As Luck Would Have It

My Trip to Thunder Ranch
by
Gary W. Burris

Thunder Ranch is a world class training facility located in the beautiful hill country of Texas a couple of hours drive west of San Antonio. I tried to go there last year but was not able to arrange my schedule. This year I determined that it would make a wonderful birthday gift to myself and I made arrangements to attend. Everyone must first take the Handgun One course, so I signed up for the three day class starting Wednesday, March 19, 2003.

I left Houston early Tuesday so I could enjoy the beautiful countryside and spend some time just looking around Kerrville, TX. About a quarter mile from the Flatonia exit off Interstate 10, the transmission in my pickup decided that 142,000 miles was enough. I exited I-10 leaving a trail of thick white smoke and transmission fluid. I limped into Cooper Automotive and told Andy my problems. It took almost eight hours to secure a new transmission and install it in the truck. I left Flatonia at 6:10 p.m. with a new transmission and $3,200 less in my bank account. The drive on to Kerrville was uneventful. So much for sightseeing.

Students were instructed to arrive by 7:45 a.m. on Wednesday morning. Class #349 assembled and filled out the paperwork. Clint Smith arrived and lectured us until the lunch break. Clint is a very dynamic speaker and has a unique way of imparting knowledge to his students. After lunch we assembled on the "Red" range where most of the balance of the class was conducted. Here there were four additional instructors to help everyone learn the basics of shooting.

The class included several people who were fairly new to handgun shooting. This tended to make the class drag in a place or two when the instructors had to deal with people who had trouble with their firearms. I'm not complaining, because I knew going in that it was a basic handgun class.

The first day I shot my Glock 34, the second day I shot my 1911 and the last day I shot my revolver. Let me tell you, it is a challange to go through the "Terminator" with a revolver. One of the highlights of my time there came when I was preparing to shoot the "Terminator" and Clint told me that I handled my revolver very well.

Graduation time arrived and each of the class received their diploma and black Thunder Ranch ball hat. I shook hands with each of the instructors and mentioned to Clint that I would like to return and take the Team Tactics class. He told me that if I can't find a partner to give him a call and he would shoot it as my partner using his wheel gun. What an honor. You can bet that I won't look very hard for a partner to take that class.

2003 Texas Regional Spring Championship
by
Gary W. Burris

It was my honor to serve as Match Director for the Texas Regional Spring Championship held this year at Eagle Lake, Texas on March 29th.

The day started at 8:00 a.m. with a shooters meeting. The shooters were welcomed and I asked Mr. Abe Lattelle to lead us in prayer for the military men and women who were at that moment in harms way in Iraq fighting for our freedom to hold events such as this. After a few brief comments about range safety, the shooting commenced. There were 100 competitors who shot a minimum of 120 rounds as they progressed through 9 courses of fire. Weather for the event was overcast, cool and windy at the start of the match. During the course of the day as the sky cleared it became sunny and warm if still a bit windy. I think the wind added to the event by making the targets move.

Scenario #1 was an eighteen round, limited Vickers stage with three strings, that tested the shooters ability to manipulate a crutch while shooting three targets from three different starting positions. This was the only limited Vickers stage in the match

Scenario #2 was a twelve round stage that had the shooter fight his way to a door to escape a bad situation only to encounter more threat targets on the other side of the door.

Scenario #3 was an eighteen round stage requiring the shooter to engage five threat targets while retreating to cover and then engage another four threats from cover.

Scenario #4 was a twelve round stage where the shooter was eating lunch at a diner with his friend. The shooter was required to pull his friend to safety and fight off the bad guys.

Scenario #5 was a twelve round stage that took place at a gun show. When things turned bad the shooter assumed a prone position and engaged the bad guys from under the table.

Scenario #6 was a twelve round stage that had a non-threat mover “Martha” slowly moving through the scenario while the shooter engaged the bad guys. Some shooters found out that they were not always aware of their backstop and “Martha” got winged a number of times.

Scenario #7 was a twelve round stage that started with a tactical sequence engagement of two targets and finished with four more threats in barricade tactical order.

Scenario #8 was a twelve round stage that gave the shooter a choice of starting positions with the objective of saving the baby. The shooter could start about five yards from the baby and engage three targets with two shots each while moving to the baby or the shooter could start at the baby, pick it up and engage the three targets with two shots each while retreating, strong hand only. After the baby was placed safely behind cover the remaining threat targets were engaged. There was about a 50-50 split between all the shooters and their choice of starting positions.

Scenario #9 was a twelve round car stage. The shooter started standing with one foot in the car and his hand on the steering wheel. At the signal the shooter went to a kneeling position and engaged three targets from that position then moved to the rear of the car and engaged an additional three targets.

None of the scenarios could be considered complicated or tricky, although I may get an argument from a few shooters who experienced mental malfunctions during some of the stages. Many shooters came to me during, and immediately following, the competition to thank me for a wonderful match. I accepted their praise on behalf of the staff of folks who truly deserve the credit. Please allow me to take this opportunity to acknowledge everyone who worked so hard at this event.

