PA state steel challenge

On July 10-12th we will be hosting the Pennsylvania State Steel Challenge. There are very limited number of slots to this match that is in very high demand. Sign up quickly.

We will give cash prizes to division winners and all entries will be eligible to win other prizes including guns by random draw.

For application and more info go to: Application

Range Safety

It seems like common sense to me, but apparently not everyone thinks like I do, so I'm going to spell it out for you.

When you show up to any of the organized matches, either USPSA or fun shoots, you must follow there rules:

1. Your gun(s) must be unloaded, and separate from any loaded magazines, and separate from any ammunition when you arrive at the club.

2. Any gun(s) you are not using in the match today should be left in a locked vehicle, not lying around the range.

3. You may only handle your gun(s) in a designated safety area or as commanded by a range officer. Your vehicle is not a designated safety area by the way.

4. You may not handle loaded magazines or ammunition in the safety area.

5. You may not load your gun, or possess a loaded gun anywhere on club ground except under the direction of a range officer.

6. Guns, whether they are loaded or not, may only be pointed downrange. Allowing the muzzle to wander uprange even if unloaded is unacceptable.

Failure to follow any of these rules at any time will result in match disqualifacation and especially flagrant or repeated offenses may result in your not being invited back.

If you have any questions about gun or ammuntion handling ask a match official before you do something stupid.

I have personally seen several violations of the above rules in the last few months at both USPSA matches, and fun shoots, and we will not be issuing any more warnings. All of my range officers and match officials will be watching carefully, and have to right to disqualify you at any event. From this point forward any safety violations will result in you being able to get home early to watch that TV show you were thinking about.

What do we do if it rains on Funshoot day?

A new shooter poses the reasonable question.

Between 9:30 and 10:00am on funshoot day, we decide by consensus, at the range, what the group wants to do. If you want to shoot in the rain, I'll run something. If you want to stand around and shoot the stuff, that's good too. If you are a fair weather shooter, you probably would already have stayed home, and that's good too.

We have had a few awesome shoots, 1/2 hr after a lot of folks left, and the weather cleared.

Weather in the hundred acre wood, is known to be a bit different than in the surrounding county...from time to time...

USPSA basic skills class

We held the first USPSA basic skills class last weekend and it went very well. We have another this Sunday at noon, and there are still a couple spots open. The basic skills class is for new shooters, D class and, maybe even some C class shooters. For more info see www.yorkUSPSAinstruction.blogspot.com

Funshoot Correction and Clarification

An observent funshooter caught my typo (which I have corrected, so don't go lookin' fer it).

To clarify, no .22LR at all for the carbine squad.

.22LR pistol is always welcome.

Funshoot "Special" Squad

I have been asked to form a special pistol caliber carbine squad for the up and coming funshoot. This request has been granted.

The Deal: This would be a squad of PISTOL CALIBER CARBINES only. No rifle stuff at all. 9mm, .40, .45 etc in carbine platforms like an AR, Mechtec CCU, Thompson, Kel-tech, HK MP-whatever, Full Size Uzi, etc qualify. No M1 .30 Carbines or .22 carbines. they hurt our steel.

If interested, signup at iwlafunshootsignup@live.com, and let me know what carbine you want to shoot. If there is enough interest, it's a go, if not, we may mix a fewpistols in with the group and do it anyway.

Please read the blog

Please read the blog entry, and the sidebar article in the greenarea to the right of this section of the blog entitled "funshoot info" before emailing me questions. I have fielded many questions today that were answered there.

Please forgive me my errors, I'm still workin out the bugs.

g

March funshoot

For those who have forgotten, next Saturday, the 28th is our monthly funshoot. See the sidebar article to the right here for more detail. This month will be busy, with the usual stuff, choose your own, bulles/ppc, plate rack, steel and more steel, tin cans, at least 2 USPSA stages with easy scoring and fun round counting (something a little different), and a surprise food of the month ( even I don't know what it is yet, but I'm thinkin messy). Round count should be around 130 or so.

