Wrap Up

My first Bianchi Cup is now just a memory. I really enjoyed meeting the people and shooting in the match. I did choke on one or two events so my score was not what I wanted but it was a great experience.

On the barricade I just shot poorly. I missed my time and threw one off the target, that did not help my score any. On the plates I think it was a mix of 2 things. One was I did not shoot as well as I could have. That was evidenced by the plate I missed at the 10 and 15. The other thing was ammo related, I had match ammo that I was planning on using, I used some of it to find my aiming points on the plates. It was about 1/3 up on the plate at almost every distance, the ammo shot high. My practice ammo did not shoot as high, so my aiming point was different. When I went to the practice range I just could not hit the plates, the ammo was shooting way low, lower than my practice ammo. I never got my aiming point down on the match ammo.

I am looking forward to next year and also shooting a few action pistol matches between now and then.

Stay tuned...

Day 4...Last event, the dreaded mover

Today marks the last day of competition. My event was the Moving Target. The target crosses the range in 6 seconds. You need to shoot it from 10-25 yards with either 3 or 6 shots depending on distance.

This event strikes fear in the hearts of many, but for me...not so much anymore. I only shot this event 5 times before, never in practice before coming here. No one has a moving target around to practice on. The plates, practical an barricade were all a part of my practice routine.

I shot this in practice here this week maybe 10-12 times, and I was getting very good scores. I ended up getting a 423, this was my best event.

Later tonight they are hosting a BBQ dinner, and tomorrow there is the Colt Speed Event, where the top competitors face off and a Celebrity Pro-Am, followed by the awards dinner.

No that is not snow, apparently cottonwood trees.

Day 3 Practical and Plate Events

This morning I shot the Pratical event, followed by the falling plate event.

The pratical went pretty well and I ended up with a 419, not too bad. This is probably my average score in the other matches. I was hoping for a better but I'm satisfied. I shot the event in the same squad as Smith and Wesson Jr Shooter,  Molly Smith. She is a awesome young lady, and a pretty good shot also.

Waiting for the targets to come back

Photo OP

Moved on to do the falling plates...didn't do so hot here, my average is probably 380-400 and I got a 360. One late shot at the 15 yard line probably would have slipped by the referees at the local matches.

I hit the practice range again for the mover, set another personal record at a 445. (also another 434) Here's hoping my mover is my best event! 

Day 2...First Event, The Barricade AKA, Motivation Destroyer!

Today was my first event at the cup, the Barricade. There is 4 targets used for the 48 shots. The good news is I got a max score on a target! 120/120

Isn't that computer monitor cool?

 The bad news is thats where the good news stops! The rest of the match, well... was terrible! I missed my time at the 10 yard line, missing a shot. I also dropped one at the 35 yard line.

Here I am getting the bad news from the Chief Range Officer.

So the barricade was bad, so I hit the practice range again to work on the plates and practical which are my two events tomorrow. The practice went, well ....BAD! Not a good day today, but it is still fun . I have met tons of great people. Check in tomorrow when I tell you how great (or bad) I did on the other 2 events. 

PS my score today was a 384...probably my worst I have done in several matches.

Day 1 .... Practice

This morning, first on the agenda was to register and get my gun safety checked  along the way they gave us little things that were donated by sponsors, gun lube, pens all that sort of stuff. I got my safety sticker, and a peek at all of the trophies that they will be handing out.

After registration we went for a ride to find the practice range. A quick lunch and I hit the practice range for some trigger time. 

Practice went really well. I worked on the Barricade event as that is my first event tomorrow morning. I also worked on the Mover, that is one event that I have not been able to work on. Barricade practice went pretty good, but I set a personal record on the mover, at a 434.

A first time competitor meeting then dinner, and I am ready for bed.

Up early to get to the range because 9:30 AM is the Barricade.

Arrived in Columbia MO

Earlier today my wife and I landed in St. Louis, and tomorrow I start the Bianchi Cup competition. Tuesday holds some range practice time as well as registration and a first time competitors meeting. 

I am ready as I am going to be. The travel out here was uneventful. Checking my firearms in the airport went without a hitch. I did have to laugh at the ticket agent. I walked up to him and said, "I have a firearm in my luggage I need to declare" in all my research this is how you say it. He gave me a puzzled look and mouthed, " are you ARMED" I said no, it was in my luggage secured as required. He calmed down a bit after that. They tossed my bag behind the "black curtain" for TSA to inspect it. He kept peeking behind the magic curtain, till he heard the magic, we're all good.

