Quickest Reload
by
Gary W. Burris

Here’s the scenario. A twelve shot Vickers count scenario with two cover shooting positions. Three targets are engage from each shooting position with two shots each.

This scenario was part of the August match at the Thunder IDPA Club. I watched several shooters as I tried to determine which type of reload would be fastest.

Some preferred the slide lock reload. It seemed fairly quick except for the fact that they had to reload in the middle of the engagement and then reacquire the targets.

Still others opted for a tactical reload at the second shooting position. This seemed faster to me because the shooter could access his spare magazine as he moved to the second shooting position and only had to acquire the targets once. In fact, the majority of the shooters used this method.

I decided to try something a little different. I performed my tactical reload after engaging the first set of targets and before moving to the second shooting position.

The reasoning was that I felt that I could shave some time off the clock by doing the reload prior to moving. It seemed to me that accessing a spare magazine or stuffing a partially used magazine on the move was a wash as far as time was concerned. The actual reload itself took the same amount of time. So where did I expect to gain a time advantage?

First, let’s look at the process for reloading at the second shooting position.
1. Shooter begins moving to second shooting position and accesses spare magazine on way to cover
2. Shooter moves behind cover
3. Shooter performs tactical reload and stuffs partially used magazine
4. Shooter moves or adjusts position to acquires targets and engages

Second, let’s look at the process of reloading at the first shooting position.
1. Shooter performs tactical reload
2. Shooter begins moving to second shooting position and stuffs partially used magazine on way to cover
3. Shooter moves or adjusts position to acquire targets and engages

I had one of the fastest times, if not the fastest time, on this scenario. Was this because I discovered a way to beat everyone else on the reload? No way! I just had a quick trigger finger, forget the points down. But I think the reload before moving method deserves some thought.

The 2003 IDPA Nationals was held this year at the Central Arkansas Shooters Association (CASA) range near Little Rock, Arkansas. This was the fourth time I’ve worked as a Safety Officer at Nationals. And for me, it was the best so far.

I want to extend a special thank you to Match Director, John May. John and the other CASA members have worked many long and hard hours to get the range in shape for this event. I traveled to the range from Houston and arrived about noon on Monday the week of the event. Our Arkansas friends were just taking a lunch break and insisted that I join them. After lunch I went to work helping clean little bits and pieces of trash from the range.

Tuesday was spent setting up the targets and other props. We spent a lot of time tweaking the courses of fire. Safety was uppermost in our minds as we looked for things like possible muzzle problems.

J.D. Nap arrived late in the day with his usual array of radio-controlled movers. We had to build six walls and set up the tracks for his movers. Everyone had an opinion about how this stage should be set up. We all finally settled on having eight threat targets, including the two movers, making it a sixteen round stage. The stage was a “blind” stage owing to the fact that the shooter did not know from what direction the movers would start.

The Safety Officers and staff shot the match on Wednesday. This would be the final chance for us to do some minor adjustments and by the end of the day things were ready to go. Everyone headed for the showers and then on to the reception held for shooters at the Baymont Inn. A tent was set up in the back parking lot where we could meet and greet the shooters.

We had contestants from Slovenia, Italy, England, Japan and Venezuela. One of the great things about going to the IDPA National Championship is seeing old friends and making new ones. I got to know some of our shooting friends from Slovenia and Italy at this match.

Johnny Van Etta was the Chief Safety Officer for the bay with stages 7, 8 & 9. There was some thought of throwing out one of the stages because it was felt that this bay would be a bottleneck. Johnny argued against throwing out one of the stages and suggested that if he was given his “War Ponies” that he could make the bay work. So Joe Bailey, Dale Hunnicutt and myself were assigned to help Johnny fulfill his guarantee to Bill Wilson and John May.

I ran shooters through stage 8 and while a couple of Safety Officers from the local club taped and scored my stage, I kept score for Joe Bailey while he ran shooters through stage 7. I then taped stage 7 while Joe went to help Dale Hunnicutt on stage 9. Johnny did the course walkthrough for all the stages and kept score for Dale. We did not allow shooters to help tape targets. Ours was the only bay in the match that shooters did not have to help tape. The whole thing ran like clockwork. Thanks to Johnny, our bay was never a bottleneck. Many of the shooters expressed their thanks for the way they moved through the stages.

Dale Hunnicutt
by
Gary W. Burris

Everyone who really knows Dale has great admiration for him. I think I first met him at one of the IDPA matches held at Eagle Lake about six years ago.

I’ve never seen Dale without a smile and the offer of a friendly handshake. He started several years ago shooting at a public range in the National Forest just for practice. He invited anyone who wanted to improve to join him. That impromptu training has evolved into the Tactical Trainers. I have no idea how many champion shooters he has trained along the way, but most of the shooters in the Houston area owe their success to Dale.

