New shooter moving to CA

I'm new to the sport of precision pistol/BE and have zero experience with competitive shooting. However, I am in the military and know my way around firearms. I'm being moved to Monterey, CA for about 2 years for a position that should offer me some free time to learn more about the sport.

Before fully investing, I was hoping to test the waters first with anyone here who may live in the area. A quick Google search brings up Laguna Seca Rifle and Pistol Range and Coalinga Rifle Club as the nearest range locations.

So, any prospective mentors live around Monterey, CA who might be interested in sharing their knowledge/experiences and introducing a new shooter to the sport?

Thanks in advance.

A bit of advice.  Buy your pistols before you PCS.  If you have them already, you can bring non-roster guns with you.

Wobbley wrote:A bit of advice.  Buy your pistols before you PCS.  If you have them already, you can bring non-roster guns with you.

+1 on that, since California has some pretty weird restrictions on new gun purchases.
You might check with Steve Lum about what matches they are holding in Redwood City: lum.steve@gmail.com

Wobbley wrote:A bit of advice.  Buy your pistols before you PCS.  If you have them already, you can bring non-roster guns with you.

Don't you have to "register" each one with the CA DOJ and pay a fee to import it?  Or did they change
that law to something else (most likely worse)?  And IIRC, anything that qualifies as a CA Assault Weapon
can not be imported?

You will have EIC matches right there in Carmel at:

http://www.carmelgunclub.com/

When I started at the Navy matches there was a retired Navy Capt. Gordan Nawkagawa that coached and fielded very competitive teams from the post graduate school. They were both rifle and pistol, multi-branch teams. If there is still someone there that remembers him there should be someone that shoots competitions in the area. It would be nice to see his legacy continued. He was very dedicated to the sport.

https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/montereyherald/obituary.aspx?n=gordon-ross-nakagawa&pid=153363570&fhid=6695

There are also matches east of the bay area at:

http://www.sacvalley.org/

Thanks for all the feedback. Looks like I'll visit the local ranges when I arrive and see where that takes me.

While it's a bit of a drive from Monterey, Sunnyvale Rod&Gun club runs bullseye matches on a regular basis, as well as big 2700 events on Labor Day and Memorial Day every year. 
Like everybody else said, buy everything you can - guns, ammo, supplies, etc. before you move. CA gun laws are very restrictive and it gets worse and worse. Check the Calguns forum : https://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/index.php

javaduke wrote:While it's a bit of a drive from Monterey, Sunnyvale Rod&Gun club runs bullseye matches on a regular basis, as well as big 2700 events on Labor Day and Memorial Day every year. 
Like everybody else said, buy everything you can - guns, ammo, supplies, etc. before you move. CA gun laws are very restrictive and it gets worse and worse. Check the Calguns forum : https://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/index.php

+1 .... Sunnyvale (actually in Cupertino) Rod and Gun Club is a great facility.  I know John Bikar is quite active there; perhaps he will chime in.  For general practice, the Santa Clara County Field Sports Park (San Jose) is a range to consider too.

PM me if you have questions regarding our Draconian gun laws.

Jim

If you are new to Bullseye and moving to Northern California, I highly recommend that you start with the bullseye pistol league at Sunnyvale Rod & Gun Club in Cupertino (http://www.sunnyvalegunclub.com/activities/bullseye). We shoot the first and third Wednesday of every month, year-round, and our league is very welcoming to newcomers. We have at least one shooter who comes up regularly from Monterey, plus a couple from around the Boulder Creek area.

I know that weeknights can be tough, but that's the nerve center of bullseye in this area.

We also have 2700s there on Memorial Day and Labor Day every year.

There are also pistol matches in Redwood City, Sebastopol, Sacramento Valley (Ione), Coyote Point (San Mateo) and Gonzales. We are also hoping that Diablo Gun Club in Concord will be resurrected, and that the Bob Chow Memorial team match at the SFPD range might resume someday.

I  have tried to find out more about any pistol matches at Laguna Seca, but so far I have hit only dead ends. Guess I don't know the secret handshake.

