American Handgunner July/August 1977

fabled California Combat League waspresent, with names like A1 Nichols; thenational Army Reserve conventional pistolchampion was there too, with membersof his national champion team. Statechampions were there, mostly combatshooters and mostly from the northwest,but the ranks of the hopefuls were alsofilled out with less accomplished shooters,and even some who had never shot in amatch before. They had all come from as-- far West as Hmva~, as far East as Floridaand New Hampshire.Seventy-nine showed up for the preliminaries.AH paid a flat $100 entry feefor the privilege of trying out for the topforty who would make the final run for theprizes. A few had come up ahead of timefor their first couple of runs, to get the feelof the range and coordinate their practicea little better. Most, however, saw thecourse for the first time two or three daysbefore the final, Saturday shoot.The range consists of ten "shootingpads," concrete squares that serve as firingpoints. The National Shooter's Leaguerange is simply a shallow dish of Wyomingfarmland that has been fenced around,and fitted with backstops behind each ofthe ten asymmetrically laid out firingpoints.The range, and the match, belong to Dr.Robert Burgess and his brother Gifford.Doc is a prosperous surgeon in hramie;Giff is a man of independent means whochose a career as a firefighter purely foraction and helping people. Both are lifelongathletes and hunters and gun buffs,and deeply concerned about the future ofthe latter two sports. "We had both beenathletes all our lives," Doc explains, "andwe were looking for something that wouldoffer serious and competitive sport for aman over 25. Pistol shooting seemednatural."Giff and I had long asked ourselveswhy there is no favorable media coverageof the shooting sports. You and I and thereaders of this magazine support a multimilliondollar industry, and some of thatmoney and talent should be used to promotethe sport itself. We built the coursein 1973, developed the course in '74, andran the first match in '75. We had realizedthat if we didn't do it, we couldn't be sureanyone else was going to. We selected therunning course for the sole purpose ofcreating an exciting action that would appealto the media."The general media did not fling itself atthe Burgess' feet. Of the competitors andspectators who turned out for the '76shoot, almost all had learned of the eventfrom Bill's article in GUNS. Local and regionalTV stations in Deriver and Cheyenne?and area newspapers such as thewidely-circulated Kocky Mountuiu Newsgave excellent coverage, but it didn'tmake Wide World of Sports.It didn't in '76, either, but the regionalmedia representation was somewhat bet-Ad Clark of Kalispell, Montana models what the well-dressed moneyshooter wears. The gun is a Mag-Na-Ported M-29 with a Davis rib andElliason sights. Hot .44 handloads hang from HKS speedloaders. Theleather is custom made by George Aurit. The stopwatch is optional.AMERICAN HANDGUNNER JULY/AUGUST 1977