I have been thinking about what my goals for the match are. I am not expecting to "win" but I am expecting to place in the top range. My score goals are the following:

Practical 435

Mover 420

Barricade 440

Plates 420

Total of 1715

That score should get me in the range of some prize money...more on what I'm going to do with that money later...

These are attainable scores. I have reached all of these in practice at one time or another. I actually seem to do better under the pressure of competition. 

Keep checking back throughout the week as I will update as to what is going on.

Down to the wire!!

So I am about a week away from the Bianchi Cup. A lot has happened in the past month or so.

First almost all of my stuff has come together, but it is a little down to the wire.My shooting jersey should arrive this week, most of the competitors have custom jerseys depicting their sponsors etc. Mine was designed by my buddy Brett McFarland over at Christs Church of the Valley. It looks pretty cool! I have a back up gun to take with me, but i started to have some problems with it. Its at the gunsmith and hopefully will be done by the end of the week.

Second,  I have rubbed elbows and met the who's who in shooting sports at these practice matches. I met Jason Koon, captain of the H&K shooting Team, I shot my last match along side Doug Keonig multiple time Bianchi Cup Champion. All great guys.

Here is my gear

Pistol - Sig Sauer X-5 9mm
Holster/Mag Pouches - Blade-Tech OWB
Belt - CR Speed High Torque
Ammo - Match Ammo by DC Ammo, 115 gr XTP, Practice Ammo by yours truly
Glasses - Rudy Project
Ear Protection  - Westone Defend Ear Digital  - One of my sponsors.

I have been shooting really well in the practice matches, but am still working setting my goal for the Bianchi Cup Match.

This week is crunch time, I am going to get out and shoot every chance I get.

I am a little anxious about pulling it all together, I have to ship ammo to the hotel, which I have never done before. I don't even want to think about the potential problems of checking my pistols in my luggage (It is legal, but you can have real problems with the TSA)

March Match-ness

So I was able to shoot 2 Action Pistol Matches recently. The match stages are exactly what the Bianchi Cup will be in May. On some things I did a little better then expected and others a little worse...here is what I did in Match 1:

Practical - 407 - 13X
This is about what I expected, this is the match I can practice the most. I am pretty happy about the shot placement from the 50 yard line, I did better than I expected to there.

Barricade - 399 - 7X
This is a little better than I expected. When I practiced this before I always had problems making the time, I almost always went over. I guess the pressure made me shoot faster!

Mover - 387 - 4X
This is WAY better than I expected. I have never shot a stage like this, where the target moves across the range at 10 feet per second, and you only see the target for 6 seconds. I followed the folks advice to NOT "lead" the target at 10 yards. I didn't,  and all of my shots on that string were behind, I would have been easily over 400 if I shot in front of the target on the first string.

Plates - 250 - 25X
I bombed this...sort of. Again I dont have access to plates so this was new to me. I expected to shoot this almost clean (48/48) I got 25/48. I swear there was something wrong with the rack, because I kept hearing "bang-ping" and the plate would still be there.

The second match was called a Probationary Course of fire, basically it was a distance condensed version of the real matches. This was at the NRA Headquarters Range in Fairfax VA.

Results are pending in that one, we will see how I did. I will say the plates got me again, not as bad, but still I would like to have done better.

The NRA Range is state of the art and really cool, it is open to the public. Maybe if I am in VA again I will be able to stop by and use it again.

Bianchi Events Part #4 Falling Plates

This event is one that I really took for granted as being easy...well its not. 6 steel plates, at various distances. The big problem with these is each plate is worth 10 points, if you dont hit the plate you get zero, there is no 5 or 8 point hits.

Here is the course of fire:

(a) 10 yards - 6 shots in 6 seconds, 2 strings.
(b) 15 yards - 6 shots in 7 seconds, 2 strings.
(c) 20 yards - 6 shots in 8 seconds, 2 strings.
 d) 25 yards - 6 shots in 9 seconds, 2 strings.

And again a video!

Bianchi Events Part #3 "The Mover"

AKA the Devil, This is a bear of a event. The target starts behind a wall and moves...or streaks across the range at 10 feet per second. You have to shoot this at various distances, and it is hard. Here is the course of fire


(a) 10 yards - 6 shots in 6 seconds, 2 strings.
(b) 15 yards - 6 shots in 6 seconds, 2 strings.
(c) 20 yards - 3 shots in 6 seconds, 4 strings.
(d) 25 yards - 3 shots in 6 seconds, 4 strings.

