Miggy

And it was great having you around. And I am very glad my club nutjobs decided to behave somewhat human today... I mean we did not want to give you a bad impression or anything

__________________
You have to make the shot when fire is smoking, people are screaming, dogs are barking, kids are crying and sirens are coming.
Randy Cain.

GunFreeZone.net

Miggy

I realized that I posted pics but not a narrative of how we spent the afternoon of shooting so I must correct.
The morning was to be dedicated to our IDPA classifier so I told Choie to take it easy and show up at noon since there was no sense for him to bore his sorry butt for four hours. He calls me around noon and the first deal goes something like this:

"Dude, I am at the range."
"You are here already?"
"Yes, at the parking lot"
"OK, I'll go get you."
Now, I am not hearing too good because of the shooting so I think he is at the park's parking lot by the entrance. I jump in my truck and rush (20 mph posted) to get him so 5 mins later he calls again.
"Where are you?"
"On my way to get you at the entrance."
"Dude, I am already at the range!"
"Oh heck... OK, on my way back."

So I finally find him and his buddy Chris about 20 yards from the entrance of the range where we were shooting. That and after the crappy classifier I shot, made me feel young and smart....NOT.

While the stages for 3 gun were being set, I introduced Chooie and Chris to some of the club members and Mrs. Miggy. Since The Choo is already married to a southern belle, he does not need to be reminded of the potential serial killer heart that may pump inside the chest of southern girls and may come out when riled up so he behaves like a gent.

After giving him the briefest of range safety rules, we got ready to shoot. Our squad started on Stage 2:


The idea was to shoot all the targets on the move with birdshot and take out the "hostage-taker" (Last black target on the right) with buckshot. Since the stage was designed by a Saiga owner, those of us with regular pump shotguns were at a disadvantage because we would have to reload slowly and painfully. Good news is that the Saiga went stupid and was actually slower that pumps.

The last target looks something like this:

The little round thing is supposed to be the BG's head and when hit, it will swing out to the other side of the target. Although there was a lot of braggadocio, everybody was thinking "OK, I know I am gonna hit the hostage with buck... Oh well." The great news in that nobody in the squad hit the hostage and everybody hit the BG with full force. Kudos go to Chooie because he shot that stage and the rest with weapons he did not know. He also had the shoot of the day when he hit one of the plates set on top of a stand, made it spin but did not drop it. It looked so pretty we scored it as good.

Stage 3 consisted of 9 steel targets to be engaged in groups of three from three positions of cover (birdshot) and then engage a paper target set waaaay down there with a slug. Again everybody shoot it great and no embarrassing moments came up specially from me.

Stage one was a transition from handgun to rifle. 12 paper targets that required 3 shots a pop and a metal gong also way down there. You started with your handgun and engage three targets from a simulated doorway, then move to the next simulated doorway and engage three more targets. For safety reasons, we had the shooters unload & show clear the gun before letting them pick up the rifle and move forward to first barrel with the rifle. At the first barrel the shooter had to engage three paper targets and then hit the gong three times before moving sideways to the next barrel, engage three more targets and finish the stage with three hits on the gong. I have the strange feeling that The Choo is now seriously considering to add an AK to his wish list.

All in all it was lots of fun. All squad members bantered back and forth and called each other names that would keep us banned from this and most boards in the Internet.

__________________
You have to make the shot when fire is smoking, people are screaming, dogs are barking, kids are crying and sirens are coming.
Randy Cain.

GunFreeZone.net

miklcolt45

I hope y'all stopped for lunch. Wouldn't want anybody to waste away.

__________________
Mike

In God we trust. Everyone else,
keep your hands where I can see them.

Miggy

Chooie stopped at the Dunkin D before going to IHOP.

And then he complains about his belly

__________________
You have to make the shot when fire is smoking, people are screaming, dogs are barking, kids are crying and sirens are coming.
Randy Cain.

GunFreeZone.net

SIXTO

Looks like you guys had fun and it also looks like a nice club. I just got one off topic question and I'll shut up...

Do they (the range) make you use "cover" like that? I'd tear you guys up on a FOF training if you did. I'm not picking on ya, just wondering why.

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Only in America .....do we use the word 'politics' to describe the process so well: 'Poli' in Latin meaning 'many' and 'tics' meaning 'bloodsucking creatures'.

