Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Minn. High Power Sched. (and Sm Bore, etc)

Complete 2009 Expanded Schedule: Link below
http://www.scribd.com/doc/15115473/Expanded-r-Sched-MN-HP-Revision-May-Ninth

My Dojo -- Forte's American Karate -- Our Black belts Master Fort'e' at 1:06 & 1:34




Hawkeye San
http://www.fortesamericankarate.com/

Minnesota Shooting --The Week Ahead -- 7/29/09

Shooters
Next weekend Minn. Service rifle shooters will be heading to Camp Perry, Small Bore shooters are returning from Perry, and Prone shooters will be heading to Red Wing for the Mid Range Regional at NorthStar Rifle club.
But First-- This past weekend saw NWGC hosting the third of their 4 match summer series. There were three 80 shot OTC matches over the Fri.-Sun. weekend making up the perfect practice for those heading to the Nationals, and a really good time for those of us who just like to shoot competitions. 22 shooters participated in some or all of the matches and saw mostly good weather all three days.
Friday's first match was Standing 200 yds as usual, and it took the steady hands of Chopper pilot Larry Weidell to shoot the high score of 192 to start things off and win that first match. In the 200 yd sitting rapid fire match , Sam Gottlieb shot clean with 9x while Kevin Bangen and Dave Salo were next with 199-10x scores. So now leaving the 200 Larry Weidel and Kevin Bangen were leading- down only 14, and next came Dave Salo down 15 and Sam at 16 down. The 300 rapid match spread out the leaders as Kevin and Dave S. both took away all 200 pts available, and Dave with 14 Xs for the match win. Sam Gottlieb dropped only 3 to stay close. With 3 shooters within 4 pts the lead, Kevin B. held hard at the 500, again shooting clean, and holding on for the win with 786-25x.
Saturday's weather looked grim and gray as I got to the 200 yd shack to sign in. It was cold enough for Dave Salo to start a fire in the barrel stove to take to chill off. Yup, it was the 24th of July and we had a fire going---it's Duluth where any weather is possible. Saturday morning's standing match goes to Kevin--189, then Bob Peasley at 187, and yours truly at 185. There were lots of solid shooters and scores in the next match -- 200 yd sitting rapid, and yours truly squeaked out a win on Xs over Kevin B. both with 199s. Going back to the 300 it was Kevin down 12, myself down 16, and Bob Peasley at 17 down for the day. Tight shooting after a rain delay at the 300 saw 199s for Capt. Bob, Sam G. , and Larry Miller. Kevin slipped back 2 with 197, but still lead at that point by 5 over Bob. Sam Gottleib gained back one pt at the 500 with a 198 match winner, but to no avail as Kevin and Omer Hamer. were right behind with 197s and Kevin winning the day with his 784-33, and taking a 12 pt tournament lead over Sam G. into Sundays third match.
There was plenty of good food, refreshments and conversation in the camp ground after Saturday's match. Bob Woods and NWGC put on a great feed -- great burgers, brats, beans and a lot of good shooting storys got told while rain came and went.
Sunday---Omer Hamer saved his best for last and shot a great standing match, taking first with a 195-4x, Kevin B. trailing in 2nd by four pts. at 191, and the rest of us hardly finding the 10 ring at all. 200 rapid saw Larry Miller, and Sam G. shoot 199s but gain little overall on Kevins lead. At the 500 Sam G. shot a 200-11x --the only 200 and again gaining a couple pts on Kevin, but Kevin's 786-28x was 1st for the day, followed by Larry Miller 779-29 and Sam Gottleib at 774-27.
3 day tournament---- 1st Kevin Bangen --2356-90x, Sam Gottleib --2321-73x, 3rd Larry Miller -- 2306-63x
Congratulations Kevin Bangen -- Winner NWGC 3 day OTC Matches !
Note: Pictures from this match are posted Below

Small Bore
From Leo Huta --ERSC
"Just a few notes from the Elk River Small bore match last weekend.
On July 25th we held the 4th annual Ed Hassig Classic.
FYI Ed Hassig was a Wake Island Marine at the beginning of WWII.
I will continue to try and keep these matches informal to make sure everyone has fun.
This year we had 20 individuals show up with a fun mix of Jr's , Match Rifle & Scoped rifle shooters. From this group we had 7 Jr's with 4 of them shooting match rifles.
Leading the pack was Jeff Westbrook with a 570- 12X, Zack Church with a 533-3X, and Wyatt Thole with a 521- 4x
There were 8 more serious match shooters with the results as follows: Leo Huhta with a 595-X, and Stan Johnson with a 592- 27X. The third place tie third place was settled with an X count--Bruce Rawlings with a 588- 23 X, and Scott Olson with a 588-22 X.
These matches continue to be fun with larger turnouts each time. Thanks to those who showed up and to those who helped out."
Leo

