So I was in West Virginia for a while for work and took my USPSA rig with me so I could shoot. On August 2, I shot a match at the Putnam County Gun Club outside of Charleston, WV. In many ways the match was quite different than matches in MS, AL, and LA that I am familiar with, so I thought it would be worth discussing it here.
First of all, the match was held at the Putnam County Gun Club, a range in the back of a public park in a small town (Eleanor, WV). This in and of itself was a little different. Picnic tables, walking paths, and a swimming pool in the front, then a gate and a short road to a nice shooting facility in the back. Although the range is private and requires membership, the rifle bay is open to the public for 1 day a month for $20. Pistols and rifles can be shot on this open day. In addition to USPSA, the club has Bullseye, Cowboy Action, ICORE, High power, and some small bore activities. ICORE is on the small side (they canceled the August match due to lack of interest), while Cowboy Action appeared to be rather large with a decent sized "western town" set up of buildings and props.
Now, for the USPSA match, they only shot 3 stages. The stage designs were up on their website prior to the match, and the total round count for August was only 51 (21 round field course, 18 round field course, and 12 round classifier). However, they not only allow but encourage shooters to shoot multiple divisions.
Basically, you can shoot two divisions at a time, and then shoot the match again in a second "wave" or "relay" and shoot two more divisions. My time was a bit limited, so I signed up in Limited and Limited 10 and shot through once with my Limited rig. When I was leaving, some of my squadmates were gearing up to shoot a couple more divisions with some folks who were just getting there. I haven't counted the number of shooters, but I would guess it was between 20 and 30. The total number of entries for the match though was 61!
The people were friendly and I enjoyed the day and am glad I shot it, but overall I had some issues with it. The idea of multiple divisions is fine, but I didn't like two within a squad. It bogged things down a good bit and is the reason they only shoot 3 stages I feel pretty certain. As to that, I much prefer more/different stages to shooting the same ones twice (or more). I have shot a 6 stage local match near Atlanta several years ago and it was great. With 6 squads and individual bays (a luxury most clubs don't have), it really doesn't take any longer to run with 70 people than a 4 stage does with 40. Locally, I like at least 4 and preferably 5 stages. I came to shoot, after all.
Anyway, I know of other clubs that run a morning and afternoon "relay" and allow you to shoot the match either in the morning or afternoon OR you can shoot both morning and afternoon and try two different divisions. I personally would prefer this to the 4 different division option used at Putnam County, but that is just my take on things. What do y'all think? John and I have talked about options for Magnolia if turnout continues to grow.
First of all, the match was held at the Putnam County Gun Club, a range in the back of a public park in a small town (Eleanor, WV). This in and of itself was a little different. Picnic tables, walking paths, and a swimming pool in the front, then a gate and a short road to a nice shooting facility in the back. Although the range is private and requires membership, the rifle bay is open to the public for 1 day a month for $20. Pistols and rifles can be shot on this open day. In addition to USPSA, the club has Bullseye, Cowboy Action, ICORE, High power, and some small bore activities. ICORE is on the small side (they canceled the August match due to lack of interest), while Cowboy Action appeared to be rather large with a decent sized "western town" set up of buildings and props.
Now, for the USPSA match, they only shot 3 stages. The stage designs were up on their website prior to the match, and the total round count for August was only 51 (21 round field course, 18 round field course, and 12 round classifier). However, they not only allow but encourage shooters to shoot multiple divisions.
Basically, you can shoot two divisions at a time, and then shoot the match again in a second "wave" or "relay" and shoot two more divisions. My time was a bit limited, so I signed up in Limited and Limited 10 and shot through once with my Limited rig. When I was leaving, some of my squadmates were gearing up to shoot a couple more divisions with some folks who were just getting there. I haven't counted the number of shooters, but I would guess it was between 20 and 30. The total number of entries for the match though was 61!
The people were friendly and I enjoyed the day and am glad I shot it, but overall I had some issues with it. The idea of multiple divisions is fine, but I didn't like two within a squad. It bogged things down a good bit and is the reason they only shoot 3 stages I feel pretty certain. As to that, I much prefer more/different stages to shooting the same ones twice (or more). I have shot a 6 stage local match near Atlanta several years ago and it was great. With 6 squads and individual bays (a luxury most clubs don't have), it really doesn't take any longer to run with 70 people than a 4 stage does with 40. Locally, I like at least 4 and preferably 5 stages. I came to shoot, after all.
Anyway, I know of other clubs that run a morning and afternoon "relay" and allow you to shoot the match either in the morning or afternoon OR you can shoot both morning and afternoon and try two different divisions. I personally would prefer this to the 4 different division option used at Putnam County, but that is just my take on things. What do y'all think? John and I have talked about options for Magnolia if turnout continues to grow.
