schoonie

Hop, At least you will be in great company when the taps open!

Hop, I can't wait to taste a tall Guiness from the taps at The Abbey! Go Gators! Maybe we've regained the Swamp!

Hey Hop, Looks like the fun begins in the Swamp at eight Saturday night. I just hope we can break your string of good luck this year. We are going to need it, you know, new coach, new system, and all. How about a little wager? Looser buys the beer at our next match?

Chromed Colt Gold Cup drawn from Earnie Hill leather. Let the fun begin!

Driver, It's not the shooter's fault that the RO made a mistake and allowed the incorrect start. Once the error is discovered the first run becomes invalid. If anybody gets a procedural it should be the RO.

DP, Did I here an offer to help with the State match???? I know that James is done. Are you stepping to the plate?

To Lance, Berry, all the Ro's and Staff, A very big Thanks and Well Done for you efforts. The Tennessee Sectional Match was again one of the best matches to shoot! I had a great time on squad # 3. Got to meet and shoot with a good bunch of guys from Memphis. Very thankfull that the rain held off for Saturday & Sunday (Thanks Sam ). See you guys next year!

Eric, I got the application from James, the dates are November 12 and 13. Has it been changed?

Laddie, I would have expected to see overpressure signs along with damage if the load generated too much pressure. Sounds like an unlucky coincidence. You do need to be very careful when developing a max load though!

Cliffy, I'm surprised to here you say or admit that! I didn't think that anything penetrated that calm , cool, rock steady demeanor of yours. I can assure you that any thing I may have said was purely in self defense to your rapier quick wit, Einstein like observations, and Dennis Leary commentary. I'm also surprised to hear that a shooter at your greatly admired and exhaulted level admit to a single miss! Are you shooting this Saturday in Haines City?

There's enough stress at a match that you don't need any extra from pratical jokers. You've got to do your homework before you report to the range, ie; what is my squad number, when do I start, where do we start, .... The more informed you are the less likely someone can get away with jerking you string, pulling your leg, etc.. I was given some missleading information at the nationals about how to shoot a stage, nothing overt, just enough information to formulate a less than optimal plan. I guess the idea was to throw off a competitor just enough to take him out of play. My fault for being gullible! Lesson learned: you only have yourself to rely on so give yourself the best opportunity to succeed!

Three of us from Tampa and one from Pensacola are coming. We had a good time last year in spite of the rain . We were lucky enough to shoot the long course through the woods last year before the stage got tossed and the word is it's going to be back this year rain or shine.

Steven, Welcome to squad #14! You'll have a great time. A large portion of the squad is from the Tampa, Florida area and we include shooters from GM (shooting production) down to C. We are all competitive in our own way and we will have a good time. Most of the golf carts did have roofs and they sure are great for the hill climb for the upper stages. Living down here at about +10' above sea level does not prepare one for the big hike up the hill! I still think there should be an oxygen bottle up there next to the water cooler.

I've done this drill with the unknown Grandmaster from Florida and the results were depressing. GM - Consistantly timed at 0.12 to 0.13 Competitive B - best time = 0.23 When you add up all the additional time differences for the draw, reload, splits, and transitions, it's very easy to see that you've got a lot of work to do that has nothing to do with live fire. Gotta dry fire, gotta dry fire, gotta dry fire.....

Who was that unknown shooter ?

Bill, At first I laughed at this, but then I realized that, unfortunately, you are probably right on the mark. It's a sobering thought!

Congrats Z, you'd make Fred Bear proud!

Atta boy HOP! I hate them critters. It seems like they always show up while I'm deer hunting, giving me the big rush of expectation, followed by massive letdown and what's owrse is you can't even blast 'em since it would disturb the hunt!

I find that it's becoming easier to generate a plan now that I'm experiencing more match time. For me it's a combination of all the things Luiz, Jake and David mentioned. Walk through and find all the targets. Create a plan of attack to shoot them in as comfortable a fashion as possible, including mag changes. Don't do anything overly radical, just try to be as smooth as possible. If I'm really rushed, as was the case for Area 6, I'll only look at a few of the possible options, decide on one that I think is best, and then lock it into memory. You've got to be able to close your eyes and shoot the stage by your plan in your head. This is heavy duty visualization and it works well with the audio input from the other shooters as they go through the stage. When you've got it down you will be able know what and how well that shooter did. The input from your friends is invaluable when time is short because, as they say, two heads are better than one. Accomplishing this you will be able to walk through the stage in your mind's eye as many times as you like.

Damn Sig, you using a string and a tin can for dowloading?

At a recent state match I got warned because I had a lit cigar in my hand when I was inspecting the stage the day before I was to shoot it. I thought the RO was joking until I remembered the new rule and realized that it really was a warning! Smokers beware when walking stages!

Yeah that's right! just had to get the dig in My best stage was the really long one... sorta similar to your fatal stage at CFRPC!

Oh yeah, I want to thank James Collier and all the staff for their efforts putting on a great match for the second time in two years. Well Done! I'm hopeful that the Florida shooters can keep it going next year with another successful state match.

DP, You missed a good one! This was your kind of match with lots of high speed shots from close range. The only exception was stage 1 that had an army of steel at 25 yards and couple of zebra targets at thirty five and forty. I shot about 50-50 for the match, four good stages, two bad stages, and one where I really stunk up the place . On stage 7 I had a good plan that required me to wait on a swinger after activating it, but after I engaged the popper there was no target immediately available so I transitioned and snapped shots at a static target and transitioned again and snapped two more at the swinger as it was disappearing from view. Dissaster! Does anybody know where the mind goes when the buzzer goes off?? Of course a target was not available, it had to swing into view!!! I don't practice enough at the art of patience. To much time is spent figuring out how to always go fast that when a pause is needed I'm not prepared! Oh well, on to the next match.

MIKE! 10 points down!