Greetings all, Over the past 5 years, the STI Open, held in Philippsburg Germany has established itself as one of the premier matches in Europe. There is no better proof of this than the fact that all the slots were sold out within a week of opening registration, some 6 months (!!) before the match date! Few matches world wide can make such a claim. I have no doubt that the 6th annual STI Open will help to continue this tradition and make it even harder next year to get slots in the match. Lucky for me, as a member of the STI Euro Team - I should be able to get mine...LOL. My suggestion to you all: Sign up EARLY! The match this year was the biggest yet, with almost 400 competitors in total, and most of the top guns in Europe present, in all divisions. Even with this large number of shooters the match ran smoothly and ahead of schedule, thanks to the hard work of the top-notch range crew, and good stage designers. The match has become known for tactical stages which require using one's brains, not just one's gun... and this was true this year as well. Of particular interest was stage 10: the shooter knocked down a popper, which released a mover which ran down the length of the range. In addition to that, the popper released a bowling ball, which rolled down a tube to release another double mover which moved across an opening in the front end of the long range. Wow - lots of things to try and time just right on this one! Most shooters were first shooting a couple of targets on the right side before shooting the steel and activating all this, but I figured there would be enough time to first shoot the steel - and then all the targets on the way down range to were the movers could be engaged. I was right - and won the stage! Good tactics go along way sometime. Another excellent stage had the shooter facing no fewer than 10 windows built it a wall, 3 walls in fact, which had the shooter moving forward, across and then back along the range, shooting close and far targets. this was really tricky as many of the targets could be seen more than once, and getting the sequence just right was key. A good reload was needed on this one too, as there was not much time for it, and 31 rounds required to complete the stage. This stage had it's share of low windows, as did the rest of the match. This is a typical German match feature -low windows, and it will really test your leg muscles by the end of the weekend! Stay in shape! This was a tough match, with lots of small plates forcing good accuracy. I can't say it was one of my better matches either. I started slow, and did not really get into the groove for more than a couple of stages. strange how that happens sometimes. But, even so, my shooting was good enough for 2nd place, a distant second I might add, to world champion Eric Grauffel. Oh well, I will have another chance to compete against him next week in La-Tremblade. Here are the results from the STI Open:
As always I have my sponsors to thank for their support
STI International
Berry's Fmg
Competitive Edge Dynamics (CED)
Rescomp Handgun Technologies
Lapua/Vihtavuori
Aimpoint
MSA Sordin
Until the next time I wish you all excellent shooting.
Saul Kirsch | 
