SDPS NEWSLETTER – Dec 2009
Well, we managed to end the year with a “bang”, actually over 6500 bangs during the December match! It was the longest match of the year, time wise, and we lost a couple of shooters due to the match running till after 4:00. Thanks to everyone who has come out to shoot with us this year. We hope you are having a good Holiday Season and hope you will join us again next year. The next match is scheduled for this Sunday January 3rd. The weather is a bit “iffy” so please check the website at www.sdps-idpa.org after 6 PM on Saturday to make sure the match is a “GO”…. We don’t mind a little cold, but slippery muddy bays are not a good thing. Happy New Year!
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
2009 IDPA Postal Match Results
Congratulations to Robert Sharp. He finished 7th overall in ESR Sharpshooter in the International Postal Match this year!
Stage Number Signs
The new Stage Number signs will be used starting with the January match. No more confusion about bay numbers, stage numbers will be clearly posted for each scenario.
Time Logs
Wow, last month I thank you guys for filling out all the time logs so well, then Dec was the worst month ever… they were 80% to 100% blank on all the stage logs … what happened?
Leaving Early?
Due to the length of the December match, several people left without shooting all the stages. If you are unable to finish a match PLEASE come to the score shack and let us know, or at least write “DNF” on your remaining score sheets and turn them in with the last stage you shoot. Otherwise, we are looking for “missing” score sheets trying to make sure all the scores are in the computer so the stages can be torn down. With 84 shooters and 6 stages, that’s 504 pieces of paper to sort through and it takes a bit of time … then we go looking for “Joe Shooter” who’s Stage 5 page is missing and someone waiting for results says “oh, Joe had to leave and didn’t shoot stage 5”……
2010 Class Schedules
New Shooters Clinic – The clinic has been a great success. We have had 12 to 16 shooters show up every month to learn the basics of shooting matches with SDPS. Based on feedback, the students are enjoying the clinic and getting lots of their jitters and questions out of the way in a friendly learning environment before coming out to shoot an entire match with us. Also, special thanks go to Ray and Jesse Harrell who took the first clinic and have been coming to all our regular matches and also coming back to help out with subsequent clinics. I think they are “hooked” on SDPS. We will continue to schedule Clinics every month on the Saturday before our Sunday matches.
Safety Officer Training – Wayne will be scheduling at least one SO Class in the Spring depending on how many people are interested. Keep you eyes on the email and newsletter for the dates, they fill up fast and becoming a Safety Officer is a great way to get more involved in our sport.
IDPA 101 - While the New Shooter Clinic is designed to show you the basics of shooting a match and get you comfortable with the rules and flow of shooting a match, after 4 or 5 matches it’s time to start thinking about working on specific shooting skills that will improve your scores and move you up the Classification ladder. Wayne will be scheduling some IDPA 101 classes in the Spring as well.
Mr. Patience – Waiting for Volunteers to be Match Directors.
Dec 6th Match Summary
Chad Case was the MD and Ron Bradley was AMD for the Dec 6th match. Robert Sharp, Carl Phelps, Gary Morgan and Allen Lowe also contributed stage designs for the match. We had 84 shooters start, and 81 finish the match, 7 new to SDPS shooters joined us, and five ladies shot the December match. As I mentioned earlier, it was the longest match of the year, time wise. Why? Basically there were two main reasons. One, the total time scores for our matches during the year were normally in the 60 to 90 second range, this month it was 150 seconds, and that was for the really fast guys, some shooters took more than double that time … so an extra 60 seconds per shooter times 84 shooters adds 1.5 hours shooting time. Additionally, while 4 of the stages were in the 15 to 19 second range, stage 5 only took 12 seconds with a quick reset and stage 1 was over 32 seconds with a long reset time, so three squads could shot stage 5 in the time it took one squad to shoot stage 1, so the combination also caused a back-up. Was it still fun to shoot, yes. Was it a good match, absolutely! But hopefully in the future we’ll recognize these situations in advance and modify them so they don’t add 2 hours to the match.
Stage 1 was “7 Wolves” by Robert Sharp. There were 7 targets at 20 to 35 yards. At the signal, you pick up a rifle and took two shots, and then you used your pistol to engage the remaining targets. (14R)
Stage 2 was “Zig Zag” by Ron Bradley. Your empty gun was on the table. At the signal you picked it up and engaged the chevron of targets in tactical sequence (spread fire) with limited Vickers count. There were lots of procedurals on this one! (14R)
Stage 3 was “Quick Mart Take Over” by Carl Phelps. From P1 holding a cup of coffee in your hand, you engaged T1 & T2 from retention. Next you moved to cover behind the counter, engaged the steel, which started a flying target, then there were 3 additional threats in the car. (13R)
Stage 4 was “Swinging Door” by Ron Bradley. From P1 you engaged a steel which started a double swinger. You opened the door, engaged both targets on the swinger with two rounds, engaged two more targets while moving forward, and then engaged the final two targets from a knee behind low cover. (13R)
Stage 5 was “Night Club Security” by Gary Morgan. The plan was to make it a “blind stage” that you did not see until you entered the shooting area … but the wind took care of that plan tearing the tarps used to hid the stage to shreds. The background and targets were both painted in black and white camouflage and were confusing to ID. You engaged three targets with two rounds from P1, the moved to P2 and engaged three additional targets. (12R)
Stage 6 was “Cleanup on Isle Five” by Allen Lowe. You snatched your gun and ammo from a drawer, engaged T1-T3 in tactical priority with 2 rounds, engaged T4 from cover, then T5 while moving forward, next was a drop-turner target through the window, and finally T7 & T8 at the end of the hallway around the corner. (16R)
If this was your first match, don’t worry our matches are not always this complex. Lots of “experienced shooters” made mistakes and got procedurals and high “points down” this month. These stages were more like what you would usually encounter at a high level regional or state match, so it’s good practice. We try to test and practice a wide range of skills and situations in our matches, so keep coming back; they will get “easier”…
The Division winners this month were CDP: Mark Barr with a 146.09 (47); ESP Brian Gonsalves with a 151.03 (61); SSP was Javiar Lopez with 132.67 (35) and the best score for the match; SSR was Brendan Houlihan with a 255.49 (65). Top ladies score was Angela Griffiths with a 265.33 (92).
This month the best stage scores were:
Stage 1: 32.54 (16) Wayne Johnson
Stage 2: 15.83 (3) Jim Griffiths
Stage 3: 17.10 (7) Allen Lowe
Stage 4: 18.99 (10) Fred Mowery
Stage 5 11.66 (1) Jim Griffiths
Stage 6 14.96 (3) Allen Lowe
Adding those up, we would get a Fantasy Shooter match score of 111.08 (40) so nobody was even close. Total shots scored were 82.
It’s been a while since I’ve done this, but I am going to give the “Stage of the Month” award this month. Honorable mention goes to Carl Phelps for stage 3 “Quick Mart Take Over”. It was very inventive and lots of work went into the flying target. It was fun to shoot, but pretty tough for the average shooter to score well on with the long shots to the car and the flyer. The Stage of the Month goes to Gary Morgan for Stage 5 “Night Club Security”. It was simple and straight forward, nothing complex to remember or fancy mechanicals, just try to ID your targets in a visually complex environment and make the shots at 5 to 7 yards. Great Job!
The complete results are available at our website at www.sdps-idpa.org and follow the link to Dec 2009 Match Scores.
Till we shoot again…..
Bob Peake
SDPS Newsletter Editor