Ah, the results. My results are not pretty. My goal was to finish in the top half of the amateur side of the event. Little did I know the number of ringers that would be in the lineup. When things went south for me on the first two stages, I had to revise my expectations.
My squad.
Squad 15 had a very interesting composition. We had one open shooter, and the remainder were Tac Optics. There were a couple of natural groupings in the squad. There were a pair of guys that were firearms instructors for the US Secret Service. One of them took 10th place. There was another local group of guys, they all worked for Remington. There was another small group, they were filling the vendor slot for Nordic Components. Then there was the rest of us, that do this for fun when we can find the time and money.
It was a really good squad to shoot with, lots of laughter, lots of encouragement, and (for me) lots of learning opportunities.
My Results:
The painful admission of my less than stellar performances. For the record there were 237 Tac Optics entries on the amateur side of the house.
| Stage | Raw Time | +5 Proc. | +10 Proc | Adj Time | Points | Place |
| 1 | 100 | 3 | 4 | 155 | 24.32 | 216 |
| 2 | 100 | 6 | 5 | 180 | 27.64 | 218 |
| 3 | 69.55 | 2 | 1 | 89.55 | 46.66 | 162 |
| 4 | 80.82 | 1 | 1 | 95.82 | 48.11 | 116 |
| 5 | 100 | 2 | 5 | 160 | 23.43 | 218 |
| 6 | 87.77 | 0 | 7 | 155.07 | 34.88 | 194 |
| 7 | 98.88 | 0 | 2 | 118.88 | 40.30 | 146 |
| Composite | 244.75 | 217 |
Yes, I would do it all again. Yes, I plan on trying to get into the field again next year. Now that I better know what to expect, and how to prepare…I have high hopes.
Prizes
A surprise for me at this event was the PRIZE TABLE. I mean, this is an amateur event. I finished 217th they should be politely showing me to the door.
The organizers spent the afternoon setting up the prize tables. I don’t think that there was a prize package on the table that was valued less than the entry fee for the match. At the high end, there was a safe, many rifles and shotguns, reloading systems, and many many gift certificates. The most interesting part…. Prizes were awarded by random draw. In any case I was not drawn in the top 20. But there was still plenty of valuable loot still available when I selected a stack, and I wound up with a few things that I would have spent money on anyway. Win Win for me.
The prize table though was composed of three columns of about 60 to 80 feet of tables in each column. There were tons of good stuff there. Optics, bags, bullets, ammo…. Just massive amounts of stuff.
All the results for the match can be found here, if you are interested. You will need to scroll down a bit.
My acquaintance (JM) took 6th on the pro-side and was second in the shoot-off. Note to self: spend more time training with Jerry and his family.
Tomorrow – Rock Castle 2012 Side Matches and Clinics