January Match

I was WARM last night at the Wake County Range! The January match started just above freezing and dipped below freezing by the end of the match. I grabbed a screen shot from my phone before I headed home that night.

I wore fleece long johns and jeans. On the upper body: a wicking layer, a stretch fleece pull over, a cotton zip front hoodie sweat shirt and a down vest over it all. I stripped out of the vest and sweatshirt when it was my turn to shoot. I put chemical hand warmers in the pockets of the sweatshirt to keep my fingers warm. My socks were “Smart Wool” and my feet never got cold. Worked great!

I February it was slightly warmer and I stuffed the vest in my range bag. I drove home that night in sleet & snow. All this is to say I’ve just come to associate shooting with cold weather. But no more for this season!

I was in a t-shirt last night and the new challenge is juggling 5 magazine and pasters in my jean pockets. Helps if your t-shirt also has a pocket.

Don’t hit the good guy!

The “new thing” I experienced last night was a stage where you opened a door then shot targets behind a swinger that was a “no shoot”. Put another way, don’t shoot the moving target that is in the way of the stationary targets. The swinger was white versus the targets that are a neutral cardboard color. I grabbed a photo of another shooter after she opened the door. You can see the swinger leaning to the right.

First, you had to let go of the gun with one hand to open the door. Then focus on the stationary targets. It’s amazing how much that swinger could distract.

I only connected with one shot out of four on these targets… and the first thing I though was, “I want to try that again!”. So I will. The match on Wednesday, March 25th will use the same stages. I think I’ll switch from my 1911 to my XDS and see how I do.