Shooters News for the Minn Area - Sept 11, 2012

9/11 Another Day that will live in infamy - Lest we forget.              

Long Range wind -- M. Dietrich

The Week ahead  
  Fall has arrived and that means great weather for shooting rifle matches.  This weekend will prove no exception to that rule.  There are three good rifle matches to choose from, and the forecast is for mild temps and nice fall Sunshine.
  Now that everyone is rested up from the big Mid Range Regional at NWGC last weekend, it's time to dig out the Over the Course Rifle and head to Mpls Rifle Club this coming Sat and Sunday (Sept 15-16).  Just a few miles North of Mpls. in Anoka Cty, the Mpls Rifle Club is great place to shoot a low key fun OTC match. Shooting from covered firing lines at both the 200 and 300 yd lines makes for a comfortable day. This will be a great opportunity to practice up for that all important "Leg Match" at GRRC in two weeks - don't miss it!  New shooters always welcome.

                     Click Here for match bulletin and map info. 
   If you are not an OTC shooter, then you probably are a "Prone" shooter, and there is a great match for you on Sunday.  Chris Hazelton will be hosting a 160 shot Prone Sm Bore match at the Elk River SportsMen's Club on Sunday, Sept. 16th.  We don't get to shoot at this range but once a year and as I said last week -- nice grass firing lines under the shade of the large Oak trees makes this range a pleasant place to hone your prone skills.  160 shots prone with instant feedback will be great practice for the up coming Mid Range match at Eau Claire, and the Long Range matches later on at GRRC.  Hitting the 10 ring at 100 yds with a Sm bore rifle and trying to shoot a clean 200 is every bit as hard as doing it at 500 yds with a Highpower rifle.  This is the best practice for HP prone matches you will ever get - See you there?  
       Click Here for math bulletin and entry info

Last Weekend   

Steve Knutson -  Mid Range Champion

9/11 Mid Range Regional
The long anticipated fall trip up to NorthWestern Gun Club for the 9/11 Mid Range Prone matches came and went this past weekend.  This year, the weekends matches were also the Regional Championships for the areas Mid Range shooters, and that made it even better.  An early start (0515 hrs) from the WhiteBear Lake area got me up to the range, just East of the Cloquet River, on the shores of Hunter Lake by 0730, in plenty of time to socialize with shooters I don't get to see as often as I'd like to.  
  The turn out was great -- about 3 shooters short of a full line.  This match has become very popular in the last few years. I think due to the well trimmed, great condition this range is always in, thanks to Dale Wickstrom and the rest of the guys, and the beautiful setting. 
Saturday

Tough Conditions Sat at the 300 yd line - rain

   First shots down range from the 300 yd line at 0900 were in the first "Any' sight match.  I was on pit duty for the first two relays.  The first shooter on my target was Dave Salo, who started off the day with a 200-11x and then up was Mike Theis with a 199-13x. It was going to be a tough day -- lose a couple pts and you are out of it.  Back to the firing line, I went to the line with my 6BR tack driver, but wiggled one shot out into the 9 ring, so the 14 Xs didn't count for much.  Five shooters had fired 200s, with Steve Knutson setting the bar very high with his 17 Xs. Other 'clean' shooters were Dale Wickstrom, Brad Ylinieni, and Dick Van Valkenburg.  The 2nd 'Any' sight match was won with an awesome score of 200-17x by Mike Theis, but only on a tie breaker over Steve (Knute) Knutson, who also fired a 17x clean to stay in the lead for the day. Mike missed tieing a National Senior record by 1 X. So near, yet so far!  Your's truly held for a 3rd place 200-13x and this would be my best of the weekend. Erik Rhode also fired clean, as did Chad Danielson, who cut his teeth on Sm Bore prone shooting, and is in only his first year of HP prone competition.  
   The last two matches of the day were fired with "Iron" sights", and again it was Steve K., who won the first of them with and amazing Iron score of 200-16x. Phil Klanderude was finally settling in to his usual good form and fired the only other 200 score.  At this point, Steve K. had dropped no points -- That's right - 3 matches down, and 3 clean 200's posted on the board. Now it was starting to rain!  The pressure was on. the sky was dark. Few people have ever fired a perfect 800/800 in these matches.  Those last 20 shots must have been nerve wracking, but even though it was raining heavily and the visibility was poor, Steve used his Eliseo Tube gun to shoot between the rain drops and fire another incredible clean 200-13x score and ended the day with a perfect 800/800 including 63- X shots along the way !!!!  Is that a record of some kind???
   Four pts. back were Brian Mrnak, and Phil Klanderude with 796s taking 2nd and 3rd, but they must have been shaking their heads about how could they could they possibly beat a guy that drops no points. Well tomorrow is tomorrow, the sky was clearing, and it's 4 new matches from the 500 yd line to go before the champion is crowned.   
Sunday
   The day would be clear sky, but windy with gusts that would plague the inattentive shooter.  Again we would start with the Any sight matches as often there is a little fog at this range early in the day.  While the sky was clear and sunny, there was a heavy mirage running and this would cause elevation problems for many shooters. 
   Eric Hazelton, a Junior shooter who has been setting the Sm Bore world on fire, and is in his first full season of occasional HP prone shooting, used the first match of the day to to show all the regular HP shooters how much you can learn in SB prone matches, by firing the only clean 200, and taking the day's early lead.  Erick R. and Dick VV topped the Master class with 198s.   In the 2nd match, it was again Stave K, and Mike T. who fired the highest scores with 200-13x each, but this time it was Steve who took the win on tie breakers.  Phil K. holding close but 6 Xs back, and Chad Danielson again putting up the highest Master class score. In the 3rd match, it was Craig Bennis, who finally got a match win to cap off a great weekends performance, after losing just 5 pts. all day Saturday. Junior, Eric Hazelton takes a 2nd, and Leo Huhta gets the Ex class win with a 195-8x. In the last match of the day, Steve K. wrapped up the weekend's Grand Aggregate, and took another match win with his 200-10x score. Erik Rhode was 2nd with the only other 200 score and that was also a master class win. 

