Tough guy

Here's a couple important lessons for all you shooters and spectators. Saturday at the fun shoot Paul (at left) got hit in the arm with a piece of jacket that came from a disintegrating bullet that had struck the plate rack. Paul came over and showed it to me with very little emotion. He just kind of told me the facts like it was no big deal. The thing left a gash that looked like the whole bullet had entered his arm between the wrist and elbow. There was already bruising and a lot of blood. I didn't know exactly what to say. I think I was just so amazed how little he was upset. After he convinced me he was OK I told him about the first aid kits in the stat shack and he and Jan went up and bandaged it up and then he came back and kept shooting.

Lesson 1: That man is one tough hombre, and he cannot be rattled.
Lesson 2: Not getting rattled is good. Especially when there are lot of new shooters, women, and children around like there were Saturday. If he and everyone else around had panicked it would have scarred some of those people for life and left them with a bad opinion of shooting.
Lesson 3: And this is the most important one: Always wear your shooting glasses. Good ones. A piece of jacket like the one Paul dug out of his arm would certainly have blinded someone if it had hit them in the eye.

Shooting can be dangerous. You shouldn't have an irrational fear, but please do everything you can to minimize the risks involved. Wear your shooting glasses and hearing protection. Stand a little farther away whenever you can. Don't stand right on the 180 or in other hazard zones. Watch where the splatter from steel targets goes and avoid those areas. Be sure to look out for others who may not be as experienced as you are and warn them of these potential dangers.

What a Funshoot!

Wow! What a day, good weather, good stages, 42 shooters in all (I think that is a record) and a dozen or so newbees, welcome! This volume of folks had us expecting the place to be backup city, but everybody worked together and it all went pretty smooth. It was real busy for me so I didn't even get any pics, if anyone has some to share, send them to me ( iwlafunshoot1@comcast.net ) and I'll post a few.

The scoring is going to take a bit longer than usual, my computer died and it will take a day or two to replace and get back up and recover my mailing list. At first glance, there are lots of nice scores, you guys did it again, I'll have to make it even harder.



Thanks for the turnout and a fun day, and I hope to see you all again on Aug. 23.

Heads up, in September we will host the annual Invitational Team Trophy Funshoot. Woo Hoo!

gary

Fun shoot Saturday!

Gary sent this email out announcing the fun shoot this Saturday. If you don't shoot them you should consider it. They are more of an accuracy based sport than USPSA, but they're low stress and a lot of fun. Ben and I are going to try to make this one
H-

"I do not have an exact round count as yet, it will probably be a bit over 100. Be prepared, your challenge this month will be a couple of slow swinging targets and a sled/trolley car thing rolling down a hill, along with the usual Bull's-eye, PPC, Pins and choose your own clays, and some small steel, far, far, away. No food this month.

Due to some issues in the last couple of shoots, and the number of new/newer shooters, I am asking for volunteers to be squad leaders. I know we sorta do that now, but I want it a bit more formalized, and the squad leaders will be my deputies and my posse during the shoot. Their primary mission will be that of "safety cop". I need people who have the experience to run a squad, and the guts to Dismiss an unsafe shooter. It will be the squad leader who will keep the squad organized and moving along. You folks pretty much do that part already.
I will also do a "Walk thru" of the stages with the leaders (and anyone else who cares to tag along), so they will understand what is going on at each stage. This will hopefully eliminate the first few minutes at each stage, with everyone standing around wondering what the heck my description means.

If you are interested please return e-mail me.


Schedule is; Saturday July 26th
Setup starts at 8:30
Registration at 9 ish
Walk thru 9:40
Shooters brief 9:55
Noise at 10:00

Cost: $15 for majors, $5 for minors

Dogs and drinks for sale.

Remember these few safety rules:
No gun handling AT ALL anywhere but at the safe tables, and when instructed to by a squad leader. If you need to do a repair or adjustment, use the safe tables or ask a SL.
Do not load your gun until instructed to do so by your SL (loading mags and such is ok, except on a safe table)
Keep the muzzle down range, always.

