TexasCHLforum.com

I've changed this from a Sticky to a regular post, so it will work its way down the page.

Thanks for coming and I'm glad you folks had a good time!

Chas.

sensei wrote:Angel is really shy and you guys got her to join right in.

Charles, She commented several times how much she enjoyed your instrution over mine. She's a hard nut to crack. I appreciate it.

As the Scriptures tell us, no man is a profit in his own town (home either!). For years I had told Martha that a great way to develop a fast and smooth trigger pull was to "shoot" at characters on the TV. You'd be amazed how quickly they change in a TV screen. She never listened, until one day Clint Smith talked about dry practicing at home during a TR class. She turned to me and said, "that's an excellent idea." I just looked at her. :?

I'm glad Angel enjoyed it and hope she comes back to shoot with us. I'll be happy to have her come to our informal practice sessions some time. Marc and I try to shoot on Sunday afternoons, after church activities are over.

Chas.

We appreciate you folks coming and I really enjoyed putting faces with some of the screen names. It was also great to see the ladies shooting with us and it appeared that all of them were having a good time. The event was sponsored by the PSC-IDPA match, so it didn’t cost anyone anything, except Steve of course. It has cost him a new 1911 for his wife!

The weather was perfect and my only regret is that we didn’t start earlier and go later into the afternoon. Even with a small turnout, we had more planned that we could get done. As most of you could probably tell, I tend to focus more on tactical shooting than pure competition. I think the tactical clinic planned as the last event would have been very useful, but there just wasn’t enough time to get to it.

We have hosted the Texas State IDPA Championship since 2001 and are doing so again in 2006 (June), so we have a lot of experience at big matches with hundreds of competitors and spectators. It’s a lot of work and we enjoy it (most of the time), but the TexasCHLforum Day at PSC was more personal. At the Championships, I rarely have time to visit with anyone, nor do any other match officials. It was nice yesterday to be on the range with folks the whole day and to have lunch together. It was much more like a gathering of friends, than the production of a major event. Marc and I commented when it was over that we really enjoyed the day.

We had a good range of shooting experience from people who had never shot before to folks who could really handle a gun. I think everyone enjoyed the IDPA style drills and the scenarios, but I think the Texas Stars were the most fun. We had two people shooting at once (man-on-man) and the spectators really got into the spirit of the game. Cheering, clapping and of course a good bit of laughter was heard the entire time we were on that bay. I couldn’t help but chuckle when the crowd kept taunting Tom and I to shoot the Stars together. I know they thought the two old farts running the Stars were too old to shoot!

I want to thank Marc who is always willing to work with me on any venture and without whom this day at the range would not have happened. In addition to all of the preparation he did, he also ran the “drills� bay, as well as sign-in.

I also want to thank Steve for serving as chef! That’s one position that always finds favor with a crown, even a small one and Steve did a great job for us. It also let me sit down for about 30 minutes and I’m old enough to really appreciate the down-time.

I also want to thank Tom (El Gato) for his help and leadership in serving as mentor to folks entirely new to shooting. He worked with at least two people who had never shot before, including one fellow who shot the scenarios clean! Tom has the rare ability to impart his great shooting knowledge and experience to others in an easy-going way that puts people at ease, which serves to help them learn. Thanks old friend - once again.

Eric joined PSC roughly 2 years ago and has been a God-send for Marc and I. Eric has volunteered and worked like a Trojan on every project and match the IDPA group has done since he joined. He’s always the first guy at the range in the morning and the last one to leave after the event. I once told him his work has probably added at least 10 years to my shooting career, at least as far as special/major events are concerned, and I’m sure he thought I was joking. I wasn’t and Marc agrees. Without Eric’s dedication to shooting in general and PSC-IDPA in particular, Marc and I would be scaling down our shooting programs and events, not expanding them to new events. Thanks Eric!!

Photos? I can’t believe I never even thought about bringing a camera. Oh well, maybe next year . . . Wait, there I go again! Marc, Marc stop running Marc; come back; we need to plan for next year! Marc, Marc, . . .

Thanks again to everyone who came and made Saturday a very enjoyable day for all of us. I hope you had as much fun as we did. I don’t know if we’ll try to make this an annual event; I’ll leave that up to the group. If we do it next year, I want to go back to the original plan of having hourly seminars, every bay open at the same time with different events in each, a new shooters school, tactical clinics, etc. People can go to the bays and seminars they choose, with no squadding of shooters. To do this will require more planning and people working the event, so what do you folks think? I’ll get the instructors, if you folks want to do it. I’ll be candid though, this type of event won’t work for 15 or so people. We’ll need a turnout of at least 30 people or more to make it worthwhile. (Not money wise, time wise. It would still be a free event.)

Thanks again everyone,
Chas.

seadawg221 wrote:Charles, can you advise us of the procedures required for entry tomorrow? Will the gate be open? Who do we check in with upon arrival, etc

I guess I should have mentioned that.

You can find a map by going to http://www.cottonfamily.com , clicking on PSC-IDPA, then on the Map button on the menu. Give it some time to load; it's a large bitmap file.