As imitation is the finest form of flattery, and since it worked so good for the USPSA folks, we are launching a new preregistration thing this month. To pre-register and do squadding requests, drop an email to iwlafunshootsignup@live.com, with your name and who you want to be squadded with, and we will do our best to accommodate. This should help us plan for the day. Please use only for registration. For questions and other issues see sidebar to right.

Don't worry if you don't register, walkons are always welcome, and encouraged.

As always, all you need is a standard velocity handgun that holds a minimum of 6 rounds, a safe way of carrying it (box, bag or holster), and a safe attitude. Don't handle any handgun unless you are at the safe table, or the firing line, and no ammo in the gun unless instructed to do so.

The fee is $15 for adults and $5 for the under 18 crowd.

If you have something unusual, bring it out, we'd love to see it!

See you Saturday.

g

Shopping in Texas

I like this video. But, it could easily be shopping in PA. Or shopping with USPSA shooters.

Shopping in Texas

RO class June 6-7th, 2009

There are still some openings left in our RO level 1 class June 6th and 7th. This opportunity doesn't come around all that often. Being a range officer is important because it takes some of the burden off of the guys who do it all the time, thereby ensuring they don't get burned out, and keeping the sport alive. RO certification not only makes you more qualified to help out at matches it also makes you a better shooter, because you understand the rules better. The cost is $50. If you need more info or an application please email me at hkbrt@verizon.net

Open gun for sale

One of my friends is selling one of his Open guns. I will personally vouch for the accuracy and reliability of this gun. I know it works. H-

BEDELL CUSTOM – 5” Open 38 SuperComp
_ STI Frame & Slide.
_ Schumann UltriMatch Barrel – 38 SuperComp
_ Lightened Slide. Serrations rear & lighting cuts in front. (per pictures).
_ Bedell Comp. (Titanium). Bedell logo on right side & TOPGUN on left side.
_ Dawson Ice Magwell. (Silver)
_ Swenson Ambidextrous Safety. (cut & rounded per pictures).
_ Koenig Hammer.
_ EGW Hard Sear.
_ STI Hammer Strut.
_ Extreme Race Disconnect.
_ Aftec Extractor – 38 Super Comp.
_ STI Drilled & Taped Mag Release.
_ SC Mag Release Button.
_ STI Beavertail.
_ SC Slidewinder Slide Racker.
_ SVI Trigger System (Flat Trigger Medium Installed)
_ C-More Serendipity (Blk) click switch 8 MOA sight system.

Trigger pull set to 15~18oz crisp

Gun, case and 1 (140mm) Tuned/Polished SPS mag. $ 2,000.00 (firm).

Options for buyer:
Tuned/Polished Mag Set (you will need if shooting open) 3-140mm & 1-170mm $ 430.00.
Extra 170mm Mag $ 120.00
Armscor Brass 1 case (2500) NIB - $ 275.00 (won’t find it cheaper anywhere) Above gun loves it.
Starline Brass 1 Box (500) NIB – 65.00 (won’t find it cheaper anywhere).





Contact me if you're interested and I'll get you in touch with seller (no, I don't get a commission)

Still doing match pictures

Some of the guys chose to use pistol caliber carbines to reshoot stages in afternoon. Here is Greg J. ROing my son Ben. The evil Sean M. He's the one who designed Razor and Switchback. They're not as bad as some he has given me for later use. Practice up. Paul S. ROing Rob B. Note the blurring from the speed of these revolver shooters.

More March USPSA match pictures

Here Jim S. ROs new guy Jim T. who couldn't stop smiling all day.This is the guy who does your registration. "Dominatin Dave" It was very hectic this match and you can see by the expression how hard he worked on this one. And you know he did a hell of a job.Topton Match Director Dean D. has his game face on waiting for the start signal. Gun troubles kept Dean out of the running for a good finish, but that's part of the game.

March USPSA match

The March match is complete and a rousing success. The two time slot format seemed to work out well, and because of it we were able to accommodate a record number of shooters including over a dozen who had never shot a USPSA match before. The weather was great, the stages challenging, and I believe everyone had a great time. A hearty thank you to all who shot, and to the York staff who ran this one, especially the staff in registration and stats who really went above and beyond the call of duty this time.

