Range Day

Posted 08:00 PST Mon Mar 24, 2008 in Bloggish

Well, I woke my usual time Sunday morning. I remembered it was Easter (as I wrote here), but decided to go to the IDPA shoot anyway. I wanted to shoot the classifier and the outside time is good for me.

I bid Wife farewell and drove to the range. The bay area was already busy with folks preparing for the match. I think they’ve had a lot of shooters recently. It’s been months since I went.

It was cold. I should have dressed just a little differently, but I knew it would warm as the sun rose. I gathered my gear from the car and signed in. I’ll be we had more than 30 shooters. That makes a long day with the courses we run.

I shot the first stage well. I don’t really care what my time is, but I want to shoot the stage correctly and accurately. Time and practice will improve my quickness. After the first stage I was called to the classifier.

An IDPA classifying match is a number of stages, each with several strings of shots. It is designed to test the shooter’s ability to draw and fire at multiple targets quickly and accurately, with several reloads throughout the course. I stayed focused throughout my classifier, but I don’t have results yet. I have a lot to learn and will keep after it.

It was a good shoot.

I returned to my squad and was immediately inserted into the roster. That was a mistake. I couldn’t get my head back into the game and shot the remaining two stages poorly. I still had fun, but didn’t live up to my standards.

I don’t have to be the best shooter on the course. I just need to do my best. I didn’t for the remainder of the day. But, I learned something and still had fun. Any day spent outside at the range working on skills is a good day.