Friday, August 28, 2009

GBR-IV Steel Challenge Information

A Steel Challenge Stage


This year we will be going out to the Washoe County Shooting Facility on Saturday and will be the Guests of the Western Nevada Pistol League and will be using one of their pistol bays for Shooting a few Steel Challenge stages. For those of you unfamiliar with Steel Challenge, here's the basics:

What does a Steel Challenge Stage look like?
There are five steel targets, or plates, per stage at various distances from 7 to 35 yards away. The plates will be either 10", 12", or 18" x 24" in size. All of the plates are relatively easy to hit, just hard to hit if you try to go too fast! One specific plate, called the Stop Plate, must be shot last. The others must each be hit at least once prior to hitting the stop plate. You can shoot the first four plates in any order. (Except on Outer Limits, but we probably won't shoot Outer Limits as it also includes movement). Each shooter makes five runs, or shot strings, on each stage. Your slowest run is thrown out, and your four best runs on the stage are added together. Your score is your total time to shoot all of the stages.

There are eight standard Steel Challenge stages. Here's the specific stages:

Accelerator

Five To Go

Outer_Limits

Pendulum

Roundabout

Showdown

Smoke and Hope

Speed Option

We will be using Steel Challenge rules in Reno, with the exception that there will be no drawing from a holster. Instead, we will use the rimfire start position, which is with the gun pointed at a marker on the ground directly in front of the shooter's position and 12' away.

Some basic Range Safety rules:

It is a "Cold" range. ALL weapons must be unloaded at all times, unless you are in the shooter's box and under the direction of the Range Officer. That means concealed carry permit holders, too. If you are packing, Just drop the magazine, put it in your pocket, clear the chamber, and re-holster.

No handling of weapons outside of the shooter's box. If you need to work on a weapon, there is a designated safety area close by. No ammunition allowed in the safety area. You can load and unload magazines at any time behind the line.

What can I shoot:
You can shoot any handgun; revolver, semi-auto, or rimfire. If you've got a .22 you like, bring it along. Rimfire steel is a lot of fun, and is also usually the fastest category. Single action revolver? Sure! Bring what you've got.

Ammo:
For obvious reasons, no armor-piercing rounds! You do not have to knock anything over, just hit the plates hard enough to leave a mark. If you load your own ammo, stick to relatively light loads, hot enough to cycle and feed reliably, but no more than that is needed. Please save your maxed out mega-blaster hunting loads for use on the rifle range on Friday. Any factory standard loads are fine, and Plus P's aren't needed. How much ammo should you bring? It depends on how many times you miss, but I'd figure on at least 150 rounds as a minimum.

For a full set of the rules and a lot more information about Steel Challenge, check out the Steel Challenge Shooting Association website.

We will have a brief shooter's meeting at the range prior to getting started to review safety rules, procedures, and range commands.

Bangin' and Clangin', here we come.

See you in Reno!

More FAQ's

How about transportation? To the ranges, from and to the hotel, etc?
From and to the hotel there is a free Silver Legacy shuttle bus and it's perhaps a ten minute ride.
As to getting back and forth to the other GBR activities, in the past we have always had enough extra seats in various vehicles so everyone had a ride. Getting back and forth, however, is your responsibility. Ask around the night before at the hospitality room and make sure you've got a seat. In the worst case, three or four of you may need to pick up a rental car and split the cost. There is a car rental office a few blocks from the hotel, or you can arrange a car rental on line for airport pickup if you are flying in.

How about lunch when we're at the ranges?
There's no food available at the range on either Friday or Saturday, but most likely there will be food booths at the Virginia City Camel Races Festival & Cowboy Fast Draw on Sunday. We usually eat big breakfasts Friday and Saturday morning, and haven't really been very hungry! Something to munch on might be a good idea, though.....

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Driving Thru SoCal With Guns? Read This.....

If you are driving up or down the Coast to get to Reno and the Gun Blogger Rendezvous, David at Random Nuclear Strikes has some good advice regarding routes and some areas to avoid due to local firearms laws. Be sure to check the comments too, as there's a lot more good advice there.

Monday, August 24, 2009

PARA Donates Gun Rights .45 To Rendezvous

With the current political climate, just about all of the gun manufacturers are building everything they can as fast as they can just trying to cover back-orders. Considering that, it's even more of a credit to Kerby Smith and PARA-USA that they were not only able to come up with a to donate to the Gun Blogger Rendezvous, they were able to come up with a spectacularly nice example of their products, a "Gun Rights" high capacity .45, single action and in stainless to boot!