Here's a picture of Lucito ROing Jayson on "Razor" which was undoubtedly the toughest stage. Many shooters simply didn't have enough ammo in their mags to take on the 22, no 23 pieces of steel.
Sean M. who we're going to miss greatly when he moves back to Colorado next month, designer of "Razor" and this stage "Switchback" ROing Jonathan M. who was our best newbie this month, and actually finished quite respectably. Watch out for this guy in future matches.

Gary S. (yes, the one who runs the fun shoots, and also works his tail off for the USPSA matches) is ROing Louis on the standards. Louis won Open and was our high overall shooter. Note the youth movement at the top of the results. It makes me feel old.

By now you should have received the preliminary results in an email. If you haven't and want to be on that list, which is also our match announcement list email me at hkbrt@verizon.net

Results are also available at http://yorkiwlaipsc.org/Results2009/IkesMar09-SpecialClassifier.txt

A request from the Stats lady

"Hi - Dawn the stats girl here...This blog is to share info on getting the stats out quickly and accurately.

Things that help me to enter data accurately: Include your name and shooter number on the scoresheets. It helps to put the name that is in the database rather than nicknames, initials, etc. I know some of the shooters by name but not most of you so it is difficult to enter the stats if I don't have both the name and shooter number. This is really important in multi gun matches.

When you register, please include all the information so I can make sure it is scored correctly. If you don't circle major or minor, open or limited, I just leave what was in there. That may or may not be accurate. If it's not accurate, we have to go back and change score results and recalculate.

Fill out your score sheets completely. Don't forget to fill in the number of steel hit - some people actually miss the steel - or give up, so steel is not always all A's. If it is left blank, I don't know if it should be A's or misses. Add your columns and make sure the total matches the total round count for the stage. I get a fair number of sheets that do not add up. Then we have to track down the person, etc. etc.

Include times on the sheet - believe it or not, I've gotten a lot of score sheets without times. Shooters signed off on the sheet. The sign off on the score sheet should mean that you actually looked at the sheet to make sure it was accurate.

Finally, bring your scoresheets up to the stat shack promptly. If you're coming from the back - bring up sheets. The sooner I get them, the sooner I can enter them. This helps me get the scores out quickly.

What do you need to simplify the scoring process?

Thanks, Dawn"

Dawn does a hell of a job. Let's make her job as easy as possible. Howard

USPSA instruction

As there seems to be a serious demand, I am going to resume offering basic USPSA instruction for shooters new to USPSA, as well as C and D class shooters who wish to learn some of the sports required skills in a structured environment at a reasonable cost. This level I class will focus on basic skills such as accuracy, the proper firing grip, the reload, and engaging multiple targets quickly and accurately. It is a three hour class designed to be an entry level intro to better shooting techniques than many will shooters learn on their own. This will be the class I wish was available when I was new to USPSA shooting. The cost will be $50. The date of the first class will be March 29th and there will be a limit of 8 shooters per class. For more info follow this link.

Sunday's stages

As promised I will reveal the classifiers to be shot Sunday. They are 99-28, 99-33, 03-05, and 03-18. There are also two really great field courses designed by Sean M. One is 31 rounds, mostly on paper with a fair amount of movement, and a 30 rounder with less movement, but 22 pieces of steel! The minimum round count is 119 rounds, but I would pack some extra. There are 37 pieces of steel, and some of them aren't real close.

Also, please note the morning flight is full, and the afternoon flight is nearly full. If you haven't signed up yet you better get on it. If you have you should have recieved a confirmation email.

I put in a request for great weather Sunday and the weathermen (who still can't be trusted) are calling for 68 degrees at the range. Welcome spring!

TEOTWAWKI in the stat shack!

WOW

The GMAIL box is on fire and we're likely going to set a couple records in March. First, We have have over 70 shooters signed up thus far, and the emails just keep coming. We will probably host our biggest March match ever, and it's not inconceivable that we'll break the monthly record for shooters if this keeps up.

