Ergebnisse Results Int. Helmut Schwaiger Trophy 2004

Hi All,

I recently had the chance to compete in the International Helmut Schwaiger Trophy match in Vienna Austria. What a great competition this was! I had heard about it for some time - but frankly did not wish to make the very long trip from Eindhoven to shoot another indoor match... Shooters had told me "GO! you won't be sorry" so this year I did. And let me tell you: I wasn't sorry! It was well worth the 2300km drive.

If for no other reason, you should go to this match to see how good an indoor match can be, if you have the right range size and enough portable bullet stops... and this range in Vienna has plenty of both. The club there, technically lead by Ronald and Gabriella Kraushofer really know their IPSC - and they put their hearts in to this match every year. This was well appreciated by the almost 300 shooters who attended this year - making this one of the biggest matches of the year in Europe.

My match started out a little shaky, with a couple of costly errors on the 2nd bay. In this match almost all stages are shot in pairs - 2 stages on one big bay, shot hot range. I am not a big fan of this format, but I can see why it is necessary, in this match certainly. A lapse in concentration and focus cost me a couple of misses on the double stage on bay 2, and from that point on I really could not allow myself any more mistakes. I worked hard, shot well, and was building a comfortable lead leading into the last double stage.

And there - disaster struck! I broke part of the extractor head in my gun, which caused me a 10 second malfunction. I could not extract a brass case which was stuck fast. I stood there for what seemed a very long time (and in fact was...), before I got it cleared. Not sure what the problem had been at the time, I had to immediately shoot the last small speed shoot on that range - and I added injury to insult by picking up a miss on that stage, pulling off a 5m target a little too fast. (well, at least the gun worked..) So - all things considered, I was fairly certain I had dumped the match to Gunter Weber or one of the other top shooters there... As it turned out, I had just enough to hold on for the win. The end results in Open class were:

1 1069,4403 100,00 126 Kirsch, Saul ISR

2 1028,5061 96,17 323 Weber, Günter AUT GM

3 1021,9112 95,56 284 Stettin, Andreas AUT GM

4 1002,4653 93,74 247 Schallerbauer, Harald AUT M

5 983,0871 91,93 240 Roorda, Richard NED

6 977,2094 91,38 45 Eidenschink, Bernd GER

7 958,5805 89,63 310 Van Noord, Desiree NED L

8 957,7791 89,56 127 Kiss, Peter HUN

9 952,5932 89,07 300 Thurner, Helmut GER

10 952,4331 89,06 152 Kummer, Patrik GER

11 943,5299 88,23 346 Huttner, Eli ISR

12 938,3554 87,74 279 Starke, Gerald AUT M

13 930,0613 86,97 145 Kraushofer, Gabriele AUT L GM

Congratulations to Dutch Ladies champion Desiree Van Noord for winning the ladies title, beating the reigning 3-times European champion Gabriele Kraushofer. I shot the match on the same squad with Gabi - and I am sure these 2 will have a real battle in Czech. They are both great shooters, and Gabi is certainly capable of defending her title yet again. It will be interesting to watch that one unfold.

Of particular interest in the match was stage 5. A 28 round field course, which had the shooter activate electric turning targets before drawing his gun. The shooter then had to move between 4 shooting ports, in each one he faced static targets and one turning target, which were activated electronically and opened and closed repeatedly... This was a tough stage, as some turning targets began open, and others closed. They were static first for 5 seconds, and then then spun open for 2 closed for 3... but since some targets started open and some closed, this meant some were open for 3 closed for 2, while others open for 2 closed for 3.... Very confusing. I spent some time working it out - and was pleased when it all came together well.. If you missed your sequence, you could easily add 2-3 seconds to your time on the stage. This was really a well designed stage, and fun to shoot.

As always, I have my sponsors to thank for their support. I could not afford to shoot and travel as much as I do without them, and for that I am grateful!
 Drummen Custom Guns
Berry's Fmg
Competitive Edge Dynamics (CED)
Mpro-7
Arredondo accessories
Rescomp Handgun Technologies
Nobel Sport
Aimpoint
BUL Transmark

That's it for now. I wish you all safe and enjoyable shooting.

Saul Kirsch

 Picture:


By far the biggest trophy I have ever won. Good thing I will have to give it back next year... this way I only have to pay storage for it one year....:)

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