First I want to thank the owner of the range, Dr. Harold Cramer for his many hours of work preparing the range for the event. Second, a large debt of gratitude goes to the Range Master, Dale Hunnicutt whose job it was to select the courses of fire, build the props and attend to a thousand other things during the match.

I was blessed with an exceptional staff of Safety Officers. They all have a solid understanding of the IDPA rules and gave clear course of fire descriptions. Stage one was “Broken Leg Standards” and the Chief Safety Officer (CSO) was Garry Newton. Some thought this would be the bottleneck stage. Didn’t happen thanks to Garry.

The CSO for stages two and three was Johnny Van Etta. Need I say more? Johnny in his capacity as Area Coordinator for Texas and Louisiana helped tune all the courses of fire with an eye for safety issues and IDPA course of fire design. It couldn’t have happened without you. Thanks pal.

Joe Bailey was CSO for Stages four and five. Joe had folks eating in a diner with a friend and laying on their stomachs at a gun show. Quite a few competitors had problems shooting from a prone position (including me). Joe, you did a fine job of keeping everything safe and the stages moving. Thanks Joe.

Jay Hursh was CSO for stages six and seven. Jay is a Certified Safety Officer Trainer here in the Houston area. I’ve heard that a number of folks shot “Martha” the mover. Jay, you did tell people that Martha was a non-threat didn’t you? Just kidding, thanks Jay.

The CSO for stages eight and nine was Billy Swift. What a crew I had in this bay. Billy Swift, Gil Mauricio and Fritz Herbst worked as a team to make the car stage run smoothly. I still don’t understand how a jet jockey, a cop and whatever Fritz is, can jell into such a dynamic team. Seriously guys, thanks for doing such a great job.

My special thank you to all the other Safety Officers and folks who pitched in to help the Chief Safety Officers keep things running smoothly. This includes Samantha Newton, Richard Scholtz, Barbara Zontini, Judy Newton, Steve and Donna Vandermolen, Bob Wolff, Abe Lattelle, Gil Mauricio and Fritz Herbst. The ever cheerful David Stonaker helped get late arrivals signed up, sold tickets and just about anything else he was asked to do. Thanks Dave.

Kurt Welgehausen, Nancy Robinson, Sue VanCapelle and Vincent Zontini made up the scorekeeping crew. They had the scores posted within 30 minutes of the last shot fired. Vincent, I came very close to giving you a big kiss right on the lips for pitching in and doing such a wonderful job.

In hindsight, the only thing I would do different as Match Director would be to add 4 or 5 more staff. This would have allowed a few more breaks for the Safety Officers and crew.

Finally, I want to thank all the people who came and shot the match. Texas is a whole other country and we had contestants from practically every part of this great state. Additionally, there were competitors from Arkansas, California, Florida and Virginia. Five shooters bumped up in classification. The competitors included eleven master class shooters, six women, fourteen law enforcement and thirty-two seniors.

The specialty awards were as follows:

The Most Accurate Shooter was Gregg Garrett. Gregg not only makes a great line of holsters (Comp-Tac) but he had only one point down for the entire match!

The Top Lady award went to Rhonda Stonaker. This lady is part of what we affectionately call the Dallas Bunch. A lot of great shooters came from Dallas, Texas.

The Top Law Enforcement award went to Monico Meneses. Monico is a San Antonio Police Officer.

Top Senior was Ted Bonnet with a score of 108.79. Ted is an ESP Master shooter. There was only 0.60 seconds separating the top three ESP Master shooters.

CDP Master
Phil Oxley 124.67
Derrick Birdsall 128.05

CDP Expert
Scott Stockton 120.70 CDP Division Champion
Fritz Herbst 126.75
Andy Colglazier 136.18
Cody Ray 147.08
Edward Best 152.14
Alan Colley 159.64
Glenn Slaven 159.96
Tony Phan 160.71
John Passmore 164.25

CDP Sharpshooter
Randy Masters 144.01
Bryan Jones 153.51
Bernardo Haro 162.35
Gil Mauricio 166.36
Philip Guarisco 176.41

CDP Marksman
Abe Lattelle 154.52
Larry Owings 176.11
Karl Slaughenhaupt 191.65
Sid Johnson 203.59
William Zimmerman 212.03
Eric Cooper 212.06
Larry Watson 224.71
Ken Nickerson 225.98
Josh Kellogg 238.02
John Harris 287.37

CDP Novice
James Stull 253.05

ESP Master
Richard Bodie 108.65 ESP Division Champion
Ted Bonnet 108.79
Dale Hunnicutt 109.25
Vincent Zontini 115.46

ESP Expert
Joe Bailey 118.95
Arnold Brown 153.48
Roy Renteria 155.92
Billy Swift 162.17
Don Critari 168.48
Bobby Mestepey 175.23
Alan Stockton 182.34
Mark Lawler 187.24
Jim Schultz 191.53

