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Conway's Bobby Spradlin is all concentration in a pistol competition with a custom handgun. Conway man relishes sport of handgun shooting Saturday, Jun 18, 2005 By Joe Mosby A businessman on weekdays, Bobby Spradlin changes gears on weekends and makes his mark as a professional pistoleer. Since taking up the handgun shooting sport 11 years ago, Conway resident Spradlin has become one of the nation's elite in a highly demanding, extremely competitive sport. He handles a pistol with the best of them, or several pistols along with some rifles and shotguns. Spradlin, who is 45, said, "I compete with four different associations. There is the U.S. Pistol Shooting Association (USPSA), International Defensive Pistol Association, Steel Challenge Association and Sportsmen's Challenge Association." He shoots a lot. "I hand load about 40,000 rounds each year," he said. Hand loading is virtually a must for topflight shooting competitors to be assured of consistency with their cartridges as well as to reduce costs. He has done so well with his pistol work that the Conway Police Department uses him for a training officer. "I do my practice shooting on the Conway police range," Spradlin said. "They let me use it in exchange for maintenance work on the range, and I help with some problems they may have from time to time." Plaques and trophies fill walls at Wescon Machining in the Conway Industrial Park, where he works with his father Jerry, and at his downtown collection agency. Spradlin has won state championships in eight states - Arkansas and those surrounding Arkansas. The titles include every Arkansas USPSA championship since 1994. And a slight grin comes to Spradlin's face when he mentions Texas. He's won the Texas USPSA crown twice, and that's a state that has much tradition and pride associated with pistol shooting. Other championships have Tennessee four times, Missouri, Mississippi, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Kansas. "I've always had a love of firearms," Spradlin said. "I did shooting as a reserve deputy in the early 1980s, and I have worked with youth groups in shooting, 4-H and other, a lot. That helps keep it fresh for me." Spradlin's type of pistol work is in the category of combat shooting. He can punch paper targets with the best of them, but the police and military type shooting is his field. Much of the challenge is that nearly every competition is different, with different ranges, different types of target layouts and different formats. "In one, we had to start inside an overturned truck with the pistol and ammunition in the glove box. You had to get your gun and ammo, get out of the truck and start the course. Another time you might have to start from lying in a bed," he said. The combat competitions use other variables like good guys popping up, bad guys popping up and hostage situations. "It's similar to the Navy SEAL training and other military training," Spradlin said. "You really have to be flexible." Different guns are used for the four different associations and their events, he said. He is with the Infinity team of Strayer-Voight, a company in Grand Prairie, Texas, that turns out highly specialized pistols for this competition. "The cheapest pistol they make is $1,800, and they go on up to $3,800," Spradlin said. "We do a lot of shooting with 9mm pistols and .40-caliber pistols. We also have one called the 9mm Super Comp. That's a hot one, a 9mm souped up to shoot like a .30-30 rifle. The barrel of this pistol has ports in the top where gas escapes (when it is shot). Fire comes out the top a foot or more. It is really something at night. But what these ports do is keep the barrel down so you stay right on target even with rapid shooting. The pistol kicks like the devil, but it stays on your target. It's like a full-blown fuel dragster in racing." Strenuous physical effort is association with the combat pistol work also. Competitors run from target to target or station to station. Just a tenth of a second can mean a loss for you," Spradlin said. "It gets harder as I get older, and a lot of the competitors are young military guys." Spradlin raced motocross bikes in years past. "My wife was a flight attendant, and I was bored on the weekends," he said. "That's one reason I got into pistol shooting." He's also proud of some other shooting, this by 9-year-old daughter Sydney. "She's a terror with a rifle. She killed her first deer last season, and skinned and processed it herself. She's a good buddy to shoot with." Spradlin finished second in the USPSA nationals in 1999, and he's had a strong spring in shooting this year with five state championships over a six-week period. "This is a growing sport. There are many different classes, so everyone can find a place in a competition to fit his level," Spradlin said. -------- Joe Mosby is the retired news editor of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission and Arkansas' best known outdoor writer. His work is distributed by the Arkansas News Bureau in Little Rock. He can be reached by e-mail at jhmosby@cyberback.com. |
