January 2026 copy - Flipbook - Page 65
but at least I wasn’t totally
lost. When it was my turn
to shoot, I took my stu昀昀
and went to the line imitating the other shooters I
had watched go before me.
When Ed saw that I didn’t
have a spotter, he grabbed
his scope and ran up behind me and volunteered
to spot. This was my 昀椀rst
big break in BPCR shooting. Ed had a lot of experience as a seasoned black
powder shooter. With his
help and guidance, I managed a 昀椀nal o昀케cial score of
24, although in my mind,
I was sure it was only 19.
Either way, 19 or 24, that’s
a good score for somebody’s 昀椀rst Quigley Match.
Ed and I are still friends to
this day, and there’s not a
昀椀ner person on the planet.
Seems like there are a lot
of people shooting BPCR
events who have that same
personality trait Ed has…
Anyway, since I had gone
to this match by myself,
I wasn’t spotting for anybody, but I had gear with
me. My spotting rig at
the time was a big pair of
Steiner ships binoculars
and a big tripod. I still use
that set up occasionally.
Ed’s wife Beth and some of
the other gals were sitting
behind the line cheering
for their husbands and fathers, but they couldn’t tell
Issue #1!
By the time my thrid year of Quigley shooting rolled
around, the switch to Genuine Black Powder was complete and I had managed a score good enough for a 1st
place (scope division) 昀椀nish (37th overall).
sometimes whether a shot
was a hit or miss. Beth was
a really nice person so I set
up my binoculars behind
them and started spotting
hits and misses for them.
The ladies thought that
was great, whooping and
laughing and cheering. It
was a lot of fun and a good
way to pass the time. I
knew at that moment that
I was hooked and I would
keep coming to The Quigley for years and years.
Over the course of the
two-day match, shooting
behind Steve, Ed, and
some of the other guys, the
deliberate nature of black
Powder shooting started to
bake into my head. By the
time the match was over
on Sunday I went with everybody else to watch the
awards ceremony. Dave
Gullo won the match that
year, which was no great
surprise to anybody. I only
knew his name as some
sort of a whispered legend…a phantom of black
powder shooting who
showed up to matches and
dominated. I had seen
him shooting on the line,
and he looked a lot like everyone else when I thought
about it. I was starting to
grasp the totality of what
it was going to take for me
65
