A competitive Sundre marksman on Team Canada recently arrived in Kingston, Jamaica ready to lock and load for the 2018 International Practical Shooting Confederation’s Pan American Handgun Championship.
“I would have liked to have finished a bit stronger, but I can’t complain,” said Ian Jones, who is sponsored by Akai Customs, a gun maker based in Florida.
Proceeding to the final day in third place, Jones said nerves got to him a little bit and that he endured a couple of less-than-ideal stages. The 37-year-old, who competed under the alias Redmagnum, individually finished fourth out of 14 in the overall results of the July 23-27 competition’s Standard Division with a final score of 92.5254 per cent.
“It was my first time shooting in a match of that size and calibre," he said, pun partially intended, during a phone interview, adding he had also never before been to Jamaica.
“I’ve shot in Canada and the U.S., but never in an international competition.”
Meanwhile, teammates Michael Burrell and Jean-Paul Job placed first and fifth respectively in the same division, the former finishing with a flawless score of 100 per cent. Their combined scores earned the Team Canada competitors a gold medal.
“We all shoot together, helping each other come up with plans to shoot stages the fastest,” he said.
Finishing first as a team and getting to stand on the podium as the Canadian national anthem played was “awesome,” he said.
“I was pretty proud.”
The other divisions aside from Standard were Classic, Open and Production. Each event is broken down based on the type of handgun used.
The open category includes firearms 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.
Throughout the tournament, only a couple of competitors were disqualified over safety violations. However, none of them were Canadians, he said.
Although Jones had also firmly set his sights on nationals in Winnipeg, which take place Aug. 13-18, an injury sustained during a recent bike ride put those plans on the back burner.
“Went down hard on my bike yesterday and broke my collarbone,” he posted on his social media page Sunday morning.
“No IPSC nationals this year.”
However, Jones intends to return to his home range in Rocky Mountain House once he recovers. The marksman also plans to as soon as possible spend time at home practising dry fire drills that involve only the physical handling of the firearm — such as drawing, acquiring sights, and reloading with empty magazines — without the presence of live ammunition, he said.
“About 90 per cent of my training is that — it’s free, you can do it in the basement. That’s where I’ve made my biggest gains,” he said, adding he follows up dry fire exercises with live fire practice at the range.
In the meantime, as he continues to convalesce, the competitive shooter also plans to go through his scores and review his stages from his performance in Jamaica, and seeks to analyze his every step to identify where there is room for improvement.
“It’s a constant progression.”
