As we speak, all the serious heavy hitters-- The Long Range Shooters-- are gathering at Lodi, Wisc. in the south central part of that beautiful state, to shoot the MidWest Palma Championship matches. This Championship series (June 20-24th) grows year after year and is now the most well attended match in the upper Midwest. These well run matches and the great facility draw aspiring international Palma shooters from all over the western US. I'm sure the usual contingent of our own local Nationally ranked Long range shooters will be competing. Good luck Guys and Gals. Some may stay on at Lodi for the Wisc. LR St. Champ matches that follow on June 25-26.
Next weekend we have a dilemma. There are two Highpower matches scheduled on top of each other for both Sat. and Sunday and are are only 10 mi apart. This is not the best example of well thought out scheduling. I know that one of the matches has been on the schedule for a long time and that each club deserves one or more uncontested match dates over the summer.
These matches can be important fund raisers for the host club and losing possible participants to competing clubs can be aggravating.
Those who want to shoot Over the Course matches next weekend can head to Mpls Rifle Club both days June 25 and 26th. Saturday there will be a 100 shot OTC match including a 2nd 20 shot prone slow fire match. Saturdays match will be followed by a BBQ cookout provided by the club, so bring your appetites along with enough ammo to shoot that extra match. Sunday's match will be a std. National match course 80 shot OTC. Prone slow fire will be fired each day from 300 yds on reduced targets (MR-63)
Click Here for a Match Bulletin I think that I'll come one day and shoot the service rifle. That will be fun! I haven't shot OTC at MRC since BC.
Prone shooters who are not still in Wisc. shooting long range, can find a couple of Mid Range prone matches to contest their skills in next weekend at the Elk River Sportsman's Club. On June 25th and 26th ERSC will be hosting both a team and individual events to be shot at 600 yds each day. Saturday will be the 2 man team match (pickup teams allowed) and each team shooter will fire 4 twenty shot matches with Any Rifle, Any Sights. Sundays matches will be individual and also be 80 shots Any Rifle, Any Sights. There are classes for both the sling and the F-class shooter and remember its scopes all day both days if you want.
Click Here for Match bulletin
Last Weekend
Friday
I was ready for a good weekend and a couple good matches. It was the weekend of the Hunter's Lake 2400 -- 3 days of OTC matches up by Cloquet at the Northwestern Gun Club. I've managed to shoot part of this match every year for a long time now and I had planned to shoot Friday and Saturday this year. However, all my good spots to find a motel room were, full up for Gramdma's marathon and I would just be going up for the day on Friday. Sunday, I was planning to shoot the Prone 1600 at MRC.
After a couple of cups of coffee and a nice 2hr ride Sat morning I got to NWGC in plenty of time to find a few donuts left in the 200yd house when I signed in. I got 3rd relay so off to the pits to start with a little target pulling. That's fine, Its a good way to warm up when it's 56 deg in Duluth on a nice summer morning. I was hoping to get a reasonable score today as I had a personal low when I was there a few weeks ago.
The wind was up a bit when my Offhand match came but enough lulls gave good conditions for shooting. My no practicing regimen resulted in a couple bad shots and too many 8s and I was out of the High Master scores for the day after just the standing match. Oh well. Kevin Bangen shot a decent 190 and took a 5 pt lead on J. Pennington with the rest wishing they had practiced a little more also. The Sitting Rapid Fire match saw both Omer Hamer and Kevin B. fire 199-7x and J. Pennington staying competitive with a 198 score, and Erick Rhode working his new match rifle well for a 197.
After equipment problems in that 200 yd rapid fire match, Larry Miller came right back with a 197-6 in the 300 yd match to challenge Kevin but that wasn't good enough what with Kevin firing another 199 score and taking a commanding lead for the days completed matches. Dale Wickstrom had fired 196s in both rapid fire matches and his best was yet to come, but lost points in offhand may be too much to overcome.