NRA Small bore 3P match at MRC -- no news

Service Rifle Team -- Kurt Borlaug
"Minnesota will be represented again this year at the National Trophy Rifle Matches at Camp Perry Ohio.Veteran competitors Randy Allee, Tim Boyle, Phil Klanderud, Terry MacDonnell, Kurt Moline, Tom Torborg and recent Az. import Larry Weidell will share knowledge with newcomers Jeremy Harrison, Erik Rhode and Mark Schoess. Kurt Borlaug is again captain. We will be leaving this Friday and driving overnight to arrive in Ohio about 8am....Just in time to stand in line at the CMP store to pick out another M1, M1 Carbine or a case of ammo.
Sunday, Aug. 2nd will have a squaded practice where we can confirm zeroes at 200 and 600 yards.
Monday will be the President's Match.
Tuesday is THE Leg Match of the year. There are upwards of 1200 shooters at these two events.
Wednesday will be the Hearst Doubles Match and the big team matches start on Thursday Aug. 6th, with the NTT. Each shooter fires a National Match Course with no sighters.
Friday is the Infantry Match or "Rattle Battle" where each team rapid fires at 600, 500 and 300 yards. This is an exciting match to watch and many videos are on You-tube.
The team members will finish the week with individual matches. The Springfield/ Vintage Military rifle match will be fired later on Friday, with the M1 Garand Match on Saturday. Then our trip home will commence with sweaty, exhausted shooters crammed into cars for a long ride home.....If this sounds like fun to you, contact Kurt Borlaug to join us next year! You can keep up with the scores at odcmp.org." --- http://www.odcmp.com/NationalMatches.htm " Kurt.

Sounds like a great team Kurt. We all wish the team and shooters good shooting at the nationals.

The Week Ahead
Service rifle shooters will be heading to Camp Perry and local prone shooters will be heading to Red Wing For the Mid Range Regional at NorthStar Rifle Club. These prone slow fire matches will be shot at 300, 500 and 600 yds.
Saturday is Iron sights 15 shots at each yard line, Team match to follow, and
Sunday is Any sights 20 shots each match.
Mid Range Regional program-- http://mrra.org/downloads/northstar/mrp_regional_09.pdf

Note: From Capt Bob:
"DO NOT BRING LUNCH TO THE MRP REGIONAL THIS COMING WEEKEND. (sat)
President Mike May will be doing Brats & Burgers on the grill after the match. If there is no team match we should be done with 15 shots ea. at 230 or 3. With an extra 20 for team it will probably be 430. We will have soft drinks, chips etc. Bring your own adult beverage. As soon as we get a body count Sat. morning Mike will be off to town for food.
Also--- This is a 2 day match as per NRA rules and NRA provides Gold, Silver & Bronze medals.
BE THERE!" --- Bob

Thursday July 30 -- GRRC HP practice 300yd
Saturday Aug 1 -- NorthStar Rifle Club Mid Range Regional Iron Sights & Barbeque
Saturday Aug 1 -- 50m Free Pistol at Oakdale
Sunday Aug 2 -- NorthStar Rifle Club Mid Range Regional Any Sights
Monday Aug 3 -- GRRC Small bore league
Tuesday Aug 4 -- NorthStar and ERSC Hp leagues

Two weeks out --- for those not going to PerryAugust 8 & 9 Elk River Sportsman's Club has an 80 shot OTC Saturday and Mid Range Prone Match on Sunday. August 9th 300 m prone at MRC
Hawkeye

Friday, July 24, 2009

About the Juniors--

I asked Larry Saywer to give me a little overlook into the local Jr. teams and shooters. Larry was kind enough to send this along.

" There are three or four junior clubs in the metro area that are actively competing, plus the two high school teams (Cretin-Derham Hall in St. Paul, and St. Thomas Academy, in Mendota Heights. Those two shoot almost exclusively Air Rifle now as they are both JROTC and .22 in JROTC is not allowed.)
Major players are: Minnesota Centershots, my club, which ran as the Mpls. Rifle Club junior program for seven years until we spun it off last year to form an independent organization. We're a 501(c)(3) dedicated to junior shooting.