  • Rounds: 14+1
  • Barrel: 5"
  • Weight: 40 oz.
  • Length: 8.5"
  • Height: 5.75"
  • Hammer: Spurred
  • Sights: Fiber-Optic Front/2-Dot Rear
  • Receiver: Stainless
  • Finish: Stainless
  • Magazine: PNM45
  • MSRP: $1,149.00
Someone attending the Gun Blogger Rendezvous is going to be the proud owner of this beauty, and if you are going to be there it could be you. Of course, you DO have to buy a raffle ticket, or perhaps a handful of them, but considering the money raised goes to Project Valour-IT, it's a double-win!

See you in Reno!!

While KeeWee and I were down in California for the World Championships, one of the people we met was Molly Smith. It turns out that Molly is not only a very fine pistol shooter, she is also a Gun Blogger. I was on the same squad as she was in Rimfire in California, and I can attest to the fact that she can shoot well!

Molly Smith shooting in the Rimfire Steel Challenge World Championships
Photo by Yamil Sued


Everyone else walks around the hay bales. Not Molly.....
Photo by Yamil Sued

Her blog is The Molly Minute, and it is well worth reading. Her second post ever, on shooting "In The Zone", is definitely worth reading if you participate in any sort of competition, not just shooting. (Look in the January Archive to find it). Drop by and leave her a comment and let you know you enjoy her writing.

After we got home from California I got an email from Molly inquiring about the Gun Blogger Rendezvous as she not only loves to shoot, she'd like to meet some gun bloggers and learn more about blogging. It turns out that Molly, her Parents, and her brother Steven will all be attending this year's Rendezvous!

Welcome to the Mr. Completely blogroll, and we'll see you and your family in Reno.......

Saturday, August 22, 2009

GBR-IV FAQ's

Some frequently asked questions
about the Gun Blogger Rendezvous

Do I have to stay in the Silver Legacy Hotel, or can I stay somewhere else?
The Silver Legacy provides the Hospitality Room at no charge to the Rendezvous and gives us a discounted group rate on rooms, but it is based on having enough people staying in their hotel. It has happened in the past where not enough rooms were filled by our group in the hotel and it ended up costing us some money. I paid it out of my own pocket, but I really prefer not to have to do it again! This year it looks like we are OK, but I haven't seen the final numbers yet.

All Rendezvous financial considerations aside, to get the best enjoyment out of the Rendezvous, you really should be staying at the Silver Legacy. Folks who have stayed elsewhere usually miss out on a lot of the fun. The BS sessions go well into the night, and it's nice to be able to walk to your room. We usually eat most of our meals together at the various restaurants in the complex (there are 23!) and one of the highlights of the Rendezvous is getting to spend as much time with each other as possible. It really is a lot like a giant extended family reunion!

Do I have to Register for the Rendezvous and pay the $30 Registration fee, or can I just drop in?
If you want to stop by, you are most welcome. However, as a visitor rather than a registered attendee, you do not get any of the cool swag or door prizes. Every previous year attendees have gotten cool stuff worth far more than the $30 just in door prizes. By registering you also get to attend the All You Can Eat Pizza Feed on Saturday night put on by The National Shooting Sports Foundation. Steel Challenge shooting on Saturday, and the Cowboy Fast Draw Shooting on Sunday also require Rendezvous Registration.

Since just about all of the $30 registration money goes to Project Valour-IT anyway, there's no reason not to register.

Can I register at the door?
Yes, you can, but since the number of door prizes is based on how many we know in advance are attending, you may miss out on some of the door prizes if we run out. You will definitely get some swag, though! If you are planning to register at the door, PLEASE email me ASAP, so we know you are going to be there.

If you have any questions, please ask in the comments.

See you in Reno!!


Friday, August 21, 2009

Event Schedule for GBR-IV

Tentative Schedule For
The 4th Annual
Gun Blogger Rendezvous



Thursday, September 10th

2:30 pm. Leave the Hospitality Room to car pool to Scheel’s Sports Store in nearby Sparks.

3:00 pm – 5:00 pm. Guided tour at Scheel’s Sports and browsing/shopping. Pick up munchies and soft drinks on way back to hotel.

6:00pm. Leave the Hospitality Room to go to dinner. Location to be determined later.

Thursday Evening until midnight: Refreshments and conversation at the Silver Legacy Hospitality room. Bring your own refreshments and munchies.


Friday, September 10th.

8:00am. Leave the Silver Legacy Hospitality room, then downstairs to one of the restaurants for breakfast.

8:45am. Leave the Silver Legacy Hospitality room to car pool up and head out to the Washoe County Shooting Facility, the Pyramid range for rifle and pistol target shooting out to 900 yards.

9:30am – 2:00pm. At the range.

3:00 pm. – 5:45pm. Show-N-Tell at the Silver Legacy Hospitality room.

6:00pm. Leave the Silver Legacy Hospitality room to go to the ground floor to Gecko’s BBQ Restaurant for dinner.

Friday Evening until midnight: Refreshments and conversation at the Silver Legacy Hospitality room. Bring your own refreshments and munchies.