ESP Marksman
Ting Sun 157.51
Mike Mansilla 170.93
Ray Crum 177.45
Rhonda Stonaker 177.91
Gary Burris 183.64
Danny Warner 185.89
John Harris 190.67
Chuck Andrews 190.82
Donna Vandermolen 197.96
Charles Achord 211.74

ESP Novice
Mike Oliver 273.80

SSP Master
Gordon Carrell 106.41 SSP Division Champion
Johnny Van Etta 118.84
Dan Mancini 132.52
Hany Mahmoud 141.48
Scott Bryant 143.94

SSP Expert
Mike Luttrell 121.43
Monico Meneses 127.61
Kuan Watson 141.30
Brian Marino 144.63
Richard Wakely 158.35
David Stonaker 158.75
Dave Rosetty 162.07
Tom Tracy 171.13
Sam Zontini 173.12
Richard Scholtz 180.40
Erwin Quinn 199.38

SSP Marksman
Frank Lynn 160.53
David Guzman 163.50
Peter Lydon 171.51
Dennis Hamsher 178.52
Andrew Phillips 179.33
Gil Hunt 185.59
John Beadles 194.33
Bob Wolff 194.37
Gregory Wittmore 195.85
Liz Colglazier 196.42
Sue VanCapelle 219.06
Patrick Hughes 232.71
George Brooks 237.03
Thomas Jost 240.10
Clifford Thompson 294.07

SSP Novice
Samantha Newton 298.69
Nancy Robinson 623.39

SSR Expert
Shawn Johnson 137.27 SSR Division Champion
Ron Sacks 159.65
Mike Ross 163.60

SSR Sharpshooter
Bill Callahan 193.83
Steve Gates 209.23

SSR Marksman
Jay Hursh 193.50
John Del Toro 211.68
Ronnie Cook 244.36

Johnny Van Etta and I have had a lot of adventures and misadventures in our travels together around the country. We are both avid IDPA competitors and find that it is more fun to travel as a team than traveling alone. I guess the big thing is that it makes the trip seem shorter when you have someone to talk to. We talk a lot about IDPA related subjects including rules, equipment and a whole gamut of things related to competitive shooting in general. We spend a lot of the time on return trips from a match discussing what we could have done better or different to improve our scores for that match.

While we have a lot in common, we are different in a lot of ways. Those of you who know us would probably agree that we are an odd combination of personalities. Johnny is outgoing and makes friends easily, while I’m a little withdrawn and a bit standoffish. Johnny is pretty direct and outspoken, while I’m more subtle and quiet.

I thought you might enjoy reading about some of the things we have experienced during our travels. There is no chronological order to the following. I’ll just put the stories to paper as they come to remembrance.

Arkansas Extended Cab Pickup Truck

We have traveled to Sturm’s range in Springdale (AKA Sprigdale [that’s another story]), Arkansas a few times to shoot the Winter Indoor Classic. On one of these trips we arrived the day before the match and settled into the hotel. We arose early, as is our custom, and started to walk across the parking lot to a restaurant for breakfast.

It was very cold and spitting a little snow as we huddled against the wind on our trek to the restaurant. I spotted a pickup pulling into the parking lot with what appeared to be a recliner in the back. I said to Johnny, “ Look at that, an Arkansas extended cab pickup.” I was trying to make a joke about how folks in Arkansas are a little back woodsy. Johnny didn’t seem to think much of my joke and we continued on towards the restaurant. As it happened, we got to the entrance at the same time as the man and women who arrived in the pickup. Johnny, being more outgoing than me, said to the couple as we approached the front door of the restaurant, “I see you folks are driving one of those Arkansas extended cab pickup trucks.” The immediate reply from the lady was, “We just came from the nursing home where we picked up the chair. It belonged to my favorite aunt who just died.”

Johnny’s jaw dropped and he sheepishly said, “Oh, I’m very sorry.” I was about to bust a gut but was able to hold my laughter as we entered the restaurant. And wouldn’t you know they seated us in a booth next to that couple. Johnny and I had the buffet breakfast and didn’t speak during the meal.

The man and women finally finished and left the restaurant at which time Johnny and I both broke down in uncontrollable laughter.

Traveling in High Style

Another of our trips to shoot the Winter Indoor Match included a third person. Abe Lattell wanted to go and offered to drive his cadillac. Johnny and I thought it would be a great idea to travel in style to the match. Abe’s satellite navigation system didn’t work and his navigation skills are worse than mine. Somewhere in Oklahoma he made a wrong turn onto the Indian Nation Turnpike and we were forced to travel 50 to 60 miles out of our way. It wasn’t a big deal because Abe was showing three digits on his speedometer to keep from losing time. I thought this was pretty funny but Johnny was not thrilled. Maybe he was unhappy because he had to listen to the “books on tape” that Abe had blaring from the speakers in the car. The worst part for Johnny was listening to the tape the whole way back to Houston. Abe, I love you like a brother, so take my advice and don’t ask Johnny to go on any long trips with you again.

That’s Our Exit

Somehow I have assumed the roll as navigator for our trips. Johnny is quick to point out that I often tell him that the exit we just passed was the one we needed to take. I’ll admit to one, possibly two times that has happened. You know how Johnny is prone to embellish the stories he tells.

