Visitors to the laserguided Locked and Loaded Training Center shooting range Saturday, Jan. 18 were able to get a taste of a new sport hearkening back to the old west.
Dublin Renegades, a chapter of Xtreme Fast Draw America, hosted an event to let people try their hand at a fast draw competition from scoring and timing to safety protocols.
Leading the exercise were Richard Young (aka The Gentleman) and Jennifer Young (aka Reaper Raine), decked out in some appropriately western gear. The couple said they were drawn to Dublin because of the atmosphere.
“We wanted to get out into the country,” said Jennifer. “The town felt so welcoming we knew this is where we wanted to be,” added Richard.
In the Saturday event as in regular competition, shooters were presented an unloaded pistol with the attendant presenting a cartridge. The shooter then gets a timer to draw, cock and fire from the hip at a target. Lisa Langley of Hico was the winner with 1.094 seconds.
Locked and Loaded visitors got to use the high tech projector screens, laser aiming and compressed gas cartridges without projectiles, but in a regular XFDA competition, the 45 caliber single action revolver is loaded with a casing fitted with a shotgun primer and wax pellet that fires at roughly the same speed as a paintball.
The steel target is fitted with sensor to determine impact and timing while a ballistic mesh net is installed behind to ensure the stray pellets stop if they miss the target.
The Youngs have been involved with the sport for a while with ‘The Gentleman’ saying “It’s easy to get hooked.”
Jennifer also credited the sport for its camaraderie. “You have bunch of people that bend over backwards to help each other,” she said.
Dublin Renegades is looking for interested members and is currently securing a venue for practices and events but they are already preapproved to host the District 1 Championship locally in July. The Youngs said in a recent City Council meeting this was significant because the districts represent several states and can draw in people from a wide area.
Richard also reported that XFDA is a fastgrowing league, currently boasting around 500 members nationally and a new international chapter just started in the Phillipines.
Richard announced that every XFDA starts with the Pledge of Allegiance and a prayer and he like getting to share the organization’s values with communities he visits and now the one they call home.
Dublin Renegades can be found on Facebook. For more information on XFDA including events and rules, visit xfdapro. com.