Yes Virginia, it is going to hurt. Badly.

And yesterday was bad. Possibly one of my worst IDPA matches ever where not a thing happened just right, somewhat right or passably right. Funny thing was that a lot of people were that way too. Surgical shooters were hitting No-Shoots like they were Collaborators, Failures to Neutralize were the norm and we didn’t have stages that were too hard. About the only things that were running right were the New Shooters (5 of them introduced to IDPA) and everybody was safe with their guns.

Is there a Spring Sickness I am supposed to know about? It was the first week out of an unseasonable cold weather for South Florida. There was a constant cool breeze but the sun shined enough that we got a bit of a reddish tan and some more than necessary… which reminds me we must implement our customary Heat Exhaustion/Sickness/Stroke protocols.

Whatever it was, it did not bring the worst on people. Fifty Six shooters were exhausted, disappointed at ourselves but in a good mood. Nothing can beat that.  It is always good to shoot some and hang out with your buddies.

One thing did come out half right.

Not a bad one coming from me and only 34 photos taken. I usually get a decent one out of a hundred plus.

Via A Dixie Carpetbagger,  you get to find out the true “peaceful” nature of our Opposition.

You can listen to the full audio here or read the transcript now:

“Yeah, I’m glad the president passed health care. Yeah. Funky ass, racist-ass Republicans hate that, don’t you? Jean Schmitt, when you got hit by that car, you should’ve broke your back, bitch. And Boehner, motherfucker…that Mitch McConnell. All you racist fucking Republicans. Why don’t you just change your party name to racist? Cuz if one of those fucking Tea baggers had spit on me, I’d have shot all them in the fucking face with my fucking 9 millimeter. Fuck all you racist motherfuckers.”

Well, it seems The People is pissed enough that they are letting know their alleged “Representatives” their displeasure with not very nice messages. Of course the Washington Royalty is now afraid that the peasants may revolt and are demanding they submit or Redcoats are going to be sent after them. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer is demanding (what’s new?) that fellow Republican Congresscritters denounce any violence against Congress members that royally urinated on the Constitution. Now Mr. Hoyer, if the members of the Obama Chamber Potty formerly known as Congress would have follow the Will of the People and voted against Obamacare, you wouldn’t be needing “protection” against any fabricated threat (yes, I am calling it a fantasy. You guys are pond scum enough to do it and have done it in the past) but instead chose to try perpetuate yourselves in power and accept bribes & pork over the Good of the People.

Maybe you should find a copy of the Good Book (You know, that black book you used when you were sworn in and it might be somewhere in the bottom of a drawer?) and check Hosea 8:7, then you might understand.

IDPA is fun if you have a twisted & deranged person designing Courses of Fire. Yesterday we had a match for Safety Officers Only to say thanks for all the hard labor they put in herding our club members safely all year long.

The last stage was interesting to say the least.

Yes that is a shooter and a safety officer on top of our props’ trailer being towed at 5 m.p.h over uneven terrain. There were four paper targets and seven steel targets for the engaging. Ammo count was basically everything as long as you stayed withing IDPA rules… and most of us shot it all.

We are used to shoot on the move at our command. We walk and somehow we integrate our movements we our shooting in a somewhat coherent process which (with a lot of practice) allow us to be accurate enough. Some how we ‘know” when a foot is up, when it makes contact with the ground again, coordinate with our hands, arms & upper body to create a stable platform, acquire sights, press trigger… and if we are good & lucky we make a great shot.

All of the above goes out the window when you are just there for the ride & shoot. You are not in control of anything other than the gun. The terrain here is a bit bumpy and gave the trailer a slight rocking motion back and forth plus side to side. Not a whole lot mind you, but enough to make you work a lot and miss a lot. The first time I ever did a convoy/style stage was years ago at a SFDCC match, with a rifle from a regular trailer, sitting on a secured chair and I missed every single target.

View you get from ground level.. Yours truly trying to shoot the stage. I do apologize for the less than polite word at the end, but there was a steel who refused to die and had to be shot several times and cussed accordingly.

This is the view you get from top of the trailer. Rob from tacticalyellowvisor.net gets in a good run.

I think people should try this or a similar stage. Not only it is fun but it opens your eyes and gives you a new respect for the technicalities of shooting. Basically a portion of humble pie is good for the soul now and then.