Shooters News for Mn area shooters - May 29, 2013

The Week Ahead

Atkinson -  Leubke Invitational OTC Matches - May 31-June 2
With the weather improving, and the forecast for partly sunny skys and mild temperatures over the next weekend, traveling shooters will be heading north to Northwestern Gun Club on the shores of beautiful Hunter Lake. The second of the two weekend  Over the Course Series continues with 3 great days of OTC matches just a little Northwest of Duluth, at Northwestern Gun Club's beautiful 500 yd rifle range.

Each day, Friday through Sunday May 31- June 2, the match will consist of an 80 shot National Match Course competition featuring matches from the Standing posititon, Sitting and Prone Rapid Fire, and a final 20 shot match shot from the 500 yd line.  Matches at Northwestern Gun Club always are followed by a little social get together to discuss the days shooting and to wash the dust out of one's throat with a soda pop or some such beverage.  Many shooters camp at the range where 3 indoor facilities are availible to roll out some bedding to stay stay warm and dry.  All in all, matches at Northwestern the best of the best.  Don't miss the chance to shoot OTC three days in a row and nail those positions down solid.         Click Here for match bulletin

Service Rifle Clinic - June 1
On June 1st,  Post 435 American Legion Gun Club is putting on their annual Service Rifle Clinic at their range just south of the cities near Elco, MN.  Mark Havlik is the match director and has written several articles on Service Rifle shooting  (Click Here) and I know that the beginner Service Rifle shooter will benefit from techniques learned at Mark's clinic.      Click Here  for match bulletin. Maybe Mark will send in some pictures or one of his great videos of this clinic? Mark?

Small Bore Prone matches - June 1-2
Prone specialists, and Small Bore competitors of all kinds will be heading to the Minneapolis Rifle Club for this weekends Regional Small Bore Outdoor Prone championships. These Championship matches to be held on June 1-2, at MRC's very nice 22 position  SB range, will feature top Highpower prone shooters competing head with Nationally competitive Small Bore specialists with all shooters firing 20 shots on 8 targets per day.  Targets are fired at distances of 50 yds, 50 meters, and 100 yds.  With decent weather forecast, I expect a full line of Junior and adult shooters trying their best to win one of those coveted Regional Medals.  I'll be there hoping to hold my own in the always tough Expert class. 

 





June 2 - Iowa Service Rifle 300 yd St. Champ. -
River City Gun Club in Mason City, Iowa will be hosing a Service Rifle Champ match.  This match is shot from the 200yd and 300 yd lines.     Click Here for match bulletin


Last Weekend

HighPower matches at NorthStar Rifle Club
From: NorthStar Highpower Chairman  Erik Rhode   
"Hi Jim
We defied the weather forecast and ended up with a couple of days of decent shooting
23 shooters made the trip to scenic Red Wing, MN for the first OTC match of the 2013 season that didn't get cancelled due to weather.  Weather was not ideal, but it still beat the heck two days at work.  Saturday proved to be especially challenging with a fast-switching fishtail gusting to 20mph.  Offhand proved difficult for all and there were many shots high and low due to strong gusts. The condition at 600 confounded all shooters except for one - Leo Huhta rose up from the Expert class to make all of the Masters and High Masters look silly with his 200-9x.  A great 600 yard score in any condition, and downright amazing in this one.  Nice Shooting, Leo - can't imagine that Expert card will last too much longer!  Sunday was a little better, - still had switchy winds, but much more manageable. The wind, mixed with 55º temps kept us all nice and cool, and occasional rain showers insured that we were well hydrated.  We had a few new shooters and it was a nice, even mix between the classes.  We even had a visiting dignitary from a far-away land - Kent Finlay made the drive up all of the way from Missouri.  At the end of the weekend, it was hard-holding Kevin Bangen who emerged with the match win.  Yours truly was 8 points off of Kevin's lead for 1st High Master honors.  Jim Soderstrom made 1st Master with two solid days of shooting.  Tough Guy Tommy Torborg locked up the Expert class with a couple of first-in class wins along the way.
      Thanks to all who came down, and we hope to see you all back in a month for the MN State Championship matches -   Service Rifle, Match Rifle and 4-person Team on June 29-30.  Leg Match on Sunday for the SR guys, and we will also hold a concurrent Director's match with the same course of fire for the guys shooting the fancy guns.                             Best Regards",    Erik Rhode         
RedWing results -Click to expand

Two Weeks out   
June 8, 9 -   Long Range (1000yd) Regional championships at GRRC.  Includes Iron sight and Any sight matches for individuals and a team match each day.   Click Here for Match program
June 15  -  CMP Service Rifle Games at GRRC.   Click Here for match program  (I'm going to this one)                June 15 -  3 P metric Small Bore matches at MRC  click here for match program  

That's All folks!

