The Week Ahead for Shooters -- July 27 2010

One thing leads to another.

  Last weekends Mid Range Prone Championships at Northstar Rifle Club gave prone HP shooters all the practice they'll need for this next weekend's matches at Gopher Rifle and Revolver Club's long range shooting facility at Harris, MN.  GRRC will be holding the 1000yd state championship on Saturday, then the State Palma Championship on Sunday. Both F-class and traditional Sling shooters will be competing for honors in their classes.  This is your chance to try some long range shooting and have some fun.

Minn Long Range State Championships: Program and Entry Click Here  

Last Weekend            

We were blessed with a beautiful summer day for last weekend's Mid Range Prone Champ matches at NorthStar.   See Slide Show of Pictures click here    It was just a little warmer then the kind of day you dream about having while sitting inside during the dead of winter ---80deg, sun shining, white puffy clouds,--- and no stress of Offhand shooting today.  It would be the Gentlemanly (and Gentlewomenly) sport of prone shooting -- all laying down.  I'm getting to enjoy prone shooting  more and more as the years go by,  but, there is still nothing more fun in the shooting game than 300yd rapid fire.  Lock and Load!

 The turnout was great with Forty one shooters squaded by the time the match started at 0900. Eighteen F-Class shooters competing for Regional medals while 23 traditional Sling shooters shot for honors and the traveling State Championship Plaque.  This years shooting sensation and State OTC (Over the Course) Champ Kevin Bangen would be trying to best prone shooting specialists such as US Palma Team shooters, Morgan Dietrich, and Stacey Tamulinas along with  Bill Lair, and Steve Knutson.  I knew that I was just along for the ride.

  Saturday The first relay at the 300 yd line had the Blue Bird relay of the day--great visibility and little wind to complicate the issue.  Bob Peasley and Morgan Dietrich took advantage of conditions and shooting clean scores of 200--- Morgan with 15 Xs while just warming up!  Steve Knutson and Kevin slipped a point behind with 199s. Every one else was scattered into the 190s and the F-class shooters doing their thing on the other end of the firing line --more later on that.  By the 2nd 300 yd match every one was settled in and the scores were tight in the upper 190s but with only Stacey Tamunlias and Morgan cleaning their targets. This time Stacey backed up his 200 score with 15 in the X ring only to have Morgan shoot 17 Xs on this little MR-63 target, putting him 2 up over Capt. Bob, Knut, Steve Erickson, and Stacey. That Score made my miserable 197-10x look pretty cheap.   Oh, Well.

  In the first 600 yd match Stacey picked up a point on Morgan with his 2nd clean target. Brian Mrnak also held hard in the rising switchy wind for clean 200 score. Bill Lair dropped only one pt and was still only 5 down for the 3 matches. In the next match at 600yds,  Kevin Bangen shot his days best score of 199-6 and took the Master Class win for todays Iron sight matches. Stacey Tamulinas continued to hold them all in the Ten-ring with his 3rd 200 of the day while the other contenders dribbled away a few pts in the swirling winds that confounded the mirage readers.  

 Stacey wins the Iron Sight part of  Mid Range Prone Championship with a phenomenal 798-52x. Morgan Dietrich was just behind only one point with 797-53x.  I was mired near the bottom of the HM class and the pressure was off for the weekend's Aggreate Score, but tomorrow was Scope day and hard holding, not young eyes would rule the day.

Sunday again looked to be a Blue Bird day--- only cooler and less humid than Saturday.  Sounds good to me.

Things were looking up when my first shot at 300 yds was a 10 and then 17 of the record shots were also 10s for a 197-7x.  Steve Hays started out his day with a clean 200, but that was only one of many clean scores as Capt Bob, Stacey, Knut, Morgan, and  Omer Hamer all shot clean with very high X counts.  Steve Knutson shot 17Xs. As far as points go, it was a 5 way tie for first.

  In the 2nd 300 yd match my stars aligned and I dropped no pts for my days best at 200-13x, and was still resoundly beaten by Steves  2nd 200-17X in a row, and Staceys 15X clean. Numerous other 200 -low X were shot by the "losers".  In the first 600 yd match, Brian Mrnak got the match winner with his clean 200-10x and now down only 5 for the day.  Morgan had dropped 3 points and slipped to 3 back  from Stacey in the weekends aggregate.  The scores were still tight so the final 600 yd match everyone would have to be on the top of the their game to have a chance if Stacey made even one mistake --- like shooting a X-fire or something I normaly do when in the lead.

Jim Soderstrom did the best of all to top Stacey in that last chance match and came close with his 200-10X but another clean 200 with 15 Xs showed who deserved to be the Mid Range Champion.

  Congratulations to Stacey Tamulinas, who shot an astounding 1597-104X over the course of 2 days, to become the Minnesota State Mid Range Prone Champion. Morgan Dietrich was just a few behind with a hard fought 1593-100x and then Jim Soderstrom in 3rd place, with consistent high scores in every match,  and a 1588-75.  As for me, I'm happy coming in about 5th today in this group of good shooters, having dropped only 6 pts all day and this being a new personal record for me at 794-40 in an 800 pt. match. 

It was a great match weekend --  good weather, good shooting,  great range ,   great people,-- oh and did I mention the great Barbeque that Northstar put on for the shooters after Saturdays match was over?? It was great.  Too bad if you missed it.

