Tuesday, August 25, 2015

Shooters News for the Minn Area - Aug 25, 2015

* Stand on your hind legs and shoot like a man!

Next weekend     
Ok, you've been practicing all summer and now the time has come. It's time for the State Offhand championship!  This weekend's highpower matches at Mpls. Rifle Club will determine who is the best shooter in Minnesota. That's right --  'the best shooter'.  I have always considered that shooting from the standing position is the toughest way to compete.  Only the most dedicated shooting competitor will ever put in enough effort to aquire the skill of being a good offhand shooter.  We all have heard the bar stories from somebody that says they shot that deer at 200+ yds while walking through the woods. Yeah sure they did - from the prone position or maybe with a rifle rest - but from the standing position?  I'd love to see those braggarts at a standing match -- go up there on the 200 yd line, take up the standing position, lift that rifle up and take their best shot with iron sights at the 6 inch ten ring on the target - then do it over and over for 20 shots and take your score like a man. I suspect few could hit the 13 inch black bullseye, let alone the 6 inch  10 ring.    Well this weekend the folks that can do that will be competing for the State Offhand Championship -- or as I call it the Best shooter Championship
  The action starts at 0900 am Saturday, Aug 29 with a 1000 pt. OTC match that includes 2 prone strings of fire from the 300yd line.  Click here for Match Bulletin.  Then after the match the fun starts with another one of those great BBQs put on by the MRC guys.  Don't miss this.  
   Sunday, Aug 30, it's all Offhand shooting for the Championship and the bragging rights that go with it. Competitors will fire five 20 shot matches from the standing position at 200 yds. The 'best shooter' will take home the hardware.        Click here for match bulletin

Prone Shooting 
For those who prefer the ease and comfort of prone shooting matches, the LaCrosse Rifle Club has a match for you (Aug 29,30).  Make the short drive down beautiful highway 61 and cross the river to LaCrosse and you can fire the Wisc. 600 yd Midrange State Championship.  Again there will be two days of tough Highpower and F-class competition. Each day the course of fire is the same -- four 20 shot prone matches with 2 sighters allowed in each match.   Click Here for match bulletin

Last Weekend 
*If it isn't a Leg Match, It's just practice 
-- the reason why*
 If you were in the military, you wear your medals and badges on your uniform with a certain pride of 'achievment'. Those who are the best shooters get to wear an Expert marksmanship badge. The very best may have a chance to get on military rifle team and have the opportunity to earn the "Gold" badge of "Distinguished Rifleman"
 Carlos Hathcock, Marine Sniper, earned that Gold Badge....................  

    From: "Marine Sniper" by Charles Henderson 
Carlos tells this story to his spotter 'Burke', while he has an entire platoon of NVA soldiers pinned down behind a rice paddy dike by his rifle fire for a whole day. Carlos says:
      "Did I ever tell you about winning the Wimbledon Cup?"
'No' Burke replied, still staring down the sniper scope. "I've heard other guys tell about it, but I never heard you. I'd sure like the hear your side of it. We got lots of time. Those guys out there ain't going any where"
   Carlos says: "yeah, I know.   I won the Wimbledon at Camp Perry, Ohio, on August 26, 1965---the day I went Distinguished."   
         (also coincidently the same day yours truely was boarding the USS Paul Revere with the 1st Marine Division for a month long voyage to Viet Nam with a 12 mph convoy and through one big whopping Typhoon off the coast of Japan -- but that's another story)
  .....Burke asked with tone of hesitancy in his voice, "Don't think I'm stupid or anything, but I've heard you and Captain (Jim) Land and Gunny Wilson all talk about 'Distinguished' for six months, and to be honest with you, I never really understood what what it is. I figure that it is a high honor for a shooter but nobody ever told me how you become 'distinguished'."  
  "Well, you become distinguished by placing in so many shooting matches. Every time you win a gold, silver or bronze medal in matches, you get points toward becoming distinguished. A Distinguished Marksman in the Marine Corp is the top dog among shooters
 He wears a Gold shooting badge and is a member of an elite few marksmen. There are some great Marines among them, for example, Major General Merit A. Edson is distinguished, he died a while back, but he won the Medal of Honor on Guadalcanal leading the 1st Marine Raider Battalion ( Battle of Edson's Ridge). He went on to become executive director of the NRA. 
  "I went Distinguished in 1965.  When we got to Camp Perry that year, I was hard as woodpecker lips.  I just missed the National Match Championship by a couple of marks, but the silver medal gave me the last few points that I needed to make thirty and go Distinguished. That and winning the Wimbledon Cup was special. It was the biggest day of my life, as far as shooting goes. 
   Burke turned from the scope and smiled.  "Captain Land talked about Camp Perry and you winning the Wimbledon Cup. I think he was as proud about it as you are. He said that when the smoke cleared, there was one Marine Corp meatball down on the line, and that was you. 
 "He said that everybody who was anybody, including the Commandant of the Marine Corp was there. The whole National Rifle Association was there, and you beat them all" 

