John Heiter

Most likely the match hotels will be the same this year as last year (The Comfort Inn and the Holiday Inn Express in Byram, MS) but I am still playing them off each other trying to negotiate a better rate for our group discount. I should have that done by the middle of this coming week. John

Hi Kevin, The policy has been around since before I became Match Director so I can't speak to the original intent, but I can think of a number of reasons for it. 1. Yes, it saves on shipping and a lot of work if someone isn't there to get their prize. 2. We will be giving away guns on the table again this year and being there to fill out the paperwork is helpful for that process. 3. When the match was first getting started there were a number of years where not everyone got a prize so it was unfair to those that did stick around for awards, etc. 4. It encourages shooters to stick around for the awards and prizes which gives more exposure (and business) to our vendors and sponsors. We know everyone needs to get home after the match is over, and some have very long drives ahead, but we try to keep the match moving quickly enough and finish early enough on Sunday so that everyone gets a reasonable start on their way. John

Match Dates: May 18th*, 19th, and 20th Friday the 18th is for RO's, Vendors, and a limited number of shoot through's only The main match is a 1 1/2 day match shot on Saturday and Sunday. Match Format: 10 stages, 250+ rounds Latest Ed. of USPSA rulebook Match Website: http://www.teammagnolia.com/classic/ Applications and information about the match can be found here. Awards: Plaques and Cash Awards based on order of finish and division participation Prizes by random drawing (must be present to win) Match Fee: $120 ($145 after 5/1) Ladies and Juniors shoot for half price Match Director: John Heiter Range Master: Lloyd Landry Match Hotel: To be determined Alternative Lodging: We do allow RV camping on the range property if you are interested in staying with us but be warned that we have very limited (practically zero) power/water connections, Crawfish Boil: We will be hosting a crawfish boil again on Saturday evening at the range under the pavilion. All shooters and guests are welcome to attend. I guess that's about it but if you can think of any other questions, please feel free to give me a shout. Thanks, John Heiter Match Director 2012 Mississippi Classic

I keep getting an error when I attempt to import. I hate to tie up Rob when it's probably something simple I'm not doing properly so could someone send me a sample import file that DOES work? I can compare it to mine and see what I'm doing wrong. Please send to: john (at) teammagnolia.com Thanks, John

I'm working the match as an RO this weekend so I shot six out of the twelve stages today. Having a blast like I always do at the Gator and looking forward to seeing everyone getting to town tomorrow.

Hi Guys, Just wanted to give a quick update. We just finished up our first full day of setup activities and things could not have gone better. We had loads of great help and we're way ahead of schedule. Nine out of ten stages are set up so tomorrow should be an easy day which I could use because I still haven't loaded any bullets for the match. I'm confident I'll be somewhere between sub-minor and super-major but I'm not too worried about it. I've had a few folks asking if there will be problems getting to or back from the range. I'm no flood expert, but so far they haven't closed the Mississippi river to barge traffic in the Vicksburg area and my redneck math tells me that means a 25-30 foot tall barge can still pass safely under the bottom of the bridge so I don't think we're in any danger of I-20 being closed. The Pearl river that runs close behind the range is well below flood stage and should not be a factor at all unless you plan to stop to fish. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone Friday night at registration. John

We have the Pearl River that runs right by and behind our range but, oddly enough, the Pearl seems to be dropping. I looked when I crossed over last night and the high water mark of a few days ago was two or three feet above the current water level. I also wanted to let everyone know that we'll be holding a crawfish boil at the range under our new pavilion on Saturday night. All Mississippi Classic competitors and guests are invited to attend. No cover, just free crawfish and beer as long as they last. John

Check out http://www.eyecord.com . They're one of the sponsors of the Mississippi Classic this year. Looks like a nice combination of small light weight, functional glasses with a high quality camera/image. John

...but you don't drink any less either? Ba dum dum.