We will also be hosting the largest number of new shooters ever for this match, it could be upwards of 20. So you experienced guys please take a newbie under your wing.

I'd like to ask for some help with the sign up emails.

When signing up for the Match, please put the following information in THE TITLE line of your email: Name, USPSA #, division, class, PF and time (AM/PM).

example:

John Doe, A55555,C LIMITED, MAJOR, PM

Try to be as accurate as possible on your division and PF, or you will end up in 'open minor' in the stats and most people will not like that. On match day, the stat shack is bombed and changing you then is a little problematic.

What you will get in return is a monsyllabic reply, probably mispelled, that says "confirmed for the PM". I just don't have time to tell everyone what time we are setting up and what time the match starts, that information will be in the MD's sign up email and the blog. Suffice to say, setup always starts at 8am and we can always use the help.

Given the formatting in GMAIL, multiple registrations off one email is a huge PIA. I do sign up on an excel sheet first, then load into the match DB the night before the match.

Thus far, we have over 100 emails in the registration box for March. I've been in there for four hours so far this month.

If you have any other information you want to share, you should probably send that directly to the MD's email, as the GMAIL box is only for sign up and it's only going to be me going in there in the future.

New shooters, please review the procedures here:

http://yorkpistol.blogspot.com/2009/02/in-order-to-shoot-one-of-our-uspsa.html

We are all committed to sharing our sport with as many people as possible. This is a volunteer sport and your assistance is appreciated! I'm looking forward to seeing all our friends this Sunday!

Dave Albanese

Funshoot results are up!

Or will be soon, our wonderful webmaster will place them at http://yorkiwlaipsc.org/matches09.htm just as soon as his fingers do the dancin'.
A special note; thanks to the whining of a number of shooters, the USPSA stage in pit 6 was thrown out for score.
Seriously, that stage had some problems with the activators and such, so to be fair, out it went. This will be remedied in a way I think you will like next month.

Thanks again for a wonderful day, I enjoyed your company, you folks are really a special bunch.

g

York USPSA match March 8th, 2009

A new year and a new thing to try at York. The March 8th match will be our first in many years with two time slots. We'll run a flight of shooters at 9:00am and another at 1:00pm. This match will be a 119 round pistol only match with 6 stages. 4 of them will be classifiers (check our blog www.yorkpistol.blogspot.com later in the week and I'll tell you which ones) and 2 great field courses by Sean M. who is freshly back from the sands of Iraq.

The fee for this special classifier match is $30 and food and drinks will be available for purchase.

Set up will start at 8:00am and you must be registered by 8:45 for the 9:00 start. Shooters interested in shooting at 1:00pm must be registered not later than 12:30pm.

Please drive slowly coming in and out the lane at the club.

If you would like to shoot send an email to yorksignup@gmail.com with your name, USPSA #, Division, Time slot preference, and any squad requests. Do not reply to this email.

You should receive a confirmation reply within a day or two of signing up. Do not delay, we expect this match to fill quickly. Also, if you sign up and something comes up and you can't make the match let us know asap. No-shows may be punished.

My opinion on Fun Shoot

The fun shoot was great, and shouldn't be overshadowed by one idiot so read Gary's post, learn from it, and let's move on.

First, I want to say how impressed I am at the job Gary and Mark are doing with this Fun Shoot thing. Their dedication is endless and they deserve to be commended on presenting a very diverse set of shooting challenges in a very enjoyable manner to shooters with a wide variety of skill levels. There truly is something for everyone. I think everyone, from beginner to master, can both learn something, and be proud of what they already know at these shoots.

Second, I think the shooters also deserve some commendation. So far, in our first 2 fun shoots we've had over an average of around 45 shooters when the temperature averaged around 35 degrees. That's dedication! The other thing that impresses me about the shooters is how they're bring out the new people and getting them involved. Not only are they shooting, but they're helping and that's really important. I have also noticed everyone seems to be getting better too.

Fun, honing our skills, comraderie, and making a lot of noise, man it just doesn't get any better than that!