Jerry Barnhart first match with a dot.

[barry]

First year I got Into uspsa 1991 I think shot a match called steel and paper challenge  at Topton PA. Was a time plus match shot on steel and NRA D2 tergets. Feild courses and a few steel challenge stages. Was new to shooting so I didn't really know what was going on. Jerry was there as was Doug Koenig and a few other big names. Jerry is shooting a colt 1911 with a Tasco dot. I remember hearing the people saying " what dose he think he's doing,you can't shoot a dot fast".

 Boy were they wrong. He won by an embarrassing margin. Was interesting to see the dots start to show up over the next year.

[Zachjet]

Too bad there not as many videos from back then as there is today.. 

Edited April 15, 2023 by Zachjet

[Chills1994]

Ask and you shall receive…

 

1994 Colt Pro Shootout on ESPN….yes, ESPN

 

so there I was a brand new 2Lt. In the Air Force stationed at (No Hope) Pope AFB (Ft. Bragg’s airfield basically), sitting in my apartment one night flipping through the cable channels, maybe all 40 of them because there was only one ESPN channel and just one CNN at the time, and I stop at the above.

 

Let me back up…I had competed  in 3 position small bore all through junior high and most of high school.  So I thought the next evolution of that was going to be shooting high power type rifle matches at Camp Perry.  I had even bought an M1A right before the 1994 AWB was passed and signed into law.

 

So then I see the above falling steel plate competition.

 

I could NOT get a blank VHS (VCR) videotape into the machine fast enough.

 

I was hooked.

 

There were plenty of pawn shops in Fayetteville, NC at the time.  At least two dealt in reloading supplies and even had Dillon progressive reloaders on display.  
 

At one pawn shop, they had the Jerry Barnhart series of training videos playing in the background:

 

Jerry Barnhart trailer for training series on YouTube

 

The guy behind the counter goes, “Have ever shot “ip sick”?  You should try it!"

 

Then he proceeded to hand me a hand drawn map to the range for this next “ip sick” match.  See?  This was before smart phones and google maps, and even before Mapquest and GPS’s.

 

I met some interesting guys that weekend… being outside of Ft. Bragg and all.

 

Did I mention?

 

I

 

was

 

hooked!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[HI5-O]

I still have the Burner series VHS tapes. 

[Guy Neill]

My recollection is that Jerry started using a red dot in 1990. At the 1990 IPSC World Shoot, Dou K won with Jerry B placing second. They were to only shooters using red dots.

 

[shred]

Jerry won the 1990 nationals with a dot.  TGO was 99.75% with irons.  Both comped single-stack 1911s in .38, IIRC.

 

 

[RuckUp]

Hi Shred,

 

I'm pretty sure Rob shot his Springfield P-9 in 9x21 mm (aka 9mm JLE.)  If you watch the  Lenny Magill video (slide to 58:44) you'll see him fire about 14 shots without reload.  Honestly, that's the only clear way I was certain it was a P-9.  In the end when he's unloading you can see an very long and squared trigger guard, which kinda reveals it's not a 1911.  Not trying to be critical of your post.  But that hi-cap really hit the reset button for everyone and the next arms race was underway.

 

Also, notice in that final run, the rather controversial situation where he tried to open the final door, but it was still locked (you had to knock down a popper to unlock it.)  Rob simply beat the popper and got to the door before it got unlocked.  That situation likely cost him the match.  Not trying to knock on Jerry either.  He shot brilliantly and at the same time, woke everyone up to the value of the red dot and the "other" new arms race began.

 

BTW, we shot Standards that match with three runs at 50 yards.  Guess what?  They put hard cover on the targets; only the A and C zones were clear.  Do you think a red dot helped with that?  Jerry took that stage with ease with 155 pts out of 180.

 

Needless to say, The 1990 Nationals was a pivotal moment in USPSA with a world of change on the horizon.  Fun times!

 

[Vic]

First time I saw a red dot optic in speed use was Steel Challenge match 1984 I believe.....might have been 85? John Shaw had an Aimpoint on his 1911, and I also heard many conversations on how a dot was going to slow him down. Those old Aimpoints had a very small window compared to todays optics, but he did pretty fair withit.

[Dr. Phil]

On 1/31/2024 at 9:05 PM, RuckUp said:

Hi Shred,

 

I'm pretty sure Rob shot his Springfield P-9 in 9x21 mm (aka 9mm JLE.)  If you watch the  Lenny Magill video (slide to 58:44) you'll see him fire about 14 shots without reload.  Honestly, that's the only clear way I was certain it was a P-9.  In the end when he's unloading you can see an very long and squared trigger guard, which kinda reveals it's not a 1911.  Not trying to be critical of your post.  But that hi-cap really hit the reset button for everyone and the next arms race was underway.

 

Also, notice in that final run, the rather controversial situation where he tried to open the final door, but it was still locked (you had to knock down a popper to unlock it.)  Rob simply beat the popper and got to the door before it got unlocked.  That situation likely cost him the match.  Not trying to knock on Jerry either.  He shot brilliantly and at the same time, woke everyone up to the value of the red dot and the "other" new arms race began.

 

BTW, we shot Standards that match with three runs at 50 yards.  Guess what?  They put hard cover on the targets; only the A and C zones were clear.  Do you think a red dot helped with that?  Jerry took that stage with ease with 155 pts out of 180.

 

Needless to say, The 1990 Nationals was a pivotal moment in USPSA with a world of change on the horizon.  Fun times!

 

Hey Barry! A P9! Boy do I remember your P9 from Central Club!

[GrumpyOne]

I have a couple of P9's.

[perttime]

I didn't remember what a P9 was. Looks like a CZ 75.

 

[GrumpyOne]

3 hours ago, perttime said:

I didn't remember what a P9 was. Looks like a CZ 75.

 

CZ clone.

[troupe]

Springfield started the renaming the pistol as a P-9 to get into the high cap game in the early days. Todd was shooting the Para and then Virgil Tripp and Chip McCormick brought the new High cap later to become STI.  I had all of them, the P9 was to violent in 9x21 and did not last long (broken slide stops), Para's were big in the hand, and the Chip McCormicks were here to stay, even with multiple name changes and owners. I remember folks shot the Para without grips and Kim in Florida came out with small fillers for the offset in the Para frames, which worked pretty well.

 

Blake Gann was building Todd's pistols back in the day and even weld a small tab on the frames to cover the trigger bow with no grips. FIPT was the first time I had seen Robbie's and Doug's P9's.

 

Long time ago for sure.

 

Tommy Roupe

 

Edited February 7 by troupe