Now  F-Class

 I know little about F Class except that it is a quickly growing segment of the High Power scene.  I must admit that there is some apeal to shooting a match like this with out having to wear a hot shooting jacket, and being able to shoot scope over a bipod and be basically comfortable while shooting.  I do know that they torture the tiny little X-ring in the center of the F- target at 300 yds. They continually shoot out the golf tees used for shot spotters-- even at longer ranges.  I think that I could recommend that these hard holders use something like the 5 bullseye 50 yd Small Bore targets to spread their shots around to only 5 on each bullseye and save so much target repair. 

Ben Winget showed that he was the master of this F-Class shooting by dropping only 10pts all weekend on those microsopic targets for an F-Class Open Champion score of 1590 and 97 Xs. Ben wins the Gold medal and the Traveling Trophy.  The Silver Medal was won by Gary Koch, and the Bronze by Pat Scully.  In the FTR division of F-class, Keith Ulrich's 1548-57x  takes the Gold medal, and Scott Olson get 2nd and Silver sith a 1534-38.

Note:  One more thing--------I'm sure that we set a World Record for the number of pit changes that any, 80 shot, 2 yardline, 3 relay match, has ever had with 7, yes count-em, 7 pit changes on Sunday and at least that many on Saturday.   Only the superb cooperation of this group of shooters could have made that possible.  Great going Guys and Gals! 

Other notables------Sub Junior, Erick Hazleton shot straight up against the adults all weekend and logged good scores at the 300 yd line 191, then a 187 later on.  It was nice to have Erick and his dad come out we all hope to see them again.  However Erick is busy shooting Small bore where he holds a Sub Junior Nat record, and Erick also shoots International 300m matches. 

Complete Results:   ---- Sling shooters click here              F-Class results click here 

Service Rifle

Monster Leg Match coming to GRRC in Sept !

It looks like Service Rifle shooters in the upper midwest area are going to have the best chance ever for earning some Leg Points.  The Leg Match to be held at GRRC, Harris MN, on Sept 25th will see 21 new shooters from the MN Nat Guard participating as non-distinguished shooters, and this means there will be at least 4 legs up for grabs---and probably more.  I expect to see competitors from states around to come in and try to take some of these "easy" Leg points away from local shooters.  The turnout may be even bigger than we expect.

  Here is part of the note Sgt. Al Schneider, sent in to let us know of his plans, and to ask for already Distinguished  shooters to come and lend a hand helping his guys get through the match.

These soldiers are going to Afganistan and need your help. 

From: SSG Albert H. Schneider III

Training NCO, 2-135 Small Arms Master Gunner

A CO, 2-135 IN

"Now for the good part (here is where you come in).... I have funding to send 21 shooters to Gopher rifle and Revolver Club in Harris for the Leg Match on September 25th. In doing so, I added a second day to their orders in order to help familiarize them with Match Conduct, Scoring, Shooting positions, and Competition equipment. I need qualified Instructors/coaches/mentors to come out and show these Soldiers a thing or two. My intent is to squad these Soldiers together (under the supervision of a Distinguished/Pres 100/MA-HM shooter) and run them through a clinic and an EIC Match (Similar to the SAFS at Perry). Of course you don't need to be a PRES 100/Dist/MA/HM shooter to help. (if you haven't legged out yet I want you to compete!) These guys will ALL be Fresh newbies who most likely have never pulled a target, so we will surely need help with pits and scorekeeping. This will be a training event for the Soldiers, but that doesn't mean we can't have fun doing it! DO YOUR PART! Come out, have fun, teach, compete, and meet some of the guys that will be heading downrange in 2011. 

As many of you might have heard, the 1st Brigade Combat Team (BCT) of the 34th Infantry Division has been alerted to go into harm's way once again in 2011.

Sincerely

SSG Albert H. Schneider III, Training NCO, 2-135 Small Arms Master Gunner, A CO, 2-135 IN

albert.schneider@us.army.mil " 

Service Rifle Shooters--- Don't miss this Leg Match !  Its the best chance you will ever have to get some of those elusive Leg Points.   

Small Bore  --  Aug 7& 8

  Next matches are in Two weeks at MRC.  This will be a two day prone shot on Metric targets, with competitors being able to use Iron sights on Sat. and then on Sunday Any sights may be used.

Small Bore Metric prone match:  Program and Entry Click Here   

Three Weeks out

Aug 14   Saturday  -- 80 shot OTC at Northwestern Gun Club. Program Click Here

Aug 15   Saturday  --  Mid Range Prone at NWGC  Program Click Here 

Aug 15   Sunday  --  Small Bore 1600 prone at MRC  Program Click Here  

Out of Town Match 

Iowa 300 Yard HP -- Aug 28

The River City Rifle &Pistol Club would like to invite all area High Power Rifle Shooters to the Iowa State 300 Yard HP Rifle State Championship.

 As in the past, we will host an 80 shot OTC Warm-Up Match on Saturday, August 28th.  The 300 Yard State Championship on Sunday the 29th is an 80 shot OTC NRA Registered Match.

 By this time of the year everyone should be well practiced, and rested up from Camp Perry.  Please plan to join us for a challenging weekend of competition.  

 Hope to see you there,--  John Breuklander  Match program and Entry Click here   

Ok, that's enough for now. My eyes are going blind looking at this computer screen

Shoot em in the middle

Hawkeye

Minn Mid Range Championship pictures just in!

