Monday, October 09, 2006 Rama: The week ablaze By Karlon N. Rama Stage five
THE best way to start an explosive week of running and gunning is have an explosive weekend of running and gunning precede it.
And explosive is exactly how I would describe both the next couple of days and the weekend that just passed.
The Asean League Championships kick off at the Cebu Pistol and Rifle Association (CPRA) firing range today.
Hostilities for the 25-stage International Practical Shooting Confederation (IPSC)-sanctioned match will commence with the Range Officers’ Match that will last until tomorrow afternoon.
The competition proper kicks off on Wednesday, with squads and shooters trooping to the bay for their turn at the targets. The competition requires a minimum of 381 rounds to finish.
The match is in line with CPRA’s 25th year anniversary, and the participation of three-time World Shoot champion Erick Grauffel of France highlights the event.
A total of 400 competitive shooters from Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Macao, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Sri Lanka, Australia, Japan, Canada the United States, including Guam and Hawaii, are expected to come for the tourney.
One-on-one. Grauffel’s coming to the Philippines is upon the effort of Armscor, Asia’s leading manufacturer of firearms and ammunition.
Armscor is the official ammunition provider for the athlete who had his first taste of World Shoot victory here in Cebu in 1999, when CPRA hosted the 12th World Shoot.
I have a scheduled exclusive with the French shooting master sometime this Tuesday, courtesy of Armscor CEO Gina Angangco.
If it pushes through, I’ll beg, plead and grovel for a special Stage Five issue on Wednesday.
Grauffel will also hold a shooting class on the 15th until the 16th of this month at CPRA. The class is open to the public and registration is on going at the Armscor Shooting Center Inc., along D. Jakosalem St.
The weekend that was. As a fitting opening salvo to the Asean League Championships, the Talisay Aqua City Gun Club and the Falcon Shooting Club hosted back-to-back shooting matches over the weekend.
The Talisay Aqua City event was an interclub match held at the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology Firing Range in Maghaway, Talisay City.
The 1st Falcon Invitational Shooting Competition, meanwhile, was held at the Casey Gun Club Firing Range inside the Tambuli Beach Resort in Lapu-Lapu City.
Sponsored in part by Twin Pines Inc., Ronald Dagatan and Bot Ramos served as Match Director and Range Master, respectively, for the event.
The results for both Philippine Practical Shooting Association (PPSA) sanctioned events were still unavailable as of press time.
Mail call. Richard Tenchavez (rztenchavez@cebuholdings.com) wrote last week to get our take on power and the effectiveness of the ubiquitous 9mm pistol cartridge as a defensive cartridge. He bought a 9mm MAPP (it’s a polymer-framed pistol made by Fratelli Tanfoglio of Italy) from Armscor last year.
And, intending on getting into some serious practical shooting action next year, he also wants to know if a re-tool is necessary. He says his options are between a .40 and a .45.
Thanks for the email Richard. And thanks for bringing forth a question that, I believe, many people will find interesting.
The 9mm cartridge has been called many things. And because it is often compared with the forty-five, it’s closest rival for the title of the world’s most common handgun cartridge, the word “puny” seems to sum it all up for most people.
Admittedly, a comparative physical inspection of bullet sizes and weight does seem to tilt the debate against the nine.
But power (stopping power for clarity’s sake) isn’t simply a function of bullet weight and size.
With hollow-points and frangibles, the two being the only acceptable bullet designs for defensive cartridges, the diminutive nine-millimeter can perform just as effectively and efficiently as any ball forty-five. The key is velocity. A hollow-point needs to be driven to a certain velocity to insure expansion. Frangibles require the same thing so it can fragment after hitting flesh.
Although in the final analysis, it is shot placement – the ability to shoot an attacker in the most lethal area, whatever area that may be in a given situation – that insures the cessation of the attack. Calibers and bullet weights become nothing more than corollary matters to a dead-on hit.
On the issue of competitive shooting and the nine-millimeter, all practical shooting handgun competitions allocate a division specific for 9mm owners, Richard.
In events governed by the IPSC format, the division is called the Production Class. And in matches under the International Defensive Shooting Association (IDPA), the category is called the Stock Service Pistol event.
Thus, a re-tooling isn’t necessary. Not unless you really want to. In the end, after all, two guns (or three) are better than one.
