South Mississippi Practical Shooting

What a nice match today! The weather was pleasant for a change, and the stages were challenging but certainly fun. The company was great, as well. Who could ask for more?

Out of the 26 shooters that took on the five stages today, only three were able to shoot a clean match. That didn’t guarantee a win, though, because appearances were deceiving. Nothing looked particularly hard, but I guess it was right around the zone of where most people start disrespecting the targets. Too far to point shoot, but too close to aim (LOL!). We all know we need to aim all the time, but many of us took it for granted and tallied some Mikes or the dreaded no-shoot. But taking time to “get your hits” isn’t always the answer, either. You just need to “…shoot at the speed of sight¹.”

The setup today certainly did favor the hi-cap guns, especially the never-empty PCC. It should therefore come as no surprise that a PCC shooter took top honors. Congratulations to Read more…

The South Mississippi Practical Shooting Association will host the monthly USPSA Pistol match on Sunday, October 13, 2019 at the range in Poplarville. The match will begin at 9 AM.

Online registration is available by clicking the giant button below. This will be your last chance to practice under live match pressure before the Gator.

Please sign up if you plan on attending.

We were extremely lucky today, weather-wise. During setup yesterday, we had an intense rain event that put the road in really bad shape. Getting out was tough, and it was possible only due to gravity. The concern this morning was that the hill would still be slick as owl poop. It actually wasn’t too bad and only one vehicle needed some assistance. But that wasn’t the end of the weather. During the match, it was pretty nice, considering how hot it has been lately. We finished just before 2 PM, which is great. But just as I pulled out of the pit at 2:45, the bottom dropped out of the sky and it rained hard. Had this come an hour or two earlier, it would have messed up the last stages for the squads and made it downright dangerous getting DOWN the hill. But, the weather gods finally saw it our way, and it worked out.

In past matches, the stages never quite seemed balanced and one squad would always be waiting. Today, it worked out like a dream. The stages were just right to keep things moving and both squads finished the match within 5 minutes of each other. I guess we are living right these days.

If you recall last month, Morgan Leonhardt (12 years old) won the match over 15 adult males. Some may have thought that was a fluke. However, if you have shot 3-gun with her, you know it wasn’t. And, she continues to improve each month. Today, she beat all the other shooters again, EXCEPT one. And that one was Read more…

Registration is now open for the October 3-Gun match in Poplarville. The match is scheduled for Sunday, October 6, 2019 at 9 AM at the range in Poplarville.

If you want to know what you should bring, check it out here. If you need to know where to go to shoot, click here. Sign up now by clicking the Register Now button below.

While we don’t have official records going back to the beginning of the club, I’m going out on a limb and declare today as the HOTTEST it has ever been during a match at the Poplarville range. If it wasn’t the hottest, I don’t think I was there for the one that was hotter. There was very little breeze and the temperature climbed to the mid-90s before noon. We finished just before noon so that was pretty good. Had we gone much longer, we may have lost some shooters…

Although it was insufferably hot, the shooting was still fun. There was a nice mix of stages with a little bit of everything (except no-shoots)! Winning hit factors ranged from a high of 9.0 to a low of 3.7. Nothing was really hosable, although a couple felt that way. The square/hex steel stage (high hit factor 3.7) was more movement than shooting and begged for shooters to call their shots. Those that didn’t, paid the price.

When the dust settled, there was a winner (but there is always a winner). Today, it was Read more…

It seemed like a whole year since we shot 3-gun at Poplarville, but it was more like 7 months. Sure, we take off June-August because of the heat, but we got rained out from March through May, too. So, it was good to be back.

The weather decided it was still summer and consequently, it was hot all day. However, the turnout was pretty good. We had 16 shooters complete the four challenging stages. Things moved along pretty well and we were done at a reasonable (for 3-gun) time. It seems the shooters enjoyed the stages as well. There was a mix of rifle targets with some paper at 3 feet and some steel at almost 250 yards, with everything in between. The pistol and shotgun parts were fun and a bit challenging but not overly difficult.

If you have followed the matches in Poplarville for the past few years, there is one name that routinely appears at the top of the results. And it was no different today, but it wasn’t who you might think. I believe this is a first for Poplarville in the 40+ years we have been shooting practical competitions. Congratulations simply doesn’t do justice to the performance Read more…

The South Mississippi Practical Shooting Association will host the monthly USPSA Pistol match on Sunday, September 8, 2019 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.

It’s time again for fall 3-gun in Poplarville.  We haven’t shot 3-gun since February and the shooters are getting antsy. The match is scheduled for Sunday, September 1, 2019 at 9 AM at the range on Poplarville.

If you want to know what you should bring, check it out here. If you need to know where to go to shoot, click here. Sign up now by clicking the Register Now button below.

For once, the weather not only cooperated but was a big help. After a week of blistering heat and humidity, we dodged two big weather bullets for the match today. This should have been the eighth match of the year, but it was actually just the fourth, and we really needed to shoot.  Although rain wasn’t really in the forecast for today, we managed to miss some serious storms just to the south of the range. We also caught a break with the overcast skies pretty much all morning. It was humid, but the clouds made it much more bearable. I can tell you from personal experience this week setting up that without the clouds, we wouldn’t have wanted to be there.

The match today could be characterized in two words. “New shooters”. We had at least 8 brand new to USPSA shooters and at least a handful more new to us and pretty new to USPSA. And it was great! A huge round of thanks goes to Peter and George for bringing out most of them and helping get them acquainted with the rules. In my squad, everyone got through their first match and seemed to have fun, as well. We all had a first match in our past and sometimes its hard to remember just how scary it was. Thank you to everybody who helped with the new shooters today. I know they appreciated it.

OK, enough of the chit-chat. Let’s see who won. It really wasn’t that close when the dust settled. At the top was Read more…