Enlarge Slide Show:   Click Here

The Week Ahead -- Shooters News Minn -- July21

The Week Ahead

Last weekend's annual Pig Roast matches in Eau Claire are in the books for another year. A good time was had by all and more later on that.  The July Small Bore 1600 at MRC had a surprise winner on beautiful day with almost perfect conditions-- more later.

  I am looking forward to this next weekends Mid Range Prone State Championship matches at RedWing's NorthStar Rifle club. It will be two days of comfortable prone shooting, outdoors, on the nice grass firing lines in what looks to be good weather for shooting.  Saturdays shooting will be four 20 shot matches from 300 to 600 yds, --all prone, then on Sunday, it will be a little easier for us old guys as it will be an Any sight match and I can shoot a scope for a change. There will be an F-class, for the scope and bipod crowd, both days.  

There will be good competition in all the classes from marksman to High Master.  I think we will have the opportunity to meet one of our up and coming Sub-Junior shooters, Erick Haszelton, who I think is coming to shoot a .223 bolt gun. 

 See you all there !   Remember: These prone matches may be easy to shoot, but they are hard to win.           Match entry and program:  Mid Range Prone St. Championship 

   Note from Capt Bob:  

"MRP shooters:     North Star president Mike May just advised me he will be available to act as chef Saturday afternoon to cook brats & burgers after the match.  I think we will be done by about 1500 and Mike will try to time the food so it's ready PDQ when we finish so not to much waiting. 

 PUH-LEESE let me know if you would be interested in staying so we can decide if it's worth the effort.  Mike will show up Sat. about 1230-1300 to get a head count and go get the stuff." - Capt Bob 

Last Weekend

As one of the most popular match weekends of the summer, Eau Claire's Pig Roast matches were well attended as usual.  Minn's Kevin Bangen seems to be running the table this summer. His consistent hard holding has won him many  1st places this summer and Eau Claire's Pig matches were no exception. 

2010 Pig Roast Results

 

Note: scores posted in this weeks news letter were mistakenly taken from 2009 results -- sorry about that. 

Small Bore

Last weekend's Small Bore 1600 at MRC was shot in almost perfect conditions. The Temp was in the Low 80s, and the wind was only a small factor in the scoring.  The course of fire was for the 50 yd match and the Dewar match to be fired with iron sights , then the 100 yd match and the 50 meter match to be fired with scopes or Any sights.  I was hoping that my recent success in the GRRC Tues morning league  would carry over and I could finally get a good score at MRC.  Usually when I shoot there I have a bad day so it was time for that to end.  It started good -  200-13x in the first 50yd match, then two wide nines on the 2nd target and the pressure was off.  No 1600's today.  The Dewar match also started out well  with a 199-11x but then down to earth with a 7 pt loss on the 100yd target for a 392, Arrrgh! 

  Checking the score board I saw I was a couple pts behind Greg Quinar and a couple ahead of Jim Biles, Alex Giesar, and Emily Quinar the Murray State NCAA shooter home for the summer. In the next two matches ( any sights) I squeeked out a win over Jim Biles in the 100 yd match, and the same in the 50m match, only just 2 pts higher than Emily.  So I got my first win ever in a Sm Bore match and am happy about that. 

Sub Junior Lori Husby beat her mom Julie by two pts with a fine 1507, and Greg Quinar held hard for a four pt win over his talented daughter, Emily.  George Minerich is to thank for mowing all the grass and running the match, and Tks to Bruce Blahut and Mr. Husby who  worked scoring targets.

 Slideshow of match --  Click Here 

Next Sm Bore prone matches Aug. 7-8 at MRC -- Program click here 

Long Range

As many of you know there are some local long range shooters that are now involved at the top levels of that sport. We have had a Palma Development Team  training session here at GRRC this summer and some shooters are going to be involved with the teams going to Australia this year and next year for the International Palma matches.  Minn's Stacey Tamulinas has been selected to be Adjutant this year for the US Palma Team and is now working on the arrangements for the team to travel to travel to Australia later this summer and shoot matches. I asked him for a short run down on what is happening---
 

"Hi Jim::  There are 14 people going to AU.  Bryan Litz, Bob Mead and I are the only guys going from the Mid-West.  The rest of the guys and gals are from the east coast or the west coast.  Bill Lair will be going with the Veterans Team  This is going to be a trial run for the World Championships next year.

There are numerous forms, permits and licenses to acquire.  The housing and and the range are new to this team.  The team captain, coaches and shooters are learning as we go.   The competition from the Brits and Aussies is going to be intense.

 Best regards,   Stacey "

Service Rifle

 No news from the Bald Eagle Service Rifle match.

Next Weekend

Sat and Sunday   July 24-25   --Mid Range Prone St. Championships -- NorthStar Rifle club  match Program

Two Weeks out

Sat and Sunday  July 31-Aug 1 -- long range St Championships -- GRRC   Entry program  

I hope to see you all at this weekends Mid Range Prone matches.

Hawkeye

"If you are unwilling to defend your right to your own lives, then you are merely like mice trying to argue with owls. You think their ways are wrong. They think you are dinner." -- Terry Goodkind

Pictures Just IN------Mpls. Rifle Club - July 18 -- Small Bore Prone 1600

Complete Results:                                Click Pic to enlarge

The week Ahead -- Leg match news -- late news !

