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Bullseye shooting– my first match

I always had a keen interest in firearms and shooting in a general sense, but I never took the initiative to shoot in any officially sanctioned competitions. Shortly after getting my NY pistol permit, I resolved to give it a try.

 

I started Bullseye shooting in 2001 at the Manorville, NY club. After subscribing to the Bullseye mailing list and reading the archives, I decided to purchase a Ruger Mark II Slabside Competition Model. This fit my budget, and made sense to me on my own personal “cost to value” scale. It seemed to me at the time that any .22 pistol would have the inherent accuracy to outshoot my abilities by a long margin. I already owned a Colt Series 80 .45 (retired from my first season of IPSC) that I planned on “accurizing” myself, figuring that I would use it sparingly and try to stick to .22 matches whenever possible.

 

After trying out the Ruger at a local range (Calverton, NY), it became quite obvious that the stock grips didn’t fit my hand at all, and that the stock trigger was unsuitable for accuracy work. Note that these deficiencies were patently obvious to me, and I had never shot a Bullseye match! A more experienced shooter would have (and in fact several did) pointed out these shortcoming to me right away, but I am the type that likes to prove these things to myself; sometimes by taking the long hard way around.

 

A quick run through the Brownells catalog turned up the Volquartsen Custom line of products. I purchased the Volthane grip, and asked a local gunsmith to do a complete trigger job with Clark Custom components. A little well-timed pleading, begging, and cajoling got the work done in a record two week turn-around time, just in time for my first match.

 

As it turns out, precedence is given to three-gun shooters at many area matches, and Manorville was no exception. I didn’t want to face the possibility of an hour-and-a-half ride that didn’t result in my actually shooting the match, so I signed up for the full 2700.

 

Another emergency last-minute order to Neil at NSK Sales got me some match .45 caliber ammo, and a quick call to Brownells landed a NPC grip-mount Weaver rail. Yes, I know, but it was the best I could do on short notice and with a limited budget. I had an old Adco Mirage dot sight laying around that I pressed into emergency service. Unfortunately, I only had time enough to get the .45 set up and sighted in at 25 yards, and that was with some old reloads that were handy. I’d have to do a little adjusting on the fly at the match, but at least I was ready to shoot!

 

Match Day

The Peconic Sportsmans Association, where the match was held, is a shooters paradise. Especially for someone who started shooting at an indoor range in Union City, NJ! They have a covered shooting line with turning targets at 25 yards, fixed at 50. Bill Berger, the gentleman who runs things, was very helpful and friendly.

 

It was a breeze to get signed up and set up, the match staff was extremely helpful and the shooters a generally friendly bunch; at least down at the Marksman end of the shooting line! The better shooters were a little more serious about their business, at least it seemed so to me.

 

It only took a few minutes to get in the groove of the match routine, again all present were more than helpful. It’s amazing how quickly you pick up on how many of the little things you don’t have—target pasters, scoring overlays, a clipboard (duh!),  a pen or pencil (jeez!), a clamp to keep the shooting box open in the wind, something to hold your brass … Remarkable how obvious putting some kind of identifying mark ON your brass seems after trying to dig yours out from under a bench! I was so busy taking notes that I almost didn’t notice how few of my .22 slow fire rounds were in the black. Almost!!!

 

That was nothing compared to the first go-around in rapid fire. I had been practicing (I’m not a complete Neanderthal), but there is no accounting for adrenaline and the fear of the unknown. Thankfully, I didn’t shoot down any low-flying planes or anything, but let’s just say that a new Personal Best wasn’t going to be much of a problem at my second match ;->

 

The Centerfire and .45 matches are a complete blur. What I do remember (and have my scorebook to remind me of) is that my scores got progressively worse. If there are any IPSC shooters reading this who haven’t tried Bullseye, let me tell you—270 record shots is a marathon! I’ve shot big USPSA matches in the past with round counts around the two century mark, but it is in no way comparable to the mental and physical effort required in Bullseye. You certainly have to think your way through a stage in action pistol events, but once the buzzer sounds it is all over in a blink. That was the biggest challenge in my opinion; staying focused through the whole 2700 was beyond my capabilities in my first match.

 

After shooting a couple of matches, I moved from New York to Pennsylvania. This lengthened my daily commute by a couple of hours each way, and really put a damper on my weekend activities. It wasn’t until recently, after my office was (thankfully!!) relocated to New Jersey, that I’ve had the time to get my gear back in order and start training for competition again.  I’m looking forward to getting out of the Marksman ranks, and advancing up the ladder to Master.

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