Gopher Jr. Rifle Club: Joe Showalter's gang. They shoot sporter and precision air rifle, and smallbore, often go to Perry for SB.
Post 435 CMP (in Richfield): Coach is Tim Cagney, they shoot sporter air rifle, SB rifle (.22), a little air pistol, and they have a kid or two shooting precision air rifle. Post 435 also went to Perry last week to represent Minnesota in the Sporter Air Rifle event of the USAS/CMP National J.O. 3-P Air championships. They also stayed and shot in the Air Pistol event.
Also, there is a new club called the Long Rangers, in St. Francis. It is run by some folks from Mtka Game & Fish. All new young kids, they are shooting sporter air rifle and .22. They should grow nicely over time.
The two high school teams shoot sporter air rifle, and St. Thomas has a national-level team. They shoot mostly JROTC-affiliated competitions but also some local open matches. They've ranked quite when they've gone to national competitions.
Hope this helps!"
Larry Sawyer

Thanks, Larry, we appreciate your passing this on to us. I'm sure that there are some out there that would like to help get a young person started in a shooting program.
Note: The Long Rangers Jr. team (Bruce Blahut coach) has its own web site---- http://longrangers.us/Home_Page.php Kids are getting smarter all the time.
Good shooting all at Perry.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

The Week Ahead for shooters 7/22/09

The Week ahead
Shooters
This weekend is the 3rd of the series of 4 match weekends for Northwestern Gun Club (Duluth) during the summer highpower season. Those that want to shoot a prone match near the cities can shoot the 50 yd Small Bore Prone at Elk River Sportsman's club or the NRA approved 3P Small bore match at Mpls Rifle Club.

But First
This past weekend Over the Course shooters looking for good competition went to the Eau Claire Rifle Club's Pig Roast matches and not only found good shooting, but a good time as well. Besides the great barbeque on Sat Night in the Range Camp ground, there were two good OTC matches, a 50 shot on Saturday and an 80 shot on Sunday. In that 50 shot match Sat, you would have had to have come really prepared, and shoot a 491 to win, and then you would have had to shoot more Xs than Randy Gregory who also shot 491 with 17x and then creedmore Elliot Farro who shot 491-21x like you did. Kevin Bangen did that and got the gold star for the day.
Sunday Elliot F. and RandyG. put a couple pts on Kevin in the Standing match, but let him and Sam Gottlieb catch up in the Sitting rapid match so that Kevin, Randy, and Sam left the 200 tied 11 pts down and Elliot F. back one pt. Kevin B. was not able to hold that point lead in the 300yd Rapid fire match as as he shot 196-10x to Elliot Farro''s 197-9x, and they went back to the 500 yd line tied with Sam Gottlieb all down 15pts, and Sam ahead on Xs. The 500yd line would be where the match was won. Sam's lead in the x count would not matter though as he shot 196 to the 197 fired by both Kevin B. and Elliot F.. They were tied in points but Kevins higher x count wins the match--- 782-27x. Think back. Kevin and Elliot F. tied on Sat for the win also. So the two day aggregate goes to Kevin Bangen on X count.
Congradulations Kevin Bangen
Complete results posted at http://minnesotarifleshooting.blogspot.com/

Palma Clinic at GRRC--- No News
50m Free Pistol at MRC -- No news
Carbine clinic at ERSC -- No news.

Small Bore --
This news from Larry Sawyer--
Jim-Thought you might like some info on my junior club, the Minnesota Centershots. We just returned from Camp Perry, where the NRA held their annual National 3-Position Junior Air Rifle Championships and Training Summit from July 1-3 at the CMP's 80-firing point electronic air rifle range, right on base, just to the right of Petrarca Range. Then on July 4-6th, USA Shooting and the CMP teamed up to hold their own National Championships at the same range. Here's a short write-up:
The Minnesota Centershots/MRRA team went to Camp Perry, Ohio for the NRA 3-Position Air Rifle Championships and the USA Shooting National Junior Olympic 3-P Air Rifle Championship on June 30, 2009. The team consisted of Emily Quiner, Alex Geisar, Adam McInerney and Patrick Sunderman, who were the Minnesota State 3P Air Rifle Champion Team. Emily Quiner is also the Women’s 2009 USAS Junior National Champion in International Air Rifle, gaining the title in April at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado..........................
Read the rest of Larry's write up at http://minnesotarifleshooting.blogspot.com/
Larry has also given me a brief description of the 5 main Small Bore Junior teams and I will post this on Thurs or Friday --on the Blog.
Thank You Larry.
If the other team coaches would like to post some news of their juniors Please send it in.