Service Rifle Leg Match

Thanks to calls from Kurt and Capt Bob, we have news of Sundays Service Rifle Leg match, shot as part of the NRA Regional, at Northwestern Gun Club this past weekend.

  The two scheduled matches on Sundays Regional's card were the short range portion of the Team Match, and then the Leg Match for Service Rifle shooters.  Rain was forecast and rain was starting happen at the 0900 starting time, so after the two 200 yd matches the Team Match was called in favor of being sure to get the all Important Leg Match started more or less on time and over before more rain might come.  The forty shots fired for each of the 4 shooters on a team,  was still enough to pick a winning team, The Tri-staters of Larry Miller -Wisc, Steve Hays -Iowa, (and I think) Omer Hamer , and Mark Rohrman (MN) won the team match, then the team of Bob Peasley, Kurt Borlaug, Mark Shoess, and Erick Rohde placed 2nd. 

The Leg Match

Leg matches are important because they are the only matches in which you can earn points towards a lifetime achievement of earning the Distinguished Rifleman's Badge. Having to place in the top 10 % in Leg Matches is the only way to earn any leg points, and you get only 4 tries per year to shoot above your average, and grab one of the highly contested Legs available at these matches.  Many times there are only 2 legs for the 25 or so hopefuls that come from States around to try and score an "easy" leg from the locals. 

  This Leg match had 22 entry's who had not yet earned the coveted Gold Badge, and so, there were 2 legs up grabs. 

There are, however, 3 medals to be  won and Bob Peasley, who is also in the senior category, showed that while he is a bolt gunner (yellow bolt gun) at heart, he can once in a while pick up the service rifle and win the Bronze Medal from lots of younger guys with a darn good score of 470-9x.  Tim Thole earned his first Leg points by being 2nd over all with a score of 470-9x.  Yes, he actually tied Capt' Bob, but won the tie breaker by firing a better last shot. Who ever said that Xs don't count? Did I say that? Tim will also get the Silver medal.  Tim also gets 6 pts towards his Gold Badge!   Good shooting Tim !! 

 

The Winner

So who won the Leg match?

          Erick Rhode   won the Leg Match 

Erick fired a great score of 474 to win the Gold medal, and much more importantly -- to win 8 leg points!   These pts. gave Erick all the points he needed to qualify for the real prize---------

      The Gold Badge of Distinguished Rifleman. 

 

 Congratulations to Erick for earning this distinction. 

 Erick Rhode, Distinguished Rifleman

The Week Ahead -- Shooters News for MN -- July13

Shooters news for the Minn Area  --  July 14th

The Week Ahead

Prone shooters will be heading off to the Mpls. Rifle Club this Sunday to test their skills in the July Outdoor Prone 1600 small bore match. Targets will be shot at 50yds, 50 m, and 100 yds.  This is a combined Iron sight and Any sight match with the Dewar, and the 50yd match being shot with irons, and the 100yd, and 50m match being shot with Any sights (scope). After such a great turn out for the Regional in May, I expect that there will be as many shooters for this match.  Highpower shooters are again discovering that Small Bore is the best practice upcoming Mid Range and Long Range matches, and the big Mid range prone match is coming up next week.  Match entry and program:  Click here

Over the course (OTC) and Service Rifle shooters, will also be busy with the Pig Roast Matches going on in Eau Claire all weekend, and The State Service Rifle Team will be practicing Saturday at GRRC, under watchfull eye of Team Capt. Kurt Borlaug.  I know that Capt Kurt is looking for a few volunteers to pull targets for the team on Sat.

Service Rifle shooters who are not participating in either of the above can shoot a 50 shot CMP match at Bald Eaqle Sportsman's club on Saturday the 17th. BESA is just a few miles North of White Bear Lake.  See match program:  Click here
  

Last Weekend 

300 meter Match at Mpls Rifle Club

From:   Brian Shiffman

"The weather for this match was almost perfect.

  Just some light and variable breezes from West to Northwest to break up the calm.  Just enough breeze to catch the unwary off guard, particularly those shooting lighter caliber bullets. We had a couple of new shooters, too. The big news from the event was the firing of a perfect 600 by Adam Shidla.  He is now only the second person to accomplish that feat.  The last time that was done was about 5 or 6 years ago.  He was using a Savage benchrest rifle with a Krieger barrel in 6.5 x 47, shooting 130 Gr. Bergers.  The way he was throwing those 10's I suspect that he will have more of those scores.  Congratulations Adam.

   Erhard had a nice score in 3-P, too.  He probably started slow in prone with a 190 but he had a great kneeling of 189.  All of the F-Class and prone shooters had scores that were consistent from series to series.  Somewhere along the line I need to pick up about 70 points!  At my stage I would probably be happy with a pickup of 5 points.  I'm about run out of excuses for my poor showing.

    Steve Morehead was shooting his hunting rifle, a 30-06 but after 40 rounds it was too hot for him to continue so he withdrew/  His first two series, F-Class, were172 and 160 with the obvious sign of bullet placement walking up the target as the barrel heated from each shot.

  You can see the results of the July match at   http://www.edfpages.com/mgfc/results.php?match=7   While you are at the sight, you can click on any month to see the results of Club matches held that month.  We did not have a club match in February or March due to other matches being held.

 I believe we all had a fine time.

