1977 Rhodesia World Championship

[Mike Benedict]

Rhodesian Win Pistol Team Event September 1, 1977

Dave Westerhout

Andy Langley

Rhodesia Made It! For the second year in a row the Rhodesian practical pistol shooting team won the world championships, and this time the captain, Dave Westerhout, walked off with the individual gold medal.

After six tense days of shooting with little to separate the leading teams, Rhodesia and the US., official confirmed yesterday that Rhodesia had pipped the U.S. by 41.010 points. South Africa came third followed by Britain, West Germany and Belgium. Westerhout, who was the backbone of the Rhodesian team, not only shot brilliantly to win the individual event by a wide margin, but was responsible for much of the preparatory work for the championships. "Lots of people helped with the mountain of work over the last few weeks," said Westerhout who passed special credit to Andy Langley and Alex du Plessis. "They did many hours of work on the range to the detriment of their shooting."

Asked how he felt about being world champion, Dave said said he could not really believe he had done it. "I'm not sure yet that it actually happened, or whether it is a dream. I was just lucky I guess." Second to Westerhout was Rhodesia's Peter Maunder, 116.403 points behind and third was America's Raul Walters (U.S) a further 41.741 points back. Maunder's efforts was particularly good as, after two mediocre trial shoots he failed to make the Rhodesian Team. "

He shot fantastically well in the Felon shoot and that pulled him up quite a few places," said Westerhout. "But we won because we made less mistakes than the Americans did under pressure. The shooting wasn't that good, it was just that we held on better in the tight spots.

RESULTS Individuals

1 - Westerhout (Rhod) - 1960.433

2 - Maunder (Rhod) - 1844.030

3 - Walters (US) - 1802.289

4 - Nakling (Norway) - 1802.272

5 - Campbell (US) - 1793.337

6 - Chapman (US) - 1778.371

7 - Smith (Rhod) - 1776.675

8 - Usher (US) - 1741.721

9 - Lerch (US) - 1731.898

10 - Knight (US) 1719.523

11 Dalton (US) ;

12 Boniface (Rhod) ;

13 Kirkham (US) ;

14 Langley (Rhod) ;

15 Parker (Rhod) ;

16 Von Sorgenfrei (SA) ;

17 Du Plessis (Rhod) ;

18 Stockbridge (Britain) '

19 Davis (US)

20 Ellingford (SA) ;

21 Gore (SA) ;

22 Hartman (Rhod) ;

23 Pretorius (SA) ;

24 Hill (SA) ;

25 Lacey (Rhod)

Team 1 - Rhodesia - 8776.064

2 - US - 8735.054

3 - South Africa - 7808.542

4 - Great Britain - 7437.616

5 - West Germany - 6941.581

6. - Belgium - 6465.203

DaveDave Westerhout:New Rhodesian Combat Shooting Champion. Combat Pistol Sweep David Westerhout made a clean sweep of all four individual titles in the Rhodesian combat pistol championship in Salisbury last Sunday. Westerhout, who was captain if the Rhodesian team which took the world combat pistol championships in Austria, won the jungle lane, standard exercises, moving target shoot and the grand aggregate to become the national champion.

He was also a member of the SAS team that won both the team event - Rob Johnson, Peter Maunder, Danny Hartman, Andy Langley and Westerhout.

Marlborough Pistol CLub did well to finish second in the team event - Mike Large, Peter Boniface, Nigel Parker, Dick Laban and Berwick Nicol were 27 points behind the SAS and 57 ahead of the the third team,

Cleveland Pistol Club. South African policeman Koert Pretorius was impressive and finished third behind Westerhout and Lionel Smith.

Alex du Plessis made a welcome return to form by coming second in the jungle lane, despite having spent a considerable time over the week-end preparing moving targets and assault courses.

The South African competitors appeared to enjoy the facilities available and the official Rhodesian and South African teams expect to meet for a Test Match in Johannesburg on December 4-5.

The Rhodesians are unlikely to be beaten provided they maintain their present form.

Combat pistol shooting is a fast growing sport in many parts of the world and recently a number of international pistol shooters have shown great interest in the Rhodesian training and coaching methods.

[Jadeslade]

This is really cool. Thanks for posting.

[Steve J]

Yes, thanks for sharing.

[JimmyZip]

I went to Ushers house with the family and sat through the slide show following this event. I was 8 at the time.He was the guy who started practical shooting around here in the 70s-80s. He had been a teacher at Coachella High School. He was a character to say the least.

Thanks for posting.

[BSeevers]

Mike Benedict

Now there is a blast from the past.

How ya doing Mike?

[Mike Benedict]

Mike Benedict

Now there is a blast from the past.

How ya doing Mike?

I am doing well Bill.

Just hanging around in N. Georgia shooting and making holsters.

I run a little gun club called Deliverance IDPA.

I actually have piles of pics from the early days of IPSC both in Africa and the US. most are from Andy Langley's collection.

Mike

[rr4406pak]

He shot fantastically well in the Felon shoot and that pulled him up quite a few places

What is a Felon Shoot?

[Flexmoney]

What is a Felon Shoot?

Mostly...Hi Points or Ravens. (Thank you...thank you... I'll be here all week. Please tip your wait staff.)