The 500 yd match is part of the aggregate, but it is a separate match. Everyone wants to win the 500 yd match no matter if they did have a bad Offhand match, or a bad sitting match. Both Erick Rhode and Larry Miller fired clean 200 scores in this days end match, however Larry wins this match by shooting 9 Xs to Erick's 6Xs. I get my best score for the day in this match along with a string of 7Xs and a low master score of 751 for the day, so there is hope yet that I might back into the 770s some day.
Kevin Bangen is the winner of the day with a great 785-30 score.
Erick Rhode - 2nd Place 771-20x
J. Pennington - 3rd place 767-15x
Other notable scores-------Brett Kratt, fired a 746 almost a Master score and way higher than his MK classification. Way to go Brett!
You can see why Brett is firing such good scores as his Sitting Rapid Fire score -- Click Here and Turn up the volume!!!
It continues-- My old friend friend Larry Weidell did indeed beat me today by 5 pts. His 756 score isn't much to brag about, but it was 5 pts better than mine.
Hunter Lake 2400 Results: -- Click Here
Slide Show of a few pictures from the Hunter Lane 2400 - Click Here
Sunday June 19
Today's match choice would be the "Conventional Outdoor Prone Small bore 1600". It's to be eight 20 shot matches from the prone position with targets at 50 yds (3), 100 yds (3), and 50m (2). It was a smaller turnout, probably due to the Fathers Day conflict and due to some of our Juniors being off to Ft Benning to shoot Olympic tryouts. On the good side, my old friend, Erhard Bruderer from our Swiss Rifle Team days, showed up to join the fun.
We start with the 50 yd Match first thing. This is the easiest target and your best chance to shoot a 200 on a target or even a 400 for the match. I was trying a rubber eye cup on the rear sight to prevent scratching another pair of shooting glasses as I shoot almost touching the rear sight. While fiddling with that thing I shoot a 197 and a relatively poor 192 for a 389 in what should be the easiest match of the day turns out to be the worst (last place). Jim Biles and Luke Taschuk take the lead with a 398s and most of the rest just a couple pts down. A fishtailing breeze comes up for the Dewar match and cost everyone a few pts. --- Erhard Bruder, Junior Eric Hazelton, and Luke Taschuk do the best, recording 395 scores.
100 yd match- We are shooting a one day regional match course of fire so for the last two matches of the day, shooters can switch to "any" sights for the last two matches. This meant that with the wind dying off the scope shooters could just start concentrating on hold and trigger control. If they got the shot off on the correct side of the X ring it would be in there for at least a 10. Jim Biles, with long years of practicing the basics, shoots only one nine at the start of the match and then goes clean for a 199-25x. Again, junior Eric Hazelton takes 2nd place with a 198 and one X more that Erhard. I think that all that 300m shooting has been good practice for Erhard.
At this point, Erick H. is tied with Jim Biles, both down only 11pts.
The last match of the day would be the tough 50m targets with 10 rings smaller than the 50 yd target and few yards farther back. The wind was lazy. My position was really comfortable and I started with 5x on the first bull. Well that's nice. The whole target went well and I got the only 200. I don't clean the 50m target often so I Knew that I would have to carefull on the next target, but maybe a 400 on this calm day was possible. It was-- with even more Xs so I was happy finally to win a match with a 400-26. If only I could see that good with Iron sights (!). Jim Biles's 397 score beats Erhard's 393 in this match for 2nd and 3rd place. Erick Hazelton loses too many pts on this hard target and his chance to win the match slips away.
At the end of the day the Winner is
1st -- Jim Biles 1586-85x
2nd -- Junior Eric Hazelton 11578-78
3rd -- Erhard Bruderer 1578-77x
4th Junior Luke taschuk 1577-76x
Slide Show - a few pictures from this match - Click Here
Next weekend we have a dilemma. There are two Highpower matches scheduled on top of each other for both Sat. and Sunday and are are only 10 mi apart. This is not the best example of well thought out scheduling. I know that one of the matches has been on the schedule for a long time and that each club deserves one or more uncontested match dates over the summer.