Should have Ordered the Child’s Plate

Johnny and I went to the Kansas State match that was held in Dexter, Kansas a few years back. I have kinfolk all over that part of the country so I’m fairly familiar with the area. I suggested that we stop by Daisy May’s in Arkansas City, Kansas for breakfast prior to the match. This restaurant is typical of a small town café where the local farmers come to drink coffee and catch up on the latest farm and market reports. I’d been telling him that they serve the biggest pancakes you could ever want. He of course thought I was exaggerating.

So we went into Daisy May’s and I ordered a short stack and he ordered a three-egg omelet. When the food arrived my two pancakes were covering the large platter and his omelet looked like a loaf of bread on the platter. I was able to eat most of the pancakes and Johnny got almost half of his omelet down before giving up. When the waitress came by and asked if he was through eating he replied, “It was great but I couldn’t eat another bite.” To which she promptly replied, “Well, if you couldn’t eat it all, you should have ordered the child’s plate.” That may be the only time that I’ve seen Johnny speechless.

There ain’t nothin’, like a good hard ……….

We left Houston before the crack of dawn on a trip to shoot a major IDPA match, I’ve forgotten where but it was out of state. We stopped somewhere along 59 to grab a quick sausage, egg and cheese biscuit. Randy Masters, on his way to the same match, drove into the parking lot as we arrived. We exchanged pleasantries while we ate. As we were loading up to hit the road again, Randy asked, “Do you have a CD player in your truck?” Johnny replied, “Sure, why?” Randy said, “ Here take this, you will find some interesting songs on it that you might enjoy and it will help pass the time on your trip.” So we took the CD and started down the road. Johnny loaded the CD into the player as we drove up the entrance ramp to 59.

The music started playing just as we approached highway speeds. It was a country tune with a pretty good beat by an artist we didn’t recognize. And as soon as the singer got to the part where he sang, “There ain’t nothin’, like a good hard ……”, Johnny almost lost control of the truck and we swerved as he reacted to the song. It turns out that the CD was X rated. We had to listen to the songs a number of times as we traveled to the match. And Randy was right; it did help the time pass quickly.

Deliverance

Our first trip to shoot at Bill Wilson’s range was an adventure. The range is located somewhere in the back woods near Berryville, Arkansas. We had a rough hand drawn map but would never have found the place without the signs some kind person put up along the roads.

We found ourselves driving on a narrow dirt road barely wide enough for my truck. The road was full of sharp turns with precipitous treks up the side of one ridge and down another. Johnny was sure he could hear banjo music and was digging behind the seat for his AR.

Johnny and sleep

Something I learned about Johnny is that he can go to sleep faster than anyone I know. We usually share the hotel expense by getting a room with two double beds. Johnny will climb into bed and pull the covers up around is chin. And before I can get my pillow positioned just right I can hear him purring.

Rude Awakening

We broke our own rule once on our way back from the Missouri State Match in Columbia, Missouri. The rule is that when we get tired of driving that we find a hotel and rack up for the night.

We left the match shortly after it was over Sunday afternoon and headed towards Houston. When we reached the Texas state line we decided that we would drive all the way through. Johnny was getting really tired of driving by the time we reached Dallas so I took over for a while. I felt pretty good because I’d gotten a few catnaps in as we drove. Johnny tilted the seat back and promptly went to sleep. About 100 miles south of Dallas I spotted a road gator. A road gator is the tread from the tire of some 18-wheeler and looks a lot like an alligator laying in the road. It was square in my path so I moved to the right to avoid running over it and possibly damage Johnny’s truck.

The truck started running over the rumble strips that they put along the side of the road to warn drivers if they go to sleep or something. They made an awful noise and vibration at that time of the morning. Johnny shot bolt upright with his eyes wide open as if someone had hit him with a cattle prod. I don’t know how long it took him to get the adrenalin out of his system and his heart rate back to normal.

Side Trips

When time permits, we take a side trip to see something interesting. This was the case one time as we left the state match in Arkansas. I told Johnny about a place not too far off our route that was a fish hatchery. Several years before I had attended a family reunion at Roaring River State Park in Missouri. Roaring River is a natural spring fed creek that is used to hatch fresh water trout. It is a picturesque setting in a small canyon just across the Arkansas/Missouri state line. We spent an hour or so looking at some of the biggest trout you will ever see and enjoyed feeding the fingerlings and watching men and women, boys and girls trying to catch fish in the creek.

We left Missouri feeling truly refreshed and headed for Texas. About an hour later we missed a turn and crossed from Arkansas to Oklahoma. Rather than backtrack we decided to continue on and in another couple of hours crossed into Texas. So in a span of three hours we drove into four different states.

The Scenic Route

On a trip to the Missouri State match in Columbia, Missouri we decided we would take the scenic route through Arkansas. We had heard that highway 71 that runs up the western edge of the state was a pretty drive. The countryside was not all that spectacular but the drive was even worse. It is a narrow two-lane highway with twists and turns that make it practically impossible to pass a slow moving vehicle. And there are a lot of small towns along the way that impede your progress.