Hawkeye

Shooters News for the Minn Area - May 23

The Week Ahead   

Last weekend was all about Prone shooting, with the Highpower wind clinic and Mid Range match at Elk River Sportsmans Club, and the Prone Small bore matches at the same rifle club.

 This weekend is a big chance for the "Over The Course" shooters to finally get in a good weekend of Highpower position shooting.   NorthStar Rifle Club is hosting their first 2 day OTC weekend of the year.  Both Sat and Sun the fun starts at 0900 hrs with the 20 shot standing match from the 200 yd line. Shooters will also fire Rapid fire

strings from the Sitting and Prone position, and finish up each day with a 20 shot prone match to be shot from the 600 yd line. NorthStar Rifle Club is a few miles north of the Cannon river on Hwy 61 so it's a short trip to shoot a good match.  
           Click Here for Match Program 

Don't forget the big  3 day OTC Weekend in Duluth at Northwestern Gun Club is just around the corner and this weekend's matches at Redwing are just the ticket to get you practiced up before heading North.  


Two Weeks Out - Plan ahead
Sm Bore
June 1-2.
Prone shooters who have a Small Bore match rifle can participate in Two days of tough prone shooting at the MN Sm Bore Outdoor Prone Regional.  Competitors will shoot eight 20 shots targets for a total of 160 shots for record each day (plus lots of sighters). This Regional Match will be held at the Mpls. Rifle Club June 1-2. 
        Click Here for Match program

HIghpower
May 31 -June 2
Head North to Northwestern Gun Club on the shores of beautiful Hunters Lake.  This could be your best shooting weekend of the year.  3 days of OTC competition at top notch rifle range will see competitors fire 4 matches a day for a total of 240 shots for record over the 3 day weekend.  If you can't shoot all three days, come up for one or two days.  Click Here for Match bulletin  

June 2 - Southern Mn shooters will have the oppertunity to contest their service rifle skills at the Iowa State Service Rifle Champ (300yd) at River City Rifle and Pistol Club, just a few miles North of Mason City, Iowa. Steve Hays is the match director.  Click Here for match bulletin.   


Notes:
From: Capt. Bob   
 "Hello shooters   

You may recall my lens testing reports of fall 2012.  This spring I had 1 more thing I wanted to try.  As we know your zeros may change significantly when you change from one lens to another, even if they are of the same magnification.  My #1 240 NMC Mid Range Prone rifle had a 5” bloop tube which I decided to remove to reduce the sight radius.  The front aperture would not open far enough to get a good sight picture with that long radius.  Upon doing a quick bore sight it looked like the sights were pretty close to the zero with the bloop tube or perhaps a “little” to the right but probably on paper.  Well, I was right! It was a “little” right as seen in the picture.  As you can see an 87 gr. Hornady HPBT at 3200 FPS will penetrate 1/8” soft steel reasonably well!  As you can also see there have been other “penetration” tests on this target frame over the last 35 years.  Once again I have done the testing for you.  
PAY ATTENTION!!"  Bob

That's All folks
Hawkeye

Shooters News For the MN Area - May 15, 2013

The Week Ahead   
Prone Shooters, and 3P shooters both have good rifle matches to participate in this coming weekend.

Highpower prone shooters have the opportunity to attend a Wind Reading Clinic Saturday, May 18th at the Elk River Sportsmans Club.  Aimed at the Mid Range, and Long Range Competitive Shooter, this clinic will have some top coaches giving pointers on  guaging the wind when trying to hit a target in 600 yd Mid range matches and beyond. In the Afternoon shooters can tryout their new skills in a two man Team match - 20 shots per shooter at 600 yds.  Click Here for Match program

The Sunday, May 19, match at Elk River Sportsman's Club will be an 80 shot (4 x 20) prone and F-class, and will all be shot from the 600 yd line.  Remember,  this Range has a nice soft grass 600 yd line, with good light and honest wind to read. Come out and put a few shots down range, the mid-range season has begun.

Small Bore
 The Small Bore calendar is also full this weekend with matches both days -  again at the Elk River Sportsman's Club's nice 20 position outdoor Small Bore facility.  Saturdays competition will see shooters contesting a  3P Metric match.   Click Here for Match Bulletin.
Prone shooters will have their day on Sunday, May19, when the competition is all belly matches, and shooters will fire 4 matches of 40 shots, in a 50 yd match, and a Dewar match in the morning with Iron sights, and then in the afternoon, It will be Any sights for a 50 meter match, and the always tough - 100 yd match.  Since I don't have enough ammo loaded for the High Power match, I'll probably head for the Small bore prone match Sunday and shoot some of that Lapua OSP ammo I tested in their Mesa, Az test tunnel this winter.  Click Here for match Bullein.

