We win again!

Notes from the September 26 Match

at Westlance Arms in West Virginia

Written by Randy Mays

Photographed by Sony Mavica

Shooters from the 43rd Virginia Rifle and Pistol Club continue their domination of the Saturday pistol matches at Mark Ewing's Westlance Arms in West Virginia. At today's match, there were four stages plus the "top gun" stage. The first stage had six steel poppers and a final stop plate. The second stage was similar, but had to be fired with the weak hand. The third stage introduced six bowling pins into the problem; the pins had to be off the table before the poppers could be engaged. The fourth stage was new: it was similar to the third stage except that it had to be fired with the strong hand. Winners of each stage competed in a 10 pin, 6 popper, best of 5 final stage. The eventual winner had an equipment modification, fell behind 0-2, then won the next 3 strings to get to the finals, and won the final 3-0. The winner and runner up were both members of the 43rd.

All right, enough modesty. That three in a row deal was one of the greatest comebacks in the history of the shooting sports and I did it. Sandy Sanders came in second. The equipment malfunction was a loose rear sight which didn't have any Loc-Tite on it! Live and learn. Today's lessons included: don't use a particular brand of 9 mm ammunition because it has hard primers. Hint: boxes of this ammunition appear on this Web page. Always use a SIG 226 pistol, or equivalent, in matches like this. Come to think of it, the approximate equivalent of a SIG 226 is the Beretta 92/96.

Here are some pictures from the match.

A typical competitor's equipment, a reliable Beretta and lots of spare magazines.

West Virginians know how to relax.

Sandy gets ready by loading magazines.

Some people use a lot of magazines.

Others use fewer magazines with more cartridges. With the summer heat today, Cokes and bottled water were in evidence.

We had junior shooters there today. One fired the new Beretta "combo" pistol with the 9 mm slide and barrel while his father used the .40 S&W slide and barrel. Both did very well.

Here's another junior shooter facing down the poppers.

Here's Mark Ewing sitting in his trapshooting judge's chair. Nobody had the heart to tell him this was a pistol match.

Notice the neat sepia effect from the Sony Mavica digital camera.

With a match like this, there is a lot of brass to pick up.

Here's Tommy, concentrating on the front sight.

Here's his competition.

Randy, Sandy and Mark at the end of the match.

After the shooting stopped, all that brass had to be sorted for reloading.

The Westlance gang all use Dillon reloading equipment. Here is Mark's reloading setup.

Mark and Angie Ewing check and double check the complicated scoring and prize calculations.

Stage and match winners receive their prize checks.

The next match is scheduled for October 31, 1998.