Marc, Eric and I will be there around 6:30 AM and the gate will be open from then until we shut down our activities at 3:00 PM. Drive down the gravel road to the last PSC entrance (where the road turns into a grass road), turn right. One of the rifle ranges will be on the left and the road will curve to the right. Take the road to the right, then turn left (next to a barn) at the road to the pistol bays in the back. You'll see the IDPA building next to a trailer - come in and get your id badge.

If anyone wants my cell phone number, send me a PM; I'm not putting it out on the Internet!!

Regards,
Chas.

The gate will be open.

Remember, the TexasCHLforum Day at PSC is this Saturday (10/29/05) from 9:00 AM until 3:00 PM. This must not have been a very good weekend to choose, as we have only 10 RSVP's, in addition to Marc and I. Hopefully, we'll have more people coming, but it looks like it's going to be a very small gathering. (We're used to 180 people or more at the Texas State IDPA Championship.)

As noted earlier, we didn't have the minimum 30 RSVP's to get the Bun Stuffers to cook for us. So, we are going to buy food and drinks for the number of folks who have sent an RSVP, plus a margin for a few extra people and we'll be grilling burgers at the range.

With this few folks, it's not practical to have seminars. We don't want people to go a seminar they care nothing about, nor could we get speakers to address an audience of 2!

We will have IDPA/IPSC style scenarios in two bays (4 scenarios total) ranging from simple to complex in nature. We'll have the Texas Star and plate racks, as well as open shooting bays. I will bring my chronograph in case anyone wants to chrono any loads.

If you think you are coming and haven’t sent an RSVP, please do so.

Regards,
Chas.

KinnyLee wrote:I may have missed this on the earlier posts, but what type of firearms are allow to bring/use? Pistol of course, but what about rifles and carbines and shotguns?

We'll only have access to the pistol bays and the plate racks, as well as the "Blue Building" (i.e. classroom). We can/will give a tour of the range, but with about 1,500 members, we couldn't shutdown the entire range.

Regards,
Chas.

Kaizen:
I think that covers it. We'll have some IDPA targets folks can use, but not regular bullseye targets.

Chas.

j1132s wrote: What time does the event start/finish ?

Shooting will start at 9:00 AM and we'll end around 3:00 PM. There is no "match," so people can come in and out as they wish.

j1132s wrote: Also, I don't see costs/pricing info being mentioned anywhere.

It's free; sponsored by PSC-IDPA.

j1132s wrote:The date is 10/29/05, MUST RSVP by 10/22/05 to reserve food by Bun Stuffers (otherwise bring your own luch).

We have not come close to meeting the 30 person minimum limit for the Bun Stuffers to come, so I'm not sure what we're going to do about lunch. PSC has a nice grill, but since we don't know how many people are coming, we don't know how much food to buy. We'll probably have to say BYOF. We'll provide drinks.

j1132s wrote:Activities:
IPSC, IDPA, Texas stars, steel plate racks, instructional, open shooting, CHL new license, renewal classes, gun cleaning/maintenance, . . .

No CHL classes; far too few people are coming and there is no indication of a need for classes. Everything else is on, except for the gun cleaning/maintenance/custom pistolsmith work seminar. I'm trying to line up a pistolsmith that has built or modified my guns for many years, but I don't know if he'll be able to come.

j1132s wrote:I'm very interested in coming, but it really depends on my wife. Will be trying to convince her today. I/wife can also help w/ baby sitting if I do come since I have a 5yr old.

I hope you can make it. We would like to see as many wifes, girlfriends (I would not suggest bringing both ) and kids as possible, as we really would like to make this a family outing. Any kind of club-sponsored baby-sitting fell victim to the club's insurance policy.

Regards,
Chas.

dws1117 wrote:Will there be something set up s that we can identify each other? I would assume that forum members will not be the only ones at the range. Maybe a name tag with our screen names?

I am going to generate name badges, but I'll need everyone's real name and screen name, if you folks want that included. Please email me your real names and screen names so I can get them done before Oct. 29th.

Chas.

gigag04 wrote:Also - we can't carry there right?

-nick

PSC is a "cold" range. You can carry, you can have live ammo on the belt, but the pistol has to be empty with the hammer down. Marc will go over the range rules in detail at the range. A shorthand version is 1) handle ammo anywhere, except at the safety table; 2) handle your gun only at the safety table and on the firing line.

Regards,
Chas.

The TexasCHLforum Day at PSC is scheduled for Saturday, October 29th and I need to get a good idea how many folks are coming. I know we had some RSVP's to the last post, but those were for the dates in Sept. or Oct. 1st.

It's not necessary to RSVP in order to come, but it would sure help in planning. I'd hate to plan for 30 people and have 200 show up and try to split 30 hamburgers! We need a minimum of 30 people confirmed to have the barbeque team at the event and we need to let them know if we made that number by Friday, Oct. 21st.

Also, let me know how many folks are coming with you.

Regards,
Chas.