  In the evening of that day in the rice paddies, Carlos and Burke destroyed the entire enemy platoon with an M-14 and a Rem bolt gun.   
   You don't have to be in the military to earn Distinguished Rifleman.  Since 1903 the US Department of Defense (and now the CMP) have been awarding this prestigous badge to both military and civilians alike, and for civilians this badge is to be worn with other civilian/military medals at formal events on your Tux.  
   So, now you see that this is a 'real' big deal. The Leg Match is a 'real' big deal, and so as I said "If it isn't a Leg Match, It's just Practice"
 This past weekend at GRRC, it was a real big deal for Minnesota's  Dave Hotegaard. After some years of effort, Dave joined the few elite riflemen who have earned the Distinguished Riflemans Badge.  Congratulations Dave, we know what an honor this is for you.

From: Mark Havlik
Jim,
Here’s an after action report from the Leg Match at Harris Sunday:

     Overcast skies and blustery winds kept the scores down for Sunday’s leg Match At Gopher Rifle and Revolver Club. I don’t recall the exact number of participants, but there were enough for two legs to be awarded. The winner of the Match and Silver Leg was Dave Cornelder of Iowa. The Bronze leg was won by Dave Holtegaard of Rochester, which gives him his last 6 points needed for his Distinguished Rifleman’s Badge. Aaron Guliuzza from Aberdeen South Dakota won First Leather.
Mark 

Small Bore St. Prone Championship 
The wind may have been whipping around in eight directions at the same time, but the better shooters did not let that bother them this past weekend at the St. Small Bore Prone Championship. 
Both last Sat and Sunday saw a good number of prone shooters fighting it out at the Mpls Rifle Club for the rights to be the top prone Sm bore shooter in Minn for 2015. 

Emily Quiner was not only queen of the range this weekend, but also the top scoring shooter, two day winner, and new Minnesota Sm Bore Prone Champion. Emily, who shoots only iron sights -  even in the Any Sight matches, won most of the matches each day on the way to her title.  Close behind, and Top Junior shooter in the championship was Eric Hazelton, who also had a couple match wins.  Norman Lilyerd held hard on day one of the competition, and earned the Top Intermediate Junior championship. Young protege, Vincent Hirsch scored high enough to be the High Sub Junior State Champion.  

  I got to shoot only Sunday, so I ended up a few points behind in the two day aggregate.  It was windy all day, with constants gusts in the 20 mph range and the wind flags never once pointed all in the same direction.  I was a little sloppy in 50 yd match and ended up 6 down after the first 40 shots.  Emily and Eric both fired all 10s and Xs in this match.   Things went good for me in the Dewar match.  I only dropped one pt on the 50 yd target and one on the 100yd target for a third place in that match.  Eric and Emily each dropped only one pt in their 40 shots for a first and 2nd place. In that match I had got the timing of the wind right, but in the next match, the two targets of the 100 yd match, I got every wind call wrong on most every shot and fell off the leader board like like the value of my stocks this week.  While in my shooting position, I couldn't see a single one of the 40 wind flags George had put out there so so nice and neat and I had to keep taking my head off the gun to ck the wind and then miss the change while trying to break the shot.   Oh Well, It was fun to shoot the match, talk to some of the Juniors, talk with Elmer Miler from So. Dak, whom I might have talked into coming down to Phoenix for the WildCat matches next March. 
  The next Sm Bore prone match is Oct 10 and will be shot from the 200 yd line  -- that's right 200yds with a rimfire rifle.  Erik Rhode (long range shooter) assures me that this match is great fun and shooting rimfire that far is just like shooting Palma at 1000 yds. I'm sure that it's not any easier.  F-class or Sling class -- give it a try.
        Click here for match bulletin 

