Shooters News for the Minn Area - Mar 21, 2013

"Western WildCat Match Rpt. and slide show below"

The Week Ahead 
It's your last chance this Saturday, Mar 23, to get in some good prone 50yd Small bore practice.  Mpls Rifle Club and will be shooting their last match of the winter Sm bore series. This match is shot from the toasty warm MRC shooting house and will be great practice for those upcoming Mid Range prone matches. 

Contact: steven.knutson@gmail.com    Click Here for match program

More Hero's

Two years ago I told you about one of my hero's - friend, shooter, gun smith-Derrick Martin (Accuracy Speaks), who donated one of his Kidneys to fellow shooter, Tom Albinito when Tom could find no prospects for any other donor after a 2 year wait.  This winter I find out that we have such a Hero right here amongst our own shooting friends in Minnesota - Mark Schoess.

From the GRRC Department of Great News:   (Dave Newell -Feb 9th, 2013)
 "Long-time member and Past President Mark Schoess is a hero. Tim Boyle, a former GRRC member, moved out-state was in serious kidney failure. Mark, upon learning of the seriousness of Tim’s health, made the decision to donate a kidney to Tim. Mark is now at home, dealing with a post-operative recovery complicated with pneumonia. I spoke with Mark and he is doing very well, and making plans to restart shooting as soon as possible. Currently he is accepting emails, cards, and short phone calls. To contact him: Mark Schoess, 7023 340th Street, Stacy MN 55079 (651-357-4281)"  markschoess@yahoo.com 

Left the Range
Veteran shooter, Bob Vangene, who had won dozens of State Championships over the years, and continued to shoot offhand practice every Monday, here in Phoenix AZ, has passed away last Friday. Bob's passing was announced at the SB WildCats Championships and we all knew that we had a lost a shooting Icon, and a good friend.  Bob had competed in the WildCat matches year after year, and I saw him win many matches and the coveted sweatshirts that go along with those WildCat wins.
     We are diminished  

 
From Capt. Bob
"Hello Minn. rifle shooters:
I just got the below from John Andres who is still in Az. For those who don't know, Bob Vangene was one of the founders and early members of MRRA and a hell of a small bore shooter. I think he finished his distinguished rifle in his early 70's with an M1. - Bob

From John Andres:  
Cap'N Bob - I don't know how quickly news gets around to you; but we just found out that Bob Vangene died here in the Valley on Thursday. Sounded like he was feeling ill on Wed - could hardly breathe on Thursday - took him by ambulance to hospital where he passed away. He was 89 and a half, and it was a respiratory problem. Just thought some back in MN would like to know. -John "    

 300 meter International
From George Minerich
"Hi All: Spring is coming and the High Power Season will be starting soon. Please find attached the match programs for the Robert Sandager 300 Meter Prone and 3 - Position MN State Championship matches. The matches are -- Prone April 6, 2013 and 3-Position April 7, 2013 at the Minneapolis Rifle Club. We allow the use of NRA legal shooting coats, slings and rifles for these matches. The prone match offers a lot of shooting to get you tuned up for up coming matches. The 3-Position match will really test you skills. I hope to see you at the matches!
 Regards, George "            
                       Click Here for 300m Prone Championship match program and entry
                       Click Here for 300m 3P Championship match program and entry 
 
F-Class shooting
From Scott Olson:
Hi Jim, I hope Arizona is treating you nice.snow and rain here this weekend,.....  

 Attached is the ERSC MRP/F-Class league flyer with all of the 600 yard nights being part of a NRA Approved league to help shooters ease on into match shooting and to help them get their classifications.  
 Thanks,  Scott Olson, President  ERSC,  MRRA F-class Chair

        Click Here for match Flyer --  Note! new shooters must attend April 8th orientation class.

Small Bore Shooting
On April 4th and 5th, 2013, the Minn Small Bore Indoor Gallery State Championship will be held at the Fergus Falls shooting club.  No match bulletin availiable

Western WildCats Matches
   From Rick Curtis:
"Dear friends and shooters,

 The 55th edition of the Western Wildcats 6400 Smallbore Championship is now in the books and I would like to take this opportunity to tell you a little bit about the match and some of the individual performances. Day one was a true test of the rifleman's patience as we were beset upon by a vicious fish-tailing wind that persisted all day. Steve Goff, the day one winner put together a 1595, which considering the wind, was a damn good score. Ron Wigger and Eric Uptagrafft were right behind him with a 1594 and 1593 respectively. More than half the High Masters scored below 1590 but little Allison Villa, a product of the excellent Los Angeles Rifle and Revolver Club, was not to be deterred as she fired a very good 1590 to top a talented field of Experts! As it turned out it was nothing but up from there for her.

