Eric Grauffel

Well....it blurs the line a bit....lol... But he has shot production with a Sig pistol. And Sig does make a 1911. Over the years many companies have done this. Jerry Barnhart shot a McCormick and Sti framed guns for Colt with Colt slide, Team Springfield shot Caspian, then STI frames before making their own hicap frame. When the division is dominated by hicap 1911's and you sell 1911's you do what you have to in order to be competitive.
Think of Open like Formula 1, Ferrari makes sports cars so it makes sense for them to be in F1, Renault does not make sports cars but they've had an F1 team for years. Standard/Limited is like NASCAR, they resemble what you might buy in the store but really they are nothing like it. And Production is like lawnmower racing...lol....buy a tractor, soup it up and go have fun..hehe
 
Yup.
He won Ohio.

As mentioned before, these guys could probably beat most people while using a slingshot.
 
Ipsik said:
...now try to go hyperspeed with it? A mistake in open is a disaster as you now drop 10 places, a mistake in std or production is just a mistake the same as everyone else makes all the time. Also shooting open allows the shooter to see what is possible, how to shave every possible millisecond of their times, not to limit their mindset to just stand and shoot, to NEVER think I must get closer or I will miss, to realize that shoot on the move is actually easier than just standing there.
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I'm not sure where you shoot but in Alberta there are plenty of production, standard, and now classic shooters that do exactly what you've described. Mistakes are costly here no matter what division you're shooting. Going "hyperspeed" is not exclusive to open division.

There are no "easy" divisions, IMO.
 
Spray & Pray said:
I'm not sure where you shoot but in Alberta there are plenty of production, standard, and now classic shooters that do exactly what you've described. Mistakes are costly here no matter what division you're shooting. Going "hyperspeed" is not exclusive to open division.

There are no "easy" divisions, IMO.
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The speed he is talking about is exclusive to Open at the top level.
 
Madness said:
The speed he is talking about is exclusive to Open at the top level.
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The only speed he mentioned was "try going hyperspeed...". How is attempting to shoot faster than the speed of light open-exclusive?

I'm not disputing Open shooters shoot faster than the rest, but saying that the rest of the IPSC divisions don't try to shave time or move & shoot is BS.
 
Spray & Pray said:
The only speed he mentioned was "try going hyperspeed...". How is attempting to shoot faster than the speed of light open-exclusive?

I'm not disputing Open shooters shoot faster than the rest, but saying that the rest of the IPSC divisions don't try to shave time or move & shoot is BS.
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What Madness is saying is that most of non-Open folks in Canada can certainly try, but they attempts look pathetic comparing to what world or US GMs in Open can do with a gun...
 
Crosswind said:
It's not likely for a visitor of the Action Shooting forum to not know who Eric Grauffel is.

Winner of hundreds of major handgun matches all over the World.
Open Division Champion of the last 5 IPSC World Shoots. You heard heard that right; this guy won his first World Shoot when he was under 20 years old and has won every World Shoot since. An Obvious Shooting Genius.

Seeing how IPSC open division is Eric's specialty, in the back of my mind (and I think in the minds of many other shooters), if Grauffel were given a production gun, he would be exposed as a mere mortal just like the rest of us, subject to the same minor missteps, blunders, and luck factors (that can often determine the winner).

HE WON PRODUCTION DIVISION AND THE PRODUCTION DIVISION SHOOT-OFF!

To me, that is just absolutely mind-boggling! How does a person, who probably practices with an open division gun everyday, make the switch to an iron-sighted un-compensated gun and win a high-level international competition in such a short period of time; compared to other high-level International grandmasters that have been shooting for years with production division as their specialty?!
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Ok, I'll tell you how he does it ... He is actually a cyborg, think terminator .... he is not human!

No j/k .. But seriously he is unreal .. On his website, it says he is 2 wins away from winning 200 Level 3 matches. Now that's incredible.

At 32 years old, he is rather amazing. Watching him move, shoot and get his body into position properly is (to the normal, everyday guy like me) quite jaw dropping. Just a simple thing like doing a mag change (and slowly so you can watch as its happening!) is mind boggling (to use your phrase). Check out his website and you'll see he has won 4 major championships this year in production ...

Winner of the Geco Euro Open, Production Division - Hungary
Winner of the French Open Nationals, Production Division - France
Winner of the Extreme Euro Open, Production Division - Czech Republic
Winner of the Infinity Euro Open, Production Division - Germany

Ok, so why am I commenting on this thread now ???

Well, I've just spent all day with him at his range in Quimper ... Yes, I am lucky enough to be able to travel to France and spend time with Eric. I've got all day tomorrow as well. 800 rounds today, and 5 pages of notes later, I realize I have more to learn, and practice....... Tomorrow is his level 2 training .....
 
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im jealous of u :-(

awesome experience for sure, Eric's a great guy to talk to. hopefully one day i can save up enough $ and go for a trip to take one of his courses
 
spideysteve said:
2 things ..

Yes, YOU SHOULD HAVE gone (even though it's a 6-7 hour drive from Paris, well worth it)

And second, since you shoot open, yes i will share, no problem .. But for the standard shooters out there, forget it ... :D
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Hey I'm in Shadow division share with meeeeee!
 
Bob won't be defending his World Shoot win at the next Worlds. He'll be shooting in Standard.
 
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