By the time we got off that road, Johnny was fit to be tied. To say that Johnny is not the most patient and forgiving driver would be an understatement. If you look up “Road Rage” in the dictionary you will find Johnny’s picture. Johnny’s vocabulary is full of colloquialisms, and he used most of them on this trip. I started a number of times to enumerate some of his expletives. But after several false starts I’ve decided that most are not ready for use in polite society aside from being politically incorrect.

I have to admit though, that I find myself using some of his colorful sayings in Houston rush hour traffic.

As many of you know, I am in the third year of my first term on the Board of Directors of the National Rifle Association. The NRA Annual Meeting of Members was held last weekend in Orlando, Florida and we had committee meetings virtually the entire preceding week. The Board meeting is actually on the Monday after the Annual Meeting of the members.

To say the week was busy would be an understatement. We start early and work as late as required to finish our committee work. How long this takes varies by committee, but if anyone is elected to the Board thinking its an honorary title, they don't last long.

There is usually a Friends of the NRA Dinner on Friday night and a banquet on Saturday nights after the formal Meeting of the Members and its always great. This year was a little different. As everyone knows, Charlton Heston has served as President of the NRA for six years, the only person to have served more than the customary two year term. In all likelihood, he would have been re-elected, had he not been stricken with Alzheimers.

Many people believe Mr. Heston was elected and re-elected simply because he brought celebrity status to the office, but that couldn't be further from the truth. To honor Mr. Heston for his tireless service, a special Tribute to Charlton Heston was held on Friday night, while the Friends of the NRA Dinner was moved to Thursday night. Mr. Heston and Lydia, his wife of 50+ years, were on stage during the tribute that was narrated by Tom Selleck. Several of Mr. Heston's video clips of hundreds of speeches and appearances on behalf of the NRA, its members and pro-rights candidates were included, as one would expect. What came as a surprise to many people was the dedication to civil rights Mr. Heston has shown throughout his life. He was one of the relatively few whites to march with Martin Luther King in Washington, D.C., a show of courage that would become a hallmark of his character.

Martha and I sat in front of the stage and watched Mr. Heston, Lydia and the video tribute in awe. We were struck with just how much Mr. Heston has done not only for the NRA, but also for what we often refer to as the pro-gun movement, but which is more accurately termed a pro-rights movement. Marching with Dr. King is not so different from promoting pro-gun candidates; both require a heartfelt respect for our God-given freedoms protected by the United States Constitution and most state constitutions. In his six years as NRA President, he traveled tens of thousands of miles, gave thousands of speeches and interviews and was often verbally attacked and ridiculed by those who would deprive Americans of their Constitutional right keep and bear arms.

We've all seen several standing ovations, but the one given to Charlton Heston and Lydia was the most sincere expression of appreciation given to a great American I have ever seen in my 53 years. I am not what one would call an overly emotional person, as Martha will certainly confirm. However, watching Charlton Heston and Lydia walk from the stage and repeatedly wave and throw kisses to we who love and admire him so dearly, then disappear behind the curtain was one of the more difficult moments in my life. I kept thinking, "look at what this man has done and how much we are losing!"

Charlton Heston a celebrity figurehead? Hardly! He is the consummate patriot who has always been willing to put the rights of others before his own interests; one who worked through his own physical pain and exhaustion to carry the fight for freedom to anyone who would listen.

I always find the NRA committee and board meetings to be rejuvenating, especially the Annual Meeting with tens of thousands of NRA members present. This year, however, was in a class by itself. Mr. Heston is now physically gone from the NRA Presidency, but his spirit and dedication will be long remembered and will serve as an inspiration for all who truly believe in freedom. We can show our respect to him by doubling our efforts to draw more people into the NRA. There are approximately 13,000.000 hunting licenses sold each year, so why is the NRA a 4,000,000 member organization rather than a 13,000,000 organization? To be sure, the NRA is the most powerful and successful civil rights organization the world has ever known, but one can only imagine what could be accomplished with our membership doubled or tripled.

And what about TSRA? Why do we have approximately 35,000 members, when NRA membership in Texas is close to 300,000? If all NRA members would join TSRA, what politician, State or local, would dare tread on our freedoms?

Starting at the Texas State IDPA Championship on June 7, 2003 and continuing at each monthly match, you will see NRA and TSRA membership applications and a catalog for the NRA store. If you are not a member, please join and encourage each and every family member to do likewise. The NRA and the pro-rights movement is stronger than ever in our history, but the threat is hardly over. The Brady Campaign Against Gun Violence is just waiting until the 2004 elections, while praying the U.S. economy will remain soft until election day. Remember, a change in the White House means a change not only in the President, but also the U.S. Attorney General and the real likelihood of nominating at least two new Supreme Court Justices. We are strong, but we need to be stronger yet.

The NRA offers the Tribute to Charlton Heston on VHS or DVD and the video also has several clips from many speeches and appearances he has made over the years. Every patriot should own it. God speed Mr. Heston.