Ok Ok. I'll see if I can't find a couple six packs of wine coolers for Steve and Randal. The stage diagrams and links to our Vendors have been posted to the match website. http://www.teammagnolia.com/classic/ John

Hi Guys, The rumor about us being full up was a little premature when it came out a day or two ago... but it is true now. We're actually just north of our 200 shooter cap. We were at 198 yesterday so the six lucky dog entries that came in today all got in to close us out. If you did not get a slot, we will be starting a waiting list because there are always a few last minute cancellations. To get on it, send in a completed match app. but don't include any payment. As slots open up I'll go down the list contacting shooters to see if they're still interested in the slot. If you get in off the wait list you can just pay when you get to the match. Other than that the match is really starting to come together. We've got a generous bunch of vendors coming this year that I'll be posting links to on the match website hopefully tomorrow. Steve (MrClean) has done a great job rounding up sponsors and prizes for us this year, and Pat (Bwana6Gun) is bringing the prize table wine and the hospitality keg for Saturday night as usual. Everyone is invited to hoist a glass (or seven) with us at the Saturday night get together under the new pavilion at the range. Looking forward to seeing everyone in a couple weeks. John

I just got a call from Pat's wife and he's doing fine. They're keeping him overnight tonight but she said he's resting and expects to be released to come home in the morning.

Hi Guys, Sorry I've been a little AWOL on the BE board this year but I'm still around. Yes, the stages will be posted before the match, but probably not until a week or maybe two before hand. I can tell you that they have been approved by John Amidon and the match itself is now USPSA sanctioned and ready to go. As Pat said, the match is not full yet but it does look like it's going in that direction. If we do hit our cap, I'll start a waiting list. If someone backs out or we figure out how we can squeeze more in we'll offer the slots in the order the applications came in. We would love to be able to accommodate more shooters, but we just can't fit enough stages on our range to add more squads and no one likes it when the squads are so big that you spend all day standing around waiting your turn. Yes, we're getting the trolley ready, we'll have security patrols for the hotel parking lots again this year, and we've got the fried oreo and funnel cake food vendor ready to go. I'm sure that takes care of the important stuff but let me know if you have any questions. I'm excited about the match and I'm looking forward to seeing everyone in just a few short weeks. John Heiter Match Director 2011 Mississippi Classic

This is why I 1) have them go close to last and 2) grab them by the shoulder after I've scored the previous shooter and while reset is going on to have a conversation so they know im not expecting them to do something - and they get put at ease. I still attest, there is no reason to change the commands - just how you handle working with new people in a Professional and Personable way will suffice. It's a one-on-one personal conversation "Hey, before we go do this - are you good with everything - just relax and be safe. Let's go.." There is no confusion, and it's not barking at them. Solved. I'm assuming the "them" you're speaking of is new shooters. I'm really not just focusing on new shooters but any shooter. It sounds like you do a great job with your shooters and really care but I think you could avoid having to keep track of the next shooter, evaluating their skill level to determine if they need the talk or not, etc. by making a simple change. Not saying we have a horrible situation now with the current commands, just that I personally would like to see them tweaked.

I stick to the approved range commands because I don't want to ever have someone go home because they heard me say something when they were expecting to hear "Make Ready". I've seen it happen a few times and it sucks both for the competitor and for the RO who knows they share some of the blame but can't do anything about it once the gun is out. IMHO, the single MOST important thing about range commands is to remain consistent. I'd like to see a set of commands that could be used equally for new shooters and old veterans, Level I or Level III and looking at the responses to this thread so far it does not seem like we have that with our current commands. I'll stick to whatever USPSA says like it came down from TGO written on stone tablets, but if I ever got to vote on it I'd vote to change them. Maybe it's the southern boy in me but barking "Make Ready" at someone with no preamble really bothers me. How many times has someone around you started talking and you didn't catch that they were talking to you until a few words into it. "If you understand the course of fire you may load and make ready" provides an obvious opportunity for questions without actually prompting for a response like "Are you ready" does, it clears up issues for anyone who may not understand that "Make Ready" also includes loading your gun, it gives you second to focus on what the RO is saying before the critical bit, and in general it's just a much nicer way of going about things. It does add maybe four seconds per shooter which in a big match could still add up to diddly but there you go.

