Bianchi Day 2

I mentioned yesterday that this whole thing was kind of like taking batting practice with the Boston Red Sox, right?  Well, to continue the analogy, today I actually stepped on to the field with the team and played in the shooting sports equivalent of the World Series.  That’s the neat thing about this game – there is so much history surrounding the sport.  I’m shooting the same courses of fire that they shot 30 years ago at the first Bianchi Cup.  There are shooters here that have been coming to this event for 20+ years, and to take part in and try to assimilate part of that culture is an intense experience for a new shooter.

On to the shooting though!  Today were my first two events, the Practical and the Barricade.  I thought the Barricade was my strongest event coming in to this, because it was the most similar to what I’d shot before IPSC and IDPA competition.  I ended up shooting about 10 points better on the Practical than I did on the barricade – shows what I know,  suppose.

As I’ve mentioned before, tomorrow I’m up to shoot the mover.  Right now, I’m on a pace to shoot about a 1500 for the match, which if my predictions hold true would put me about 300 points behind the eventual winner, but also not in last place.  Honestly, while I could be happier with my performance, I also understand that I need to set realistic expectations for myself – but even more than that, I need to have FUN.

And ultimately, that’s what I’m doing.  The people here are great, and NRA puts on a great event – I’m having fun at Bianchi Cup, and I’ll be back next year to do it again.

8 Comments

  1. The winner should come in at about 1920 or maybe a couple points down.
    I shot the Bianchi for years, it’s fun to read a new AP shooter’s perspective.
    Keep ’em in the X ring.

  2. Ninth Stage – yes, the overall winner should come in around 1920, however I’m focused on the new Production Division, where the winner will probably come in around the 1800s. Production is kind of an interesting monkey – the scores are definitely not what people are used to seeing from Metallic and Open shooters.

  3. Dude, just felt I had to say this out loud to you (and any NRA promoters that may be auditing…):

    Thanks for covering this event… It is awesome to see you really cover the cup from a first timers perspective. Additionally, FYI – as of know, you’re on the first page of Google results for the search “bianchi cup” and that is just plain awesome.

    I’d say that you’re doing a damn fine job of single handedly generating massive interest in the cup on the web.

  4. You may have mentioned this already, but what gun are you shooting with?

  5. I am running a ParaUSA 18.9, which is a double-stack 9mm 1911 style pistol with Para’s proprietary LDA trigger.

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