I know it is kinda late but might as well write something other than politics and TSA groping for a change. Last Halloween we had a Monster Hunter Match very loosely based on Larry Correia’s books. I would give it a C+ of B- just due to the fact that I made several mistakes. Mainly I made it too big; even though it was just two stages, we had an IDPA classifier before it and that sapped the crap of lots of shooters and staff. IDPA classifiers are long and tiresome and probably the most annoying part of IDPA. At the end, people just shot the shotgun/pistol stage and left the rifle/pistol for a next time.
Still I think people not only had fun, but learned some interesting things about operating a shotgun… we suck.
Here are the two Courses of Fire shot: Werewolves and Puppies and Gnomes. Oh My! (Shotgun) and Zombies and Ghouls and Lead (Pistol.) Even both events were timed independently, the shooter was told to run them as if it was one single CoF.
In “Werewolves and Puppies and Gnomes. Oh My!” the shooter started at the Low Read with 5 slugs loaded in the shotgun and had to hit the 5 werewolves at 30 yards away in the kill zone (8 inch center or head shot), reload and do it again. Then move behind the Bianchi barricade and engage the previously selected gnomes (red or blue bowling pins) from both sides. Once there, the shooter moved to the final position and engaged 5 pepper poppers (werewolf puppies). Both gnomes and puppies were to be engaged with birdshot.
- Shotgun Stage
- Walk-Through of shotgun stage.
- Engaging Gnomes
” Zombies and Ghouls and Lead” was the pistol stage to be shot as fast as possible but from cover and designed to confuse shooters a bit. Zombies required one well placed brain shot but ghouls demanded 2 hip bone shots (blue zone) before shooting the head and before shooting the zombie. “Why shoot from cover? They are zombies and ghouls” I got asked this and the best and fastest I could come up with was ” Because they spit poison!” I know, lame as hell but I had been awake for 25 hours by then.
- Explaining shot placement for ghouls
- Shootin’ the undead.
Lessons learned: Safety Officers and Shooters were the reason the match even got started. Everybody collaborated setting up, pasting and having fun. Safety was one thing also run tight and fine. We had a cold range where you could carry your sidearm, but long-guns were to remain in the case, flagged and only manipulated when the shooter was called to the line.
Many people are now realizing that a shotgun is a bitch to reload fast, even if you are shooting a Saiga (we had 2 shooters with their “Abominations”) and a rifle might be a better choice for TEOTWAWKI. Nobody managed to place 2 slugs in the kill zones at 30 yards and that was also an eye opener. We shoot a lot of pistol so pistol scores were damn decent accuracy wise. We need more shotgun practice so we will be planning some classes in the future including Defensive Shotgun.
NEVER AGAIN DO SOMETHING LIKE THIS…… following another event. Too tiresome and although fun was had, it took on everybody. I didn’t even git to shoot and had to leave the range before the end under orders of the Missus or suffer the consequences… and she is scarier than a rabid werewolf.
I haven’t seen the winner yet since that day, but he will receive a cheaply printed certificate and a copy of Monster Hunter International.
That is all…. carry on.