Coming down to the wire for this series. The final two stages of the event.
Stage 7 – Swing On This
Using visual barriers, the stage designers created three distinct arrays to shoot at. The left and right side had a combination of 2 shoot and 1 no shoot targets attached to typical wooden poles that then were connected to a set of electric motors. The effect was to essentially create a windshield wiper effect with the targets, moving at about the speed of a typical windshield wiper. The center array was then just a set of steel pepper poppers.
I don’t have much to critique on this stage. Moving targets, like this, were completely new but I avoided any misses. The steel was steel. I essentially forgot what my plan was coming out of the box. I had intended to clean the steel from the left side ally. I took like one shot at one popper, it dropped and I scooted over to the right ally kicking myself for forgetting the rest of the targets. The right side went ok, and the steel all went down with minimal fuss.
Shooting from angles, steel, moving targets, and short sprints. I need to work on it all but, my run was ok.
Stage 8 – Bada Bing
Stage 8 was a variation on stage 4. We all remember that stage 4 was where the wheels came off so badly. Stage 8 was not so bad.
The setup, was four targets on the left and varying heights, with some no shoots sprinkled in. A similar array on the right. Then move downrange to a port to shoot six steel poppers, then open a door that you have to pull towards you, and an array of four targets with two no shoots sprinkled in.
Let’s see, steel targets, a port to shoot through, a door that opens back towards you. A lot of opportunity for me to have some problems. All in all though, my problem came right up front on my eighth shot. Trigger reset. I shot the first two low targets, the next high target, then got a good first hit on the rightmost high target, squeezed again and the gun didn’t go bang. Quick look and I start into a malfunction sequence and as soon as I release the trigger I feel the reset. Get back on the target, and I pull the shot high right. I saw it impact but I was already moving to the next array. Finish up the stage and the scorer (who is a friend) says, “You had a “mike” on that first array”. When I say, yeah I know and I thought about picking it up but didn’t he told me flat out you were already gone on to the next one.
I need to find that balance between foot speed and recognizing what my brain is telling me. But, that’s why this is still a learning curve and it’s a lot more fun than golf.