Two Weeks Out  
From: Jim Melville -  Eau Claire National rifle club
Hello Everyone,
Our Big Three Day Match is coming up soon. Saturday September 5th will be having our 4 gun 600 yard match, Sunday September 6th will be OTC and Monday the M1 and M1A match. I have attached all the match bulletins.(see below)
It will be a great weekend of competitive shooting and I hope to see everyone there.  
Check us out on FaceBook@ Eau Claire National Rifle Club.  
Thanks, James  ECNRC Match Director 
 
Sept 5 - 600 yd Mid Range prone and F-class at Eau claire - Click here for Match bulletin
Sept 6 - 80 shot OTC Highpower match at Eau Claire - click here for match bulletin
Sept 7 -  M1 garand and M1 A matches at Eau Claire - Click here for match bulletin 

That's All Folks!
Hawkeye

Tuesday, August 18, 2015

Shooters News for the Minn Area - Aug 18, 2015

* Hamer hammers the competition at Iowa Mid Range Champ match - see below

Next weekend  
  The memorial service for Charmille Tamulinas will be this Saturday, August 22, 2015 at 10:00 AM.,  at First Luthern Church of White Bear Lake: Click Here

Highpower
Service Rifle shooters will have a chance to fire a fun CMP match this Sat at GRRC. The actions starts at 0845 this time, and the course of fire will be the CMP course A, which is 10 shots Standing, a 10 shot prone rapid fire string and 10 shots slow fire prone.  This match will be shot from the gentlemanly distance of 200 yds and gives you a chance pull some triggers on those older service rifles that are feeling lonely in your gun safe.  Saturday Afternoon there is a full 50 shot national match course service rifle competition on the agenda. This is complete warm up match and practice for Sunday's upcoming Leg Match.

  On Sunday, Aug 23, the competition gets serious.  It's time for a Leg Match at GRRC, and maybe time for someone to win a few  points toward earning their Distinguished Rifleman's Badge. 
This will be a hard fought competition for those trying to earn one of the most sought after prizes in shooting world -- the personal acheivement of becoming a "Distinguished Rifleman". This honor becomes a "vision quest" for many shooters and I have seen many come to tears upon being finally awarded their "pin".    Click Here for Leg Match bulletin.   

 
Small Bore
It's State Championship time for small bore prone shooters.  The Bob Vangene small bore range at the Mpls. Rifle Club  will see two days of intense competition to decide who will be the Minn Outdoor Conventional Prone State Champion.  Each day competitors will fire a 1600 point prone match at distances from 50 to 100yds. I'll be there on Sunday, and since Sunday's match is an "Any" sight match, I'll be able to see the target as good as all those juniors with the young eyes, and  I'll be shooting the "Morgan" rifle with good ammo, so how can I miss?    Click here for match bulletin 

Last Weekend
* Bangen blasts the competition!  
Once again it was Kevin Bangen who showed them all how to shoot a an OTC match and won the Regional Highpower Championship along the way. 
Kevin outright won 4 of the 9 matches making up the championship - including the first Standing match, both Sitting Rapid fire matches (without dropping a single point), and a prone Rapid fire match.  Kevin outpointed the opposition by 47 pts over the weekend and was crowned the 2015 Regional HighPower champion.   Craig Bennis won the silver medal for his runner up score, also taking a win in the first Prone slow fire match. Mark Schoess rode rough shod over the Expert/Mk Class for a bronze medal with his fine score of 1681-26x. Service Rifle winner was Aaron Guliuzza.    


   Great shooting guys!!!! 

