It was a Full House at Mpls Rifle Club Sunday as 20 Sm bore shooters filled out the whole line for the first prone 1600 match of the season.
The prone season for the Sm Bore folks got started at Mpls. Rifle Club, this past Sunday with the first "outdoor conventional prone" 1600 match of their summer season.
The heightened interest in Sb Prone shooting has been evident now for some time as turnouts to these matches have been growing in numbers for the past couple of years. I expect this trend to continue as more and more Highpower shooters see the need to improve their prone shooting and will also see that Sm Bore competition is the best way to do that.
The Match
After days (substitute: weeks or months) of dreary gray skys, the sun was out and the temps were going to be in the 60's. It looked good for the match. I got over to MRC about 0800 and first off I saw that the worker folks had been busy upgrading the Sm Bore shooting house. A lot of work had been done, including finish work on the walls, Heating and duck work, and temporary weather doors for winter shooting had been made. Shooting tables to get the winter shooter off the cold floor, and make it easier to see over a couple ft of snow had also been constructed and were available for use.
Yes, it was a nice sunny day for a match, but the wind was coming up and it was going to be strong and gusty. The forecast was for 18 to 20 mph wind from the NW. The forecast proved correct.
The shooters put lots of clips on their targets and backers and settled in for the first match -- 50yds match. I thought I fired a reasonable score on the first target with a 194 in those unpredictable winds, but others did better and after two targets Jr. Scott Chester, and Moran Dietrich had both fired 396s for the match, only to get beat by Intermediate Jr. Patrick Sunderman with his 397-17x score.
The next match was the Dewar match, with one 50 yd target, followed by a 100 yd target. By the time we got to the 100 yd line, the wind was a definate factor and the one who figured it out the best was Junior Erick Hazelton coming off the line losing only 6 pts for a 394 and 16 Xs. I had my best match of the day taking a 2nd with at 393-15x squeaking past Jim Biles of Duluth, and again junior Scott Chester by only a couple Xs.
The 100 yd match featured excellent wind conditions for someone that liked strong gusty winds. By the end of the 2nd 100 yd target, there were more than a couple targets flapping or torn. One target frame broken in the worst gust. There were a few surprise shots as the wind worked it magic, and I proved that I could still shoot 8s when inattentive. Jim Biles, High master High Power shooter had the best read on the wind shifts, and the best hold, posting an excellent 393-16x in those tough conditions. Jim's score topped the field by 7 points, as the next best shooters in that match were Sub Junior Marksman Lori H., and Master - Steve Knutson, and Morgan Dietrich, - all with 386 scores. On the last 20 shot target of that windy 100yd match, Lori H. fired a 195 to Steve and Morgan's 193, 194. A great performance for a great young shooter. She didn't win the match, but she fought it out to the last shot.
The 50m match brought little respite in the wind, but the competition was still fierce. Jim Biles knew he was 2 points up on Morgan going into that last match, but two points in tough conditions is little comfort. 3 people tied for 2nd place in that match with well earned 392 scores and they were Morgan Dietrich, Jr. Alex Giesar, and once again Jr. Erick Hazelton. Jim Biles fired a 393-16x to win his 2nd match of the day and take title of overall Match Winner for the Day.
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Congratulations to Jim Biles - Match winner, 1569-62x
1st -- Morgan Dietrich 1566-68
2nd -- Chad Danielson 1543-43x
3rd -- Julie Huseby 1540-45x
Junior Match winner -- Erick Hazelton -- 1562-57x (3rd high overall)
1st Junior -- Patrick Sunderman 1556-50x
2nd Junior -- Alex Giesar 1548-62x
3rd Junior - Scott Chester 1546-51
2 comments:
Eric Hazelton was the junior MW with 1562-57x
Yes, He did. It was a great perfomance by Eric.
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