Dale is a fierce competitor as well. He is an IDPA master shooter who strives to win in every competition. I remember when he had surgery on his right hand and started shooting left handed at the Tactical Shooters Club. This did not slow him down enough for me to beat him. In fact, he finished on top almost every Tuesday evening. After he recovered from the surgery, he went back to shooting right handed and was even better than before. He switched again to left handed shooting just a couple of months before the 2003 IDPA National competition. I think it is a testimony to his shooting ability that he finished 6th in the nation in his division.

Dale is extremely active in shooting activities in the Houston area. He is on the Board of Directors of the Texas Defensive Pistol Safety Association IDPA club that meets at Eagle Lake. Every month he is one of the first to arrive and start setting up the stages he has designed for the match. He is also an officer of the EasTex Tactical IDPA club that holds matches at the 59 Range in North Houston. He helped to start the Humble Tactical Shooters that shoots at the Sportsman’s Outlet in Humble, Texas. He also helped get the Thunder IDPA club started in the Conroe, Texas area. You will find him shooting the match at Pearland Shooting Club IDPA on the first Saturday of the month. And every Sunday he can be found giving instruction and encouragement to shooters at his Tactical Trainers session. All of this, and he still finds time to attend as many major IDPA competitions as he can.

Dale will attend almost every area gun show. He will be buying primers or looking for bargains on some gun part. I don’t know how many bullets he reloads but he keeps a good portion of the shooting community in Houston supplied with ammunition.

October TSC IDPA Match and Mud Race
by
Gary W. Burris

This is a special report about our October 2003 Tactical Shooters Club match. The event started several weeks prior to the match with planning and scenario design. Bob Wolff and Gary Burris worked the Friday before the match setting up the courses of fire. Nine scenarios were set up in three of the five shooting bays. The middle bay was reserved for anyone who wanted to shoot a few rounds to warm up.

The weather forecast called for mainly afternoon thunderstorms and it was hoped that we could get the match completed by noon. There were fewer participants than anticipated but the dedicated group of shooters was ready at the 9:00 o’clock starting time.

Due to the fewer than expected number of shooters we assembled into a single squad and started shooting the first three scenarios. It showered on us a couple of times but it didn’t dampen the enthusiasm of the shooters. After we completed the scenarios in the first bay, we split into two squads and moved to the next two bays in hopes of speeding up the match and getting through before the weather got worse.

My squad completed the scenarios in the second bay and moved to the last bay. With the weather looking more and more threatening, it was decided to call the match. So everyone picked up their shooting bags and headed for cover.

Mother Nature had a surprise stage waiting for us as we headed for the gate. Phil Oxley’s shooting range was transformed into a mud-racing track. (Phil, you need to give some thought to the possibilities here.) At least three vehicles made it through to solid ground. The rest of us were at the mercy of our fellow competitors. Three of us waited and watched as the others fishtailed down the track. We saw a number of vehicles stopped on and off the road facing a number of directions. So we waited to see if any of them got going again.

Fritz Herbst decided that he would attempt to run the gauntlet. Fritz obviously had a plan. He left the road just before getting to the spot where others were stuck and followed the abandoned old road. I watched as wild man Fritz did a couple of 360-degree turns and was surprised to see him fade from site as he made his way to solid ground.

I made the decision that I would follow his lead and started down the path of no return. Johnny Van Etta was standing beside the road gesturing for me to drop the hammer as I left the main road in the tracks left by Fritz. In all the excitement I lost track of the path made by Fritz. I saw the big bog area coming quickly and tried to speed up to punch my way through. I got just past half way and no more. I got out and decided that I was there for the duration. That is when I saw the tracks left by Fritz skirting around the bog area. I asked him how he missed the big holes that Phil had cut into the ground and he said, “ What holes?” Just blind luck kept Fritz from dropping his big Ford truck into one of these holes. I knew the holes were there and that is why I stayed on the old road.

I was proud of all the shooters for hanging around to help with the mud race following the shooting match. Everyone got to play in the mud including Steve Gates, Roy Renteria, John Del Toro, Eric Cooper, J.P. Guidry, Ron Runtz, Dave Rossetty and Dave O’Bitene. But the guy that had the most fun (and a 4-wheel drive vehicle) was Bernardo Haro.

Bernardo, with a lot of advice, several false starts and some Aggie jury-rigging, was able to finally pull my Silverado out of the swamp. Mine was the last vehicle the mud gave up, so we all went for lunch and I bought the first round.

To sum it all up, the match was disappointing due to not being able to shoot all the stages. And the time spent in the mud pit was something less than fun. I know that some shooters will not return until we have good, dependable access in all weather conditions. On the bright side, we all have some interesting stories to tell about the first Tactical Shooters Club IDPA match and mud race.