Ron Rodgers

In response to several questions I've been getting - there will be no Tri-State Championship at East Huntingdon this year. Instead, we will be hosting the Area 8 Championship on June 23 - 26. We've had a lot of fun doing the Tri-State the last 4 years, but since no one else wanted to host the Area 8 this year ....... I hope you all can make it to this year's Area 8 Championship, because it's looking to be even better than our previous Tri-State matches. We should soon have detailed match information up on our website (www.geocities.com/ehpsa ) and the Area 8 webpage (http://www.uspsa8.org/). Ron Rodgers

Using a thin plywood backer behind the NS may minimize splatter damage to the cardboard target. We've used steel plates behind walls to prevent shoot-throughs. The splatter never made it back through the wall into the NS on the front of the wall.

Not exactly the same, but we had just adopted an adult Siberian Husky. He decided he didn't like my pulling him away from the neighbor's house and decided to tear into me. I had him by the collar and started spinning him around (only thing I could think of). Every time his feet hit the ground, he lunged at me. I finally spun my way close enough to the house to launch him through the (open) basement door. It all ended well, but really put a scare into me. The neighbors later told me it was a rather comical sight. But then again, their perspective was a tad different!

Yep - what he said! Our club runs both IDPA and USPSA programs. I am MD of one program and former MD of the other. We're always out beating the bushes for new shooters, and the prospects invariably ask the question "which game is more fun". My answer won't be as "politically correct" in the future.

Weren't those steel no-shoots in front of the windmill targets on stages 4 and 16 of this year's Handgun Nationals? I can't remember for sure - the thought of shooting those crazy spinning targets caused my mind to go blank during the walk through.

Reading the new rules really got my attention - and my blood boiling - when I got to the new holster rules. I found out my Uncle Mikes kydex holster is now illegal. That’s bad enough, but now a lot of other shooters at our club now also have illegal gear. You see, we really work to bring in new shooters - and have been fairly successful. One of their most frequent questions has always been "can you recommend a good holster?" I've usually recommended the Uncle Mikes holster because it's good, inexpensive, and readily available at several of the local gun shops. I can't wait until our next match to hear from all of those who purchased their (now) illegal gear based on my recommendation. Thanks Berryville. But you know what - I'll be damned if I'm going to spend more money on new gear because of this ridiculous rule change. And as a SO, I won't be calling any other shooters for illegal equipment. I can't imagine how many IDPA shooters out there are using UM kydex holsters, but I'll bet it’s a LOT.

I think going for the points is the best advice to give someone wanting their BEST possible score on the classifier. As an aside - I used to tell people they "HAD" to get good hits to get a good classification. A local IPSC shooter decided to give the IDPA classifier a try - just to see what he could do. After carefully considering my "you can't miss fast enough to win in IDPA" advice, he proceded to shoot the first string IPSC style - really fast - but he had 3 misses and dropped some additional points. I kidded with him that Master was probably now out of his reach after dropping all those points on the first string. He must have taken that to be somewhat of a challenge and proceeded to burn down the remaining two stages. Easily made a Master score - by 20 or more seconds in SSP if my memory serves. Of course - he was an IPSC GM Now I just "recommend" shooters go for the points.

The 2005 Area 8 Championship is Thursday June 23 - Sunday June 26. East Huntingdon Sportsmen's Club - Scottdale, PA Same weekend as Area 1

Leave the decision to participate in the PS up to the shooter, not the Match Director! Match fees should be kept as low as possible. Its not fair to increase match fees for everyone, when only a few want to play the Point Series game.

Sceduling the Area 8 Championship the same weekend as Area 1 wasn't what we wanted to do, but we really didn't have much of a choice. We really only have the 4th weekend of the month to work with - other disciplines have our club facilities tied up the other weekends. July was out because the Nationals was scheduled for "sometime in July." Can't afford to have your match up against the Nationals - whenever that may be. (I agree 100% with Bruce about the poor Nationals scheduling process and the problems it causes) August was out because of the World Shoot. May was too early - kids still in school, and September was too late - kids back in school. That left the 4th weekend in June, which unfortunately, was also the Area 1 match date. I'm sure people involved in scheduling the other area matches, as well as numerous other Sectional/State/Tournament Level/Sanctioned major matches, all face similar problems.