Day two was the polar opposite wind wise as we saw only the mildest of breeze's throughout the day. This really nice condition stayed with us for the rest of the Championship as well. Of course with good conditions come great scores and accordingly a number of 1600's were fired. Surprisingly both Goff and Uptagrafft dropped a point but racked up some really great X counts between them; Goff 149 and Uptagrafft 141. Allison rose to the occasion and fired a respectable 1597 but the California kid story on the second day was none other than Matt Liao, another LAR&R junior, as he cranked out a noteworthy 1600-127X score to take the Expert class win.

As I said earlier the tame conditions persisted into Day three but there was just enough angle changes to the wind that everyone on the line ended up dropping a point or more. Uptagrafft took the overall day with a 1599-139 and Allison just kept getting better as her 1598 soundly thumped all comers in the Expert class. Matt came in with an ok 1593 but with a 1575 on day one he sure needed something much better to have a chance at the overall class win. Day four was a carbon copy of day two as six 1600's attested and guess what Matt backed up day two with another anysight 1600 to be one of only two 3200's fired in the match! Talk about an "ear to ear grin". Pending the NRA's blessing, Matt's 3200-258X score is a new Sub-Junior National Record. Allison nearly got a 1600 but her 1599 gave her a great 6384-491X, and beat out second Expert and fellow Californian Randy Teissedre by a wide 11 point margin and nearly 60 X's to boot

The Overall winner and our 2013 Western Wildcat Champion was Eric Uptagrafft by seven X's over Steve Goff, both having fire 6391's. Ron Zerr was third with an 6387 creedmooring Ohio's own Kevin Nevius. Full results, thanks to Jim Cobb's efforts on the website, can be viewed below.

Sling Results HERE

F Class Results HERE

Team Match Results HERE  

COMING EVENTS- Tomorrow March 20th, for those of you who haven't spent enough time on your elbows, there will be a smallbore practice at Ben Avery's Rifle 2 range. We have the range from 8:00am till noon so if you want to do a little testing come on out. Also tomorrow we have across the course practice on the Ben Avery high power range. Thursday March 21 we have the 600-1000 yard practice at Avery for those wanting to tune up for the 3X1000 at the end of the month. Target setup and check in for both days begins at 7:30am and if you don't normally get there in time to help out, go ahead and surprise everybody and show up early!

    Saturday March 23rd the smallbore action moves back to the Phoenix Rod and Gun Club for the Arizona State Smallbore Championship. This is a two day event and it's never too late to sign up. Match program can be viewed by clicking HERE.

See you on the line,

Rick Curtis"

       Click Here to see Rick's excellent slide show of the 2013 WildCat matches. 
Thanks Rick for your effort in bringing us this rpt , and pictures. 
Tough competition at the WildCats -- Oh, yeah! On day 2,  I got a 400-37x in the 50 yd match -- good only for a third place!
 

Plan Ahead - next month 

On April 20th, GRRC Will host the CMP Games for all you winter traumatized Service Rifle shooters.  Get ready to have some fun, as these CMP games matches are just that -- pure fun.  So dust of that M-1 or other service rifle and plan on being at this match.  Shooters will fire CMP course A, and that will be followed by a sniper team match where shooters can coach each other on wind and shot placement. .         Click Here for match program  

Note: I went to one of these matches last year and had a great time.  If you are a newer shooter, these CMP matches are the perfect matches to ease you into this sport.  They are aimed at fun and not serious competition. 
The Weekend of April 20-21 will offer a Wind Reading Clinic and a 4x20 600 yd prone Match for Highpower and F-Class shooters at the Elk River Sportsman's Club.
   From Scott Olson:
 "A Saturday morning wind reading/shooting clinic with instructors Steve Knutson and Rick

Hunt, both coaches for the US National F-Class Team.

After lunch, two 20-shot matches will be fired from the 600 yard line of the club’s KD

Range. These matches will be 2-shooter/team events with the intent of practicing your

wind reading skills by coaching your teammate.

This is a rare chance to learn from the best coaches in the country!

Sunday will be an NRA Approved 80-shot match (four 20-shot matches) at 600 yards."

    Click Here for match program
That's all Folks
Hawkeye