Texas Combat Shooters 10-07-10

I went shooting tonight. A friend of mine, along with his brother and cousin, started a group called Texas Combat Shooters. We meet at Elm Fork range in Dallas. The thing I LOVE about shooting with these guys is that we get to practice practical, tactical skills. At most shooting ranges, you stand and shoot while standing still at stationary paper targets. You cannot rapid fire in most places and you can never draw from your holster. At Texas Combat Shooters, we practice one handed shooting, off handed shooting, shooting while moving, shooting from behind cover, rapid (accurate) fire, shooting prone, reloading and other practical skills. We usually shoot four stages with a shot count of 18-21 rounds.

At our first stage tonight we were "hand cuffed" around the large post shown here. Our gun and magazines were laid on the table in front of us. At the buzzer we had to load our gun and fire one head shot and one center mass shot at each of 9 targets. I think the targets were about 15 yards out. I did TERRIBLE on this stage! You are timed on each stage and then given a penalty for every shot outside the zero ring on the target. Missing center mass is not a big deal...usually just a one point deduction unless you miss by a lot. The head shot is much more difficult. You either make the head shot or lose 5 points. I lost something like 43 points on this stage. HORRIBLE!

The second stage I shot tonight was on the "reactionary steel" where you hit the steel target and it falls. The first time I shot steel I did not knock over even one target. I have improved on this stage every week. For this stage tonight we loaded 20 rounds (that's 3 magazines for me with my low capacity, single stack 1911). We had 10 shots to hit each of the six bowling pins and then while they were swinging, we had 10 shots to hit the six steel targets behind them. I certainly was not the fastest shot, but I left no targets standing. With 12 targets and 20 shots you are allowed a few misses. I missed one bowling pin and (hit it with my second shot) and none of steel targets. So I hit 12 targets in 13 shots. Very happy with that.

At our next stage we had to run from cover and kneel beside a barrel. We shot at 3 targets 15 yards away, two torso shots and one head shot. Then we moved to a closer barrel and shot another 3 targets, two torso and one head shot. Lastly, we moved closer and shot through a hole in a wall, 3 targets again, two torso and one head shot. I lost 34 points on this stage. I was probably in the lower third of shooters in this stage.

The last stage we shot was the most creative. We had to shove over a BOB dummy, shoot two torso and one head shot at three close targets. We then ran to the next phase where we shot one small steel target which activated a waving "innocent" target. We then shot a second steel target and had to wait for the swinging "innocent" target to swing out of the way so we could hit the third steel target. From there we ran to the last phase where we ran out from behind cover and shot a target two torso and one head shot while charging the target and shooting at point blank range, past that target to another target, two torso and one head shot again at point blank range while charging it. The last two torso, one head shot was taken at another target from behind cover. Again, I was not the fastest one through this stage, but I lost only one point on this whole stage!