in Idaho

Mr. & Mrs. JimmyB, the Conservative UAW Guy

Murdoc, from Murdoc Online

I was talking to the folks at the Circus Circus in Reno ,where we have the Rendezvous, and it turns out that the big Reno Italian Street Fair will be underway the same time that were there for the Rondy. The street fair will be right outside the Circus Circus's door! They close down several blocks of the street to set up the street fair booths. That could be a lot of fun for the folks not wanting to spend all day Saturday out at the range shooting.

Anyhow, get your room reservations and Rendezvous Registrations sent in right away. If you are flying to Reno, book early, as there are a limited number of flights in and out of Reno each day, and you don't want to end up on the 'Red Eye', if they even have one.......

Diggin' It!

Once again the entire week has blown past in a blur, and it's Friday. WHEW! I've been really busy getting KeeWee's new garden area graded off with the backhoe. What started out as a couple of raised beds has now turned into a 20 x 30 foot garden area with raised beds and a 6' high deer fence all around it. Site preparation needed to be revised to make the area flat and level. To add to the fun, while excavating for the garden area I "Located" the main PVC pipe that supplies water to the house. I guess that's why they call backhoes "Water line Locators" ! The water line was 30 feet away from where it was supposed to be and was barely 8" below the surface. No idea why it hasn't froze up during the Winter, being that shallow. Since it's plastic, a metal detector couldn't have found it anyway. Fortunately the damage was minimal and a short piece of pipe and two couplings and it was as good as new. I then trenched down another foot and a half and then back filled about 6" more over the top, so it should be pretty safe now, even from me.

KeeWee's new garden area, under construction.....

I've also got another much bigger excavation project underway, and it should be finished in a couple of weeks. The first step was to clear off all of the blackberry bushes from an area approximately 60' by 110'. The blackberries were, in some places, close to 9' high, so there was a fair amount of clearing required. My friend Wayne has a business where he has several backhoes, dump trucks, excavators, and so forth, and since I have the space, I let him park his equipment here at my place. If I need to move some dirt or dig a hole, the equipment is mine to use. That's a good deal for both of us!

New project area, looking down the hill.

From the lower end, looking up the hill.

To make the new area usable, it's going to have to be excavated out quite a bit to get a flat and level surface. All of that dirt will have to go somewhere, though. I guess I could just pile it up along all four sides into a berm, or something. I wonder what I should use the space for. Let's see, it will be approximately 35 feet wide by 70 feet long. Dirt berms will be around it on all sides, probably 8 feet high, and counting the 7' drop below ground level at the upper end, that makes about a 15' upper end berm. Tennis court? Skate board park? Keewee's already getting her own garden, so we don't need a second one of those.

Well, I'll just go ahead and build it, and I'll probably think of something to use it for later.............

Rimfire Falling Plate MAtch at CWSA - 03/05/2008

"It was a dark and stormy day. Suddenly a shot rang out......."

Followed by lots more, as it was a rimfire falling plate match at Central Whidbey Sportsman's Assn. range in Coupeville, Washington. The match format is simple. Each shooter shoots against every other shooter three times. You have to shoot the large plates first, and the small plate last. The first shooter to knock over all six plates wins the run. You get a point for each win, half a point for a tie, and a goose egg for each loss. The shooter with the most points at the end of the day wins.

Tony C. was clearly the fastest shooter of the day, but he was missing some of his shots. "Evil Al" was right there with Tony in terms of speed, and wasn't missing very many at all. I was shooting slower that Tony and Al, but I wasn't missing too many plates. If I was going to have any chance against these two I had better not miss, as I couldn't keep up in terms of raw speed. It was obvious that just about everyone was really shooting well as there were lots of very close runs and even a number of them that were so close they were called ties.

Here's a small video to give you an idea of the speed the plates get knocked down. The quality is down a bit as this was taken with a phone, rather than a regular camera. Even so, you get the idea!

