vidarn

My daughter Hilde tried out part 1 a couple of weeks ago. After receiving the PM and going through part 2, she reports: Average scores improved by more than 1 second The outer split times (between T3 and T1) were almost the same as the inner splits! Good one, Brian! (and Hilde) Regards, Vidar Nakling

They had a copy well hidden: There are articles and pictures from the '77 Shoot by both Cooper and Chapman in the March/April 78 issue of AH: http://www.americanh...1978/AHMA78.pdf [note: 11MB pdf file] Vidar Nakling

The obvious one is Cooper in the background. Can't make out the face of SA hatted fellow and the one to the left of Cooper looks familiar but can't place a name. The guy in the tee-shirt whose face we can't see to the right of Cooper looks like Jerry Gore. Very good, Early! The "half" person to the right is indeed Gerry Gore, South African team captain and author of "Handguns for Self Defense" Next, of course is Jeff Cooper, no further introduction needed. Sitting to the left of Jeff is Tony Weeks, member of the Rhodesian team in 1976 and one of the founders of Practical Shooting in Africa. The SA-hatted person was manager of the South African team, but his name has slipped my memory. The lady with the dark sunglasses is Mienkie Weeks, Tonys wife. The Weeks couple were generous hosts for scores of practical shooters visiting Rhodesia and Zimbawe in the years to come, including Cooper, Ronin Coleman, myself, Mark Heim of Switzerland and many others. The girl with the British flag on her t-shirt will forever remain a mystery… Vidar Nakling

Oh yes, I do remember the 9mm and the "Minor is Finer" T-shirt. Early IPSC'er mentions '78, which is probably correct, but in '77 TC shot a 1911 - from the famous sternum holster - and I am pretty sure the gun was a .45. I've just dug up a picture of said holster and gun, I hope I've managed to post it correctly. This picture was taken at Cleveland Range during one of the final days of the Championship. BTW, there was an article in AHG describing the shoot and the top competitors, probably in early '78 and maybe written by Ray Chapman, but I am not able to find it, neither in my dusty files nor on the web. Riddle: How many other early IPSC celebrities can you spot in this picture? Vidar Nakling

This might be a bit late - but I only noticed this thread a few days ago. Since I was there, (Hell!), I'd like to add a few things and maybe clear up a few misunderstandings. Dave Westerhout shot a Browning HP 9mm with an aluminum Bomar-rib. But his power factor was indeed minor. Peter Maunder and I also shot minor caliber, Peter used a Hi-power, I shot a SIG 210. Raul Walters, Tommy Campbell and Ray Chapman all shot .45s. (Single stack, of course, and 8 round magazines did not appear on the market until about 1982). Shooting Minor was not a disadvantage, though. The target used in 1977 was the same shape as the IPSC metric target, with full corners. The A zone was a 10 inch circle, the C-zone a 14 inch circle and the D the rest of the target. (Actually the labels used then were X, Y and Z, but I find it easier to use today's nomenclature.) Now for the scoring: Major: 10-9-8 Minor: 10-8-7 Which means a peripheral minor hit in 1977 still scored 70 percent of an A hit, as opposed to only 20 percent today. An additional scoring rule was "The Rhodesian Triple". If a target had three or more hits and one of them was an A, the target got scored as a double A. This is not memory distortion; I still have the original match program, and managed to dig it out today. The way the target was scored, a minor could do quite well. On the other hand, the way the courses were laid out did not penalize a single stack mag. Most stages gave you plenty of time to change magazines, as an example the 25 rd. "House Clearing", included probably more than 120 yards of running distance. I could go on for a couple of pages with stories, but I'll stop for now. I was particularly pleased to see a pic of my old friend Andy Langley again, and to be reminded of what was probably the most memorable competition I've ever entered. Vidar Nakling, Norway.