 The next club match will be on August 8^th.  It is early in the month of August, but it is the 2^nd Sunday of the month.

 Regards to all."    Brian D. Shiffman      shiff004@umn.edu  
   

NRA Regional Championship at Northwestern Gun Club -- Duluth

 The promise was for a good weather day --- just a 20% chance of rain and storms. With a pleasant day in the offing, the shooters came out in the largest number seen at a Regional in quite a few years.  It would be a full line and no targets to spare. There were a few traveling shooters from Wisc., and Iowa. There was also two teams of military shooters from the MN Nat. Guard.  One under the leadership of CWO Roger Sorbin, and the other under Sgt. Al Schneider.  It's good to see the Guard coming back to our matches.

As the shooters kept pouring in to sign up, the NWGC guys started scrambling to get more targets in operation. This was quickly done and the match was started on time at 0900hrs.

    Standing match-- Wind or other conditions were not a factor in the 20 shot standing match.The calm conditions and the good light was were good for all shooters.  Kevin Bangen shot a few pts down from his average and came off the line with only a 187,-- not a good start for the State OTC Champ.  Omer Hamer and Phil Carlson, did a little better, finishing with 188s each, and Jim Biles came the closest with his 190-5x, but State Offhand Champ Dave Dexter  showed them all how it is done and won offhand match with a 191-4x.

    Sitting Rapid fire  A clean string of 100 and then a back-up string of 99 gave Kevin Bangen the 200 yd sitting rapid fire match trophy.  He didn't even need all 9 Xs to beat the similar great score of Kurt Borlaug, who could muster only 5 Xs this time.  Elliot Zunich shot the next best score with a 197-7x. Normally 197 can be a  top score, but here with this crowd, it was only 2nd loser.

Now after 2 matches, Kevin Bangen was leading in total score with 386 pts, Kurt Borlaug was lying 2nd with 385 and Jim Biles was 3rd, one pt back from Kurt. 

   The Prone Rapid fire match at the 300 yds line is always my favorite match. A high group that included 4 nines left me with little chance to win this match, but never give up and a clean 100 followed on the 2nd string -- good only for about 5th place.  Larry Miller shot one clean string and dropped only one pt on the other, taking the win in this match with 199 and half of those were Xs.  Dave Dexter was hanging in there and shot for a 2nd place with his 198.  Kevin, Kurt Borlaug and Dave Salo following with 197s,.   With good scores in matches 2 and 3, Kurt Borlaug had pulled up to be just one pt behind in the aggregate with Kevin Bangen, whose agg. of 583-20 led the pack and  Jim Biles was just behind with a 580-14x

  So, the 500 yd line would be where the match was to be won or lost by the leaders --  as it should be. 

The 500 went good for me -- except for the 3rd shot sailing off into the 8 ring for no apparent reason. One more nine,  8 tens and Iwas down 3 on the first string and the pressure was off.  I only dropped one pt in the next 10 shots, so I came off with a 196 and little hope to have won the match.  Usually someone or more than just one shooter fires a 200 in these matches, but not today.   I thought that the conditions were about as good as it gets, and was surprised that Kevin's hard holding 197 won the match.  Did my 196 hold for 2nd place in this match----Nope.  Iowa's own Steve Hays also fired 196 and one X more than I did so I was happy with the 3rd in this match as the high point of my day.  Yes, my prone shooting continues to be improved. Since April and the coaching from German Salazar, and Mike Toliver, my prone shooting has gone from 190s to 195s. 

  Kevin's Bangen's solid shooting at the 500yd line sealed the deal (780-28)  and he is the 2010 Regional Champion. Dave Dexter finishes 2nd with 772-14x, and Jim Biles is 3rd over all with a 770-20, and  yours truly snuck in there for a 5th and was happy to get even that.   See Slideshow of this match -- click here 

Kevin Bangen - 1st place

Dave Dexter  --  2nd place
Jim Biles   --3rd place  

Complete Results:   #1 click here     #2 click here

Service Rifle Team

From: KURT BORLAUG kubeborlaug@msn.com

 Boys, We are getting closer to Perry and our practice is this Saturday at GRRC in Harris (and Sunday if rained out). Bob Peasley will be there on Saturday to help us get squared away and I spoke with him about his concerns and requests as to how he wants to proceed. I am grateful for his contribution to our team efforts this year.
   First of all bring enough ammo!!   30 rounds for 200 (may shoot two strings sitting)
20 rounds for 300 (will shoot two strings rapid prone).  20 rounds at 600 slow-fire. We are confirming zeroes and will get everyone synced on the same page here. We will sync for Infantry also.  80 rounds of Infantry ammo. If you paid Tom for ammo I will have it at practice for you. If you are making your own, we are using 23.7 Varget w/ Sierra MKs.