More Small Bore News--Minn. Junior Shooter Emily Quiner signs with Murray State University Rifle program
"Murray State Rifle Head Coach Allan Lollar announced the signing of Emily Quiner of Brooklyn Park, Minn.Quiner will join the MSU Rifle program in the fall as a freshman."
Read More----
http://www.goracers.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=35581&SPID=2806&DB_OEM_ID=6700&ATCLID=3740549

The Week Ahead
As I said above, this is the 3rd of 4 Northwestern Gun Club match weekends coming up and the only 3 day match of the year. Take a day off Friday and head up there to be able to shoot 3 days of 80 shot OTC matches in one weekend---all among the Balsam Firs, and Pines at NWGC along the shore of Hunter lake. It does not get any better than this. See you there?
Small bore Shooters have two choices--- the 50yd prone match at Elk River on Sat. and a three position SB match at MRC also on Saturday.

The week ahead
Thusday July 23 -- GRRC Highpower practice 200
Friday July 24 -- 80 OTC at NWGC
Saturday July 25 -- 80 OTC at NWGC
Saturday July 25 -- 3P Small Bore at MRC
Saturday July 25
-- 50 yd SB at ERSC
Sunday July 26 -- 80 OTC at NWGC
Monday July 27 -- SB at GRRC and F-Class at ERSC
Tuesday July 28 -- HP leagues at Northstar and ERSC

TwoWeeks out
Prone shooters mark your calendars for Aug 1 and 2nd. There will be the Mid Range Championship at North star Rifle club those days. This is prone shooting (sling or F-Class) at 300yds, 500 yds, and 600yds.
Get out there and pull some triggers
Hawkeye

Monday, July 20, 2009

Results --- 7/19/09 Eau Claire Pig Roast Match



Kevin Bangen Sweeps OTC Matches !


Minn. Junior Emily Quiner signs with Murray State University Rifle program

"Murray State Rifle Head Coach Allan Lollar announced the signing of Emily Quiner of Brooklyn Park, Minn.
Quiner will join the MSU Rifle program in the fall as a freshman."


Read More---- http://www.goracers.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=35581&SPID=2806&DB_OEM_ID=6700&ATCLID=3740549

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Junior Shooters Back from Perry Nationals

Our Thanks to Larry Sawyer for this news on Jr shooting at Perry.

Jim-
Thought you might like some info on my junior club, the Minnesota Centershots. We just returned from Camp Perry, where the NRA held their annual National 3-Position Junior Air Rifle Championships and Training Summit from July 1-3 at the CMP's 80-firing point electronic air rifle range, right on base, just to the right of Petrarca Range. Then on July 4-6th, USA Shooting and the CMP teamed up to hold their own National Championships at the same range. Here's a short write-up:
The Minnesota Centershots/MRRA team went to Camp Perry, Ohio for the NRA 3-Position Air Rifle Championships and the USA Shooting National Junior Olympic 3-P Air Rifle Championship on June 30, 2009. The team consisted of Emily Quiner, Alex Geisar, Adam McInerney and Patrick Sunderman, who were the Minnesota State 3P Air Rifle Champion Team. Emily Quiner is also the Women’s 2009 USAS Junior National Champion in International Air Rifle, gaining the title in April at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado.
The NRA 3-Position Air Rifle Championship is an open championship, but to make it to the USAS National Junior Olympic Championships, held by USA Shooting, school-age juniors had to qualify in State Junior Olympic competi­tions where the top teams and individuals advance to the Junior Olympic Nationals. The national event took place on the CMP’s new electronic-target equipped air gun range at Camp Perry. 231 shooters and 43 teams were at Camp Perry for the four days of competition that ended July 6th, 2009.
The Centershots/MRRA shot well enough at the NRA Championship event to garner 5th place overall. Then, just two days later, at the USAS/CMP National Junior Olympic Championships, team members Alex Geisar (576), Patrick Sundermann (586) and Adam McInerney (581) all shot personal best scores the first day to land the team in place 5th overall, rounded out by Emily Quiner's 584/600. The second day they staved off a barrage of great scores to garner 12th place in the final standings. At least two national records were recorded by other competitors during the match, so it was a brutally tough competition. The Centershots team returned home more experienced and with their game at a whole new level. On July 20th, most of that group will return to Camp Perry to compete individually in the NRA Smallbore National Championships.

