Dixie
Shooters Club
Matches
Dixie
Shooters Club
Matches
Dixie Shooters was formed in 1996 following a fallout between the members of the Central Alabama Sport Shooters Association (CASSA) and the few people who ran CASSA. The new club was formed called "Dixie Practical Shooting Club". Dixie Shooters now calls the F.O.P. Range Inc. their home range. The club currently has about 60 members and is still growing. We see and welcome new faces at every match. The club president this year is Tim Herring. He has done a great job of getting things organized so the club's matches are the best matches put on in the southeast. We regularly have IPSC shooters drive in from other states to participate in our matches. Ask them why they drive 4 to 8 hours to shoot a club match and they will tell you, "the club back home can't hold a candle to the matches put on by Dixie Shooters".
One thing Dixie Shooters does to keep the matches interesting is allowing input from everyone as to how the stages are designed and set up. We do this by breaking down the membership of Dixie Shooters into 3 "work squads". Each squad is responsible for putting on their weekend's match. So you only have to set up one out of every three matches. This keeps the same people from having to do all the work. As everyone in an IPSC club knows, the membership is divided into two groups of people; shooters and do'ers. The shooters came to shoot a match and do not really care to help set up, paste and reset stages as this interferes with their match performance and the do'ers are those who enjoy the social aspect of attending the match, they like to help out by making the match move on. Do'ers are the RO's, stage designers, stats workers who score the match. By breaking the membership into squads made up of do'ers and shooters, burnout is not a problem anymore. The squad members do work well together and the shooters don't seem to mind working for the one out of every three club matches held.
Dixie Shooters puts on two matches a month, held on the first and third Sundays of each month. The match on the first Sunday is a regular club match and the match held on the third Sunday is a "Classifier" match, with the scores from one "Classifier" stage sent in to USPSA. By shooting four classifier matches, each shooter becomes "Classified" or ranked based on the average of the four scores compared to the average of everyone in the world who has shot that classifier stage. USPSA gives each of its IPSC clubs a classifier book that contains several stages for the clubs to choose from to set up for their classifier match. Each club sends in the results of their shooters who shot the classifier stage.
Everyone is welcome at a Dixie Shooter's match. You do not have to be a member of the Range or Dixie Shooters in order to participate. However, you do get a break on the price of the match if you are a member of one or both. The cost is $15 for non-members, $12 if you are a member of the range of Dixie Shooters, and $10 if you are a member of both the Range and Dixie Shooters. The classifier match has a $2 fee that goes to USPSA making that match cost $2 more. In exchange, you get to participate in the best match put on by anybody. The stages are comparable to those held at State and Area level matches. Bring a good handgun, holster to be worn on your strong side, extra magazines or speed loaders, 150 rounds of ammo, and eye and ear protection. The match starts at noon and is over usually by 3:00 pm. Come a little early if you can and help set up. If this is your first match, you need to get to the Range about an hour early and go through a safety briefing. One of the RO's will go over the rules involved in shooting IPSC matches and safe gun handling required when at the range. If you need more information about the matches, call the range at 205-744-2600 and Tony, Jon, or Bruce can help you.
For more information about the United State Practical Shooting Association - USPSA - or the International Practical Shooting Confederation - IPSC - Check out their web sites.