    We will be zeroing at 600 and 500 and shooting full 50 second strings at 600 and 500 with a briefer version at 300. The usual come-up from your typical 80 grain load is 2 minutes for the 77/75gr. bullet. Yes I said come-up. It's a less efficient bullet and drops a might quicker.  Be there NO LATER THAN 8:30 for briefing and instructions. There will be a need for some of us to take turns in the pits as I have only a few volunteers. We will push hard to get completed Saturday so those of you wanting to shoot Eau Claire can do that on Sunday. Bring a lunch, recording book, and all the above along w/ usual shooting stuff.
 Looking forward to seeing all of you at GOPHER RRC Not Red Wing!!!! There was some confusion about this but it is at GRRC in HARRIS!!!! Got it? Later, Kurt     
 

Forward Thinking 

From Kurt Borlaug

"Gentlemen, Being it is now mid-season I start planning for next season. Which brings me to a question to all receiving this (a few possible new members too);
 Where do we want GRRC to be in two to five years? Many Service rifle shooters have expressed great interest in expanding our LR opportunities. Yes we do want to shoot the long line. It appears that we have a HUGE hole in our calendar that should be filled with this activity. If you owned a Corvette would you only keep it covered and never drive it? Why is our long line being used so infrequently? How many of you out there are interested in a LR League of some kind next year? Give us some of your best ideas; team format? Individual? Mentor? 300, 600 and 1K? The choices are limited only by our time and people's will to get involved.
 Secondly and related, GRRC has undergone some calendar improvements and there are open weekends. I certainly don't wish ill to a certain club in Mn. but it appears there may be a vacuum to fill. To this end we would need help running matches as well as prepping the range. Some of you know all about this, some are bystanders. We need EVERYONE to pick up a loose end somewhere.
 What I believe we need is a MEETING!! Yes a meeting where we can hash out these ideas and get input from all who care about High Power and LR shooting at GRRC. I propose Sept 26th, Sunday after the CMP games events are done in the Red Shed at GRRC.
 Who's in? Sincerely" , Kurt Borlaug
    

Up coming Mid Range Prone matches --July 24 & 25

I have been alerted by Capt. Bob that advanced entries are coming in fast for this match.  He already has upwards of 29 paid advanced entries. Look below for a link to the program and entry to this match and send it in. This will be a great match, so don't miss out.  If you can't send in an advanced entry -- be there early to sign up as a post entry.
       

The week ahead -- matches

Saturday            July 17      Service rifle match at BESA (White Bear Lake)  Match entry and program:  Click here

Sat and Sunday July 17-18    Pig roast Matches in Eau Claire    Match program Click here

Sat and Sunday July 17-18    Service Rifle Team practice at GRRC  See Schedule -- Click here

Sunday            July 18  --   Sm Bore 1600 prone at MRC   match program:  click here
      

Two weeks out

 Saturday and Sunday  --  July 24-25  Mid Range Prone at Redwing    Entry and Program-- Click here
      

 Looking forward to seeing you all up at  Mpls Rifle club this weekend for the Sm Bore matches 

Hawkeye

Flash ! Just in -- Pictures from Minn's Regional Championship at NWGC

    

Congratulations to Kevin Bangen --  2010 Regional NRA Champion

Complete Match report will be in this weeks   Shooter's News

Team T-shirts

Note:  The Minnesota St. Service Rifle Team t-shirts are sold out.  Thanks for your team support. If you missed getting one of the team shirts this year --  order earlier next year.

NRA St. Championships -- Elk River

The Week Ahead -- Shooters News MN area -- July 7

The Week Ahead --   Shooters News  for Mn. --  July 6th

This coming weekend, rifle shooters looking for a good competition to participate in,  have three good choices.  

Highpower OTC shooters can head North to Northwestern Gun Club near Duluth on the shores of Hunter Lake and shoot NRA Regional.  Saturdays match is an 80 shot OTC individual match with all the good fun of shooting Standing, Sitting Rapid fire, Prone Rapid fire, and prone 500 yd Slow fire. A second String of 500 yd slow fire will be fired Sat, as part of Sundays 4 man Team match.  Sunday, after concluding the short range part of the Team match, the match most important to Service Rifle shooters starts about 1100am---- The Leg Match.  This 50 rd OTC match will be contested by those hard holding service rifle shooters looking to add Leg pts to their total and advance towards that Distinguished Rifleman's Badge. 

        Match Program:  Click here 

Small Bore

July 10th and 11th The State Small Bore 3P and 4P Championships will be held at Hibbing MN. To See Match program: Click here

Next 1600 Prone match will be July 18 at MRC  

300 meter

From:    Brian Shiffman

I just looked at the calendar, which I do on occasion, and see that the July MRC 300 Meter Match is scheduled for this Sunday, the 11^th.  I am going to guess that having air conditioning may just be in our favor this weekend, too.   You do not have to be a member of MRC to shoot the match; it is open to all competitors, so bring a friend who has an itch for 300 meter competition. We will shoot four classes: 3 position, prone, F-class and offhand.  Match or full metal jacket bullets, only.  No hunting, expanding or plastic tip bullets. Match fee is $15 and includes all applicable taxes. See you at the range.

 Brian  

NRA State Championships --  Elk River-- Last Week

Looking Back a couple weeks to the State Champ Match at Elk River. 

    This years match was a combined Match Rifle and Service Rifle championship.  Nine shooters fired in the match rifle category. This was a much lower number than had shot that match in years passed and some discussion about this was had at the end of the day.  I personally, think that the good efforts of Service Rifle Team Capt. Kurt Borlaug, has just led to a renewed interest in Service Rifle shooting, and that was apparent in this match, where more competitors chose to shoot the army gun.  It also  didn't hurt the service rifle contingent that it was known  the US Marine Corp Reserve rifle team was going to be there to show us all some good shooting.  