Larry Sawyer

Maybe Larry could bring us back a picture. Good Shooting Center Shots !

Minnesota State High Power Champions


left to right
Bob Peasley - 300 yd rapid and Senior St. Champ.,
Tim Biles - 500 yd St. Champion
Kevin Bangen - Standing, 200yd rapid fire, and Overall Highpower Champion


Wednesday, July 15, 2009

The Week Ahead for Shooters-- 7/15/09

Shooter
The Week Ahead again gives the shooters choices. GRRC is hosting a Palma Clinic for prone and long range shooters. Across the Course shooters will heading to Eau Claire to shoot the Pig match, or should I say the Pig Roast match.
But First
This past weekend the big match for High Power shooters was the State NRA Championships put on by the Northwestern Gun Club near Duluth.
I headed up there Sunday for the Individual championship match and that meant an 0530 start from Hugo. It really didn't seem early though as the sun was well up as I headed up 35 to the turn off at Cloquet. A mug of coffee and 2 hrs later I was turning in to the 200 yd line at the range. I could see there was going to be a good turn out as the parking lot was full. It was a good turnout -- all 15 targets up and that's better than it has been in the last few years.
The first match is the 200yd standing match and Kevin Bangen showed why he is dominating OTC shooting around here these days as he dropped only 6 pts for a 194 and a 5 pt lead over Larry Miller and 6 over Kurt Borlaug going into the Sitting Rapid Fire match. Kevin nailed down and pretty much owned the 200 yd line after firing a 200-10x, and picked up 2 more pts on Kurt while Larry slipped 6 back. It was the kind of day when we should all have fired great scores standing and sitting --- 70deg, no wind, blue sky---perfect. At the 300 yd line for the Rapid fire match, the wind was light from the left but not a factor and Larry Miller took a turn trying to gain back a couple pts on Kevin. He showed his mastery of prone shooting besting all the Minn guys (Larry is from Wisc) by 2 pts with a 198, but failing to take home the trophy as a non resident. Capt. Bob was top Minn. 300 rapid shooter and State Champ, out X-ing Kevin, Dave Salo, and John Andres, all with 196 pts. Kurt Borlaug had a rifle problem and dropped way back. The weather continued to be perfect at the 500 yd line and again Larry Miller shot this prone slow fire match best. His 198-11 was good for the match winner, but it was resident Tim Biles with 197-10, who has not competed for years, and who dug out a match rifle for this event that took home the 500 yd line State Championship Trophy. Kevin Bangen didn't win the two prone matches but scores in each of 196 kept him on top after taking the lead at the 200 yd line.

With a score of 786-29 Kevin Bangen is the Minnesota NRA State Champion.
Congratulations---Kevin Bangen
Pictures from this match are posted Below---

Thanks goes to the Northwestern gun club crew, led by Dale Wickstrom, and Elliot Zunich and others, for putting on a great weekend of matches. Every year this range is seeing nice range improvements. This year new siding and windows are being installed at the 200 yd house. Dale W. had some 1940 Western Red Cedar telephone poles off club property milled into boards and battens for the new siding. Some of the boards are 12 in wide and clear -- no knots. Sure looks great Dale.


300 Meter matches last weekend -- no news. Maybe we could getJim Shiffman to send us some 300 m news to us occasionally. We would all like to know more about the 300 m program.

Small Bore -- GRRC small bore league shooters are already shooting the 3rd 1600 of the league with the 100 yd match scheduled this coming Monday. This league, the brain child of Kurt Borlaug is turning out to be very successful with over 20 shooters competing. Junior Small Bore shooters are getting ready to leave for Camp Perry.

Long Range news -- 3 area long range shooters, Steve Knutson, Morgan Dietrich, and Stacey Taumlinas have qualified for the US Palma team and will be traveling to Ottawa, Canada In August for 10 days of long range shooting in preparation and training for the next International Palma Championship.

Camp Perry Service Rifle team is practicing weekly and looks to post some good scores at Perry. I hope they take some pictures we could post. Kurt-- any one have a camera ?

