On April 21-22 we held a regional match at Camp Butner, NC. There were nice trophies for the class winners and plenty of prizes to go around for everyone. A raffle was held for a pair of electronic muffs donated by Dillon Precision (won by Cecil Rhodes), and a very nice pistol Springfield Arms again provided which to my great delight (but not necessarily anyone else) I won for the second year in a row. My wife is telling me I need to buy some lottery tickets! With the somewhat lighter than normal attendance everyone got to pick a prize off the table and some prizes were saved for the NC State Championship match to be held there September 29th and 30th. Mark it on your schedule and come join us at a great facility.

While getting ready for the match to start I noticed some guys in army fatigues getting out of a car but didn't recognize them right away. I heard Cecil comment that "Well, I guess we don't need to worry about who will finish first........... or second............. or third" when he saw them. The US Army Pistol Team led by current National Champion Jim Henderson had arrived for the match. The picture above is of Sgt Jim Henderson receiving the award as overall match winner, presented by match director Steve Huff.

Click here to see the first video which shows the Army team during a timed fire string from behind. The second video shows them from the side and the last one shows a close up of Henderson firing a timed fire string. In the last video note the time before he gets off the first shot, the consistent cadence once he does start shooting, and the follow through back to firing position after the last shot.

During the awards ceremony after the match the Army team seemed enthusiastic about coming back to shoot in September for the NC State Championship match and said they might be able to bring more team members. Make plans to come shoot with us along side current National Champion Sgt Jim Henderson (and the rest of the Army team) and current 45 cal National Champion Cecil Rhodes. You can reach the North State Shooting Club site here for more information (though the pistol page link seems to be down right now).

Clark

I have pictures from a couple of local matches and some videos taken at the North Carolina Regional match held April 21-22, 2007. The picture here is of Dave Salyer calling a match at the Charlotte Rifle and Pistol club on March 10th while getting a little help from his grandson! Other pictures are available on my picture site here . Look in the Matches 2007 folder for the ones taken this year.

The first video shows four shooters at the regional match in a timed fire string. From left are Mike Halsey, Cecil Rhodes, Clark Hardesty, and Norman Horne. It can be viewed here. Another video showing the same shooters from behind is available at this link. I should point out that Cecil Rhodes is the current 45 cal National Champion, which is a very unique accomplishment for a completely self trained civilian shooter.

Clark