It was HOT for a weekend of pistol instruction and history at the Associated Gun Clubs range in Marriottsville, MD. The weather forecasts and reports said high 80s but with the sun beating down, very high humidity, and no breeze it felt like the mid-90s. Despite that, we had 6 intrepid shooters brave the heat and see major improvement in their skills.
Saturday kicked off with a Red Coat target and Molly, at her second pistol event, cleaned that target and earned her Maryland Immortal 400 patch despite a failure to extract between every shot - Huzzah! We then started our instructions and drills, working methodically through each point of instruction with dummy pistol, dry fire, and live fire practice. New Red Hat Phoebe delivered an excellent First Strike at lunch and after a bit more practice we posted our first PQT of the weekend. A few people had scores in the 180s and 190s but no Pistoleer™s on Saturday. The final afternoon Red Coat was better than the morning overall but we could tell the heat was wearing folks down.
Sunday morning started everyone fresh and we had 2 people hit the button on the morning Red Coat - but a few near misses on the 100 yard target prevented a few more Immortals from joining the ranks. After some refresher instruction and practice drills, we started the PQT grind. Ed, a retired Appleseed instructor, struck first with a 215 to earn his Pistoleer™ patch - Huzzah! Brian, the president of the sponsoring club who had been observing the event, took the offer to test his skills and was able to score a 211 with a loaner pistol - very impressive.
Francisco averaged a score of 197 and topped out at 202, showing real consistency and skill but falling just short of the required 210. I know if he practices slowing down on Stage 5 and comes out again he will qualify. Brian K was also very consistent, scoring in the 170-200 range but also falling short - he is going to practice his left-hand only stage, which ruined his best target of the day.
Anna improved significantly throughout the event and had some very good targets - she will also benefit from additional dry and live fire practice. Aung showed real improvement as well - he needs to keep focusing on his fundamentals of grip and trigger control before his next event. Molly also came up short but has all the skills required for Pistoleer™ - it will just need to come together on ONE target in all the stages rather than across several.
The last Red Coat showed that everyone was tired, hot, and ready to go home.
Mixed in with the PQTs were excellent 2nd and 3rd strikes by Lycos, Holster demo and Sam & Sam by Jim, and the Onion of Self Defense by Lycos, as well as demos by Phoebe and lots of individual coaching on and off the line. I thank the instructors and students for enduring the afternoon heat and humidity - particularly our afternoon teardowns. You don't know how much shade canopies provide until you have to take the last one down so thank you for all the help :bow:
I would like to thank Arlington Rifle and Pistol Club for sponsoring the event and again thank their president, Brian, for dropping by. I think you will get a few more members.
Pictures are available here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1-Ah5cdq6fhfmb5gEaHJVx6FRIQqn1VDB and will be posted to our Facebook page as well. See you next time!
Looks like a great Pistol event in what sounds like Florida heat ;D. Congrats to everyone for toughing it out! Congrats to all the shooters on progress made!