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Last Updated: Aug 28, 2009 - 10:45:21 AM |
I'm excited!
This is the closest that any USPSA National Match has been sited to my home of residence, in Corvallis, Oregon.
The Albany Rifle and Pistol Club (ARPC), my "home range", is host to
this national match. Although I know nothing about multi-gun matches,
I've signed on to help by 'working' the match. I don't know what I'm
going to be doing, but I assume it will be something on a par with
refilling the water kegs and taking out the trash. Literally.
I asked for a job which would allow me to move around the range and
film some of the stages. I've been told that "We'll find something for
you to do", but haven't heard anything from the match organizers since.
No problem, I'll show up tomorrow (Wednesday, July 26, 2006) early in
the morning and ask either Match Director (MD) Everett Mastrich or
Range Master (RM) Tom Chambers how I can help.
Here's what I know about Multi-Gun matches: they're subtly different from 3-gun matches.
Both involve several stages where you are challenged to engage
cardboard and steel targets (and sometimes "frangible" targets) with a
rifle, a shotgun, and/or a pistol.
The difference between the two is that in one of the disciplines, you
can use any two or even three of the firearm types on the same stage.
The other -- you only use one firearm on a given stage.
Admitting the extent of my ignorance here, I don't know which is which.
I THINK that Multigun matches require you to use multiple firearms on
the same stage, and 3-gun matches only allow you to use one firearm on
each match. But I'm not sure.
The match starts tomorrow (Wednesday), and lasts through Sunday. The
Wednesday match is the Range Officer(RO) Match, where those who have
volunteered to work as ROs are allowed to shoot the match for score.
This arrangement not only allows the ROs to shoot the match for free
(I'm not sure whether their scores are included in the overall
standings ... some matches do, some don't), but they also constitute a
"Dress Rehearsal" so the match administrators can see how Real Stages
stand up against Real Competitors.
It sometimes happens that a stage design is not as "robust" as it
should be, and flaws exist which would render conflicting
interpretations in how the stage should be engaged. This allows the
match administrators to fix the problem and only require one squad to
reshoot it after the correction. The alternative is to get part way
through the match before the flaw is found. The RM must then decide
whether to require all of the squads which have shot the stage to
re-shoot it after corrections have been applied, or to 'throw the stage
out', which means that the stage will be removed from the schedule and
all points scored by competitors who have shot the stage will not be
awarded stage points for shooting that stage.
The RO match will, hopefully, allow the Match Administrators to fix any problems before the Main Match Begins.
I found myself tempted, while writing that last sentence, to say " ...
before the Real Shooters start ...", but that is not correct. The Range
Officers may be "Real Shooters", in the sense that they are competing
for match points, awards and prizes as much as other shooters. The
difference is that they are contributing their time and efforts to the
match, rather than a match fee. Considering that the match runs for
five days, and the match fee is under $200, these volunteers are
essentially working for less than $40 a day, at best.
More, they are competing under conditions of more stress than those
shooters who have paid their match fee. The ROs not only have typically
been involved in the set-up and tear-down effort (a full day for the
latter, a full week for the former), but they typically do not have the
luxury of entering the match fresh and rested. Instead, they already be
sick to death of the stages, having worked for days to erect props, set
target arrays, perform the iteritive process of looking at each stage
to find flaws ... all this under the hot July sun which, this year in
Oregon, is oppressive presence.
Paradoxically, the Weather Service predicts 90+ degree weather for
Wednesday (the RO match), high eighties for Thursday (the MOG match --
more on that tomorrow), and down to the high seventies for the portion
of the match which constitute the "Rest Of The Match". Or, as we may
Incorrectly say: when the Real Shooters compete.
This website will follow the match from day to day, in an effort to
provide you with the learned lessons of a MultiGun Tyro and, hopefully,
expand your understanding of this unique shooting discipline.
In order to give you some background, I refer you to the various
Multi-gun competition rules at
3gunrules.com. In future posts I hope to find other Internet
referenced, but for now the best I can do is to refer you to previous
Cogito Ergo Geek posts which attempt to define the difference between
multi-gun and 3-gun matche here,
a blatantly sycophantic attempt to interest you in a "Practical
Shotgun" match here,
and a post which doesn't have any obvious relationship to either
multi-gun competition or 3-gun competition, but the blogspot search
engine inexplicitely linked to this
article.
Stay tuned.
As I learn about multi-gun competition, I'll be sharing my new-found
knowledge and experiences with you. And if I end up being the Match
Trash-Hauler, I'll let you know what it's like to spend My Summer
Vacation pulling banana peels from the trash barrels.
It ain't gonna be pretty.
© Copyright 2006 by DOWN RANGE TV
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