300 Meter
From Brian Shiffman:

"Thanks to George (and Susan) Minerich for running the match for me as I was out of town for the weekend.

There were a couple of new shooters in the match, Sean Humphreys in F-TR class and Will Lakey in Prone class.  Unfortunately, Will’s score is not shown in the web results page since he did not record his last series.  If it comes in I will add him to the results page.

The results can be seen at http://edfpages.com/mgfc/results.php?match=5

The next match is June 9.  Registration will be open late in May; as soon as I have the date when registrations will be accepted I will pass them along in another email. "

Brian D. Shiffman    shiff004@umn.edu

That's all folks

Shooters News for the Minn Area -- May 2

This Weekend  

 Highpower: 
 GRRC Highpower Weekend - May 4-5
Saturday May 4th, GRRC will host the annual Bob Hall Memorial 80 shot OTC match. Shooters will fire 20 shots Offhand and two strings of Rapid fire at 200 yds, 20 shots prone rapid fire at 300 yds, and finish with 20 shots prone slow fire at 600 yds.

  Click Here for match program

Sunday, May 5th,  the action will feature a 50 shot CMP "Excellence in Competition"Leg match for Service Rifles.  These "Leg" matches are the most important matches in a service rifle shooters career.  They are the only matches where you can earn the all important leg points you need to qualify for the Distinguished  Rifleman's badge -- the most coveted award in service rifle shooting.  Click here for match program

Mid Range prone matches at  RedWing-- NorthStar Rifle Club - May 4-5

From Capt Bob:    (Click Here for match program) 

 "Greetings belly shooters:  

 We finally accomplished our work day at North Star and the range is in excellent shape for the 2 day MRP this weekend.  There is one exception, that being the camp ground is not yet useable after the great flood of 2012.  It has been graded and seeded but not yet useable.  If you wish to tent there will be room on the 100 yard line or in that area.  

 For your review I have attached the program.  Note that both days we are shooting the 300, 500 & 600 yard MRP course with iron sights. Saturday is 20 shots each line & Sunday is 15 each line. Since this course is an aggregate you must shoot the same rifle at each yardline. After the MRP course each day there will be a 20 & 15 shot any sight match and you can shoot a different rifle in that match. You can shoot a 3rd rifle in the 45 shot agg. Sunday & a 4th rifle in the 15 shot any sight match Sunday.    

 Work is not yet complete on restoring targets 19 & 20 so we are limited to 18 targets with 9 for F class & 9 for sling shooters.  We are planning on having all 20 targets in operation by the end of June weather permitting. That can be adjusted either way if we have more of 1 than the other.  And contacting me ahead with your intentions would help solve any issues like that.  

 If you plan  to shoot please take a second & drop me a quick reply with name & F class or sling.  That will save some time come Sat. morning.  

 Unless it looks like a total rain out I'll be dragging the camper down early Fri. afternoon and may not have cell coverage on the range.  

 Bob"

Two Weeks Out
May 11th --CMP military rifle match at GRRC - click here for match program

May 12th - 300 meter International
From Brian Shiffman:

The May Minneapolis Rifle Club 300 meter match will be held on Sunday, May 12^th with two relays scheduled; the first goes off at 10 AM and the second at noon.  

Register yourself at http://edfpages.com/mgfc/match.php.  Read the instructions.  Fill in the boxes and make selections from the drop down lists.  There is room for only 14 shooters per relay.  The box at the top of the list shows the number of shooters for each relay.  

No expanding or fragmenting bullets.  Only match or full metal jacket bullets; no muzzle brakes but flash hiders are OK.  A-Max bullets are NOT allowed. They are fine for paper but have a jacket that will fragment and shred our targets when it hits.  

Pick your shooting class: 3-Position, Prone (sling and iron sights), Offhand (iron sights), F-Open or F-TR.  If you use optical sights then you are in one of the two F classes, depending upon caliber and type of support used.  You can shoot F-TR class with a service rifle with a scope and a sling if you choose.  Shooting is governed by ISSF rules except we allow NRA shooting jackets.  As a club match, we have some liberty.   

Fee is $20 for the 60 shot match; Electronic targets, so, NO PIT DUTY and the match runs quickly, 3 strings of 20 rounds in succession.  Once the command is given to start the match, each shooter is on their own to finish within the 1:35 minutes.

If you need to cancel - you have to contact me so that I can use the magic pixie dust to delete your entry and make it available for someone else.

If you make an error on your entry, contact me so I can correct it.

Brian D. Shiffman  shiff004@umn.edu

Notes:
Extra! Extra!
Rare color footage of LA Sheriff's Pistol Demo team -- 1936 Click Here
There is good stuff in this video all the way to the end when they do reloading. 

Enjoy!

That's All Folks!
Hawkeye