“Two Alpha!”
“Two Alpha!”
It didn’t take me long to realize that we want to hear the
phrase “two alpha”, and hear it frequently, while watching the 2015 USPSA
Production Nationals shooting competition in Barry, Illinois this week. I learned also that a yell of “Mike!” was not
someone looking for our first shooter.
I enjoy target shooting at the outdoor range, but I have
never competed. I have attended one of
Big T’s local matches prior to attending the Nationals, and I occasionally watch
the “shooting shows” with Big T, but I still feel like I am pretty much a
newbie to the shooting competition world and the rules of scoring. So, this trip was going to be VERY
educational.
The Facility
Nationals were held at PASA Park in Barry, IL. It was very easy to find following the signs
from the interstate. From what I
understand, quite a few competitions are held at PASA Park, and they have a
very nice facility. The stages were
roomy and most had bleachers for spectators.
I appreciated that they had porta-johns with handwashing stations near the Safety Areas. (Safety Area is where the shooters go to take their guns out of their pouches and holster them and vice versa. It is also where they go to deal with a mechanical problem with their guns.) They did have golf carts and small trailers
to shuttle folks from point to point, but the walking was not too bad since we
had a pull-behind cart for the range bag, the camera bag, water bottles,
snacks, and rain gear. They also
provided a hot sandwich lunch to the competitors, and the non-competitors could
purchase a sandwich, sides, dessert, and a drink as well. The staff was very
friendly and helpful. I can see why
USPSA continues to use PASA Park for their events.
The Organization of
things
All shooters are separated into groups called “squads”. Big T was in Squad 3, and there were 18 squads
competing simultaneously. Squad 3 was on
the small side, with only 7 shooters, but they were a fun group to watch. It was a pleasure to get to know Mike
Calderisi, Phil Groff, Steve Hamblin, Ken Ito, Ryan Wilks, and Yee-min Lin.
The squads were spread out on different “stages” throughout
the facility. Each stage had a covered
area where the range officers, or “RO’s”, kept the stage description, score
sheets, paint, and pasters. Each stage had a different name and different
target arrangements, so that all of the shooters’ skills are tested
thoroughly. One of the stages, called
“Dark House”, was exactly that. The
shooter worked inside a small building with blackened windows and walls and only
had a tactical flashlight for lighting.
Some
stages are called “classifiers”. The
scores received on these stages will be used to determine the shooters’
classification – whether D, C, B, A, Master (M), or Grand Master (GM).
Order of Events
Once we arrived at a stage, one of the RO’s would read the
stage description.
The description included the stage designer, stage sponsor, start position, what to shoot at, what not to
shoot at, the scoring (which involves some computations between accuracy and speed that I still don’t get completely), the type of
targets, and any special activations.
An example of a special activation would be shooting a target that would
drop and pull a string and make another target swing back and forth. After the description is read, then the
shooters have 5 minutes to walk through the stage.
As they walk through, they mimic the motions
they plan to do –their steps, their gun position, and their reloads. There is an orange outline at each stage
that indicates the area that the shooter must stay in.
After the walk-through, the fun begins. We had a certain order of shooters that we
stayed with the entire time, like a batting order. They would even call out who was “up”, who
was “on deck”, and who was “in the hole”.
As we moved from stage to stage, the first shooter would be moved to the
bottom of the list, so that the order would be varied at each stage. The RO that would be running the timer
would stand behind the shooter and say “Make ready”. This means that the shooter would get into
the start position per the description. Some of the start positions were sitting in a
chair with the gun and ammo on a table or standing with hands on a wall.
Then the RO would ask “Are you ready?” When the shooter nodded, then we would hear
a “beep”, and the shooting began. When
the shooting stops, the RO tells the shooter to “show clear” and after the
shooter shows that his chamber is empty, then the RO tell the shooter to
“hammer down and holster your gun”. The
RO would then declare “Range clear”. The
timing device displays the time and it is recorded on the score sheet at this
point.
Then the scoring of
the targets would commence. The
cardboard targets have letters on them for accuracy – A to D with A being the
most accurate. As stated earlier, we
want to hear “two alpha”, but sometimes we would hear “alpha charlie” or “mike”
or “alpha no shoot”. “No shoot” means
that the shooter hit something that wasn’t supposed to be hit. That is a penalty¸ and so is a “mike” or
miss.
 |
| The white target is a no shoot. |
If there were steel targets
(called pepper poppers) on the stage, then the RO would shout “all steel” to
indicate they were all hit or “missed steel” if one were missed. After a target was scored, then it could be
re-painted, if it were steel, or it could be pasted with a square sticker if it
were cardboard. That way, every shooter
started with fresh targets.
After everyone on the squad
finished shooting, then we would move on to the next stage and repeat the
process. As a spectator, I was allowed
to photograph and film. I never asked,
and the ROs never said anything, but I had my own rules about where I should
and shouldn’t be. I stayed behind any
cones they set up. If there were not
cones, then I stayed behind the ROs when I was filming Big T. I also did not EVER walk inside the “orange
box” or shooting area, even during the walk-throughs, since I was a
non-shooter.
Other Observations
1. Squibs are bad. One of our squad members had what is called
a “squib”. His cartridge had a primer
and a bullet, but no powder. Therefore,
the bullet stayed in the barrel of the gun and had to be fished out. Because the bullet was still in the barrel,
the rule said they had to score the stage as it was at that moment. And because it was his first round of that
magazine, he got a zero for that stage. That stinks. BIG. TIME.
2.
These guys have amazing gun control skills. One of the shooters fell on his back while
back-pedaling from one position to another on one of the stages. He managed to keep his gun in the correct
position, not discharge into the air, and finished the stage without being DQ’d
(disqualified).
3.
The shooting community is friendly and helpful, even to the competition.
I
know they all want to win, but they know that it is a truly individual
sport. They would discuss how to run a
stage among themselves, but when the beeper goes off, it is all on the shooter
to execute his plan.
4.
The RO's that we had were efficient, organized, and knowledgeable and did
not take advantage of their position of authority. I could tell that they wanted a safe, fair,
and fun experience for their shooters.
We actually had a group of three men that traveled with us from stage
to stage instead of having different RO's at the different stages, which I
understand to be the norm.
All in all, I considered it a good
learning experience about a sport that Big T is passionate about. I don’t think that I will be picking it up
soon, (I firmly believe that I would shoot myself in the foot pulling the gun from the holster) but at least I can carry on a decent conversation about it.
For other photos from the competition, check out my previous blog here.
