Written and Photographed by Randy Mays (randy@piedmont.org)
Pictures always speak louder than words, so here are some pictures and a few words about today's match at Westlance Arms, Inc. over in West Virginia.
Mark Ewing and his range maintanance crew set up the tables, poppers, stop plates, and bowling pins for the match.
When the signal is given, both shooters begin firing at the six poppers and one stop plate. There are two sets of targets. The first shooter to knock down all of the poppers and his or her stop plate wins that string. The person who wins two out of three moves again in the competition.
It takes a little time between strings to set up all of the poppers and stop plates. Notice the empty tables on either side of the poppers. Those are used for bowling pins later in the match. The red, white, and blue squares are used for another competition.
Here's another view of two competitors firing. This time they're also shooting at bowling pins.
Mark Ewing practices frightening small children at the Martinsburg Mall. He has been asked to stop doing this, but believes that even bad publicity is better than no publicity. Once you've seen this picture, realized that it is just a digital image on the Internet and can't hurt you, take a look at the view from the range. The mountains in the back of the picture form a natural barrier between Mark and the city of Martinsburg.
Here is a picture of the Westlance Arms, Inc. club house. There are a lot more flowers this year.
Nancy Sanders, Betsy Hostrop, and Berny Hostrop were among the representatives of the 43rd Rifle and Pistol Club (Warrenton, Virginia) who attended the match. Berny is an NRA Training Counselor and gunsmith. He may be reached at gbhg@erols.com.
In addition to the centerfire match, there was also a side match for .22s only. The targets were the tops of bowling pins. This can be a real test of your marksmanship skills.
Sandy and Nancy Sanders compete against each other in one of the bowling pin stages.
Yogi Berra once said, "You can observe a lot just by looking." Todd observes other shooters as he waits his turn on the line.
Dave, Sandy and Mark. Dave was first runner-up, Sandy was Top Gun, and Mark just likes to get in the picture. Dave is holding his new Beretta 92/96 "Combo" pistol which comes with separate slides for .40 S&W and 9 mm.
After the formal match, Dave and his son get together to compare notes on the new Beretta and get ready for the next match on September 26th.
Westlance Arms, Inc. is the place to go to learn about reloading. The competitors who reload are sorting through the spent brass collected during the match. The majority of the shooters use .45 ACP pistols, but there were a lot of empty .40 S&W and 9 mm cases today.
If you want to learn about reloading, or purchase Dillon Precision Products equipment, Westlance is a Dillion dealer.
Match Comments.
Elton Sanders, from the 43rd Virginia Rifle and Pistol Club team won the match. He shot a Colt Combat Target Model (.45 ACP). Several of the rest of us used high capacity .40 S&W or 9 mm pistols, but the advantage of fewer reloads is no substitute for the kind of steady, accurate shooting Sandy brings to these matches. I brought a SIG Sauer 226 with lots of 9 mm ammunition, and still had to borrow about 150 rounds to get through the entire match. At one point I loaded some Vector ammunition, which illuminates the path of the bullet. It didn't dawn on me that I was putting the Vector into the gun until the stage was over and someone asked why I was shooting tracer bullets. Vector ammunition is expensive and not what I would pick for bowling pin shooting, although it does provide some thrills for the spectators.
Once again, the benefits of competition were present. In other words, I made more mental mistakes and learned from them. One mistake might have cost me a chance to place higher in the standings. I cleaned off the table filled with bowling pins and then started shooting the poppers. When you are shooting poppers it means you are almost finished. If the hear the other shooter hitting the steel, it can be unnerving. I was thinking that I was ahead because I hadn't heard the other person, and I managed to knock down the poppers and the stop plate long before he did. Notice I didn't say "all of the poppers." I went right by one and never even shot at it.
The way to win these matches is with accuracy and consistency, and more speed than the guy who is shooting next to you. When bowling pins are hit in the right spot, they go flying off the table. An inch or two away from the center of mass and the pin falls over and spins and often stays on the table, and becomes a smaller, hard to hit target.
If you would like to shoot at Westlance Arms, give Mark a call at (304) 754-7100. His e-mail address is WESTLANC@ix.netcom.com.