For those who may not know, on Saturday, Feb 26th at 2:00, my buddy Sam Keen (of Sam Keen Rocks the Wheel Gun legend) is going to wed fellow shooter and charming young lady, Ms. Elizabeth Peeler. If you can get past his deviant fetish for revolvers, Sam is a hell of a guy. I'm proud to call him a friend and wish I could be there for the festivities. Sam, I looked all over Brownell's for your wedding registry but couldn't find it. Before you think I lost my mind when you get my gift, if you tear the sheets into little squares they look like they would make kick-a$$ cleaning patches. Wishing you both the very best. John

Match Dates: May 13th*, 14th, and 15th Friday the 13th is for RO's, Vendors, and a limited number of shoot through's only The main match is a 1 1/2 day match shot on Saturday and Sunday. Match Format: 10 stages, 250+ rounds Latest Ed. of USPSA rulebook Match Website: http://www.teammagnolia.com/classic/ Applications and information about the match can be found here. Awards: Plaques and Cash Awards based on order of finish and division participation Prizes by random drawing (must be present to win) Match Fee: $120 ($145 after 5/1) Ladies and Juniors shoot for half price Match Director: John Heiter Range Master: Lloyd Landry Match Hotel: Comfort Inn and Suites - Byram For reservations call (601) 983-2990 Mention the block code "MSC" before May 1st for special rates. Alternative Lodging: We do allow RV camping on the range property if you are interested in staying with us but be warned that we have very limited (practically zero) power/water connections, I guess that's about it but if you can think of any other questions, please feel free to give me a shout. Thanks, John Heiter Match Director 2011 Mississippi Classic

I bought an "I'll just use these for now until they break" pair from Harbor Freight about 10 years ago. I'm still using them. They're pretty cheap as is ($20) and you can occasionally find them for half off that.

Add me to the +1 club. I listened to the unabridged audio books of all three (I "read" books in the truck rather than listen to the radio) and was very impressed. Some portions of the books are definitely on the dark side but Larson was a great story teller.

Thank you very much Rob. I'm sure I'll get used to the new layout and how to find stuff but for now I really appreciate it.

Two things. I know everything can't stay "where it's always been" but when you redesign something like this I think having a site search should be a basic part of it. Next, I'm trying to pick a classifier to use this weekend. Anyone know how to find the "Classifier's by Club" function that shows all the classifiers that a particular club has shot in chronological order? Thanks, John

I'm sure there are situations where local rules REALLY impact the ability to run a USPSA match such as the ranges that do not allow multiple shots within so many seconds. I'm not sure this situation is really one of them and it doesn't strike me as one worth getting worked up over. It may not be covered in the rule book but I've had this discussion before in an RO class and the simple answer was "If the club rules don't allow you to do it then don't do it". I'm not on the rules committee and I haven't been anointed by Amidon either, so I can't officially say what the "INTENT" of 3.3 was, but my guess is that it was intended to stop clubs from materially changing the way stages were run, scored, and officiated and to maintain a minimum safety standard at all matches. If these people were saying it was ok for everyone to stay hot and unholstered as long as they didn't put their finger in the trigger or that you could pay $5 to change a Mike to an Alpha, USPSA might step in. Having a local rule that makes it appear safer to the casual observer probably isn't going to raise too many red flags.

In my experience, most local clubs have had to figure out how to make allowances for juniors and new shooters to compete with "non-standard" gear of one sort or another. We've probably all seen someone shooting a .22 in a local USPSA match. I don't know that USPSA needs to make allowances for that kind of thing officially since most clubs already handle that on their own but it probably wouldn't hurt anything if they did. I have noticed that some of the other shooting programs at our range that do allow .22's for all competitors do seem to be experiencing some serious growth lately. Not sure if that's a local trend or what but I think it's something USPSA should be keeping an eye on. The addition of a "sub-minor" category might not be a bad thing for the sport.

JJ should have called the Range Master for a calibration on that 12th plate on the dueling tree. I'm pretty sure he hit that one too but momentum or gravity or something caused it swing halfway back over. He should have demanded a reshoot. I was hoping he would go to the final but I can't argue with the two that did. I also really liked the format of all three challenges in the final episode.

Random question but if MDF is "Medium Density" has anyone ever seen "High Density"? I've worked with sheets of 3/4" MDF and that's some heavy stuff. I agree with everyone saying double the thickness. I would laminate the two layers together with glue to really increase the strength. Avezorak is right that screws won't hold as well in it, but if you use through bolts and washers you'll never have any problems out of it. You can spray it with a good lacquer paint to seal it but I would lean more to a formica or masonite top.