  The match started on a beautiful June Minnesota day. The Range was in perfect condition for the shooters first relay on line at 0900hrs. The first match went to the Service Rifle folks with Evans of the Marine Corp, shooting a 191-2 offhand, beating the best of the Bolt gunners, Steve Erickson's and Kevin Bangen's scores of 190. 

In the Sitting Rapid fire match, it was the Air Force team shooter, Matt Griffin who shot a clean 200-9x with his service rifle and took that Trophy over two other shooters, Justin Skarret (USMC), and bolt gunner Kevin' Bangen -- both with 200--8xs.  Close but no cigar.  The 300 yd prone Rapid fire match was close but Army Nat Guard shooter,  Al Schneider, again shooting a Service Rifle to score a 199-8x was highest, followed by Jeremy Harrison's 197-9x, and Kevin Bangen's 197-8x.

So---the first three matches went to Service Rifle.  You got to love those AR-15s.  

The 600 yd prone match went, as you would expect, to the bolt gunners. Steve Erickson won the 600yd trophy, shooting a well deserved 198-12x in tricky winds. 2nd place went to Dale Wickstrom of Duluth--198-7x, followed by J. Johnson--198-5x.  The best Service Rifle shooter at the 600 was USMC's Justin Scarret 195-7x, -----just one X ahead of USAF's Matt Griffin 195-6x.

 The overall Winner and high Scorer of the day was Kevin Bangen with a 785-23x.  Congratulations to Kevin Bangen -- Minn State Champion. 2nd place goes to Steve Erickson  779-32, and Omer Hamer is Senior Champ again.

The top 4 Service Rifle scores all were shot by the USMC shooters, Justin Scarret 777-22,  Bell 771-16x, Schearwgen 774-26, and Evans 771-16, but were not residents nor eligible for State Championship honors so that title went to Minn resident Jerremy Harrison 765-19x .   The Serior trophy went to yours truly,  --maybe my last year of shooting service rifle, we'll see.

Congratulations to Jerremy Harrison -- 2010 Minn. State Service Rifle Champion.

So, all in all the State matches at Elk River Sport's mens Club were a great success.----great weather!, great Range to shoot on!, Great Barbeque on Sat night!, Great organization and conduct of the matches!  Great shooters!                                

Left to right standing: Matt Griffin,  Steve Erickson, Al Schneider, Dale Wickstrom, J. Evenson.  Bottom row:    Kevin Bangen (State Champ),  Omer Hamer, Jerremy Harrison (Service Rifle champ)

 Match pictures --  Click here

 

Wind Coaching

Two weeks ago, Capt. Bob Peasley was invited to participate in a long range training Session for the US Veterans Shooting Team. He was kind enough to send us this report. 

 From Capt Bob"   "June 25, 2010

You asked for a brief report on my coaching tryout with the Veteran's Palma team at Lodi last week. This was my first chance to coach the way they want it done so I'm not yet an expert by any means. With that in mind here is the way we did our training.

There were 6 targets with 5 shooters per target. One shooter went to the pit and pulled about ¾ of the shots each day. There was a coach on each target and each bank of 3 was all on one circuit with communication headsets so they could talk among them selves. In other words coaches on 6, 7 & 8 and 9, 10 & 11 could talk to each other via headset and to their shooter via normal commands. The shooters were not on the network. Each coach would have the shooter, as he came to the line, verify his sight settings or zeros for the line being fired. The shooters took turns acting as a coach's assistant or plotter marking down the zeros, the wind setting for each shot, the call and the actual location of each shot. The plotter sat more or less behind the center coach. 

   Read the Rest of this report  --    Click Here 

 Thanks for sharing that, Capt Bob.   
 

 Notes: 

Mid Range Prone matches July 24 & 25th--  Entries  NorthStar Rifle club

From Capt Bob: 

I failed to mention 1 more VERY important item regarding your entry.  We have only 9 targets for 300 & 500 yards. Thus we are now limited to 27 shooters. HOWEVER we have another 8 or 9 frames and can have them ready in time if needed.  To ensure than we have enough targets ready I'm asking you to reply with your intent to shoot.  If I don't get more than 27 names I won't make more targets.  If you show up without having let me know and we are full with 27 shooters there will not be time to make more targets and you are out of luck.  Same applies to F class. Please advise of your intent to shoot so I can have enough targets ready.

 Thank you!  Bob      MRP match program :   Click here   
  

Service Rifle Team Practice Scheduled for July 17-18

  Team Capt. Kurt Borlaug --

 "Friends, July 17 and 18 will be the practice dates for the Mn. Rifle Team at GRRC. If you can help out in the pits please let me know. We need at least 6 in the pits so we can run this under match conditions.
 You will pull targets for the team shooters in slow-fire standing, rapids at 200 and 300 and then slow-fire at 600. We will then practice an Infantry course of fire at 600, 500 and 300.
You will get a work day credit for this if you are a GRRC member.
 Later," Kurt       See Schedule -- Click here
 

Saturday July 10  -- NRA Regional Champ (Individual OTC) --  NWGC Duluth --  Program click here

Sunday   July 11  -- NRA Regional Champ (Team and Leg match) --  NWGC Duluth --  Program click here

Sunday   July 11  --  300 m match at MRC

Sat and Sun --July 10-11 The State Small Bore 3P and 4P Championships - Hibbing MN.    
  