I’ve been asked to explain my extraordinary luck when it comes to winning guns at various shooting competitions. It’s very simple, good clean living. I don’t go to these events with the thought of winning something in a prize drawing; I go to win my division and classification in the shooting competition.

The legend of my winning ways started at the Mississippi State IDPA Championship a couple of years ago. They were giving away a Smith & Wesson Model 610 revolver. I was talking with Joe Bailey while we waited for the scores to be posted. I jokingly told him that I was going to win the gun and that I would sell it to him right then for $100. He refused to believe me and claimed that he was going to win. I gave him another opportunity to buy the gun just before the drawing and he declined. As you can imagine, he was surprised when my name was drawn and he missed the chance to have the gun for a paltry $100.

My next win came at the Oklahoma State IDPA Championship. Again we were gathered around a table as the prizes were handed out. I told Joe again that I was going to win a gun and he scoffed at the idea. Sure enough, my name came up for a Glock. Joe missed another opportunity.

This year I struck gold again at the Arkansas State IDPA Championship. This time it was a Khar MK40 in 40 S&W, stainless steel with tritium night sights that had a retail value of $773. Joe claimed he called to me that he would buy the gun before my name was drawn, but I didn’t hear him and don’t believe that he really offered to buy before the drawing.

So I guess the moral to the story is that if I offer to sell my chance to win a gun in a drawing that folks should take me a little more seriously.

I purchased a chance on a Scattergun Technologies Model 870 that will be given away at the IDPA Nationals this year. I paid $10 for the ticket and will consider selling the ticket to interested parties. The Texas State IDPA match is just around the corner and they are giving away at least seven guns. So who knows? Maybe I’ll get lucky again.

I just read an article published by Reuters entitled “Oh heck: Hell hath no place in American primary and high school textbooks”. Basically the people who publish textbooks in the U.S. have banned a number of words because they are offensive, ageist, sexist, elitist, religious, or considered too strong for public consumption.

So I wondered how this new politically correct language might be applied in our normal everyday conversations concerning the IDPA.

We will no longer refer to someone as a Master, Expert (both are too elitist), Marksman (sexist) or Novice (condescending). We are left with only Sharpshooter in all divisions. So we can do away with the Classifier (a system used in the evaluation of people and considered inappropriate by some) because everyone is a Sharpshooter anyhow.

Everyone who signs up for a shooting match will receive a trophy. It would be unfair for just a few to receive recognition for their performance. No scores will be totaled because we don’t want to hurt anybody’s feelings by ranking them and pointing out their shortcomings. No “high senior” trophy because it's ageist. Definitely no “high ladies” trophy can be awarded because it’s sexist. You will not be able to ask for an entry fee because some might feel they were being discriminated against due to their particular income bracket.

We can do away with the rulebook. Or at least rename it as “Guidebook”. Rules are too restrictive and limit one’s ability to push the envelope and explore new territory. All the 27 rules in the book will now become 27 guides. A procedural penalty (too harsh) will become a procedural allocation. No longer will there be a “Failure (condescending) to do Right (religious connotation)” penalty. On the plus side there will be no more weak (condesending) hand or strong (elitist) hand only shooting.

No longer will there be “threat” (intimidating) targets. Now they will just be “targets”. Shoot houses (inflammatory) are out too. Hit (offensive) on a Non-threat will become “engaging a nonspecific target”.

Verbalization (particularly using words that are offensive or inflammatory) will have to be closely monitored. “Show me your hands” when used in a commanding voice (bully) is unacceptable while “Please, show me your hands” is OK. The use of words or phrases like dip wad, scumbag, numbskull and anything related to their parentage or sexual orientation is strictly forbidden.

The use of hell, damn and crap will not be allowed when someone screws up a scenario. The only allowed expletives are darn, heck, shucks and oops. God, Jesus, The Holy Ghost, the Virgin Mary, Ala, Zeus, Ronald Reagan, Roy Rogers, Mr. Ed, Charlton Heston or any angelic being cannot be mentioned or referenced in any context because they are too religious. This sanitization of our vocabulary will take a lot of work but it can be done.

2003 Texas State IDPA Championship
by
Gary W. Burris

The 2003 Texas State IDPA Championship has gone into the history books. The match was held again this year at the PSC Shooting Club near Friendswood, Texas. I accepted the position as Range Master for the event and my job was to select scenarios, fit them into five shooting bays and produce a shooter’s book for the event.

My plan from day one was to make this a “gadget” match. Meaning that there would be a variety of moving targets. This I combined with courses of fire that would closely emulate real world events, and challenge shooters at all levels from novice to master.

There was a lot of work performed by folks who don’t get much credit for their work. Among those are Mike Oliver and Tim Fisher. These two guys used their creative talents and mechanical abilities to construct most of the props used in the match. They built walls, doors, and a car and an airplane fuselage using PVC, plastic panels, wood, deck screws and tie wraps.