Six shots, six plates. Wish I could do that every time!
(Thanks to Scott for the video)

These falling plate matches are lots of fun as you get to shoot lots, and there's only a few minutes wait and you're back up to shoot some more.

As an experiment, each of the four plate racks was set up with the stop plate in a different spot. It turned out that some lanes were faster and easier than others, so the luck of the draw came into play as to which lane you got against which opponent. The table that gave everyone the most trouble was number two, shown in the above video.I got really lucky and got the easiest table against both Tony and Al who had to shoot a more difficult table, table number two. That was just enough for me to sneak past the both of them. KeeWee was shooting more like she normally does, and ended up 7th. overall.

It was a blustery, chilly, and damp day, but everyone had a lot of fun in spite of the crummy weather.

Don't Abduct Me, Bro........

It's got everything! Drama, suspense, violence, humor, aliens.......

Aliens?

Yup!

What am I talking about?

Why, this month's e-Postal match over at JimmyB's blog "The Conservative UAW Guy", of course!

Go get the rules, download the targets, and head out to the range. If you don't, YOU just might be the next one abducted, and you won't like that, will you!

"OK, I'll go do that right now. What do I have to do to make sure the aliens don't abduct me?"

CLICK HERE FOR WHAT YOU NEED!

Charlton Heston R.I.P.

Photo credit Fox News / AP

Watch Out Plates - Here We Come

Looks easy, right?

Only shooting one match this weekend, on Saturday at CWSA, a rimfire falling plate match. It's fast and furious action, with several hundred rounds of ammo used per shooter, and it doesn't take all day to complete the match. It's looking like rain and drizzle most of the day, but at least the shooting stations are covered so we won't get wet!

If you've wanted to give rimfire falling plates a try, grab your .22 pistol, a brick of ammo, and come on down. It's a round robin format so you get three runs against every other shooter there, so lots of fun! Be there by 9am Saturday (that's tomorrow, as I am writing this on Friday night) and don't be late, because once the round robin format is filled in, additional entries cannot be entered.

Thoughts on Pin Shooting

Lou G., Rainy, and Dean at CWSA

Ahab is going to try out pin shooting in a week or so, and he asked me if I had any tips for him. After thinking about it, I decided there was more to cover than I could cover in an email, so I decided to put it together as a post for all to see.

Pin Shooting Thoughts and Observations

The number of rounds in your magazine is usually limited, so accuracy is REALLY important. You can beat a much faster shooter if he has to reload and you don't.

If you shoot your best against a faster shooter and he shoots his best too, you will lose. Don't try to shoot at his speed. Shoot at your speed, put yourself in a position to win, and let him beat himself. Don't beat yourself, make him beat you.

DO NOT WATCH THE OTHER SHOOTER'S PINS! Focus on YOUR pins only! His pins are HIS problem.

Focus, and stay focused, even against slower shooters where you might be tempted to ease up a bit.

Try to hit the pin between just below the emblem and a little bit above the fattest part. If you hit them too low and kick the bottom out they actually fall forward, and then they're miserable to get off the table.

Even if you have a jam or are way behind, KEEP SHOOTING! Your competitor may jam on his next shot.

Count your ammo. Count them out of the box into your hand, count them out of your hand into the magazine, and most importantly, count them as each round is fired. Even as you are watching other shooters, count their shots too, just for practice. You need to know when it's time to reload without wasting time dropping the hammer on an empty chamber.

Get the first pin, even if it means slowing down a little bit and getting a slightly better sight picture. When you miss the first pin everything else falls apart and the run is hard to salvage. Even if you get the next four pins cleanly, you still have to come all the way back for the first one.

Don't change plans in mid run. If you miss a pin continue to the next one and finish the run, then come back and pick up the cripples. Don't break the rhythm of the run.

