Memorial Weekend Pin Shoot

I suppose it is time I got off my duff and told you about the pin shoot this last weekend. You’re gonna like this.

(Pic snagged from Mr. Completely. If you supersize it, you can see the brass ejecting and the pin bing knocked back)

I got off work at 4am Saturday morning and gathered the stuff up so that I could catch some Z’s before heading out to Whidbey Island to the Central Whidbey Sportsman’s Association for the match. I woke a couple hours later, called my friend Jon to wake him up, loaded up and headed out.

Now, unless you want to go 20-plus miles out of the way, the best path to Whidbey Island involves a short ride on a ferry boat from a town called Mukilteo. With last weekend being Memorial Day weekend, I knew the line for the ferry would be long, but I did not expect quite the wait we got. I’m pretty sure I had to wait through three boat loadings before I got to board. I called ahead to Mr. Completely to let him know that our pre-shoot meet-up at his indoor range was off and that Jon and I would be meeting him at the range. Jon and I enjoyed the sunny weather and read through the latest Shotgun News while we waited for our boat.

Finally, we loaded and after the quick ferry ride we roll on up the island and arrive at the range with just enough time to run a quick couple of practice mags through my Ruger 22/45 over on the pistol range to get the barrel warmed up. Sign in is complete and the qualification runs begin. Due to the holiday, only the hardcore shooters are in attendance and I’m looking to probably be knocked out in the first round again.

I somehow magically manage to qualify in the dead middle of the six person group using pistols with iron sights. My friend Jon cuts his qualification times from April’s pin shoot in half and comes in right behind me at number four and the match begins.

I get put up against Jon in the first round. Jon doesn’t have a pistol of his own for this and has had to borrow mine in the past. But today, Al Lindell (the guy who the Pin Shoot range is named after) loans Jon his mildly modified 8in barreled Ruger 22/45 (match trigger, massaged action, after market sights, etc) for both qualifications and the competition. Having seen Jon cut his qualification times in half with the thing, I’m wishing I had at least cleaned mine after the practice session.

The first table of pin tops goes to me. Jon gets the second and I barely, I mean barely, get the third. My only edge was that I have practiced 1911 mag changes since the age of 14 for IDPA competition. Otherwise, Jon was more accurate.

Whew! Ok, I’m advancing, but I’m looking at the future competition and it doesn’t look good. It’s either Mr. Completely or a guy with a gorgeous stainless Ruger MKII with a 10in barrel who qualified ahead of Mr. Completely. Oh well, getting taken out by the best won’t hurt too much, I guess.

Mr. Completely wins, which would seem fine but he’s the guy that took me out last time and I really don’t like losing twice to the same guy (an old peev from my street racing days). So here we go.

The first table goes to Mr. Completely. Great, I’m starting behind!

I barely snatch the second table from him and as time is called I’m worried that it was going to be judged a tie, it was that close.

Time for the third table and here comes the call from the timer/safety officer, “Ready on the left?� “Ready� Mr. Completely replies.

“Ready on the right?� ‘Sure, why the hell not’ is what I wanted to say but I give my ‘ready’ call instead.

The buzzer goes off and the brass and the pins start flying. Were neck and neck and we both end up with a single pin rolling on its side across our respective 4ft x 8ft steel table.

Mag change! Good, he has to do one too. Slide forward and fuck it! Moving to rapid fire.

First shot: Miss.
Second shot: Hit, but it spins the pin top sideways. Damn!
Third shot: Miss.
Fourth shot: Miss.
Fifth shot: The Patron Saint of Shooting Competitors smiles upon me and transforms my 22lr projectile into a 45 and sends the pin back to the berm with a quickness.

Mr. Completely’s pin is still playing hide-and-go-seek on top of the table and I win!

Little did I know that there was money involved when you win; Six bucks is given to me by the shoot coordinator. Very cool, that covered my entry fee plus a buck.

Seriously folks, if you are into firearms and have never competed, even in as such a friendly and laid back environment as the CWSA, you are missing out. Going to the range, even weekly is a good thing. But if you want to hone your skills and see how you stack up against your fellow citizens, you need to put at least bragging rights on the table and compete.

I am holding an open invite any and all bloggers, commenters and even all y’all lurkers out there to go to the range at any time and especially to come with me on Sunday, June 12th for the next pin shoot.

Or, if you’d like to just practice, I am now a member at CWSA and can shoot pins and pin tops any time. Which is good since I’ll need the practice to stay anywhere near the top and move into the centerfire classes in the future.