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USPSA Area 1 27th Annual Championship – Juniors Rock
Posted by Junior Shooters
By: Trystan Burkhardt with Nathan Swan & Dexter Bradley
(Junior writers – For Kids By Kids)
Area 1 is a region developed by the United States Practical Shooting Association (USPSA) which is comprised of Washington, Oregon, Nevada, Utah, Idaho, Montana, Colorado, Wyoming and Alaska. Every year there is a championship match held in one of the regional states, and for the first time in twenty years, it was held in Idaho. This is also the first time Area 1 has been hosted by the Parma Rod and Gun Club.
This match is held over three days with a round count of 350. A staggering 351 competitors registered, and 328 actually shot the match, making it the fourth largest match this year. Out of 328 competitors, there were only five other junior competitors. (Dave Savigny and Trystan taking a break during the match) Dave Savigny and Max Michelle Jr. (Team SIG Champion), top professional shooters, both took first in their divisions. It was even Dave’s first time in Idaho.
I was fully sponsored to shoot this match by two great companies: Tactical Solutions, and Sheep Dog Ammo. I really enjoyed this match; not only for the shooting experience, but also for the people I met. I was given the opportunity to take pointers from the best Production Class shooter in the world: Dave Savigny. I highly recommend other juniors start shooting USPSA if they aren?t already. Like all shooting sports, you will become a better shooter.
(Dave Savigny preparing to shoot Better Gnomes in Gardens)
There were 12 stages total and they were all beautifully painted. One of the best stages to shoot was named Steel D?lite. It had fifteen steel poppers, four plates and seven no shoots that lead you through a battleship interior. The stage Polish Big n’ Tasty had a Polish plate rack, which is a hybrid between a Texas star and a plate rack. When you shot a plate, the immediate weight difference would cause the rack to rotate on the side you shot. Releasing a weight on one side, it would then spin to the other side to release the second weight causing the entire rack to spin like a propeller. This stage also contained 10 metric targets which turned it into a harder stage. Because you had to move past the metric targets, this stage also had the highest number of disqualifications. In my mind, the hardest stage of the match was a Standards stage.
(The Evil Standards stage)
When I shot each stage, I would try to observe how other competitors decided to shoot it to get a general idea. My entire strategy was based on hitting each target as I came across them, keeping my muzzle downrange at all times, and keeping on top of my round count. It seemed to me that in key moments during a stage, I would go to slide lock.
I shoot in the Production division. The Production division entails stock handguns and loading to a division capacity of 10 rounds. No optics, just sights, basically any gun off of a production line. During this match, I was shooting a Stock Glock 19. I also use this gun in the IDPA (International Defensive Pistol Association) sport. I used a Blackhawk Serpa Level 2 retention holster, which again, I use in IDPA paired with three leather magazine pouches. In the pouches, I was using seven Glock 15 round magazines. I would start off with one mag in the gun, with 11 rounds, so I could have 10+1 when I racked the slide. My other six mags were on my belt with only 10 rounds loaded in each. I wasn’t using a special purposes belt made of nylon, or Velcro either. I was sticking to my thick leather belt that I use in IDPA, and for everyday wear. I was shooting a 125 grain bullet, powered by four grains of Titegroup (Hodgdon Powder, which made for a smooth recoiling gun.
The Area 1 championship was a great event, hosted by a great club.
