#8s

This will be the first entry into what I plan on having as a weekly or so blog recapping the weekend shoots.  This weekend is as good as any to start because it was the first time I have shot in consecutive days.  I am still new to CAS attending my first match in August of last year.  I shot after the OK Corral Outlaws monthly match with the Club President Seth Adams but not during the actual match.  The first full shoot I had was in September during the Gold Coast Gunslingers Main Match.  It was only 4 stages due to the 90 degree heat and 100% humidity but it was a very good introduction into the sport.  I have shot 2 annuals at this point and both were single day events. So fast forward to this past weekend.  The weekend started with a 4 am wake up so that I could drive 2 hours & 45 minutes north to shoot in the Lake Country Pistoleros February monthly match.  I am registered for the Ides of March next month and the Outlaws M.D. thought it would be a great warm up.  So I packed up the Expedition Friday night and got up early to hit the road for Eustis.  I stopped on the way to meet a couple other Cowboys from one of the local clubs, the aforementioned M.D. Polecat Joe and Bristol Kid.  We then caravanned up the Turnpike to the Eustis Gun Club. We made it to the range just after 8 am.  The weather was nice and chilly with low humidity.  Perfect for a shoot.  I was introduced to a bunch of new cowboys and cowgirls and went to register.  After registering and a short range safety briefing by Greta Dee I was assigned to Posse #2 which was Marshalled by the LCP Match Director Smart*.   The range was great!  Shaded by huge oaks that made the shooting very comfortable.  The stages were really fun with a lot of movement and I felt like I was shooting them to the best of my limited ability.  The best thing was that I was able to watch some very experienced shooters.  I always learn a lot from watching the other shooters.  I usually volunteer to spot at the beginning of the shooting order so that I can watch the other cowboys and figure out how to shoot it myself.  I was also helping my possepard Realtree keep score.  He was nice enough to teach me how to use Aces to enter the scores on the ipad. My favorite 2 stages were in what they called "The Town" I believe.  It was the first time I had shot in any kind of elevated or covered stages before.  These were both elevated and covered with lots of props, doors, windows, etc.  Great stages!!! Starting position for the first of the 2 covered stages. These stages were very interesting and one of them included a bonus.  I did not shoot the stage clean and therefore didn't receive the bonus.  It was a very good teaching moment for me.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHV2LNyLpGo Lesson Learned: Do not take for granted that because a stage looks easy, it is.  Keep your focus no matter what the stage looks like.       Moving from the shotgun to the rifle and pistols. The movement inside these stages was a little more difficult due to the tight spaces but I liked having to be more aware of the surroundings.  It made the feel much more authentic.   Shooting my pistols to finish up the stage. This shoot was very fun, I had a great Posse, and the stages were challenging but not overly so.  I placed 17th put of 50 shooters with a total time of 178.42 for 6 stages.  I had a total of 4 misses and no Procedurals which is far too many misses.  I need to work on my accuracy more and teach myself to wait until I have a good site picture before shooting.  I want to be fast but I also want to shoot clean as well.  The awards ceremony was really great and everyone was in good spirits.  I left the shoot and drove home which took about 3 hours after traffic and a gas stop. After I got home I was informed that the person I normally get my ammo from was out of town and that I had no ammo for the shoot I was to attend tomorrow for the Gold Coast Gunslingers.  This was around 6:30 - 7 pm Saturday night.  I live in Jupiter Farms and there is no where close to buy any type of ammo except Walmart which does not carry Cowboy lead loads.  So I sent out a few texts see if anyone had any available and didn't get any responses.  I then got back into the car and drove about an hour back north to Bass Pro to get some ammo for tomorrows shoot.  While I was there I got a response about ammo that one of the cowboys had some 38 for me and it was half the price of the ridiculously priced lead 38s at Bass Pro.  I grabbed 4 boxes of Winchester AA #8s and a few other things and went home.  After 8 hours in the car and a 16 hour day, I crashed when I got home. I woke up the next morning at about 5:45 am to get ready for the Gold Coast Gunslingers mid-month practice shoot in Sunrise which is about an hour and 15 minutes south of me.  I woke my girlfriend, Chickie Winsome, up so we could leave.  She is my official videographer and is nice enough to take video of my stages when she goes with me to the shoots.  We got to the range and it was really hot and humid already at 8 am.  There was a Boy Scout Camporee going on at the park and it was packed.  We finally got though all of the the Boy Scouts and mountain bikers at Markham Park and made it to the range. The day started a little late, but mid-month we normally do not have a lot of shooters so it goes pretty quickly.  There was some really weird juju going on all day though.  Cowboys who typically shoot clean matches had multiple misses and some with procedurals.   Almost everyone was off in some way or another.  https://www.dropbox.com/s/toifi6edvgqyb1q/20190217_104025.mp4?dl=0 I was having issues with my rifle all day and on one stage it wouldn't fire at all.  The trigger was stuck even after I levered out 2 or 3 live rounds.  So I took the 10 misses and moved on to finish the stage.  https://www.dropbox.com/s/pvwe97l4jbx6cf5/20190217_101232.mp4?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/axyyl1liodw3fkw/20190217_104048.mp4?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/gvc2mu5h6k8g1c2/20190217_121153.mp4?dl=0 I ended up placing 8th out 12 shooters with a total time of 242.42.  The 10 miss stage was a whopping 90.97 added to my score.  But it happens so it was good that it happened during a practice match.  I ended the day with 3 misses (minus the rifle malfunction) and no procedurals.  Again, there were many lessons learned during this shoot.  We then went and met some of the GC Gunslingers for lunch and then drove home.  I drove a total of 625 miles this weekend and each and every one was well worth it.  I am always hungry to learn as much as I can and this past weekend was the richest learning experience to date in my short CAS career.  My next match is this Saturday at the OK Corral Gun Club in Okeechobee for the OK Corral Outlaws February Monthly.  Hope to see some of you there! The OTJ  Location: Jupiter Farms, FL Interests: Whistling Dixie SASS# 107517 Member:  OK Corral Outlaws - Okeechobee, FL | Gold Coast Gunslingers - Sunrise, FL "Are you gunna pull those pistols or whistle Dixie?"