We haven't won anything yet, but we have begun and we will win.
The day begins in Winchester, Virginia (home of Patsy Cline). Randy Mays stands in line to purchase the new issue of "Close Quarter Combat," then poses for this photo in front of the book store. Moments later, a young girl runs up, yells, "Gimme the magazine and nobody gets hurt," grabs the magazine and runs away. The day is off to a bad start.
Future International Defensive Pistol Association Master Class Service Revolver shooter Belva fires the very sophisticated Ruger SP-101 .32 H&R Magnum revolver. Randy, a more experienced shooter (who tends to finish in the top 90 percent regardless of the sport), fires the exotic CZ-75B single action 9 mm pistol.
Bill Harter adjusts the C-More sight on an AR-10 .308 rifle, then puts on his vest, gets confused and picks up a different rifle. Thinking that he is holding the AR-10, he fires one shot, then stands there for several minutes before realizing he is not using a semi-automatic rifle. Sandy, paraphrasing some dialog from the original "Star Wars" movie, advises, "Use the bolt, Bill. Use the bolt." One of the other Action Shooting Squad members laughs so hard that he slips, spins around (clockwise) and falls in the mud.
Bill, somewhat flustered at this point, picks up a different rifle and, given the choice of "fight, flight, freeze, posture, or submit" (all explained in the NRA Personal Protection Course) decides to posture. Notice the snow on North Mountain in the background. Yes, the snow has nothing to do with this, but, as Diana Rigg said in the Muppet movie, "It's exposition. It has to go in here somewhere."
Nan tries to smile her way through an awkward moment when she realizes that she brought loaded magazines, but no pistols. Sandy conducts a test, not of the rifle, but the effects of the rifle's muzzle blast on a new two way radio. Randy, after taking the picture, asks, "You want to sell some of your hair?"
Talk about a lucky shot... The spotting scope posed for the picture on the left. The digital camera was then placed behind the lens of the spotting scope to get the great photo on the right.
All too soon the ammunition runs out, the scope mounts fall off, the sun begins to set, and it's time for the Big Feast. In the grand Friday Night Group tradition, this means heading for the nearest "all you can eat" place. In Winchester (home of Patsy Cline), this means the Asian Garden. Since it was Sunday, we all had the Seafood Buffet. The specialty was Shrimp Balls. As one diner said, "Boy, those must have been some big shrimp."
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