Iron Plate Action Shooting Match Report Bisley 6th, September, 2009

Following a very successful Open Day at Winnans Range Bisley, where over 200 people were introduced to the fast growing sport of Iron Plate Action Shooting, competitors gathered for the penultimate competition before the Nationals in November.

Match Director Steve Taylor had set up seven stages, involving short and long range stands, as well as a tricky speed stage. Conditions were almost perfect, with bright sunshine and a pleasant breeze all day, ideal for the last outdoor match this year.

The whole day was extremely well organised and firers moved between the various stages without any undue delay allowing them to concentrate on the task in hand. IPAS has a unique blend of speed, accuracy and equipment reliability with no quarter given for failings in any department! As places can be decided on fractions of a second, picking up a 5 second penalty for a missed plate or a 30 second penalty for a jammed magazine, could mean the difference between first and last place. Firers need to avoid panicking when their ‘run’ does not go to plan and those firers that coped well with problems, seemed to do better in the competition.

Steve Taylor won the Open Division with a blistering overall time of 81.09 seconds, during which he successfully engaged 192 plates (averaging 0.422 seconds per plate)! Tony Cole was Runner Up with a time of 94.65 seconds.

The Standard Division was more closely fought with Nick Towndrow recording an overall time of 98.31 seconds and a fraction over 2 seconds behind was Mario Chan with a very respectable 101.64 seconds.

With only one more match before the Nationals at Northampton on 22nd, November, 2009 competitors are keen to ‘iron’ out those niggling problems, under match conditions to stand the best chance of winning at the National Finals.

For more information on Iron Plate Action Shooting and forthcoming match details please go to; www.ipas.org.uk or www.practicalpistoluk.com