The Week Ahead
This weekend the local High Power shooting will be at GRRC. Long Range is on the bill as Harry Crump is running a Palma clinic shown on the schedule for both Saturday and Sunday. Ck with Harry for Details.
Over the Course (OTC) shooters who are willing to travel a short way can go to Eau Claire for the VERY popular "Pig" matches Sat, and Sunday----the pig roast and party being in the camp ground, Saturday night, after the 50 shot OTC. Sunday is an 80 shot OTC match. These matches are well attended and are run like clockwork.
See Program for this match at -- http://www.wrpa.com/2009_Match_Programs/090718-19_EauClaire.pdf

Saturday 18 July -- CMP M-1 Carbine match at Elk River
Saturday 18 July -- Palma Clinic at GRRC -- Contact Harry Crump
Saturday 18 July -- Eau Claire Rifle club ---- Pig Roast OTC Matches
Sunday 19 July -- Palma Clinic at GRRC -- Contact Harry Crump
Sunday 19 July -- Eau Claire Rifle club ---- Pig Roast OTC Matches
Monday 20 July -- GRRC Small Bore league, Elk River F- Class
Tuesday 21 July -- High power leagues at Northstar and Elk River

Two Weeks Out -- weekend of July 25
Think about being able to shoot three 80 shot OTC matches in 3 days. That's what you get if you go to the Northwestern Gun Club's Friday thru Sunday - 240 OTC weekend. I always look at this as the best match weekend of the year--period. Take a vacation day to shoot this 240. It's a lot cheaper than going to Camp Perry. As I have said there is good camping at NWGC.
There is also a Small bore 50yd match at Elk River.
Hawkeye

Monday, July 13, 2009

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Mn 1000 yd State Champion




Jim Soderstrom 584-24x

The Week Ahead -- July 8, 2009

Shooters
Over the course shooters will be traveling north This weekend to Northwestern Gun Club for the NRA State Championship OTC matches. 300 m International shooters have their go at MRC Sunday, and Oakdale hosts a 50m Free Pistol match.
But First
GRRCs' showcase 1000 yd rifle range was host to the Mn Long Range and Palma state champ matches this weekend. While the States only long distance rifle range was in it's usual tip top shape, there has been a significant improvement. Kevin Bangen has manufactured the 200 parts required and with Barb's help, has installed all new Benches in the Target pits at the GRRC Highpower Range. Thank you Kevin and Barb for all your hard work ! This is a real improvement to the range and will serve GRRC shooters for a long time to come.
Picture posted Below


Emily Quiner- National Champion!
Our own local JR shooter, Emily Quiner has won the National Junior Olympic Women's Air Rifle Championship recently in Colo. Springs, Colorado. Read George Minerich's posting at http://mrra.org/downloads/juniors/Natl-champ-3.pdf Picture posted below----

Congratulations Emily!

Minnesota's Long range Championship weekend started Saturday with the 1000 yd 60 shot match. Jim Soderberg started strong in the Any sight match with a 198 and ahead of Stacey T. by one pt, then came back with a 197 in the first Iron sight match increasing his lead to 3 pts going into the last 20 shot match. Brian Mrnak won the last match with a 195 while the other contenders struggled in shifting winds. That strong finish by Brian was close but just short of enough to take the win as his 582 total was good for 3rd place --one pt back of 2nd place Stacey Tamulinas with a 583, and Jim Soderberg's championship score of 584. John Andres's 580 was also great shooting but just out of the money,.
Congratulations to Jim Soderberg Mn 1000 yd state champion.

The Palma Championship was contested Sunday at the usual shooting distances of 800, 900, and 1000 yds -- 15 shots each with iron sights. The weather was good, the wind was light and Matt Griffin took full advantage of favorable conditions to post an outstanding 445-14x total, pretty much running away with the title from everyone except Stacey Tamulinas, 4 pts back with a 441-24x. Starting with an off-call 7 high for the 1st record shot put Stacey in the hole at the 1000 yd line from which he could not come back.
Congratulations to Matt Griffin----- Mn Palma Champion
Stacey did not go home empty handed, however, his two day aggregate of 1024-49x was Good enough for him to earn the title of MN Long Range State Champion. Jim Soderstrom just back 4 pts, took 2nd overall. Bob Mead took the Long Range F-class title.
Pictures of this match are posted below---

Small Bore----The State 4 position championship was shot at Mpls rifle club this weekend -- No news passed on to me.

GRRC 's Monday Small Bore league is into it's 3rd 1600 this week starting with the 50 yd match. This league takes place, for those who can make it --- Monday morning 0930 and Monday after work. Due to high turnout, some are also shooting this league on Thursdays.

