South Mississippi Practical Shooting

“Next month, we’ll be back to normal…” That’s how I ended last month’s writeup. Today was anything BUT normal. No, it wasn’t freaky February weather (which was quite pleasant today) or more super high-round-count stages (fun, heck yes! but not normal). Some important lessons were dished out today for all to enjoy. It started with the trips (plural) to Dairy Queen. Before we get into the scores, it is important to note who didn’t make it through the match. I don’t normally mention these somewhat unpleasant events, but today was noteworthy. We’ve all been there before, but it still is unexpected for certain people. 

First out the gate (literally) was Don Evans, one of the most careful shooters I know. He somehow broke the 180 on stage 4. Yeah, we talked about it at the shooters meeting, but there it was. The man is a legend in our circle and this came as a surprise, but it also serves as a learning experience. When someone of this caliber and experience gets DQ’ed, it means it can happen to even the most careful person. There were a bunch of new people today and I would not have been surprised if any of them had DQ’ed, but it was Don and not the new guys.

And if that wasn’t enough, the next to follow Don was none other than John Nguyen. Yes, our current best shooter day in and day out over the past year or so, went for a blizzard. In John’s case, it was a dropped gun. At the end of the second string on the classifier, he put his cleared gun in his holster, but somehow it didn’t get locked and jumped right onto the ground. And there, to take the perverse pleasure was his favorite RO, George H. Apparently, this was the popping of the DQ cherry for John and George got to do it. One can sometimes argue a 180 call, but a dropped gun is pretty black and white. Again, surprising and a learning experience for everyone.

OK, enough with the misery that comes with ending your day early. Let’s see who did finish on top. You may now be thinking its one of those young guys that is always nipping at John’s heels, and you would be right. Today, it was Roger Henn’s day winning Open and the overall title. Roger also gets a big asterisk by his name, thanks to a faulty performance by his RO on stage 2 (and that would be me). As the buzzer went off, he drew his gun and then just stopped. We stood there in thundering silence for a few moments and he then meekly said something to the effect of, “I stopped because I jumped the buzzer.” I stood there for another few moments thinking, you better start shooting, Roger. He didn’t and the conversation turned all wrong in the next moment. I let him start over and I shouldn’t have. It was a bad call on my part. He should have not stopped until I (the RO) stopped him but I never said stop. But in letting him start over, I performed a disservice to everyone else in the match. His mistake got compounded by my mistake. So, here’s your third lesson of the day, new shooters. Don’t stop unless the RO says STOP (yes, you can stop yourself for safety issues but that’s different, so read the rule book). To cleanse my conscience, I later gave Roger a zero for that stage (using Practiscore Competitor only) to see how it would have affected his overall finish. Thankfully, even with a zero on that huge 25 point stage, he still would have won the match. So, while it was a bad call on my part, it really didn’t affect the overall finish in the match. And remember, when you are acting as an RO, if the shooter stops themselves for their own false start (maybe he did, maybe he didn’t) or an unpasted target (fairly common), you just let that timer run while they figure it out.

Enough with the lessons. Move along, now. The Henn family made it a two-fer today when Gerwin Henn took the Limited win, after a brief stint in Production. Max Michel, Sr. took the Carry Optics title, while Bill Mahley ran his new PCC to the top spot in that division. Nick Saucier won Single Stack and it’s been too long since we saw you last, Nick. And speaking of not seeing someone for a long time, I was pleased to welcome back Bob Brandt, one of my good shooting buddies who had been on a break for a year. And in his first trip to Poplarville, Timothy Thames won Production. Congratulations to all the division winners.

Today’s turnout was very good for us with a total of 47 shooters. We greatly appreciate the support of everyone who is able to enjoy our quirky little brand of shooting. Remember to check back here next month as there is a conflict with our March match and the Alabama Sectional match in Dothan, AL occurring on the same weekend. I haven’t decided what to do about the normal second Sunday match, but the choices are either to cancel (probably not), reschedule to the following Sunday (maybe…) or reschedule to the Monday afternoon after the normal weekend day. We did a couple of the weekday matches last year and they were surprisingly popular, so we may do it again. Look for the final call in a couple of weeks.

The best thing about today was the number of new shooters, at least to our range in Poplarville. Call it a passel, a pot-full or whatever southern term you prefer, but it was a bunch. Thank you to all the new shooters for coming out. We don’t always have this must fun, but we usually do!

And, finally, thank you for all the help in getting everything taken apart, put up and on the truck. Always appreciated!

For the complete match results, click the score computer at the right.