I saw that Tim B. also gave you a recommendation for the Carmel Gun Club matches in Gonzales on the usrifleteams forum - that is a great place to shoot both rifle and pistol, with great people. It is one of my favorite ranges to shoot at. I can second the recommendations that you received on that thread for Coalinga and San Jose Zouaves, as far as highpower goes (I've never shot at Richmond). Coalinga is the real deal; you will find world-class competitors there, working the pits alongside the newbiest of soup-sandwich juniors who can barely hold the rifle up in offhand, and the old guns are guiding the young guns along every step of the way.

Feel free to PM me for more details; we're behind enemy lines here in CA, and some clubs aren't big on advertising.

robert84010 wrote:When I started at the Navy matches there was a retired Navy Capt. Gordan Nawkagawa that coached and fielded very competitive teams from the post graduate school. They were both rifle and pistol, multi-branch teams.

Robert,

Gordon is still very much alive in our memories. The Carmel Gun Club holds the Gordon Nakagawa Memorial match every August in Gonzales. This year it was a .22 EIC and a service pistol EIC, followed by the "R.J. Thomas Long Range Match" - 10 rounds at 100 yards, and 10 rounds at 200 yards, with a pistol. I shot a hardball gun with 230gm FMJ, for historical fidelity (and I stood on my hind legs and held the pistol with one hand, as a grown man ought to when he isn't receiving return fire).

I was fortunate enough to meet Gordon a few times in my first years in CA; he was a great champion for marksmanship at the NPS.

I recommend at a minimum having your own .22 & .45 iron sights or scoped pistols for 900 & 2700 BE matches.
For distinguished pistol either a 9mm or .45 iron sights and a 38spl revolver for distinguished revolver matches.
Couple cases of .22 ammo and as much CF ammo you can afford.  FYI, ammo has to be purchased through an FFL.

See you at Sunnyvale.

Siberia, Ica Station Zebra or California? Tough punishment.

R.J. Thomas-now that is a name not brought up enough in marksmanship discussions. He had retired right before I started but I heard plenty o'tale about the Alfa Frog holding court over the next generation at the Navy matches. Team participation went down after he retired. I hope he shoots up there by you.

ash wrote:I recommend at a minimum having your own .22 & .45 iron sights or scoped pistols for 900 & 2700 BE matches.
For distinguished pistol either a 9mm or .45 iron sights and a 38spl revolver for distinguished revolver matches.
Couple cases of .22 ammo and as much CF ammo you can afford.  FYI, ammo has to be purchased through an FFL.

See you at Sunnyvale.

Ash, are you active duty now or in the past?

I would find this advice a bit overwhelming as a minimum starting point. You make it seem like a person has to have scoped pistols to shoot a 2700 and then another pistol for EIC matches. A person only needs an EIC legal match 1911 and a decent 22 to start shooting matches. Immediately after that I would recommend a Dillon 550 and supplies for 45acp. Plain and simple truth is any military shooter should only concentrate on getting Distinguished in service pistol or rifle in the limited time between duty station changes and deployments.  There are many duty stations that have zero competition opportunities so that puts it all on hold for years at a time.

RAFA1911, I know school is your primary focus but a secondary goal should be to check into your follow on command and have the C.O. ask "What's that EIC medal mean?" because you will never get asked about your NRA 22/CF/45 score. 

Distinguished- Nothing else matters! NRA matches are only there to get better at EIC matches.

LenV wrote:Siberia, Ica Station Zebra or California? Tough punishment.

Says the guy in "sunny" Oregon

robert84010 wrote:

ash wrote:I recommend at a minimum having your own .22 & .45 iron sights or scoped pistols for 900 & 2700 BE matches.
For distinguished pistol either a 9mm or .45 iron sights and a 38spl revolver for distinguished revolver matches.
Couple cases of .22 ammo and as much CF ammo you can afford.  FYI, ammo has to be purchased through an FFL.

I would find this advice a bit overwhelming as a minimum starting point. You make it seem like a person has to have scoped pistols to shoot a 2700

"iron sights or scoped pistols" (emphasis mine). I think he was saying you need a .22 and .45 at a minimum for 2700s, and then laying out what was needed for other ancillary bullseye matches.

Agreed, all you really need is a decent iron sight .22 and a decent iron sight .45 that's EIC-legal. There's no reason for a bullseye newbie to worry about Distinguished Revolver.