South Mississippi Practical Shooting

The weather finally cut us some slack and we had a perfect day for 3-Gun. This was the last match of the first half of the year, and we will not resume until September, as we take a break for the Summer heat. Although the weather was fine, we had only 16 shooters make the trip. But they were treated to a special match that was something new for our club. Today the only division was “Anything Goes.” If it was safe and fit the description of the type of gun you were supposed to shoot, then you could use it. We allowed the competitors to change guns between stages to best fit the requirements of the stage at hand. Some folks took the opportunity to dig deep into the safe and find that dusty old rifle or shotgun that isn’t great at all-around 3-gun, but would be perfect for one stage, once and a while. We saw some cool stuff and the shooters seemed to enjoy taking the exotic stuff out for a nice Sunday drive.

The stages were broken down into two types. There were the quick, warm-up stages that we shot first, where it was close up and tight and every effort needed to be on speed. After that warm-up, thing proceeded to the more challenging aspects of the match, were those skills that challenge many of us were tested. I’m talking about long range rifle and shotgun reloading. We shot from a new location today that allowed a wide spread of rifle targets out to 350 yards. The wind came into play more than it normally does for long range rifle, but it was clear who has their gun dialed in and who doesn’t. The shotgun monster stage started with 4 seemingly easy rifle shots on auto poppers, and then moved to 24 bird shot targets and two medium range slug targets. Here, reloading the shotgun while moving was either your strength or weakness. No one seemed to be in the middle on this skill. Either you can do it, or you can’t.

But in the end, it was clear who ruled the day. Our overall winner and winner of all four stages was  Read more…

The last 3-Gun match of the first half of the year is now open. The match date is Sunday, March 6, 2018. Hammers go down at 9 AM. Cost is only $10 for SMPSA club members and $15 for non-members. This match will feature a special format that allows you to switch guns between stages. Normally, you can’t change guns during the match but for the next match, you will be able to select the most appropriate gun for the job. You may choose your favorite deer rifle for the long range steel stage, and then switch to an SBR for the close quarters rifle stage. For this one match out of the year, you can use any safe gun on any stage. You do need to stick with rifles for the rifle part, etc. but now you can use the MOST appropriate tool for the job, not just something that is the best compromise.

If you want to know what you should bring, check it out here. Sign up now!

The 3-Gun match goes on hiatus starting in June for three months, due to the heat. 

Once again, a strange thing happened this week. A match just popped up out of nowhere and was a hit. With our second straight rain-out on the regular match day, we found there is a willing and able audience for a weekday afternoon make-up match format. Last month, we had 33 guns shoot for the same type of event, and today, there were 39. In fact, the turnout was a bit of a mixed blessing. The support is hugely appreciated but it caused some backups today that I didn’t anticipate.

The good news is with the increased support, we will be able to begin the range upgrade plan that will create more defined bays with real berms. This should allow us to shoot at least 5 stages at the same time, which eludes us now. This also will include a more permanent fix for the road into the range, so we should be able to avoid at least some of the rain-outs that have plagued us recently, where the range is fine, but the road is impassible.

With 5 challenging stages, lots of shooters found ways to receive a visit from their unwanted Uncle Mike today. There were also some really great performances. But there is always one man (or woman) left standing when the score-dust settles. Today, that dusty person was  Read more…

Once again, we will have a makeup match for the rained out Sunday match in Poplarville. The afternoon match will be Tuesday, April 10, 2018 at 2 PM. However, if you can’t make it by 2, then come when you can. We will use open squadding again and you can just jump in and start shooting when you get there. Anyone that gets there by 6 will be allowed to shoot.

Online registration is available by clicking the giant button below. Please sign up if you plan on attending.

The rain has once again won. A large band of rain moved through the range this afternoon and washed away any chance of shooting on Sunday. So, the match for Sunday, April 8, 2018 is cancelled.

We will try a make-up match this Tuesday, April 10, 2018 at 2 PM. The registration link will be posted shortly.

The rain is over for the weekend (hopefully) but the range condition is still in question. We will be checking the range this afternoon to see how it is and will post an update after 6 PM on Saturday evening. All registered shooters will also get an email through Practiscore tonight with the latest. As of now, the match is still on, but please check your email and right here for any updates later on today before coming out tomorrow.

Online registration is still available by clicking the giant button below. Please sign up if you plan on attending.

The South Mississippi Practical Shooting Association will host the monthly USPSA Pistol match this Sunday (April 8, 2018) at the range in Poplarville. The match will begin at 9 AM.

Online registration is available by clicking the giant button below. Please sign up if you plan on attending.

Rain on Thursday didn’t dampen either the road or the spirits of the shooters as April came early for the Poplarville 3-Gun match. Since the normal first Sunday match date is Easter, we decided to hold the match a day early on Saturday to accommodate as many people as possible. It worked out, because we had 20 shooters for picture perfect weather all day. We started an hour later than normal, due to setup constraints in the morning, but things moved along pretty well and we were still done around normal time for a 3-Gun match.

The stages today featured a mix of close rifle here, and long range rifle there. Them that can shoot long range, do. Them that can’t, well, they know the costs. It was pretty heavy on the shotgun as well, at least on the three stages where it was shot. Each required at least one reload for most people, and it showed who practices loading and who doesn’t.

The winner today made a clear statement. It was something to the effect of, “I am here to win and there isn’t anything you can do about it!” OK, maybe he is too nice a guy to call everyone out like that, but he sure showed the rest of us how to do it by winning all four stages outright (if you don’t count the PCC guys, and they didn’t have to shoot the clay pigeons). A few of us were musing that there must have been some scoring mistake as he just can’t be that fast. But he is. Congratulations seems to be getting awful familiar for  Read more…