[kevinj308]

Just a question. Number 11 on that list says Dalton(US). Would that be Mike Dalton? Because I know that guy. He hangs around with a guy named Steve Blankenbiller who has mentioned shooting in Africa before. Just wondering if I might know some famous guys.

Kevin

Edited February 5, 2010 by kevinj308

[Steve J]

That would be him.

[kevinj308]

Hey thanks. I don't see those guys very often anymore but I'll bet they'll be surprised if I bring it up. Couple of great guys.

Kevin

[Duane Thomas]

Mike, it would be really great to see more photos from the early days of IPSC, if you ever feel like sharing.

Is that a Hi-Power I see in Westerhout's hands? Does that mean he won the world championship shooting Minor?

[gregdavidl]

There was one early World Shoot won with a high power shooting minor. I do not recall the shooter's name. I had an acquaintance who was there and he said the match was more of a track meet than a shooting match.

Edited February 5, 2010 by gregdavidl

[Patrick Sweeney]

A Hi Power, with a rib. 9mm Major, in 1977? You'd have had to load the cases with C4 to make it, since major back then was 185.

[Duane Thomas]

Bruce Gray, who has been shooting IPSC since before IPSC even existed - he fired his first match, at the age of 17, back when it was still called "combat shooting", in 1972 - tells me that in the early days of the sport it was very much a 1911 Colt .45 versus Browning Hi-Power 9mm game.

[Patrick Sweeney]

Since my first foray into the world of shooting a BHP lead to my bleeding profusely (the hammer bite was epic) I went to the counter and bought a surplus 1943 Ithaca.

The rest is history. Not particularly interesting, or ground-shaking, but history none the less.

[Early IPSC'er]

Wow, that made me feel old. Looking at the list I knew (or had met) 10 of the top 25, a few of them I knew quite well. A name that I hadn't thought of for years was #19 Davis. Correct me if I'm wrong but I'm pretty sure that was John (Jon?) Davis of Illinois -- any of you old timers remember him??? He was a loosey/goosey guy that reminded me of John Farnham. He ran a course once on the old MPPL range in Columbia, MO where the original IPSC conference was held in 76. He drove down and slept in his car on the range. He used a real beater of a 1911 that looked like it had been dragged behind a truck down a gravel road---shot lights out though. He, like Walters, had cat-like reflexes. IIRC he got into some kind of trouble and had to give up shooting---anybody here remember him or the story?????

[Early IPSC'er]

...in the early days of the sport it was very much a 1911 Colt .45 versus Browning Hi-Power 9mm game.

I had a good friend in the fairly early days named Roy Erwin (now deceased). He was a unique character to say the least and had fairly deep pockets. I met him in 78 or 79. He had 2 consecutively #'d fully tricked out Govt. Models by Armand Swenson, as well as a Swenson Commander and a Browning HP (the only Swenson HP that I've ever seen). They all had the classic Swenson stuff -- S&W K sights, squared/checkered trigger guard, full hard chrome, etc. Roy sent the HP back and had Armand put a long barrel in it which had two vertical ports, parallel (not perpendicular alla Magna-port) to the muzzle. When he got it back, Swenson had fitted a barrel bushing to the gun. That was all well and good but Roy couldn't take the gun apart and Swenson hadn't sent any directions on how to take the barrel out. Roy called Armand (I was fortunate enough to be there and hear the conversation) and asked him how to clean the gun since he couldn't get it apart. If any of you knew Swenson, he called everybody "Laddy" and was quite a guy. Armand couldn't remember how to take the gun apart and finally said, "Laddy send me the gun and I'll clean it for you." I guess that you had to be there at the time to find the humor in that, but it sure was funny at the moment.

I remember that Walters got a HP tricked out by Pachmayr similar to his "Combat Special" .45, but never really used it much, although I don't remember why. IIRC, Ray Chapman shot it a few times in local matches, while he and Raul were still business partners.

I don't recall anyone in the US doing well with a HP in the early days--of course Tommy Campbell was the utlimate minor caliber guru. At the 1979 Nationals in Park City he won a 1911, .45. When he went up front to accept it he said, "I know where I can get this converted to 9mm." He was/is a special guy.

[vidarn]

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.

[Early IPSC'er]

... Raul Walters, Tommy Campbell and Ray Chapman all shot .45s...

Vidar Nakling,

Norway.

...just a short footnote, Vidar, Tommy Campbell was still shooting "super-gun" out of his sternum holster--or least he was in '78 and following. It was a 9mm which made him quite unique among the top US shooters and made his scores even more impressive.

The following issue of American Handgunner had an interesting interview between Ayoob and Westerhout:

http://www.americanhandgunner.com/1980/HJF80.pdf

Edited April 7, 2010 by Early IPSC'er

[vidarn]

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

[Early IPSC'er]

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

Wow, good call Vidar. There was a time when that pic would have been worth some serious black-mail money!! :-) I've got a bunch of b&w's from those early days but no way to digitalize them---great pic! Do you still shoot??

[Early IPSC'er]

...Riddle: How many other early IPSC celebrities can you spot in this picture?

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.

[benos]

Thanks for the great posts, and welcome to the forums Vidar!

(I had forgotten about the "Rhodesian Triple.")

[Bryan 45]

That is an awesome holster! Thanks for sharing the memories of the early days with us. I'm sure I'm not alone here in saying please keep telling the tales.