Saturday, September 11th.

8:00am. Leave the Silver Legacy Hospitality room, then downstairs to one of the restaurants for breakfast.

8:45am. Leave the Silver Legacy Hospitality room to car pool up and head out to the Washoe County Shooting Facility, the Pyramid range for an introduction to Steel Challenge Action Pistol shooting.

9:30am – 2:00pm. At the range.

4:30 – 5:15pm. Rachel Parsons of the NRA

5:15 – 6pm. Bill Brassard of the National Shooting Sports Foundation

6:00 pm. NSSF all you can eat pizza feed at the Silver Legacy Hospitality room. After dinner will be the fund raiser raffle for Project Valour-IT and the drawings for the door prizes.

Saturday Evening until Midnight: Refreshments and conversation at the Silver Legacy Hospitality room. Bring your own refreshments and munchies. .


Sunday, September 12th.

7:30am. Leave the Silver Legacy Hospitality room, then head downstairs to one of the restaurants for breakfast.

8:15am. Leave for the Virginia City Camel Races Festival and Cowboy Fast Draw Blogger Match.

9:00am – 10:00am. Cowboy Fast Draw Shooting.

The Cowboy Fast Draw shooting is the last scheduled event for the Gun Blogger Rendezvous, but many attendees will be staying Sunday night and returning home on Monday. The Camel Races Festival, The Reno Car Museum, the Downtown River Walk, the new Reno Museum, and a number of other things should be considered for the rest of the day on Sunday.

Note that many of the times shown are departure times. Plan on being there a little earlier than the departure time.


Tuesday, August 18, 2009

SCSA to Sponsor Rendezvous

While I was down in California for the Steel Challenge World championships, I got a chance to talk a bit with Dave Thomas, the head of USPSA and Steel Challenge Shooting Association. Dave decided that since the Gun Blogger Rendezvous raises money for Project Valour-IT, a very worthy charity helping our injured Vets, and since we were going to be featuring Steel Challenge shooting at the Rendezvous, that the Steel Challenge Shooting Association would like to help out a bit by donating some door prize and/or raffle items to the Rendezvous.

A big Thanks is in order to Dave Thomas, USPSA, and Steel Challenge for helping us out!



Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Cowboy Fast Draw at the Rendezvous



I've got some more great news about the upcoming Gun Blogger rendezvous. On Sunday morning at the Rendezvous we have been planning for some Cowboy Fast Draw fun under the watchful eye of Quick Cal Eilrich, the head of the Cowboy Fast Draw Association and multiple Cowboy Fast Draw National and World Champion.

We were going to do it out at Cal's place, but those plans have changed. We are now going to be having our mini fast draw match at Virginia City as part of the Virginia City Camel Races Festival. Yes, Cal will be there showing us how, and we'll all get to "Shoot it out" Sunday morning in Virginia city. The rest of the day we can check out the festival and watch the camel races.

Sunday is going to be a lot of fun!


Friday, August 07, 2009

Raffle Tickets On Line NOW!

In spite of efforts to shut down our Fund Raising Raffle for Project Valour-IT , raffle tickets are now available. Thanks to the hard work of a number of people, and particularly to Brian of Lucky Gunner Ammo, Lucky Gunner is now providing us a shopping cart and ticket buying process on their website. Brian put in some long hours after his regular work day to make this all happen. What are they getting out of this? Nothing! Every penny, less the 3% processing fee by the credit card processor, goes directly to Project Valour-IT.

Go get your raffle tickets and maybe YOU will be the lucky winner of the Para GI 1911 or the 4 Days of Training at Front Sight Academy. Here's the link:


Of course, while you're there you might browse through the ammo they have in stock and see if there's a good deal on whatever you might be getting low on.

Gunnies REALLY ARE the nicest people.


Thursday, August 06, 2009

Raffle Ticket On Line Sales Friday - maybe

It's looking like Friday we will be able to announce the Gun Blogger Rendezvous on line raffle ticket sales as up and running. We are awaiting the final approval from the credit card processor, just to be sure we don't end up getting shut down again, like Paypal (sucks!) did to us. I'll announce it here as soon as it's underway......

Tuesday, August 04, 2009

Raffle Ticket Sales Back On Line Tomorrow?

It looks like we've managed to come up with a way to get the raffle ticket sales for the Gun Blogger Rendezvous/Project Valour-IT effort back on line, and it should be up and running tomorrow morning. Check back tomorrow for the full info and the link to take you to the raffle ticket sale page.

In the mean time, why not go have a look at Lucky Gunner Ammo and see if they have some of that ammo you've been looking fo?. Why am I mentioning Lucky Gunner Ammo in a post about the Rendezvous raffle? Well, it looks like a lot of the credit for getting the raffle's on line ticket sales going again will be earned by the Lucky Gunner folks! Thanks, Guys!