Chooie

AFAIK the idea was that of the fellow who put the stages together. As a lefty, I'm used to coming out of the right side of bunkers from playing paintball - and with no formal rifle training to draw on, that's what I reverted to.

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-Joe

Quando omni flunkus, moritati.

Virginia Citizens Defense League

Rustburg, VA Volunteer Rescue Squad

Miggy

Sixto, not a range thing, hell not even a Club thing! And you are right, on FOF we would get our butts massacred but this event was more a game & trigger time in a non-square range than a serious training session. The way most all targets were set up you could have shot them from a single cover spot without trouble IMHO but here is where imagination with lack of resources comes up. Amazingly the two big ranges in South Florida (Trail Glades and Markham Park Range) do NOT have bays or shoot houses. Nothing but boring square ranges that we must adapt to safely shoot several squads at once. And although we have props, if we design anything too complicated, it tends to be a pain to set up and specially tear down at the end of a match, specially during hot HUMID summers (both ranges butt against the Everglades so you can imagine).

So, instead of building it too complicated, we run it as if all the walls are there and concentrate in one position at a time. It sucks to high heaven but it is the best we could do with the resources we have and county commissioners that are anti-gun or environmental nutjobs

So, we set up as simple as we can and rely on instructions and imagination. IE:this is the way we set up & shot stage one.


And this is what we would wish we could build but it was too much for all of 15 shooters.

Here is the Run Through.

At Position 1 draw your handgun and engage the targets with at least 3 shoots each. Once neutralized, move to Position 2 and engage the next targets with at least 3 shots each. For safety reasons, once you neutralize the second set of targets, you will unload and clear your handgun and then will either holster or leave it on the ground. Next you will retrieve your rifle and proceed to Position 3, load your rifle and from Low Cover you will engage the targets you see from Near to Far. Targets do not "Appear" until you are behind cover. Engage all targets with at least three shots and then shoot the gong three times before going to the next position. Once the targets are neutralized, you will proceed to Position 4 (keeping muzzle downrange as you move) take cover and engage the rest of the targets from Near to Far and finish by shooting the gong three times. Targets do not "Appear" until you are behind cover.

Now, instead of building all up, we "imagine" that the walls & other obstacles are there and run it as we could not see what else is there. We have done it for so long that most of our club members don't even ask for details, they just know it and shoot it along. It is hell that the county commissioners for both Broward and Miami-Dade are so idiotic as to keep blocking our requests for bays but those are the cards we were dealt and we have nothing much more than keep pestering them until they give up and shoot our matches this way.

__________________
You have to make the shot when fire is smoking, people are screaming, dogs are barking, kids are crying and sirens are coming.
Randy Cain.

GunFreeZone.net

SIXTO

Most of the time its a lot more fun to improvise and come up with your own stuff anyway. The range pictures you have posted in this thread and in the past always look like a lot of fun, I'd join up in a heartbeat.

I was talking about just backing off your "cover" a little bit, and not hugging it. There is no need too. If you back up a few feet, you well be more hidden to your target and you will also have a better view. Just a thought to try and help you out.

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Only in America .....do we use the word 'politics' to describe the process so well: 'Poli' in Latin meaning 'many' and 'tics' meaning 'bloodsucking creatures'.

Miggy

We love to have fun and we have to make it fun. We have shooters from four counties coming from places like Key Largo and West Palm Beach and we cannot make boring stages or we would have a riot in our hands, specially with the gas prices the way they are.
Our problem sometimes is that we come up with some overly creative Courses of Fire and that scare newbies and we do not want to do that. Also going over basics once in a while is good so we try to add at least one stage with them.

Check this video.

.
Don't ask me who was the evil designer that came up with this CoF but the idea was that you are facing several BGs on the street and your only cover is actually the curb.

On this one, the young lady was shooting with us for the second time and she did not do a bad job at all. She did open the door a bit too careless but she was tutored afterwards.


Oh yes! True enough on that! Even old heads like me forget that sometimes...OK most of the time. Rule of thumb is at least an arms' length. And it is also easier when you need to reload.

Sixto, you know you have an open invitation already for Cuban Crack and Shooting with us.

__________________
You have to make the shot when fire is smoking, people are screaming, dogs are barking, kids are crying and sirens are coming.
Randy Cain.

GunFreeZone.net

pgrass101

Sounds like a great time.

Miggy I really like some of the creative things you guys do.

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Noli nothis permittere te terere

I refuse to compromise my morality for another mans greed.