Pistol Match

I missed the deadline for the postal match due to being entirely too busy all the time. Work is the curse of the drinking class, as they say. The club did put on a pin match, our first, as far as I know, and great fun was had by all. Lots of helpful suggestions were offered, from the friendly members to the shooters, several of which will NOT be repeated here.

Mr Completely shoots pins regularly, and would likely be appalled at how we do it. For example, we have no steel table at the correct regulation height, whatever that is, so we used a couple of sawhorses, which put the pins pretty close to head high for me. We used an old hollow core door for the surface, which meant that a low hit would not drop the pin from the lead splash. Instead, we had one shooter put 5 rounds so uniformly low that the door now sports a perfect set of holes in the near edge, almost exactly on the centerline of the edge, and the back edge has been knocked completely off.

There was some sentiment for leaving the doorknob on the door, but it was removed anyway. This allowed us to set the center pin upside down as an option, but again the organizers insisted that all the pins start out upright.

Scoring was strictly by time, from the start signal, to the point at which the last pin hit the ground. Remember the ground is somewhat further away than is usual. There is also an absolute time limit of 15 seconds, at the end of which, you must quit shooting and take 1 second per each pin left on the table. This is to keep the duffers from running out of ammo on the first table. Distance was 25 ft.

Following this was a cracker shoot, your choice, Ritz or square saltines. This match is shot with .22s, pistol and rifle. Scoring was an ad hoc method for which you loaded your gun to full capacity and were scored on your percentage of hits. 8/9 with an automatic beats 5/6 with a revolver. It was suggested that a confidant fellow could take a single shot gun, hit the first cracker, and quit with a score of 100%. This was ruled illegal, and a six-shot minimum was established. Eating your crackers afterward was optional.

Results will be posted shortly, I’m sure.