After you have shot the last pin off the table, take another look to verify every one you thought left the table actually did so. Do this check by holding sight picture and scanning back across the table. Sometimes a pin that you were sure was off the table will still be sitting there. If you don't bring the gun down while you are checking, you are all set to shoot the rogue pin off the table.

Strive for a smooth style and tempo. Smooth feels slower, but it's usually faster. There's a lot of truth in "Slow down to shoot faster!"

Every table already shot, good, bad, or downright ugly, is history. Don't let the last table screw up the next one.

When the match is over, help the range officers clean up, pick up brass, put stuff away, whatever you can do to help them out. They're volunteers, and they can always use an extra hand. Showing up before the match and helping them set everything up isn't a bad idea, and it doesn't hurt to thank the folks putting on the match, either.

Never forget that the reason you are here is to have some fun. Don't take it so seriously that you stop enjoying yourself. I've had the chance to meet and shoot with some of the best shooters in the world, and almost every one of them is having a ball doing what they love to do, shoot!

Lastly, always remember that
slow hits beat fast misses,
every time!

e-Postal "Frequent Flier" Results

The results are in for the first e-Postal handgun match of 2008, and it turned out to be quite a horse race! We ended up with thirty entries across four classes, and lots of close scores. Some of the scores were truly outstanding, with BIllll's rimfire iron sight score of 96 and Merle's Centerfire Optic sight score of 97 being particularly noteworthy. Mad Gun out shot the pack when it came to swatting those pesky little flies, squashing eight flies with Ten shots, no one else was able to equal his score on the flies.

If you entered and your scores are not shown, or there is an error in math, please send me an email and I'll get it sorted out.

Class I - Rimfire Iron Sight

Place Name Handgun Caliber Bulls Flies Total Score
1. Billll Ruger Mk-I .22 91 5 96
2. Mr. C. High Standard 106 .22 88 5 93
3. Mr. C. Glock 22/Ciener Conv. .22 78 3 81
4. Sailor Curt S&W 22A .22 74 3 77
5. Merle Ruger 9.5" Super Single Six .22MAG 73 3 76
6. Danno Ruger 22/45 .22 70 3 73
7. Ride Fast Colt SA Rev. .22 58 1 59
8. BillH Hi Standard GB .22 52 2 54

Class II - Rimfire Optic Sight

Place Name Handgun Caliber Bulls Flies Total Score
1. Mr. C. S&W 422 6" .22 91 6 97
2. Mr. C. High Standard 106 .22 92 4 96
3. JimmyB High Standard .22 89 5 94
4. Sebastian Ruger MK-III 22/45 .22 84 7 91
5. Denise Unknown .22 84 6 90
6. KeeWee High Standard Sharpshooter .22 85 4 89
7. US Citizen S&W 22A .22 83 5 88
8. Merle Ruger MK-II .22 84 1 85
9. Mad Gun Magnum Research Picuda .22 73 8 81

Class III - Centerfire Iron Sight

Place Name Handgun Caliber Bulls Flies Total Score
1. Merle Ruger Conv. Rev. .32H&R 84 4 88
2. Merle Ruger 7.5" Conv. Rev. .45 Colt 84 3 87
3. Merle Ruger Conv. Rev. 32-20 82 2 84
4. Mr. C. Taurus 608 Revolver .38 77 3 80
5. Merle Ruger 7.5" Conv. Rev. .45 ACP 74 4 78
6. James Springfield TRP .45ACP 66 7 73
7. Carnaby Springfield TRP .45ACP 62 1 63
8. Sailor Curt Ruger P97 .45ACP 54 3 57
9. Ride Fast Colt 1911 .45ACP 51 1 52
10. BillH Glock 27 .40 45 5 50
11. BillH Ruger GP100 .357 44 2 46

Class IV - Centerfire Optic Sight

Place Name Handgun Caliber Bulls Flies Total Score
1. Merle Dan Wesson 10" Rev. .357 O 90 7 97 4
2. Mr. C. Taurus 66 Revolver .38 O 76 3 79 4

