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Moondoggie

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Shot my first field course today with the Capital City Practical Shooters in Topeka.

What a great bunch of folks! Also a great bunch of shooters. I was squaded with a bunch of guys that can really shoot and move.

Boy howdy, did I stink! Arrived at a position consisting of 2 poppers and the Texas Star with a fresh mag. 3 rds for the 2 poppers, and 4 rds for 3 plates on the star. Shot til slide lock at the last 2 itty bitty moving plates, reloaded and prolly shot another 8 rds b4 I hit those last 2. AAARRRRRGGGHHH! Talk about being aware of multiple things going on inside brain simultaneously. Concentrating harder and harder on sight picture and trigger, incredulous and frustrated by repeated misses, sensing about to run dry, feeling slide lock instantly, good reload, concentrating more on tgts, thinking how ridiculous this is, processing a little helpful advice from the RO about shooting them when they stop (He was prolly wondering to himself if I was gonna have to shoot all day at these 2 plates.) wondering if just throwing pistol at tgt might be a good idea. Finally hit the elusive suckers!!! WOWSERS! 82 seconds for a 29 rd stage.

Otherwise, it was a good day at the range. Gun ran fine, didn't get DQ'd, met some really fine folks.

Can't wait til next time!

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I remember vividly the first time I saw that contraption. I called Terry a Psychotic B@$...! The three women who shot regularly at our club stuck together and loaded magazines for each other. I think I sent more than 45 rounds at it. ARRRGGGHHH!

Once I realized it was five separate shots, life got somewhat easier. My personal best, timed, is nearly 4 seconds. That was about three years ago. Five shots five plates. I haven't timed it since then, but I did win the shootoff at a benefit match we held for our local Crimestoppers.

Liota

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The TX Star is just one of those props that you can shoot hundreds of times, and never get it the same way twice. A lot of that has to do with how it is set up, or modified at each match. Glad to hear you had a good time MoonDoggie. Welcome to the addiction. :D

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Hey Moondoggie:

The star is only tough the first couple of times. Afterwards, it is tough if you let it psych you out.

The information from the SO about shooting it when the plates stop is right on. Though you don't believe it now, from his perspective you were probably chasing the plates with your gun and shooting at the bottom of the arc - where they are moving the fastest. I don't know why, but from what I can tell, that is where most star newbies end up. I think it is one of those brain things - you think you can hit a target moving horizontally, even if it is zipping a long, better than one moving vertically. Watch somone else (who is having problems) shoot the star and you will come away saying something like "I don't do that... Do I?". You will probably be doing the same things!

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We had 1 stage at this year's Oregon Single-Stack Championship with 3 stars on it. One star was attached to an activator box which made it start spinning.

Most of the time we use one around here, its either got a piece of steel hardcover obscuring some of it, or its attached to a popper, or other activating device.

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But in the other thread, folks told me the star wasn't punishing the less experienced and/or lower classified shooters.

EVERYTHING punishes you if you can't shoot! Paper targets just let you maintain some dignity.

Most of the time we use one around here, its either got a piece of steel hardcover obscuring some of it, or its attached to a popper, or other activating device.

Right after we got ours, the MD went a little nuts and set up steel so that you could only see/hit the bottom plate. Wasn't too bad if you did 5 shots/5 hits. Miss one and, well, that was punishment.

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