These matches can be important fund raisers for the host club and losing possible participants to competing clubs can be aggravating.
Those who want to shoot Over the Course matches next weekend can head to Mpls Rifle Club both days June 25 and 26th. Saturday there will be a 100 shot OTC match including a 2nd 20 shot prone slow fire match. Saturdays match will be followed by a BBQ cookout provided by the club, so bring your appetites along with enough ammo to shoot that extra match. Sunday's match will be a std. National match course 80 shot OTC. Prone slow fire will be fired each day from 300 yds on reduced targets (MR-63)
Click Here for a Match Bulletin I think that I'll come one day and shoot the service rifle. That will be fun! I haven't shot OTC at MRC since BC.
Prone shooters who are not still in Wisc. shooting long range, can find a couple of Mid Range prone matches to contest their skills in next weekend at the Elk River Sportsman's Club. On June 25th and 26th ERSC will be hosting both a team and individual events to be shot at 600 yds each day. Saturday will be the 2 man team match (pickup teams allowed) and each team shooter will fire 4 twenty shot matches with Any Rifle, Any Sights. Sundays matches will be individual and also be 80 shots Any Rifle, Any Sights. There are classes for both the sling and the F-class shooter and remember its scopes all day both days if you want.
Click Here for Match bulletinLast Weekend
Friday
I was ready for a good weekend and a couple good matches. It was the weekend of the Hunter's Lake 2400 -- 3 days of OTC matches up by Cloquet at the Northwestern Gun Club. I've managed to shoot part of this match every year for a long time now and I had planned to shoot Friday and Saturday this year. However, all my good spots to find a motel room were, full up for Gramdma's marathon and I would just be going up for the day on Friday. Sunday, I was planning to shoot the Prone 1600 at MRC.
After a couple of cups of coffee and a nice 2hr ride Sat morning I got to NWGC in plenty of time to find a few donuts left in the 200yd house when I signed in. I got 3rd relay so off to the pits to start with a little target pulling. That's fine, Its a good way to warm up when it's 56 deg in Duluth on a nice summer morning. I was hoping to get a reasonable score today as I had a personal low when I was there a few weeks ago.
After equipment problems in that 200 yd rapid fire match, Larry Miller came right back with a 197-6 in the 300 yd match to challenge Kevin but that wasn't good enough what with Kevin firing another 199 score and taking a commanding lead for the days completed matches. Dale Wickstrom had fired 196s in both rapid fire matches and his best was yet to come, but lost points in offhand may be too much to overcome.
Kevin Bangen is the winner of the day with a great 785-30 score.
Erick Rhode - 2nd Place 771-20x
J. Pennington - 3rd place 767-15x
Other notable scores-------Brett Kratt, fired a 746 almost a Master score and way higher than his MK classification. Way to go Brett!
You can see why Brett is firing such good scores as his Sitting Rapid Fire score -- Click Here and Turn up the volume!!!
It continues-- My old friend friend Larry Weidell did indeed beat me today by 5 pts. His 756 score isn't much to brag about, but it was 5 pts better than mine.
Hunter Lake 2400 Results: -- Click Here
Slide Show of a few pictures from the Hunter Lane 2400 - Click Here
Today's match choice would be the "Conventional Outdoor Prone Small bore 1600". It's to be eight 20 shot matches from the prone position with targets at 50 yds (3), 100 yds (3), and 50m (2). It was a smaller turnout, probably due to the Fathers Day conflict and due to some of our Juniors being off to Ft Benning to shoot Olympic tryouts. On the good side, my old friend, Erhard Bruderer from our Swiss Rifle Team days, showed up to join the fun.