Nathan Swan
Nathan lived in Tillamook until moving to Eugene in 2002. His father had heard about handgun matches at the Isaac Walton League shooting range. They went, watched a USPSA match and were hooked. Nathan joined USPSA Jan. 8, 2004 at the age 12. He shot his first Classifier Jan 11, 04 scoring 26.74% in Production using a Sig 9mm. He shot Limited 10 using a Glock 19, and then Limited using a Para P1640. He always wanted to shoot Open Class and bought a Caspian .38 Super Open gun, which was later, converted to 9MM Major. He is sponsored by Montana Gold Bullets which he believes are the best and uses 124-grain 9mm CMJ. Currently classified “A” in Open class with an average 80.37%. Highest classifier in Open is 90.43%. His goal is to reach Grand Master before finishing high school. Area 1 sponsored him to attend Camp Shootout in 2008 that improved his shooting tremendously. He competed in the 2006 Nationals, 2006 Three Gun Nationals and Area 1 Championships in 2006, 2008 and 2009. He finished 22 out of 79 competitors in the 2009 Area 1 Championship. He attends club matches in Eugene and Albany, Oregon regularly and has attended matches at Dundee, Tri-County, Roseburg, Medford and Keno. This year he shot in the Single Stack Championships at ARPC, Area 1 Championships in Parma, Id., and will 
be attending Columbia-Cascade Section Championship in Albany, Oregon and the Open National Championships in Las Vegas. He likes to shoot steel and hopes to attend the Steel Challenge next year. He recently received an S&W eight shot .357 revolver and is having fun practicing with it. He plans to compete in ICORE (International Confederation of Revolver Enthusiasts). He will be a junior in high school next year and is planning to take classes to gain college credit. He has earned a Black Belt in the American Taekwondo Association. He also enjoys fishing, hunting, shooting clay birds, riding quads and BMX bikes.
(Nathan’s competition .38 Super Caspian)
Dexter Bradley
Dexter has always had an interest in the shooting sports. Even as a youngster, he would watch his Dad shoot. At three he could name all of the major features of his Dad’s Open gun and tell you what they were for. At age four, Motocross became his passion, so he and his Dad went MX racing.
Within two years his mom and younger sister had joined in the fun of MX and the family participated in the sport for another five years until injury and expense had finally become too much. After all of the injuries had healed, road and mountain biking became the next thing. This was great fun but just lacked a bit of excitement. One day Dex had found some old pics of the Shooting Sports and asked to take a renewed look at the game.
Late last fall, the opportunity to get to the range came up and Dex took to the sport right away. He shot a couple of local club matches as an unclassified Open and was having a blast. When spring came back around, he was still very excited about shooting and couldn’t wait to get back to the range and start shooting matches again. In April the idea of going to an Area 1 match was brought up, so with that it was off to a classifier match in May to be classified as a C class open shooter. Dex got to spend two days in a class with Max Michel and Travis Tomasie in June, a perfect tune up for the Area 1. Dex finished his first major match at 43rd overall and 2nd in C class.
His schedule now revolves around dry-fire practice with a couple days of live fire at the range. Dex recently shot a local match and finished second overall. He is preparing for the Columbia Cascade Sectional, Northwest Challenge, Montana Sectional, with Area 4 being the season finale. Dex is blessed with a family that is very supportive of the shooting sports, now if we can just get his sister involved as Mom is all ready to start the sport. Dex wanted to say thanks to Mom, Dad, and Lindsey for their support and to thank Max and Travis (DOUBLE IMPACT TRAINING) for getting him started in the right direction, their support, and encouragement.
(Dexter’s Gun & holster)
Editor’s Note: Shooters from all over the country showed up to include the following states: Hawaii, Alaska, California, Louisiana, Missouri, Arizona, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas, as well as the Canadian Provinces of Alberta and British Columbia. Tim, the area 1 Championship Director says, ?Most practical shooters are just ?regular Joes? that enjoy shooting on the weekends – much the way the average golfer enjoys golf. There’s no way the average golfer can do what Tiger Woods can do, but that doesn’t limit their enjoyment of the sport and it’s sure fun to watch Tiger. Where Practical Shooting and golf differ is that it’s actually quite likely that you will meet one or two of the world’s top shooters at any major match. What are the odds a regular golfer will meet Tiger Woods; much less play on his foursome?
Contact Information:
USPSA United States Practical Shooting Association
Parma Rod and Gun Club
Copyright & Published By: Junior Shooters & Junior Sports Magazines Inc. July 2009
This is my first time i visit here. I found so many interesting stuff in your blog especially its discussion. From the tons of comments on your articles, I guess I am not the only one having all the enjoyment here keep up the good work.
Thank you. We are busy putting together the next issue of the print magazine now so have fallen off a little on publishing new articles on the website. We should have quite a few new ones posted at the end of May.