I wanted a way to activate the moving targets without pulling a rope or shooting steel. (You may have read my article published in the Tactical Journal titled, “A Case for Safety” that addresses this issue.) Once the courses of fire were tentatively selected, a number of very creative ideas were researched involving various mechanical means of activating moving targets. I discussed what I wanted to do with Charles Cotton. Charles, aside from being a lawyer and NRA board member, is one of the officers of the IDPA club at PSC. He mentioned that he had a friend, Randy Allen, who was an electrical engineer and might take on the challenge of creating a means of electronically activating the targets. Randy accepted the challenge and not only designed the electronics that were powered by 12-volt batteries, but he also designed the mechanical actuation devices that pulled the cord that tripped the movers.

I was getting a little nervous because I had not seen a working system and with the match only a couple of weeks away, I started making contingency plans. We met at the range the Saturday before the match to test the system. The electronics consisted of a control box that had little lights to tell when the device was powered, armed and aligned properly. And there were the transmitter and receiver units (electronic eyes) and a solenoid. Mechanics involved a hinged trip that released a spring-loaded arm to pull the cord. The device exceeded my expectations. I insisted that there be at least two back-up systems but the things worked so well during the match that we never had to make use of the spares. We used a deep cycle marine battery to power each electronic device and they ran all day without the need to recharge. A large debt of gratitude is owed Randy for the many hours he donated to the design and fabrication of these devices.

Another of the innovative ideas we utilized was the use of trip sticks that were hinged in the middle and the pull-cord was tied to an eyebolt opposite the hinge. This reduced the amount of force required to trip the movers. It also eliminates the problem of the stick catching on the target stand or the ground making it hard to trip. I’d like to claim credit for the idea but it is copied from a similar device I saw at the Alabama State Match a couple of years ago.

Scenario #1 (Let’s Go to Cuba) was premised on the idea that you were an air martial and a gang of hijackers took over the plane. Your job was to eliminate the armed bad guys and save the plane full of passengers and crew. Three hijackers were in the cabin area, and were engaged from a seated position. The shooter moved to a kneeling position that tripped a swinger using one of the flight crew as cover. The shooter then moved toward the cockpit and eliminated another two hijackers. We made good use of the electronic eye to trip the swinger. The plane’s fuselage was constructed of PVC and covered with landscaping and camouflage cloth. Passenger seats were wooden frames set in target stands with IDPA targets upside down that simulated seat backs.

Scenario #2 (No Good Parking) is an adaptation of one of the scenarios from the 2002 IDPA National Championship match. The shooter has put his groceries in the trunk and is standing by the passenger door with his hand on the door handle about to open it for his spouse when armed robbers exit a grocery store with the intention of hijacking your car and doing harm to you and your spouse. Two of the bad guys move around the corner with your spouse as hostage and the shooter engages another two bad guys with three shots in tactical sequence while retreating to the rear of his car. From a position of cover he then engages the other two bad guys with three shots each until his guns goes empty. His spare magazine or speed loader is in the trunk with the groceries so he must reach into the trunk to reload and finish the job. I wanted to use a real car for this scenario but the range at PSC has a rule that no vehicles are allowed on the range. The solution to this problem was to build a car using PVC and plastic sheeting.

Scenario #3 (Deadly “D” Rated Movie) was staged in an upscale movie theater. The shooter was seated with his back to the targets, his strong arm around his friend and a box of popcorn in his weak hand. A gang of four decided to rob all the moviegoers of their cash and Rolex watches. At the signal the shooter shoved his friend to the floor and engaged the bad boys in tactical priority from a kneeling position. My original plan was to use one of our electric eyes to trip a pop-up target that would appear sometime between engagement of the first and second targets. When the pop-up appeared, it would be the nearest threat and the shooter would have to break off his engagement with other targets and take care of the pop-up before continuing. However, I had to change the plan because the pop-up appeared before any other targets could be engaged. I needed a time delay. We’re working on adding an adjustable time delay into the electronics so look for that at another match.

Scenario #4 (Hit and Run) was loosely based on a mugging incident. Three armed muggers appear from a dark alley and demand your money or your life. The shooter drew his gun and engaged the shooters in tactical sequence while retreating to cover. The shots slowed their advance but the shooter had to finish them off with one additional shot to the body and another to the head of each mugger.

Scenario #5 (Little Red Wagon) had no basis in real life but was designed to test a few of the shooter’s skills including shooting on the move at a moving target, shooting a swinging target and long shots from the left side of a barricade. During the design stage we played with a number of ideas for the running target. Our problems were solved when the local IPSC club offered their running target if we wanted to use it in the match. This saved us a lot of design and construction time. I had to modify the stage layout by moving the swinging target out to the end of the frame of the running target to prevent damage to the IPSC club’s equipment. We used one of the electric eyes to trip the running target. The shooter started moving to cover at the signal, tripped the runner and could engage it while moving. The runner took approximately 5 ½ seconds from trip to end of run. However, it started behind a wall and disappeared behind another so was only visible for about 3 seconds. This was plenty of time to engage it three times. The runner tripped the swinging target near the end of its run. And there were two additional targets downrange to engage.

