Greetings all,

I am once again in an airport, on my way back to Europe from the USA, "enjoying" the pleasures of air travel in the USA. We all agree that security is called for - but you really do get the impression that some improvements are badly needed. Anyway, since this is not a travel report, lets focus on the match.

 I have spent a wonderful 2 weeks in the USA. It began with the Shot Show in Las Vegas, a trade show second to none in the shooting industry. If you are into guns, hunting or anything "sport shooting" related - try and get to this show some time. It will be a worth while experience. I had the pleasure of participating again, for my 8^th  straight year with BUL. Where do the years go? I can so clearly remember the fascination, confusion and anxiety of my first Shot Show back in 1997. Now, with the help of the team from BUL, the show is a breeze. It was not as busy as we may have hoped, but it is always interesting.

 From Vegas I traveled with my good friend and top shooter Angus Hobdell to his home in Phoenix, where we were able to spend some time on the Rio Salado range, training and preparing for the 2004 Florida Open, which we completed yesterday.

 Frank Garcia's Florida Open has established its place in the annual calendar of shooting events as one of the best matches to attend. And as in previous years, it was well attended, with several shooting coming over from Europe, and South American countries. This match always attracts some of the top Grand Master USPSA shooters, like US Army champion Max Michel, Junior world champion Chris Tilley, and top instructor and shooter Matt Burkett.

 The match is traditionally only 10 stages, but, at 30 rounds per stage, you do get to do some shooting. In my opinion, this year's match was perhaps not as tactical as previous years. Most of the stages had a clear solution to them, but there were the exceptions, and certainly some cleaver props thrown in the mix. There's no arguing that Garcia knows his stuff when it comes to stage design.

 This was my first major match of the 2004 season, and I was ready to go! My first big match in 9mm para, which I now shoot with Berry's bullets and power with SP2 powder. I have the guns set up to where I trust them as much as any 9x23 gun I ever shot, and I was pleased to experience a problem free match. Well, with the exception of one costly malfunction on the last shot out of a long magazine, prior to a reload on the move. That was almost my only glitch on day one, and I finished the first 6 stages of day one in 2^nd place, trailing Eric Grauffel by only 24 points or so. With Chris Tilley and Max hot on my heals.

 Day 2 was a repeat of last year, with Chris Max and I fighting it out for 2^nd 3^rd and 4^th spots, after Eric eased forward to secure yet another win. Last year, I was able to come out on top of these 2 great shooters, but this year it was not to be. I made a few mistake on the first stages of day 2, while Chris seemed to go from strength to strength, and Max put it some super performances too. It was close, but in the end I would settle for 4^th place, behind winner Eric Grauffel, 2^nd place Junior world Champion Chris Tilley, and US Army superstar Max Michel. It was close?

Top 10 In open were:

   1 Grauffel, Eric         F38440   GM  Open        1460.4543 100.00%
   2 Tilley*, Chris          TY38861  GM  Open       1395.6792  95.56%
   3 Michel*, Jr, Max    TY26022  GM  Open       1392.8733  95.37%
   4 Kirsch, Saul           F44236   GM  Open        1367.2594  93.62%
   5 Burkett*, Matt         L2135    GM  Open          1345.1713  92.11%
   6 Brown, Ronald      TYF48295 M   Open         1255.8039  85.99%
   7 Whitacre, Paul      TY35773  GM  Open        1242.3386  85.07%
   8 Christen*, David   A43272   M   Open           1230.7893  84.27%
   9 Janowicz, Derek   FY24894  M   Open          1213.7951  83.11%
 10 Patty, Chris           A4329    M   Open             1188.6153  81.39%
 

Limited (Standard) was won by Travis Tamasie, who is taking care of business this year in the Limited division for the AMU (Army Marksmanship Unit). Production was won my word champion David Sevigny, which CZ's Angus Hobdell close on his heals.

 I shot the match with a Hoser cam - and some of this footage you can see in this report. As always the Florida Experience was well worth the long trip. The prize table did leave something to be desired, by US standards, but hey - if you are in IPSC shooting for prize money - you are in the wrong sport.

 As always, I have my sponsors to thank for their support:
Drummen Custom Guns
Berry's Fmg
Competitive Edge Dynamics (CED)
Mpro-7
Arredondo accessories
Rescomp Handgun Technologies
Nobel Sport
Aimpoint
BUL Transmark

I hope to see some of you at the IWA show in 3 weeks time. Be sure to come by the BUL booth to say hi.

 Shoot safe!'

 Saul kirsch