The Week ahead
This coming weekend I'll be making that short 2 hr journey north to NWGC to shoot the NRA OTC matches. Going up to NWGC is always a highlite on my match schedule --- I can already smell those pine trees. This Saturday is the club against club Team OTC match, and then on Sunday will be the 80 shot individual match for the state OTC championship. It'll be a great match to shoot for just a few gal of gas----See you there!
Strictly prone shooters can find a 300 m match at MRC on Sunday to test their ability or they can also head north to the Small Bore 3P matches in Hibbing.

Thursday -- July 7th -- GRRC HP practice at 300
Saturday -- July 11th -- NRA Team championship at Northwestern Gun club -- Program:
http://mrra.org/downloads/nwgc/7-11-09.pdf
Saturday -- July 11th -- 50m Free pistol at Oakdale
Sunday -- July 12th -- NRA Individual State OTC champ at Northwestern Gun Club -- Program:
http://mrra.org/downloads/nwgc/7-12-09.pdf
Sunday -- July 12th -- 300 m prone rifle at MRC
Sunday -- July 12th -- Small bore 3 Pos Champ at Hibbing
Monday -- July 13 th -- Small bore league at GRRC & F Class at Elk River

Looking ahead 2 weeks
Reserve the 18th and 19th of July for a Palma How-to Clinic at GRRC -- learn to shoot long range. Elk River is also having an M-1 Carbine match Saturday the 18th.

Saturday July 18th M1 Carbine match ERSC
Saturday July 18th Palma clinic at GRRC

Note: I can't get to all matches. I would like to post results of the local matches If someone could send me a digital photo of the score board, it is easy to post to the blog. Any shooting news, jr team news, match news, who's going to perry---will be appreciated and posted. Hope to see you all out pulling some triggers
Hawkeye

Sunday, July 5, 2009

MN Long Range Champions


Left to right
Stacey Tamulinas -Long Range St Champ. , Bob Mead - F-Class Champ, Matt Griffin - Palma Champion
Jim Soderstrom (not pictured) is 2009 MN St. 1000yd champ

Spotting Scope cam from 1000 yds -- Stacey Tamulinas-X, Brian Mrnak-9, Jim Soderstrom-X


MN Palma Championship -- 7/5/09 GRRC

Friday, July 3, 2009

GRRC --- New Pit Benches !!!


GRRC's High Power Range has been improved ! Kevin Bangen has manufactured the 200 parts required and with Barb's help, has installed all new Benches in the Target pits at the GRRC Highpower Range. Thank you Kevin and Barb for all your hard work ! This is a real improvement to the range and will serve GRRC shooters for a long time to come.

Jr. Emily Quiner --- National Champ !


Emily Quiner- National Champion!
The National Junior Olympic Women's Air Rifle Championship concluded recently at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Minnesota’s own Emily Quiner from Brooklyn Park shot 393/400 in the first match and the same score again in the second match for a 786. That gave her a 1-point lead going into the 10-shot final. She held her lead with a 102.1 in the final and finished with the gold medal! -- George Minerich

More info---- http://mrra.org/downloads/juniors/Natl-champ-3.pdf

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

The Week Ahead -- July 1st, 2009

Shooters
The week ahead offers competitive shooters Small Bore 4P matches at MRC and Long Range prone shooting at GRRC.
But First --This past Saturday I had the pleasure of participating in the Mpls. Rifle club's prone Small bore 1600 match. About 18 shooters saw the day start with the possibility of rain and blustery wind, but other than wet feet from putting out targets in the morning, the weather turned out to be great. The wind was almost calm and the visibility great for the 50yd Iron sight match and some good scores were turned in. The course of fire saw both the first two matches -- 50yd and 100yd-- shot with irons, then most but not all shooters switched over to Scopes for the Dewar match, and the 50m match. Five juniors participated, I met Jim Schwartz, Sioux Falls, SD, for the first time, along with Mike Marzitelle (free pistol shooter), and Lance Peters came to shoot. I had to pack up early to attend a graduation, so final results are unavailable here at this time. All in all it was a nice partly sunny day to do some prone shooting.
Late results---
Winner--Larry Sawer 1595-102x, 2nd Lance Peters--1594-110x
2nd master---James Swartz 1591-94x, 1st Expert--Ross Ewert 1590-94x.
Complete results--- http://mrra.org/downloads/matchresults09/smallbore/prone_6-27-09.pdf
Pictures from this match are posted Below---