*Hamer hammers !
From: Capt. Bob
Hello Jim,
Just home from the Iowa 300 yd MRP championship at the River City Rifle & Pistol club near Mason City. They have a dandy club with 12 well groomed and level firing points. The range shoots straight east to add some variety to your life. They have a large very nice tent camping area in the shade near the club house. They also have electric hook UPS for about 4 campers.
Twenty shooters shot under ideal wind conditions with 1 to 1 1/2 minutes of honest wind all day. Omer the Hammer held hard with his Floyd R. Turbo for the win with a dandy 796x47 featuring a 200x17 and a 200x12 with scope. Ricky Hunt just home to Mason City from a top 100 finish in the World championships at Camp Perry finished down 6 for a 794 followed by Jim Soderstrom with a 793. Steve Hays finished 4th with a 792 and a 7 somewhere along the way in the last match. I was a distant 5th at 786.
Readers may recall that 2-3 years ago Omer was on the verge of retiring from high power at age 76 due to bad eyes. Or was he just fooling with us? Now at 79 he is shooting the best scores of his life. Whatever he did it looks like the right thing.

CB 

          Omer's not getting older. He's just getting better!

Two weeks Out  
Aug 29 - 1000 pt OTC at MRC -  click here for Match bulletin 
Aug 30 -  State Offhand Championship - click here for match bulletin
Aug 29,30 - Wisc. Mid range State champ at LaCrosse - Click here for match bulletin

That's All Folks!
Hawkeye

Tuesday, August 11, 2015

Shooters News for the Minn Area - Aug 11, 2015

* Extra! - On the firing line report from Camp Perry - see below

Next weekend  
'Over the Course' Championship weekend
 Are you ready for a little "rapid fire" this coming weekend? If you like a little 'position shooting' along with your belly matches, this is the weekend for you.  Mpls Rifle Club will be the scene of the Regional OTC Championship Aug 15-16, so head on over there and you'll get a chance to shoot about 8 rapid fire matches - from prone and Sitting position. Saturday will feature a 100 shot OTC Match and sunday is a regular 80 shot OTC match. The prone slow fire matches will be fired from the MRC 300 yd line, but don't think this is automatically easier than a 600 yd slowfire match -- those reduced MR-63 targets are tougher targets than you think. 
  Oh, one more thing----Don't plan anything for right after the match on Saturday, as the cooking crew at MRC will have a Pork Chop barbeque waiting for the competitors after the competition.            Click Here for match bulletin

South of the Border
 If you just can't get enough belly shooting, River City Rifle Club, near Mason City, Iowa has a match for you this weekend. Steve Hays and the folks at RCRC are putting on the "Fifth Annual Iowa State 300 yds Mid Range Championship" Aug 15,16.  Both days feature prone matches from the 300 yd line.  Saturday you can shoot a 2 man team match and then stick around for the Individual Championship matches on Sunday.   Click Here for match bulletin

Last weekend 
*F-class State Championship* 
 From: Capt. Bob
Hello Jim:

Three spread sheets attached with results of Minnesota F class championship fired this past weekend at North Star Rifle Club. There was 1 F TR team and 5 F open teams Saturday. We started off with 4 man teams shooting 3 twenty shot matches under cloudy skies and light but switchy winds. Wanting to learn more about F class I volunteered to coach the MRRA F open team of Scully, Winget, Shidla and Clausen. And boy did I learn a lot! F class rifles are pretty amazing. Every shooter on the team shot every shot except 1 in X ring elevation. One shooter fired a 9 at 5 O'clock that would have been a low 10 had it been 1/2" left. One of the shooters shot all 20 shots inside half the 3" X ring! This does not mean the team shot a 2399. The shooters had a 2399 but the coach had a 2384. I lost them 16 points for bad wind calls. Even more important is that the Minnesota X MEN (state Assoc. team) shot a possible 4 man team NRA National record. As of July 16 the record was 797X49 and the team of Mike Jones, Rick Severs, Chris Longley and Jon Rhykus shot a 797X52. I'll submit this to NRA and see what happens.    
  Click here for Team match results
After the first pair in match 2 we took a time out to enjoy a 4.9 star catered BBQ pulled pork lunch with beans and Cole Slaw served by North Star member Kyle Knutson.
     Sunday brought mostly sunny skies and even lighter wind but still enough to get a 10 if not paying attention to mirage. There were numerous cleans ranging from 200X8 to a 200X17 by Pat Scully and a 200X18 from Chris Longley. Scully lost the match with a 199 in match 1 and finished the day with a 799X53. Meantime Chris Longley waited till match 4 to shoot his 199 to finish the day also with a 799 but 57 X's for the state championship and match win. Jim Bauer from Wisconsin held hard for the 3rd spot with a 797X45. In the master class we had a close race with Eric Johnson and Al Quast battling it out both starting with 200's. Match 2 saw Al pick up 2 points with a 199 to Eric's 197. Match 3 saw Eric gain back 1 point with a 199 to Al's 198. Eric held hard in match 4 to go clean to al's 198. Eric takes 1st HM with a 796X48 to Al's 795X40.      
   Click here for complete F- open results
    Over in the F TR division there were only 2 HM's and only one of them managed to take any money in one match.  The rest of the money and championship went to the Master class shooters. Chuck Laitinen takes the F TR championship with a 795X43. Second place F TR went to Drew Rutherford fro the Fargo area with a 785X26. Tyson Brabec took the F open junior trophy with a dandy 792X37.
  Click here for complete FTR results
    Speaking of Fargo, we also had shooters from eastern Wis and south eastern Iowa attend this match.  We also had 10 or 11 first time shooters at the match. The word is getting around that North Star puts on a good show!
     And finally you may see pictures and hear rumors that I may convert to F class. Despite the possibility that F class may be the finest shooting game known to man you can rest assured I will stick with iron sights to my last breath...............................................maybe!
     I really enjoyed hanging around with these guys watching them lay in the sun and sweat while I stood in the shade and yelled at the radio!
Respectfully submitted by CAP-N-BOB
            Thanks, Bob for sending in that report!

