Published: March 27, 2007 04:15 pm      

Live Oak shooters are state revolver champs

Submitted

Two of the state’s five International Defensive Pistol Association (IDPA) handgun champions hail from Live Oak, the Central Florida Rifle and Pistol Club (CFRPC) announced last week. The CFRPC had hosted the Florida State Championships of 2007 under the auspices of the International Defensive Pistol Association.

IDPA encompasses five different types of handguns: three kinds of semiautomatic pistols and two types of revolvers. Both categories of revolver competition were dominated by the Live Oak shooters.

Jonathan Strayer, a lifelong Suwannee County resident and owner of John’s Lawn Equipment at 1629 North Ohio Avenue, successfully defended his 2006 state champion title and became the 2007 state champion in Enhanced Service Revolver shooting. Strayer fired a .45 caliber Smith & Wesson Model 625 revolver, customized by gunsmith Scott Mulkerin of Medina, Ohio.

Massad Ayoob, who moved to Live Oak three years ago, captured the state champion title in Stock Service Revolver category. He used a Ruger GP100 .357 Magnum revolver, tuned by Bill Pfeil of Madison.

Late last year Strayer won Regional Champion Enhanced Service Revolver honors, and Ayoob won the Stock Service Revolver title, competing with the same guns at the Florida/Georgia Regional IDPA championship in Jacksonville. Of some 11,000 members worldwide, Strayer and Ayoob are among only six people who have earned Master qualification in all five handgun categories.