Friends,
Been a while since the moon and stars aligned well enough to produce a good turn-out for our quarterly TEXtreme Bench-Rest Silhouette matches, but they did last Saturday. Probably helped that we had two new victims… er, I mean, new BRS shooters. They, and the BRS “regulars” (not to be confused with
normals), might have gotten more than they bargained for.
With roughly half the eleven shooters taking advantage of sliding-scale quantity breaks to invest in multiple score-cards, twenty-two score-cards were turned in. Unfortunately, the “more than they bargained for” part included an unscheduled side-show that I suspect was considerably more entertaining for those witnessing it than it was for the star of the show
, aka- the Match Director. Perhaps the alignment of the moon stars also had something to do with the side-show; it was that strange!
Pre-match sight-in/practice came to a screeching halt when three Central Texas Rifle And Pistol Club officers
arrived loaded for bear, including the club president.
Apparently two other club officers who (a couple years ago) vested in me the power to direct matches at CTRPC
lacked authority to do so.
To say El Presidente was not happy with
ME would be quite an understatement;
he read me the riot act.
I might have been a bit taken aback
, thrown off balance
, confused
, contorted
, embarrassed
, discombobulated
, and/or
humiliated
. So much so I might have blushed, stuttered, spoken an unknown tongue, or my second language, Pig Latin. Thankfully after about 15 minutes of tongue-lashing
, El Presidente must have decided it better to end my public humiliation on a positive note, rather than explain an imminent lynching to law-enforcement authorities. “I’ll take care of this right now.
We’re the THREE club officers needed to make you an officer.
You’re a club officer!”
Duly anointed, I herded the immensely-entertained shooters and continued the proceedings with all the authority I thought I’d had before the proceedings were so rudely interrupted by the authorities with the authority to inform me I lacked proper authority to conduct the proceedings I now continued conducting with proper authority; albeit possibly lacking whatever iota of credibility I might have had before the proceedings were so rudely interrupted by the authorities with the authority to inform me I lacked proper authority to conduct the proceedings I now continued conducting with proper authority.
Don’t know why I didn’t shoot well. But do have a pretty good idea why the match took longer to shoot than I’d planned for;
about 15 minutes longer. Unfortunately the sun set on Saturday’s match before some shooters could shoot their final relay; forcing DNFs on some score-cards, inflicting more humiliation on the match director, and eliciting offers of entry fee refunds.
Apparently the affected shooters felt aforementioned sideshow worth the (scorecard) price of admission
, as all refused refunds. They might have realized the price of those DNF scorecards a great investment in carte blanche to tease me the rest of my life. Thankfully the thickness of my skin is proportional to that of my skull.
The DNFs probably affected some match results. Probably not as much as they affected my inner peace, now better described as inner
pieces.
Complete and utter stranger to BRS podiums Jim Martin posted a BRS
record-tying 38/40 to capture the Slug class Match Winner hat-pin. Jim shot .25 slugs of unknown make, model and weight, at unknown velocity in his (presumably) .25 caliber air rifle of unknown make and model, presumably topped with a scope of unknown make and model.
He also got ten-in-a-row chickens and pigs with afore-described equipment. Great shooting, Jim!
Another stranger to airgun competition podiums, and the BRS record co-holder
, Derrick Wall was second in the Slug Class field of four with an excellent 37/40. The turkeys upset Derrick’s otherwise perfect efforts, three of them left standing
. In other words, DW got ten-in-a-row chickens, pigs and rams with his Athlon Midas equipped .22 Vulcan 3, shooting 33 grain Zan slugs 1015 FPS. Excellent shooting, Derrick.
Of nine (finished) score-cards turned in, Derrick also captured the 100 Foot Pound pellet class Match Winner hat-pin. His Athlon Cronus topped .30 caliber Cricket 2 Tac shoots 56 grain Zans 890 FPS; apparently pretty well, as his 36/40 score included ten-in-a-row chickens and rams. That’s some fine shooting with a pellet gun in those tricky winds
, D!
Jeff Cloud’s 33/40 was good for second place in the 100 FP pellet class with his Sightron S3 glassed .25 RAW HM1000X shooting 34 grain JSBs 930 FPS. Jeff also got ten-in-a-row pigs. Good shooting, Jeff.
Three shooters turned in finished scorecards in 35 Foot Pound pellet Class. Jim Clarke’s excellent 29/40 score got him the Match Winner hat-pin, shot with a 16X scoped .22 Daystate Red Wolf and 18 grain AA pellets. Good shooting, Jim.
Four of us shared an excellent dinner at Uncle Worm’s
Smokehouse after the match… while reliving the match director’s side-show debacle.
Correction- the
Club Officer Match Director!
Happy Shooting Y’all,
Ron & Maggyy
On close inspection the CLUB OFFICER Match Director can be seen multi-tasking as none other could- simultaneously directing the match, monitoring the count-down clock, spotting and scoring for a squad-mate, taming the savage beast, and talking smack;
all while creating the illusion of LOAFING.
.