  *On the Firing Line Report*
From: Mark Havlik
                Hi Jim,
Here's a brief report from Service Rifle Week At Camp Perry.    O'dark thirty Saturday morning found me in the car heading to Rochester to meet up with Dave Holtegaard. Our plan was to travel from Daves’ home in Rochester, down hwy 63 to eastbound I80, and take that to where it meets up with the Indiana Turnpike east of Chicago. Our decision turned out to be the right choice, as we bypassed the lion's share of construction and tolls in the area west of Chicago.

      Our 10 1/2 hour journey, was for the most part uneventful, and we arrived in Toledo about 6:00 EDT. Dave had made last minute reservations at a townhouse east of Port Clinton, unfortunately it wasn't available Saturday night so we ended up staying, at what can best be called the roach motel, for the night.
    We arrived on base early Sunday morning to register and eat breakfast before heading over to CMP North Store. This was Dave's first trip to Camp Perry so I felt obligated to show him around base. The team decided we weren't going to shoot the NTIT (Rattle Battle) this year so Dave and I got to spend all morning and half the afternoon on Vender's Row.
      While it was fun watching Dave spend his money, we decided it was time to head into town to check into the townhouse. What a dramatic difference there was between the it and the roach motel the night before. The townhouse had two bedrooms, a bathroom, kitchen and living area downstairs. It had a loft with 3 more beds and a bathroom upstairs. To top things off, it had a fish pond right off the deck.
     Monday brought a new day and with it the team match. The team consisted of Dave, myself, Dan Marquart, Mark Schoess, Tom Torborg, Larry Weidell and Kurt Borlaug as the coach/captain. We also had two juniors, Sam Supplee and Nick Casper pulling targets. Despite my poor performance, we ended up 16th out of the 45 out of competition teams.
       Tuesday was the NTI and the reason I was at Perry for the Nationals. I ended up shooting the worse standing score I can remember (83-0), followed by a decent sitting score of 98-2. With a renewed hope from of my sitting score we went back to 300. Unfortunately for me, I turned my windage knob the wrong way, putting 3/4moa left instead of right windage for a train wreak score of 87-0. With the pressure off and feeling there was no way to make the cut, I ended up shooting the best 600 yard score I’ve ever posted, 195-4.
    After the match, knowing I missed the cut, I looked for Dave who was squadded a couple points away. I was hoping, with the performance he had in the team match, he’d have made it. I found him with steam still coming out of his ears. He also had a train wreak kind of day and ended up beating me by only one point.
       Wednesday was a new day and another chance for glory with the Presidents Match. My standing was only slightly better than the day before, 87-1. Building on the day before, I forgot to put my elevation on for 300. Realizing my mistake on about my 4th shot I ended up with another 87-1. Just like the day before in the NTI, the pressure was off at 600 and I posted another blazing performance with a 98-5.
    The ride back home was uneventful, and even though we didn’t bring home any bling, Dave and I could still say we had good time.
Mark Havlik 
             Mark, you guys represented Minn well at the Nationals.  Good shooting!            