Caliber limitations:
We will be shooting steel. Given that, there are some caliber limitations when shooting steel:
No bottle neck rounds except .357 Sig.
No rifle cartridges
No cartridges with velocities over 1500 fps. If you're not positive, come ask me.
There are safety concerns here, as well as damage potential to the targets. Violations of these limits will have you dismissed for the day, and you will pay to have any damaged targets or shooters replaced.


Thanks

gary"

More Summer Blast pics

I don't have anything important to post so I thought I'd just share a few more Summer Blast pics. These were taken on Saturday by Robert C. Thanks for the pics Bob. I'm always looking for a few.

Shotgun match

This is the only picture I took of the shotgun match last weekend. I believe it's Jayson S. shooting his FN. I was so impressed with the FN shotguns I went and convinced my wife to buy me one. It is sweeeet! So is she.

The shotgun results are posted at http://yorkiwlaipsc.org/matches08.htm 1st place in all 3 divisions wins $80, 2nd wins $40, and 3rd wins $20.

Next year you want to be sure to sign up for, and shoot the shotgun match. $20 for 4 stages that are a blast, good payouts, and all of the profits go to the Izaak Walton Juniors. You can't ask for more than that.

Another Summer Blast is in the books

The Summer Blast is over, and if you missed it you missed a great match. Be sure to sign up early next year. The 2008 match filled in just 5 weeks. Next year is sure to fill up even faster. I'll be sure to let the blog faithful know about the applications as soon as they're available.

This year we had over 50 shooters in the shotgun match. The time slotted format was much more efficient and next year we'll improve the shotgun match even more. Be sure to sign up for it well ahead of time also. It will remain $20 and will likely be 4 stages again. Unlike the pistol match we do pay out to the winners.

Summer Blast pics

By now we're into the final day of the Summer Blast and everything has been very smooth. The weather has been fairly cooperative, the staff has been excellent, and the shooters are having a great time. What more could you ask for?I generally don't post pictures of myself, but I liked this one of me in the start position.
Our very own "Eeyore" aka Gary S. shooting the classifier.
Elye in the start position on another stage with a prop gun. Notice the incredible art work. This match was extremely well decorated.

Summer Blast is on!

The staff shot the Summer Blast today and most of us found it quite challenging. The stages are great though and the art work is amazing. This match has really become the epitomy of what a major should be. Here is Mark C. on stage 2.
Sean M. visits us before his trip to the sandbox. It was great seeing him again. We wish him the best during his deployment.
Ben in our house pit. Notice how flat his open gun is. Under full recoil the gun is still flat.

A special thanks to Paul M. for taking pictures today.

Pictures

If you get to the Summer Blast this weekend take some pictures. Send a few of the best to me and I'll post some of the ones I recieve.

Also, stop by the shotgun sidematch and say hi if you get the chance. That's where a bunch of the York crew and I will be working.

Summer Blast update

Progress for the Summer Blast is going extremely well. The back pits are ready and the props are staged for the front pits build. Larry is coming to town Tuesday am. If you have any time Tuesday or Wednesday stop up and lend us a hand. By Thursday am things should be pretty well ready to go and we expect staff to be shooting Thursday after lunch.

I hope you were able to get in this match. It is getting very difficult to sign up in time but it is worth it.

Russell makes us proud!

One of our own makes his mark.
Click here to see article.

Nice shirt by the way.

A8MGC 2

We had a great group of staff for this match. I invited ROs who I knew would do a terrific job and they exceeded my expectations. Here is CRO Mike H. with shooter Chris R.
The amount of gear required for a 3 gun or multi-gun is amazing. You better have some kind of cart, wagon, or stroller to carry it in.
Here are some of the targets on stage 1. There were 32 pieces of steel and 20 metrics for a total of 72 rounds. 60 and 70 round stages were the norm.