Mid Range winners - Steve K., Phil K., Brian M.

   Congratulations to Steve Knutson whose awesome score of 1595-110x over the two days shooting, earned him the Gold Medal and the Regional Championship.  Phil Klanderude's steady high scores earn him the Silver medal.  Brian Mrnak is the Bronze medal winner.            
            Mid Range Regional  (Sling class) complete results -- Click Here 

On the F-class side of the line, it was Adam Shidla, and Jon Clauson who stole the show. Adam S. won the first F-open match with 200-13x, and then Jon took the next 3 matches to tie Adam, each with 797 for the day, but Jon getting the most Xs and the day's win.  
   In the FTR class, John Andres wins the first match, but Edward Higgens takes the last 3 matches and scores one more pt than John A, for the day's FTR high score.
  Sunday 

Jon Clauson- FClass Gold

   The BIG story on Sunday in the F-open class is all about Jon Clauson, who did not drop a point in the four 20 shot matches. Jon's perfect (clean) 800-72x score is probably a National Record.  Jon fired an amazing 200-18x score in each one of the four 500 yd matches.  Think about this --- Jon only let 8 shots of 80, slip out of that microscopic f-class X-ring into the 10ring-- from 500 yds!!!   Jon wins the F-open championship with a 1597-135x while Adam Shidla is just back  4pts in 2nd place.  

F-Class MR Results (Click to expand)

  FTR class was won convincingly by Eward Higgins, his 1577-74x weekend score is 30 pts ahead of 2nd place.

300 m International   
   No results of last weeks matches forwarded 

Minnesota St. Offhand Championship  
 The Highpower Offhand St. Championship was held at Mpls. Rifle Club on Aug. 25th.  Shooters fired five 20 shot offhand matches from 200 yds on the SR target.  Dick Van Valkenberg shot a 190-5 to start things off with a win in the first match.  Kevin Bangen's 188 takes a 2nd.  Dick was just getting started with that win, and continued to improve in the next two matches, taking wins in both with 192 and 193 scores.  Brad Yliniemi had a rough start in the first match, but struggled back with a 189 and a 190 to move into 2nd place for the day.  Brad knew that it isn't over till it's over and fought hard in the last 2 matches of the day, winning both with scores of 191 and 193. Brad had the momentum at the end but could not overcome the deficit from that first match and ended up just 5 points back in 3rd place.   Dick Van Valkenberg had held on for a score of 947, and is the Minnesota State Offhand Champion.  Kevin Bangen finishes 3 pts back in 2nd place over all.    Click Here for complete results  
Congratulations to Dick Van Valkenberg -- St. Champ!  

Small Bore Prone Championship at Hibbing -  August 25-26    

10 Master Class Sm Bore Prone shooters showed up at Hibbing to fight it out for the SB prone championship.  In the end it was a great battle between Larry Sawyer and Emily Quniar. In 6 of the 8 contested matches, Larry was able to put just one or two pts more on the board than Emily and his 3188-216x earns him the Championship.  Congratulations to Larry Sawyer -- 2012 Minn. St. Sm bore Prone Champion. 
Eric Hazelton is High Junior with an excellent score of 3177-187x, and Junior Nick Learn just one pt back.  
Rumor has it that Eric is planning to enter the 4 days of the WildCat matches in Phoenix next March -- watch out expert class!!
    Click Here for complete Results

North Dakota Long Range St Championship
Local top Sm Bore Prone shooter, Morgan Dietrich, travelled to Bismark, No, Dak, last weekend to show the HP shooters there how much a little Sb prone practice will pump up your scores, and he did just that.  He won the Gold Medal -- Congratulations!!!
From Morgan Dietrich

"Jim:

 Ventured to Bismarck this last weekend to shoot the LR Regional.  Tough choice between there and Duluth, but I wanted to shoot my 284 to see if I had a  load that will work for next year.  

 Let’s just say the wind was more than breezy, but since Bismarck is an open range it is very fair to all on the line.  The picture of the flag is about 8:30 am on Sat, I ran between 7min up to 11 min of Windage.  Sunday the winds were the same, but in a completely opposite direction.  Tommy Thompson ran a great match, it really is a nice range.  If you haven’t shot at Bismarck yet, you should plan on making a trip out West.

 Looked back at my score from 2 years ago, and it was a 972-41, so I guess it always blows hard out there- or at least when I go.  Nice showing of new F-class shooters." 

 

 Results: Sling and F-class

Good shooting Morgan. I think I'd keep that .284 and tks for the match report. Is that Coby Dalgliesh in the photo? Haven't seen him in a long while.  

Notes: 

1. The Vintage Military match at MRC, scheduled for Sept 22 is cancelled.

Two Weeks Out

Sept 22  -- Beginner Service rifle Team match at GRRC -- Click Here for match bulletin
Sept 23  --  Service Rifle Leg Match At GRRC -- Click Here for match bulletin
Sept 29, 30  -- Mid Range and OTC at Eau Claire - Click Here for match bulletin
Oct. 6-7       --  Fullbore prone, and long Range at GRRC - Click Here for match program

That's all Folks
Hawkeye