Small Bore Matches at MRC
Results: Aug 8th 3P and Prone match
From: George Minerich
Hi Jim:
Please find attached the results for last weekends smallbore matches.
  George
 


Saturday's 3P and Prone match
 (Click to expand)







 
Notes:
  The memorial service for Charmille Tamulinas has been set for Saturday, August 22, 2015 at 10:00 AM.  The Memorial Service will be held at:

First Lutheran Church
4000 Linden Street,
White Bear Lake, MN 55110
(651) 429-5349,    www.flcwb.org/ ;

Directions to the church are posted on their website. There will be a Visitation hour starting at 9:00 AM and a Reception at 11:00 AM at the church following the service. An online guestbook and obituary can be found at:  http://www.johnsonpeterson.com/memsol.cgi?user_id=1636141
     Charmille Tamulinas Obituary 

Two Weeks Out
Aug 22 - Service Rifle CMP games at GRRC - Click here for match bulletin
Aug 23 - Leg Match at GRRC -  Click here for match bulletin
Aug 22,23 -  Sm Bore Outdoor conventional prone State Championship - Click here for match bulletin
  Hawkeye 

  

Tuesday, August 4, 2015

Shooters News for the Minn Area - Aug 4, 2015

* Good luck to all the area Long Range shooters at the Full Bore matches at Camp Perry!

Next weekend  
Small Bore matches 
These weekend's Small bore matches will be a tune up for the State Championship coming in two weeks. Small Bore shooters, both prone and position competitors, will be gathering at the Mpls Rifle Club, Saturday, Aug 8, to fire a 60 shot 3 position 50 m match starting at 0900 hrs. Then in the afternoon, starting at 1200 hrs, the competition will switch to a 60 prone match, also to be fired at 50m.  These are two competitions are individual matches and shooters can fire either match or both matches.  Click Here for match bulletin.
 On Sunday, Aug 9th, prone shooters will take over the Bob Vangene small bore range at MRC to fire a Conventional Outdoor 1600 prone match.  Prone competition in 4 matches from 50 yds to 100 yds is the course of fire.  Competitors will fire two 20 shot targets in each match.
                 Click here for Match bulletin.

F-Class Mid Range State Championship
This weekend NorthStar Rifle Club will the site of the Minnesota F-class Mid Range Championship.  Top F-class shooters from this area will have two days of 600 yd competitions to test their skill in both team matches, and Individual matches.   Saturday Aug 8, the action starts with a 60 shot 4 man team match. Pickup teams will be formed for those not already on a team. 
 Sunday, Aug 9, will be a 4x20 shot individual match to crown the F-class champion.  These matches will also be fired from the 600 yd line at NorthStar. Camping on site is available.
   Click here for match bulletin
                                                        *****************
  With deep sadness today I must pass on the news of the untimely death of Charmille Tamulinas, wife of our friend and shooting companion, Stacey Tamulinas.
Charmille's tragic passing was the result of complications after suffering severe injuries in a fall at their home last week.  Please take a minute to offer your prayers and thoughts to Stacey.  All of us that knew Charmille, knew what a wonderful person she was, and now we can only imagine what sorrow Stacey is going through. 
  It's hard to believe that a loved one could be snatched away in an instant from us, to leave such a big hole in our life.
 I've known Stacey and Charmille for more than 20 years and my heart is broken. I plan to spend a lot more time hugging my loved ones in the future.
  Charmille's memorial service  has been set for Saturday, August 22, 2015 at 10:00 AM. 

The Memorial Service will be held at:
First Lutheran Church
4000 Linden Street,
White Bear Lake, MN 55110
(651) 429-5349,    www.flcwb.org/ ;

Directions to the church are posted on their website.

There will be a Visitation hour starting at 9:00 AM and a Reception at 11:00 AM at the church following the service.

An online guestbook and obituary can be found at:  http://www.johnsonpeterson.com/memsol.cgi?user_id=1636141
     Charmille Tamulinas Obituary

Hawkeye