We start with the 50 yd Match first thing. This is the easiest target and your best chance to shoot a 200 on a target or even a 400 for the match. I was trying a rubber eye cup on the rear sight to prevent scratching another pair of shooting glasses as I shoot almost touching the rear sight. While fiddling with that thing I shoot a 197 and a relatively poor 192 for a 389 in what should be the easiest match of the day turns out to be the worst (last place). Jim Biles and Luke Taschuk take the lead with a 398s and most of the rest just a couple pts down. A fishtailing breeze comes up for the Dewar match and cost everyone a few pts. --- Erhard Bruder, Junior Eric Hazelton, and Luke Taschuk do the best, recording 395 scores.
100 yd match- We are shooting a one day regional match course of fire so for the last two matches of the day, shooters can switch to "any" sights for the last two matches. This meant that with the wind dying off the scope shooters could just start concentrating on hold and trigger control. If they got the shot off on the correct side of the X ring it would be in there for at least a 10. Jim Biles, with long years of practicing the basics, shoots only one nine at the start of the match and then goes clean for a 199-25x. Again, junior Eric Hazelton takes 2nd place with a 198 and one X more that Erhard. I think that all that 300m shooting has been good practice for Erhard.
At this point, Erick H. is tied with Jim Biles, both down only 11pts.
At the end of the day the Winner is
2nd -- Junior Eric Hazelton 11578-78
3rd -- Erhard Bruderer 1578-77x
4th Junior Luke taschuk 1577-76x
Slide Show - a few pictures from this match - Click Here
Notes:
Small Bore:
From: Jason Jarvis: Shooting in Minnesota this summer: Confirmed!
Jim,
Small Bore:
From: Jason Jarvis: Shooting in Minnesota this summer: Confirmed!
Jim,
I've faxed my paperwork off to the ATF so I can bring my rifle across the border and shoot the Metric Prone match (small bore) in Minneapolis in early August (6th and 7th at MRC) -- finally! But I've never shot a match at 100 yards before. Do you have any friendly advice? I'll probably stick to iron sights both days and I need to focus on completing a relay in under 20 minutes (I usually take 25 minutes for ISSF matches) but other than that I'm not too worried. This is more of a fun match than a "do or die" thing for me, but I'd rather not embarrass myself too badly. . . .
Jason Jarvis Fort Frances, Ontario http://proneinthewilderness.blogspot.com/
From Me: Jason, Every match I go to the best I hope to do is not embarrass my self. Sometimes I'm successful! We are all looking forward to having you come to our match so we can share some shooting experiences. You ask if we have any advice for you-- of course we have advice for you. We're Minnesotans and we have lots of advice for everyone about most anything. Advice about 100 yd Sb shooting --- just come up about 7 moa, watch the wind and go for it.
From Me: Jason, Every match I go to the best I hope to do is not embarrass my self. Sometimes I'm successful! We are all looking forward to having you come to our match so we can share some shooting experiences. You ask if we have any advice for you-- of course we have advice for you. We're Minnesotans and we have lots of advice for everyone about most anything. Advice about 100 yd Sb shooting --- just come up about 7 moa, watch the wind and go for it.
Two Weeks Out
July 2 - Mid Range prone at NorthStar - Program Click Here
July 3 - Possible Service rifle team practice - Northstar
July 2-3 - Sm Bore 3P champ at MRC - Program Click Here
July 4th - Garand and M1A matches at Eau Claire - Program click here
We'll see you all out at the range
That's All Folks
Hawkeye
July 2 - Mid Range prone at NorthStar - Program Click Here
July 3 - Possible Service rifle team practice - Northstar
July 2-3 - Sm Bore 3P champ at MRC - Program Click Here
July 4th - Garand and M1A matches at Eau Claire - Program click here
We'll see you all out at the range
That's All Folks
Hawkeye
2 comments:
MoA? I'll have to Google that -- not much call for coming up when you only ever shoot at 50 metres. ;)
Jason
I should have said "min. of angle
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