[kotengu]

Well - I just got back from the TN Tactical State Championship 3-gun match yesterday, and thought I'd share some more (kind of like therapy, right?). I didn't like how "gamey" it's become since I shot it first, but I guess that's what I get for going to the state champs - I also didn't like how biased the match was toward the mousegun - most rifle targets required 3 hits to have them considered neutralized, where the suped up AR-15 guys could pop a quick three in each it took me a bit longer with the FAL. Of course if you're going to shoot an AR I guess you'd better get used to having to hit somebody three times :p

Anyway - enough griping. I really enjoyed the match, and learned two more good lessons (well - sort of re-learned one twice) that I'd overlooked.

Lesson 1: (see pic below)
Learn to count, you !#$%!#$!% idiot!!!!!
My second stage started off with 3 hits required on 9 different targets with the rifle, so I pulled out my new 30-rd mag and a box of ammo (thinking how smart I was to get a couple 30rd mags to help avoid mag changes), left 3 in the box, and put the rest in the mag, as an afterthought I loaded a 2nd mag with 5 rounds in case I needed to make up any shots. Only problem was, I was still thinking in terms of twenty-round mags and didn't have the grey matter to realize I had only loaded 17 rounds in the first mag instead of the required 27. To make matters worse, when the bolt locked back only halfway through the targets the mag jammed in the gun, and after trying to dislodge it several times I had to rear back and HIT the sucker so hard it sent it flying downrange. I spread my remaining 5 rounds from the other mag through the remaining targets best I could, but still couldn't get them all. I had checked the 30rd mag for function prior to this, but never messed with it for mag changes or the like.

[kotengu]

Lesson 2: (again, pic below)
Know your patterning and load limits

Two stages down the road, I was introduced for the first time to the "Texas Star" - evil enough on its own, it consists of five steel plates arranged in a star pattern, that starts spinning and/or changes direction and speed every time you knock down a plate. What I learned was that #6 shot through an 18" cylinder bore at around 20yds won't put enough pellets on target to knock down those plates! I hit them all at least three times each before I gave up and went on to the standard plate rack on the left and finished the stage not only with a very slow time, but five "unhit" targets as a nice bonus. I was having a funny conversation with the RO while I was shooting that went something like this:
"What the @#$%??? Why are they not going down"
"I don't know"
"Can I transition to pistol?"
"Only if your shotgun has a malfunction or is defective"
"Well - it's not knocking down the plates, that seems pretty !#$%!#$ defective to me!!!!"

The "real world" lesson I gained from this is that at that range, with that choke and load, the shotgun could not deliver very much energy at all to the target, while my .45 had no problems at all knocking down the very same plates on the next part of the stage.

[Andrew Wyatt]

what were they using, rules wise?

[kotengu]

"Standard USPSA" - whatever that means. I kept hearing "Vickers" being used, but I'm not completely clear on how that works. All I know is that both speed and accuracy are important :D

Here's another stage that went a little better:

Begin with rifle slung and unloaded, pistol loaded with 8 rounds only and holstered, both hands on the ladder. At the buzzer, draw pistol and engage 8 well-spaced cardboard targets with one shot each. Re-holster empty pistol and climb tree stand. Sit down, load rifle, and engage 4 steel targets (1 “bowling pin” at 50yds, 2 “bowling pins” at 75 yds, and 1 reduced silhouette at about 120 yds).

[kotengu]

I was the only one there shooting .308 - some of the other competitors wanted to go downrange to check the steel "bowling pins" after I hit them because they thought I had disabled them when I hit them :D

[Skunkabilly]

So when I show up with my .30-06 with 10-round magazines, I might as well not check the scores huh? :D

[Andrew Wyatt]

It's great when someone shoots the SWAT match with a garand. it throws the plates a country mile.

[Zak Smith]

Texas Stars are fun. Most of the local clubs around here have at least one. Today at the local 3Gun match, we had one in the shotgun stage at about 12 yards. After the match, we stayed and did a short little shotgun side-match. $1 per run on the Star, from low ready, 8 rounds loaded. Winner takes all (and buys the rest of us lunch). The fastest time was in the low 2 seconds. My best was around 3.4 seconds.

Here's a good strategy for the Texas Star:

1. Shoot the all plates before it starts to rotate. Yes, it's possible.
2. Shoot the plates in an order to add the least amount of rotational speed to the rack.
3. Shoot each particular plate when it's not moving

-z

PS. I have been using #7.5 (Winchester AA127) and #4Buck (Federal "tactical" reduced recoil) through a Modified choke in the Benelli and it has had absolutely no problems knocking down plates out to about 30 yards. Haven't tried further.

[Dr.Rob]

That doesn't work when the star is partially concealed.

As for knocking the plates off, you can set the spring tension to ensure that the plates come off. We have had to set large poppers lightly to make sure a 9mm hit will knock them down.