Here is a video of me shooting it! VIDEO

Bianchi Events Part #2 - Barricade

The second event I am discussing is the Barricade event, it is very similar to the practical in that there are 2 targets, but you must keep most of your body behind a wall or barricade.

Course if fire is:

(a) 10 yards - 6 shots in 5 seconds, 2 strings.
(b) 15 yards - 6 shots in 6 seconds, 2 strings.
(c) 25 yards - 6 shots in 7 seconds, 2 strings.
(d) 35 yards - 6 shots in 8 seconds, 2 strings.

Not too hard but the time is tight close in. Here is a video of what it looks like

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7STrs5oVlQ

Bianchi Events Part #1 - Practical

I figured I would take a little time to explain what each event in the Bianchi Cup is so you folks would know what I am talking about. This first event I will discuss is the "Practical" event.

The course of fire is as follows:

The targets are the NRA AP-1 and it looks like this:
The black dot, 4" and the first ring 8" are 10 points, the next ring is worth 8 points and the rest of the target is worth 5 points

There are 2 targets set up a few feet apart


(a) 10 yards - one shot each target within three seconds, two shots each target within four seconds, and three shots, weak hand only, each target eight seconds.
 (b) 15 yards - one shot each target within four seconds, two shots each within 5 seconds, and three shots each target within six seconds.
 (c) 25 yards - one shot each target five seconds, two shots each target six seconds, and three shots each target seven seconds.
 (d) 50 yards - one shot each target seven seconds, two shots each target ten seconds, and three shots each target fifteen seconds.

Did you catch (d)? Thats trying to hit a 4" dot from 1/2 a football field away...not easy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7QaPqeX6bg

All "Squadded" up

Registration is complete and I got my shooting time assignments.

First I am competitor #129, funny as my badge is #29. Here is my shooting schedule:

Wedensday - Barricade event at 9:30 AM
Thursday - Practical Event at 10:00, and Falling Plates at 12:15
Friday - Mover at 12:15

And I am squadded in the practical patch with Marshall Teague, the bad guy  from the movie Roadhouse. Hopefully I wont have to kick his butt like Patrick Swayze did.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5E4GEUkgq1U

oops...

Well, the Icicle match was LAST week. I put in my calendar wrong. It was kind of a blessing in disguise as it was 22 degrees in Lebanon when I got there. That is cold!

So now I'm getting ready for an IDPA match at Lower Providence next weekend. ...and yes I double checked the date.

Training update and match this weekend

Training is going well. I am getting out at least once a week shooting around 300 rounds an outing. When I first started I found that I was having trouble making the par times on some of the stages. (Par time is the amount of time given to accomplish a task. e.g. 2 shots each of  2 targets in 4 seconds) Now ,I have shortened the par times by .2 seconds on all of the stages. One of the reasons is that, at Bianchi the time starts when the target turns toward you, and ends when the target turns away. I have an audible timer, I don't have access to targets that turn. So for me its ...beep, shoot, beep. I am concerned that when I have a visible cue instead of an audible one my reaction time may be off a little.

 I have been shooting a LOT of 9mm ammo. I may start mixing in shooting my .22 do cut back on cost. We will see if its beneficial or not.

This weekend is the Icicle Police Pistol Combat Match out in Lebanon PA, I'm going to go shoot the 600 and 1500 events. This is a little slower pace than Bianchi, but it is still good practice. If I get the results this time (last time I shot a match here I never got the results) I'll post them.

Stimulus via Gun Control

First I want to say that the tragedies of mass shootings are heartbreaking, and my thoughts and prayers are with the families of the victims. I could not imagine what these families are going through. Everyone wants this to stop.

However I have noticed an interesting effect over all of this talk of gun control. It was probably the biggest economic stimulus that has happened over the past few years. During my training I have been spending more time at the local gun shop picking up things I need and on the internet checking out gear. Here are some things I noticed:

#1. You can not buy an AR-15, AK-47, or any semi auto military rife...not because of any ban, but because the dealers can't keep them in stock, they sold them ALL.
#2. You can not buy ammo. Because it was all sold. No pistol ammo, no rifle ammo, no reloading components.
#3. Hi-Capacity guns are rare, because they were all sold.

You get the picture here? Anything that people think is going to be banned, people bought as many as they could.

Effects?

#1. Well, as my Police Departments Firearm Instructor, we can't get what we need to train, no ammo, no new rifles, no parts.
#2. More guns went on the street in the past month than probably in the past 2 years.
#3. This has rallied the troops in organizations like the NRA, for the good or bad.
#4. Any local gun shop, internet company, gunsmith etc, can now afford their kids college.

wow, just wow