Gray Fox wrote:Oh, and BTW, I can assure you that shooting SASS any time later than mid-April here in middle Gawgia in full costume can be a real challenge for anyone with a tendency towards heat exhaustion. Shorts, comfortable shoes, T-shirts, a sensible hat and a light weight vest are much more conducive to maintaining a better attitude as the hot days get longer and longer. Just my $.02. GF
Probably safer, too. Many of the mental lapses I've seen in IDPA or IPSC were from people who looked like they were about to heatstroke. Getting up before sunrise, driving an hour to a match, helping setup, then participating in it and walking all over the range for five hours can wear you down. After a certain point, people just want to get finished, because they are hot, tired, sloppy, cranky, and sometimes unsafe. I don't think it's the best idea to make it worse by wearing a bunch of heavy period clothing.
When I shot Highpower, it was pretty common for shooters to wear a sweatshirt under their shooting coat. In colder weather, they might wear two, but in the summer, most still wore one. The idea was the heavy shirt would absorb pulse movement on the sling, plus give some cushion to recoil and the tight sling. I always thought I did better just wearing my shooting coat over a T-shirt because whatever I lost in the "cushioning", I gained back in comfort by being able to concentrate better.