Bob Hall OTC match at GRRC suffered a light turnout probably due to rain and more threat of rain. After a short postponement the match was finished in relatively good weather with Kevin Bangen extending his winning streak by shooting 776-17x to Kurt Moline's 743-14

Sunday was a day to go back to my favorite---the service rifle--- and shoot the Leg Match at GRRC. Easy Match, 50 rds, no sighters, lots of competition for those trying hard to earn leg points. The day was nice and sunny, but forecasts for 20 mph winds were posted. I was surprised to see an almost full parking lot when I arrived. Maybe there would be enough shooters for at least 2 legs. It ended up that there were 27 non-distinguished shooters and that's enough for 3 legs. Sgt. Al Schneider brought 6 shooters from the 2nd Bn, 135th Inf, National Guard to participate. It was nice to see a group of Guard guys at the match-- something we haven't seen for quite some time now. Even though the wind was strong and gusty there was some excellent shooting. Jim Pennington shot a 94 Offhand. Matt Griffin cleaned the 300yd Rapid, and worked the wind well at 600 yds for a 196-6x. In the end with a steady performance in all four matches, Jeremy Harrison took the gold Medal and 8 more leg pts and raising his count to 22 pts of the 30 needed to be awarded the Distinguished Rifleman's Badge. Matt Griffin's 477 got him the Silver and 6 pts (16+ now), and Phill Klandrud got the third 6 pt leg, (14 total). Our area now has a half dozen service rifle shooters shooting scores good enough to earn that Distinguished Badge in the next couple years.
Pictures from this match are posted Below---

Mid West Palma matches: Its been passed on that almost 100 shooters, including many from Mn and Wisc. participated in the Midwest Palma matches at Lodi this past week. The weather there was hot and hotter with high humidity to test the shooters conditioning. I believe that Stacey Tamulinas placed well (maybe 6th) in the Palma matches, and Randy Gregory won the Wisc. Long Range championships.

Monday Morning Sm Bore-- Joel Peabody fired a new personal record score in the any sight 1600 with a 1562-52, and yours truly shot a personal record of 400-35x in the 50yd match (1590-109x) shooting the 1963 M52D Win orig. barrel ROTC gun, that seems to shoot better than the 2013 anshutz --- at least with this lot of SK Standard Plus ammo. This gun was re-stocked by Randy Gregory with a McGee prone stock, is fitted with classic Unertil 15x Programmer scope, and (believe it or not) had its Micro Motion trigger group sent off to the legendary Karl Kenyon, Elco NV. last year to be stroked by the master. It came back in a week -- very nice.

The Week Ahead
Long range shooters will be heading up to Gopher Rifle club this Sat and Sun,---Saturday for the MN 1000 yd championship, and then again Sunday for 15 record shots at 800yds, 900 yds, and 1000yds in the MN Palma Championship.
(Palma How-to http://arizona.rifleshooting.com/palma.html ) ---
Small Bore shooters will be back to Mpls Rifle Club again both days (we know the way) for the MN 4 position SB Regional.


Saturday July 4th -- MN 1000yd State Championship -- GRRC
Program: http://mrra.org/downloads/grrc/long_range_champ_09.pdf
Saturday July 4th -- Small bore Conventional 4P Regional at MRC
-- Program: http://mrra.org/downloads/smallbore/4Psb_regional09.pdf
Sunday -- July 5th -- Mn Plama State Championship at GRRC
Sunday -- July 5th -- Small bore Conventional 4P Regional at MRC
Monday July 6th --- GRRC SB evening league, and Elk River F-class league
Tuesday July 7th ---Highpower League at North Star and Elk River

Two Weeks out
Once again a chance to visit Northwestern Gun Club and shoot with the guys from up North
Saturday July 11 -- NRA Team Championship at Northwestern Gun club
Sunday July 12 -- NRA Individual MN OTC championship at Northwestern gun club.
Sunday July 12 -- MN 3P Small Bore Championships at Hibbing

Notes:
1. The 1000yd state match needs a couple workers (stats etc.) this sat and sun --call 763-784-2507
2. Kurt Borlaug's State Service rifle team will be practicing for the Camp Perry Nationals at GRRC on Thursdays. Kurt says that there may be 11+ shooters on the Perry team this year.
3. Service Rifle shooter -- Jim Pennington's dad, Troy has the E-mail name "Hoofmaster"--Must be a story there, for sure.

Hawkeye