With his trusty sidearm, a local competitive shooter recently put his aim to the test during two major events, giving the country’s finest marksmen a run for their money.
Sundre’s Ian Jones placed first in the Standard Division as an individual competitor during Summer Slam 13, which last month was hosted in the northern New Brunswick county of Restigouche.
A couple of days later, Jones, 38, attended nationals in Québec City, where he competed individually as well as with the Alberta standard team.
“It’s nice to have two major matches together like that,” said Jones, adding that already being in New Brunswick facilitated going to Québec right afterwards.
“You travel all that way, might as well hit them both.”
The International Practical Shooting Confederation (IPSC) put on the two events. Individually, he finished third among international competitors at the national event, but second among Canadians. The team he competed alongside, however, won gold.
“I had a great time shooting with my teammates JP Job, John Dzuka and Joshua Sabad,” he posted on social media.
Last year, Jones placed fourth individually at an international handgun championship in Jamaica, but with Team Canada’s combined efforts won gold.
The other divisions aside from standard are classic, open and production. Each event is broken down based on the type of firearm used. The open category includes guns with larger magazine capacities, optics such as red dot sights as well as a compensator that reduces recoil. The classic is based on the traditional 1911 handgun and standard allows the use of any customized piece that must physically fit within a specifically sized box. The production category is for unmodified or customized pistols that essentially come as purchased over the counter, he said.
Still using his Akai Customs modernized version of a 1911 .40-calibre pistol, Jones said he had a lifetime of family experience with firearms that not only influenced his passion for the sport, but also introduced him to the world of competitive shooting.
His mom’s cousin is Graham Nesbitt, an Ontario resident who in the late 1970s and 1980s was the coach for the Canadian Olympic pistol team when Linda Thom won gold in the 1984 Summer Olympics women’s 25-metre pistol.
“I grew up around pistol shooting and target shooting,” he said.
He expressed a preference for the time trials that test not only a marksman’s accuracy, but also speed and reloading efficiency as well.
“I find it more fast-paced and exciting than bull’s-eye shooting.”
Jones said it has been a few years since he's competed in three-gun shooting, which is similar to handgun time trials, just with rifles and shotguns as well as pistols.
“To get good at all three is more time than I have,” he said.
“I’d rather excel at one than just be OK at three.”
Now, Jones has the 2020 Thailand IPSC World Shoot firmly in his sights, and hopes to compete alongside Team Canada in that event.
Alberta has a pretty strong IPSC club membership, he said, encouraging any avid marksmen out there to visit the organization’s website, ipscalberta.com.
Now shooting competitively for about eight years, Jones generally trains at a range near Rocky Mountain House. He previously had said he also practises going through the motions of reloading empty clips in his basement to avoid getting rusty.
Although the objective of the competitions is to score as many points as quickly as possible — usually in the span of 20-30 seconds — safe use of firearms remains the cardinal rule, he said.
“Everybody wants to push and go fast, but there’s zero tolerance for unsafe gun handling,” he said, adding any infractions — inadvertent or intentional — result in an instant disqualification.
The pressure of competing, which he feeds on, drives him to improve his performance. But he also enjoys the camaraderie of travelling to matches with the teammates that he considers close friends.