Scenario #6 (Coffee Break-In) was an office setting. An armed gang has broken into an office building and is moving through shooting and robbing people. The shooter is seated at his desk with a cup of coffee in his strong hand. He hears the commotion and opens the door to the hallway that activates a swinging target he engages, and then has to fight his way out. The shooting order depended on which side of the hallway he was on while he moved to escape. This was one of those scenarios that a shooter had to try to plan in advance how best to shoot the course of fire. Many shooters, including me, had their plans fly out the window when the buzzer went off.

Scenario #7 (Time is Running Out) had the shooter standing in his back yard enjoying the humming birds flittering around his feeder when he hears the screams of his spouse emanating from his house. At the signal the shooter moved toward his back door and an electric eye tripped a falling target that appeared and quickly disappeared in his back window. When the shooter opened the door he was confronted with a swinging target using his spouse for cover as well as four other armed invaders going through his belongings. The falling target disappeared fairly quickly and I was concerned that Marksman shooters might not be able to engage it before it was gone. But we discovered that almost everyone got at least two and sometimes four shots on paper. This was largely due to the fact the shooter could draw his gun before he tripped the target. I heard that only one shooter failed to hit paper.

Scenario #8 (Hall of Horror) had the store manager preparing to go home for the evening. His gun was laying out on the filing cabinet when a group of bad guys decided that the company was ripe for picking. The shooter retrieved his handgun and engaged a bad guy while retreating. As he reaches a corner, he trips an electric eye and another bad guy who was using his secretary for cover pushes her aside and presents his weapon. The shooter then neutralizes the threat and looks down the hallway to see even more armed men. After taking care of this threat he runs across the hallway to save another employee from a couple of bad guys. The walls of this stage were constructed of PVC and plastic sheeting. I added a couple of barricades at the end of the walls to provide the shooter with cover. Several shooters ran into the barricade as they retreated from the first threat target. This caused us to have to re-align the electric eyes. That process was made easy by the way the electronics was designed. I considered a number of ways to prevent the shooter from running into the barricade. But after giving it some thought, I decided that in a real life situation the shooter probably would run into the barricade anyway. So I elected not to change the setup for the match.

Scenario #9 (The Standard State) was purely a skills test. It consisted of three targets and threelimited Vickers strings of fire. From the first position the shooter engaged the targets freestyle in tactical sequence with two shots each. Shooting from the second position was the same except that it was strong hand only. The third shooting position was the same again except it was weak hand only and the shooter started pointing at the bottom of the center target. This was the only scenario in Bay E because it is a narrow bay. Shooters who did well on this stage slowed down, got a good sight picture and made good hits.

I’ve started designing a whole new set of scenarios using the electric eyes and moving targets. You can expect to see some real fun and challenging stuff at the next major match in the Houston, Texas area.

This match as raised the bar as far as innovative methods of activating moving targets through the use of electric eyes. I know that a lot of other clubs will be interested in building something similar. Contact me at gary@tacticalshooters.com for information.

Assigned Squad or Open Squad
by
Gary W. Burris

The pros and cons surrounding how we squad the shooters at our matches is something that might be fun to explore. Why does assigned squads or open squads work at one match and not the next? What really affects which works better?

Can we use the IDPA National Championship as a benchmark example? The Nationals always has assigned squads. It is obvious they do this because there are a large number of shooters that need to be organized into manageable size groups over a multiple day competition. So one could assume that assigned squads are best for large competitions or multiple day competitions. But the question remains, if assigned squads work for large groups, will it work for small groups?

I’ve heard a lot of shooters say that they like open squads. And I agree. Not that I dislike assigned squads, but I have more freedom to shoot the scenarios in the order of my choice. I can take a break anytime I want without feeling that I’m delaying the other shooters. And I can shoot with my pals.

There are some traps in the open squad format. If shooters stay together and move as a large group between scenarios, they can create a bottleneck. Shooters in open squad shooting will pass up scenarios that appear difficult and wait until the end to shoot this course of fire. Makes for a long day. Some shooters will delay starting for an hour or two and just observe the other shooters. The point being, if you start shooting late you will finish late. Some will put their score sheet in several bays and hope they finish one bay in time to shoot the next without a long wait. They end up going to the end of the shooting order and the net result is that it takes them longer than if they just went from bay to bay.

There are traps that affect both formats. Things like scenarios that have multiple strings or extended reset times will cause bottlenecks.

A review of some of the big matches I attended this year includes the Alabama State Match (assigned squads), the Arkansas State Match (open squad), Texas Regional and Texas State (both open squad). There were some small problems at each match but it’s difficult to attribute the problems to the type of system that was used.

The big matches may not give a clear understanding of what type of system works best for local club matches. We have five IDPA clubs in the Houston area. Three use open squads and two have assigned squads at their matches. I’d have to say that each of these seems to run smoothly. So no real answers here either.

If I was pressured into giving my opinion about what type of system works best, I’d have to say the following: It makes no real difference when less than 100 shooters are in the match. However, over 100 shooters I believe that assigned squads will work best.