The Top Fly Swatters

Place Name Handgun Caliber Flies
1. Mad Gun Magnum Research Picuda .22 8
2. Merle Dan Wesson 10" Rev. .357 7
2. Sebastian Ruger MK-III 22/45 .22 7
2. James Springfield TRP .45ACP 7
2. Mr. C. S&W 422 .22 6
2. Denise Unknown .22 6
3. Billll Ruger Mk-I .22 5
3. JimmyB High Standard .22 5
3. Mr. C. High Standard 106 .22 5
3. US Citizen S&W 22A .22 5
3. BillH Glock 27 .40 5
4. Mr. C. High Standard 106 .22 4
4. KeeWee High Standard Sharpshooter .22 4
4. Merle Ruger Conv. Rev. .32H&R 4
4. Merle Ruger 7.5" Conv. Rev. .45 ACP 4
5. Merle Ruger 7.5" Conv. Rev. .45 Colt 3
5. Mr. C. Glock 22/Ciener Conv. .22 3
5. Mr. C. Taurus 608 Revolver .38 3
5. Mr. C. Taurus 66 Revolver .38 3
5. Sailor Curt S&W 22A .22 I 74 3
5. Merle Ruger 9.5" Super Single Six .22MAG 3
5. Danno Ruger 22/45 .22 3
5. Sailor Curt Ruger P97 .45ACP 3
6. Merle Ruger Conv. Rev. 32-20 2
6. BillH Hi Standard GB .22 2
7. Merle Ruger MK-II .22 1
7. Ben Springfield TRP .45ACP 1
7. Ride Fast Colt SA Rev. .22 1
7. Ride Fast Colt 1911 .45ACP 1

Overall Score

Place Name Handgun Caliber Bulls Flies Total Score
1. Merle Dan Wesson 10" Rev. .357 90 7 97
2. Mr. C. S&W 422 .22 91 6 97
3. Billll Ruger Mk-I .22 91 5 96
4. Mr. C. High Standard 106 .22 92 4 96
5. JimmyB High Standard .22 89 5 94
6. Mr. C. High Standard 106 .22 88 5 93
7. Sebastian Ruger MK-III 22/45 .22 84 7 91
8. Denise Unknown .22 84 6 90
9. KeeWee High Standard Sharpshooter .22 85 4 89
10. US Citizen S&W 22A .22 83 5 88
11. Merle Ruger Conv. Rev. .32H&R 84 4 88
12. Merle Ruger 7.5" Conv. Rev. .45 Colt 84 3 87
13. Merle Ruger MK-II .22 84 1 85
14. Merle Ruger Conv. Rev. 32-20 82 2 84
15. Mad Gun Magnum Research Picuda .22 73 8 81
16. Mr. C. Glock 22/Ciener Conv. .22 78 3 81
17. Mr. C. Taurus 608 Revolver .38 77 3 80
18. Mr. C. Taurus 66 Revolver .38 76 3 79
19. Merle Ruger 7.5" Conv. Rev. .45 ACP 74 4 78
20. Sailor Curt S&W 22A .22 74 3 77
21. Merle Ruger 9.5" Super Single Six .22MAG 73 3 76
22. James Springfield TRP .45ACP 66 7 73
23. Danno Ruger 22/45 .22 70 3 73
24. Carnaby Springfield TRP .45ACP 62 1 63
25. Ride Fast Colt SA Rev. .22 58 1 59
26. Sailor Curt Ruger P97 .45ACP 54 3 57
27. BillH Hi Standard GB .22 52 2 54
28. Ride Fast Colt 1911 .45ACP 51 1 52
29. BillH Glock 27 .40 45 5 50
30. BillH Ruger GP100 .357 44 2 46

Thanks to all of you who sent in entries. Next month's e-Postal match will be hosted by JimmyB, The Conservative UAW Guy, and you can be sure it will be challenging!!