Exactly! I'll say it again - there is no political agenda or statement being made and I don't think anyone's ego is involved. I was just trying to gauge the level of interest in using cl*ssic targets in the Area 8 match. Sorry if I wasn't clear about that when I chose the wording in the 5 responses. Now excuse me while I run for cover.

The goal here wasn't to start a debate on the relative merits of classic vs. metric targets. Its just that there are very few major matches out there using them and I wanted to see if there was interest in trying something different. Believe me, I'm about as far from politically correct as someone can be, so that isn't why we're considering classic targets. Of course, they are a little smaller - and I used to be a bullseye shooter .....

One of the options being considered for the 2005 Area 8 match is using Classic (aka - amoeba or turtle) targets. What do you think?

The application seems to be opening for me. Let me know if you're still having problems and I'll check into it. Even better, I'll have someone who knows what they're doing check into it!

Hey Sterling, It will be a full-day format. Staff will shoot Thursday and everyone else will shoot either Friday, Saturday or Sunday. The match application is up on our website and lists some match details. We will get some rates from the local hotels - hopefully save you all some money. Ron

We're still early in the game - just got the approval to hold the match in the last week, so we're still developing the match details. About the only things certain now are the dates - Thursday June 23 - Sunday June 26, 2005, and that we'll be working our asses off to make this our best match yet. We're pretty excited about hosting Area 8. So far the plans are for 11 stages plus chrono - 250 rounds or so. We're now discussing stage designs. If anyone out there in the Enosverse has any course design ideas they would like considered, feel free to pass them along. What would you all like to see in a match? Let me know of any questions or comments. We'll post match details on our website (www.geocities.com/EHPHA) as they become available. Oh - one more thing we can say for certain - the Tri-State clown won't be back!

That is unfortunate, but there will probably be more than the usual number of match conflicts this year. With the Nationals in July (?) and the World Shoot in August, most other matches will be scrambling for the remaining available dates in the summer. What really hurts is that there is still no firm date for the 2005 Nationals - other than it will probably be sometime in July. Given that degree of certainty, I doubt that anyone wants to schedule their big match for July and risk a conflict with the Nationals. So, that will probably push even more major matches to be scheduled in June and early August. The schedule for the USPSA Nationals must be determined earlier than it is now. Having the Nationals dates nailed down a year in advance is really necessary for match Directors to plan their major matches - and for shooters to plan their vacations. I have complained about this before, and have had Area Directors tell me they strongly agree, but scheduling the Nationals is the responsibility of Mike Voigt. Mike ...... are you listening?

We had the same kind of experience staying there during the 2001 Area 5 Championship. Sounds like things haven't changed ...... unfortunately.

If you aren't shooting USPSA classifiers, you shouldn't have a USPSA classification. I think the suggestions Alex made would certainly minimize the sandbagging problem.

I will have to disagree with you there. East Huntingdon probably has as big, and as dedicated a pool of help as anyone, and there ain't no way we could (or would want to) hold 2 major matches in one year. Running monthly matches (85 - 100+ guns/month) is plenty of work in itself, but we still hold the Tri-State (Tournament Level match) every year. That's pushing everyone to their limits. A second big match in a year would only lead to staff burnout - loss of help - and the potential end of a still-growing program. All the planning in the world won't change that.

Tell me about nightmares ...... Shot 9 stages pretty well - for me anyway. Then finished the match with the clown. 6 mikes = 0.00%

First of all, I would like to thank everyone involved in setting up and working the 2004 Tri-State Championship. A match like this takes an extraordinary amount of work. East Huntingdon is blessed with an unbelievably unselfish band of volunteers. We had up to 12 people working for 6 days to set things up. I won't try to name them all, but they're the same guys working our monthly matches. There were 41 people on staff for the match - ROs, Range Masters, stats and registration, as well as other volunteers driving the shuttle, picking up scoresheets, etc. I think we have assembled one of the finest and friendliest group of ROs anywhere. Judging from the comments I've received, it sounds like the shooters agree. My thanks to all. I noticed quite a few names from the Enosverse and enjoyed meeting several of you at the match. Glad you made it to the Tri-State!!! Congratulations to all the winners - and I hope everyone had a good time. Ron Rodgers Oh ...... you can rest assured you won't see "The Clown" again at East Huntindon - except maybe as a target!