Shoot to have fun or even save your life and others

I have been an enthusiast for the gun sport for some time now but never really found a home. For sure, we have done a lot of interviews of several of the gun clubs around Metro Manila, all of whom struck me as “good homes” because the officers/members were all accommodating and friendly, but there is always the factor of location that one must consider when joining a gun club. For one thing, this is one sport where practice makes perfect, and travelling long distances for regular practice, say two or three times a week, is discouraging. For another, all of these gun clubs hold once-a-month club shoots which is a requisite for you to be counted as an active member.

I was recently invited by a friend, Lester Ronquillo, to join him and his sons Enzo and Aldo for Sunday practice at his home club, the CCIS (Carmona-Cavite Integrated Shooters) at their firing range located in the south. Through well-paved roads, one takes the Carmona exit, and it is a mere 15 minutes away from Alabang.

The CCIS firing range is medium-sized, not your huge daunting facility that intimidates start-ups. It is modest and compact but provides enough maneuvering room for practical shooting exercises which the regular membership enjoys.

That Sunday, it was just the Ronquillo father and sons, my family (wife Baby, daughter Tin (DJ Suzy) and son Wee), and Lyndon Viraugo (a multi champion shooter who has represented the country in several international competitions and who happens to be the president of CCIS) who were there – we happily had the entire firing range to ourselves. Apparently, many of the CCIS members happened to be in the same “lazy Sunday” mode and decided to stay home.

My wife and kids had a good afternoon of excellent and professional tutorship from Lyndon, gratis et amore, who patiently mentored everyone on safe handling (first and foremost), safe and responsible gun ownership, and effective target shooting. For complete novices, of course, the first step to hurdle is to get over the initial fear of guns and gunfire, and happily the ladies seemed to have hurdled the first step before we called off the shoot to have a late lunch.

The next Sunday was their scheduled club shoot, and we arranged to have this videoed so we can meet and interview the rest of the members for a feature on a portion of the TV show Business & Leisure called “Sport Shoot”, which is dedicated to the gun enthusiasts.

From where I sat, I had a “front seat” view of the tail-end portion of the friendly competition. Practical shooting is always a thrill to watch. It is a test of accuracy under duress, where real-life situations are simulated. A particular stage, for instance, has a participant seated a few steps away from a panel. His firearm, minus the loaded magazine, is resting just outside a small opening with horizontal bars. These represent a drawer and a window. On signal, one has to quickly retrieve his firearm from the “drawer”, load the mag, then shoot a “double tap” on each of the three targets through the bars of the “window” then release mag and load again before proceeding to the next window for a repeat (a total of six targets to hit), release the magazine, check that the chamber is empty before safely holstering it. It goes without saying that the more alpha (center or head part of target) hits you make at the shortest time possible, the better your score and the better your chances of winning in the competition.

There I also met Bobot Rivera, son of arch Tito Rivera, a tennis player from the old VVCC days and brother of CJ, my daughter Tin’s (DJ Suzy) co-DJ in her long-running lunch time slot at Magic 89.9. Bobot, who’s the CCIS vice president, a contractor, is married to Gina, a renowned EENT doctor ( a “heaven-sent” for us but then that’s another story perhaps worthy of another article). Bobot readily gave my wife Baby precious basics on shooting.

On the other side of the range were Lyndon and myself. The long-time president of CCIS and recognized shooter par excellence patiently gave me the finer points of practical shooting, which I realized is a world away from target shooting. I am fairly proficient in target shooting, but with time constraints and under less convenient circumstances, I have not actually tried joining actual competitions, aside from the mean wagers among other target shooting friends as to who can hit the bull’s eye best.

Being a club shoot, that Sunday was a busy one for the CCIS range, with the club’s active members in attendance. CCIS was founded in 2004, according to Lyndon who himself started shooting in the early 90’s, and now has 150 members, 50 of which are on active status. Lyndon, who has been with the Armscor team has represented the Philippines in four world shoots: in Brazil, Ecuador, Cebu and Bali.

It was Lyndon who also told me that in IPSC’s (Int’l Practical Shooting Competition) four divisions, the guns of choice are: for production- .40,. 45 or 9 mm, double/single action, nothing lower; Classic- single stock, .45 caliber; standard – 45 caliber; open - .38 super or 9 mm which you can embellish with a scope, compensator, etc.

Bobot, on the other hand, just started about five years ago when a cousin sold him a firearm for security purposes. He joined CCIS to learn more about safe handling and practical shooting. Other members who joined the club shoot include Francis Pabalan, who joined in 2007 and has been competing regularly; Dennis Macadangdang an engineer who only joined in 2011 but is already a regular on the range. Like most other shooters, he claims that the sport of shooting is a great stress buster for him and the smell of gun powder in the air is totally exhilarating. There is also William Magalong, who joined CCIS because his mentor, Lyndon, was a club member, and who has joined the international club shoot in Malaysia and is eyeing the New Zealand shoot next year. Champion Edward Rivera (2012 Austral-Asia) was also there and showed us his winning form.

Residents of the south need not look any further in deciding which gun club to join. CCIS, where lifetime membership is P5,000 is conveniently located from the San Lazaro racing complex off the Carmona exit, and the roads leading to the exit are excellent. Non-members too may use the range for only P150/day, while members have to pay a pittance, P50.00, for a whole day of practice. To stay active, one has to join the monthly club shoots and have exhilarating fun while doing it! The regulars practice at least twice a week and compete on weekends. I hope to join you guys more regularly and, by affinity, perhaps get at least 10 percent of your proficiency.

Mabuhay!!! Be proud to be a Filipino.

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