 Two Weeks out

Sat and Sunday July 17-18    Pig roast Matches in Eau Claire    Match program Click here

Sat and Sunday July 17-18    Service Rifle Team practice at GRRC  See Schedule -- Click here 
Sunday               July 17         Service Rifle match- 100yds --  BESA    Program:  Click here

Sunday            July 18  --   Sm Bore 1600 prone at MRC   match program:  click here
 
Looking forward to seeing you all up at NWGC this weekend

Hawkeye

The Week Ahead -- Shooters News 7/2/10

On location from the Public Library  while computer is in intensive care at the Geek Squad.


The Week Ahead
Highpower: This weekend M1 Garand shooters can head to Eau Clair rifle club to shoot the M1 Garand match on July 4.
   See Program :  Click Here 


300 Meter
   July 11th ---  300 meter Prone and Position match at MRC. (This is the corrected date for this match)****
Small Bore
July 10th and 11th The State Small Bore 3P and 4P Championships will be held at Hibbing MN. To See Match program: Click here
Next 1600 Prone match will be July 18 at MRC


Small Bore Thoughts passed on From  Mike Marzitelle
"Gentlemen. Below is a proposal to expand the smallbore programming at MRC.
I propose that at 1:00 pm the third Saturday of each month at the smallbore range we host offhand and kneeling matches. They would be semi-formal in that they would run under ISU rules but would not be registered as such. The course of fire would be either 60 rounds offhand, 60 rounds Kneeling, or 40 rounds in both Offhand and Kneeling positions for a composite score of the sum of the two.
The courses of fire would be on the 50 meter smallbore rifle target A 50 with either 10 or 15 shots per bull.
The fee would be $10 per shooter.
The purpose of the program would be to develop on the smallbore range a parallel program to that which exists on the 300 meter range thereby providing an affordable training arena for that program as well as providing an economical training venue for those shooters in this area who would like to keep their positions skills alive by semi-formal matches. Juniors would also be welcome. The club should determine as to whether there should be a differential entrance fee for junior shooters. As it stands, the only additional cost to the club would be the targets which cost about $.20 apiece with no more than 3 targets being used per shooter. This would increase the usage of the range and provide an additional source of income to the club.  The fee, $10, once paid, would cover target fees for either rifle, pistol, or both.  Results would be posted in the MRRA site and possible the Minnesota Rifleman blog published by Jim Evenson.
These matches would be held monthly year around on the first Saturday of each month.
I would appreciate your consideration and feedback on this matter."    mmarzitelli@hotmail.com


The following weekend-- July 10 and 11th get ready for the NRA Regional Championship to be held at NWGC on Hunter Lake near Duluth.  Saturdays Match will be the 80 shot Individual OTC match and then on Sunday club team honors will be contested in a 50 shot 4 man Team match. 
This weekend of shooting is only a 2 drive north of St Paul.
   See Match Program: Click here 


Last Weekend:
Last Weekend's State Champ NRA matches Held at Elk River SportsMan's club were well attended with some 39 or 40 shooters participating in the two days of matches. I'll have a Rpt of these matches when my computer is up and running again.  One thing that I do want to mention now though is the top notch way these matches were run by the folks at ERSC.  They deserve a gold star for all the improvements made to this range over the last few years and should now realize that they have a premier facility.  There was good shooting, good socializing after the match Sat. at the superb barbecue. Great Weekend !
 For Results:   Click here           For Match pictures----- click here


Kevin Bangen, who won this State OTC Rifle Championship also this year won the State Indoor Pistol Championship.  That is quite an accomplishment.  Congratulations To Kevin !   I wonder if it has ever happened before that single person won both the Indoor Pistol Champ and the State Rifle Championship in the same year?   We'll be rooting for Kevin at the Nationals.


Notes:
Following the Palma and Long Range week of shooting at Lodi, my friend Doug Frerich, a rising competitor in the long range fraternity, stopped off to visit this week for a few days on route back to Phoenix. He had a lot of  good things to say about his first trip to the Mid West and shooting the matches at Lodi.
   I was able to take him up to GRRC for Tues. morning Sm Bore, (where he shot a 199-12 on the 100 yd target with a borrowed gun), and then thanks to Stacey Tamulinas, who hosted us at the MRC, Doug was able to try the Electronic Targets of their sophisticated 300 m range.  I can tell you that he was very impressed with our ranges and our shooting facilities.  After competing in and around the west coast for years, he said our ranges are like shooting over a golf course.  I guess we all should thank the folks who maintain our ranges in such good order.  We are blessed in this area.


From Capt. Bob on the July 24th and 25 Mid Range matches at NorthStar Rifle Club
"MRP shooters:
I failed to mention 1 more VERY important item regarding your entry. We have only 9 targets for 300 & 500 yards. Thus we are now limited to 27 shooters. HOWEVER we have another 8 or 9 frames and can have them ready in time if needed.
To ensure than we have enough targets ready I'm asking you to reply with your intent to shoot. If I don't get more than 27 names I won't make more targets. If you show up without having let me know and we are full with 27 shooters there will not be time to make more targets and you are out of luck.
Same applies to F class. Please advise of your intent to shoot so I can have enough targets ready.
Thank you! " Capt. Bob    dilligas@means.net,


Remember --- Sm bore Champ at Hibbing this weekend, and Eau Claire this July 4, then a Big weekend at NWGC next weekend  -July 10 and 11
Keep em in the middle
Hawkeye