Shooters News for the Minn Area -- June 24 2013

The Week Ahead for Minn Area shooters

EXTRA ! EXTRA!  --  On the Firing line Reports from the  Mid West Palma Champs  

Highpower
     The NRA and the Service Rifle State Championship is on tap this weekend.  Match Rifle and Service rifle shooters will be gathering Saturday morning June 29 at the NorthStar Rifle Club to compete in an 80 shot Over The Course match to see who will be the State Champ OTC rifle shooter.  Saturday mornings match is for the Individual championship, and will be followed in the afternoon by the Prone Slowfire stage of the State Team championship.   Sunday morning, June 30, the action will start at 0900 hrs with the last of the Team match at the 200 and 300 yd line (it's really practice for the Leg Match), and then around 1100hrs, the most important match of the weekend --  the Leg Match will begin.  Shooters will be competing in the Leg Match to try and win some "Leg Points" towards their quest of a "Distinguished Rifleman's Badge" -- one of the most coveted awards in shooting sports.
  Most of us started our shooting careers in service rifle shooting and still have a service rifle somewhere back in the closet.  This would be a good time to get it out and have some fun at the 50 shot Leg Match on Sunday.  Who knows, you might have a good day,-- win a medal or earn some points!
    NRA and Service Rifle Championship matches   --   Click Here for Match program

From: Erik Rhode  Highpower Chair, North Star Rifle Club   
 Shooters,

North Star Rifle Club will be hosting the 2013 Highpower and Service Rifle Championship matches this weekend, 6/29-6/30/13.  80-shot individual championship match will begin at 9:00 am on Saturday, followed by the 600-yard stage of the team championship.  Team Championship match will finish on Sunday morning with the 200 and 300 yard stages of the match.  The all important EIC Leg Match will be fired afterwards with a concurrent Match Director's Match at the same time.  This means that match rifle shooters CAN STAY TO SHOOT THE LEG MATCH!!!   MR shooters will shoot the same course of fire(50 shots with NO sighters), but will not have to start the rapid fire stages from the standing position.  MR shooters will be squadded separately from the SR shooters to the greatest extent possible and will not count towards Leg #'s or standing.  We are hoping for a good turnout and would love for all Match Rifle shooters to stay for the Team match and also the Match Director's Match, so please do.

As always, there will be trophies awarded to the winner of the State Championship match, as well as to winners of each individual match.  The long-lost State Team Championship Trophy has also been recently found after being lost for 77 years and will be awarded for the first team since 1936.  It will look very nice in the winning team's clubhouse.  The State Service Rifle trophy has also been missing for the last several years, but has been found and will be awarded to the top gun in the SR division.  Everyone shooting the Leg Match already knows what you win for that.  We will also have a few prizes to give out that were generously donated by, Sierra, Lapua, and Creedmoor Sports.

  As this is a State Championship match, membership in the Minnesota Rifle and Revolver Association(or your home state's association, if you are not a MN resident) is required to participate.  Membership applications will be available at the registration table on Saturday morning.  Annual membership dues are $15. 
Thanks and hope to see you all there!"
Erik Rhode

Small Bore
It's time for the 3P and 4P Outdoor State Championships.  Head to Mpls. Rifle Club on Saturday, June 29 for the 3 Position 1200 Metric championship,.  Those tough metric targets will test your skill to the max. Who ever wins Saturdays matches will indeed be the best in the state.  On Sunday, June 30,  the pressure is off just a little.  The Targets are the easier NRA targets and the match is a 4 position match witch may suit your style a little better.  Either way there are two good days of Position shooting for Sm Bore at MRC this weekend.  Go have some fun!
             Click Here for Match Bulletin and entry inf0

From George Minerich:

Hi Shooters:The Minnesota Small Bore 3-P and 4-P State Championships will take place this weekend – June 29 & 30 at the Elk River Sportsman’s Club.  The weather forecast looks like it will be a nice weekend for shooting.  Please come and try your hand at 2 days of great competition.  The match programs are attached for you.  The entire out door schedule and maps to the Elk River Range can be found at: mrra.org.- Just click on the Smallbore radio button.  
Regards, 
  George Minerich,   Pres.  MN rifle and Revolver Assoc. 

 Last Weekend.
MRC 100 shot OTC matches last weekend --- No match report forwarded to me.

Mid West Palma Championships
 "On the Fireing Line Reports" -- Mid West Palma Championships,  Lodi, Wisc

From Capt.Bob: 

Jim Soderstrom lining one up

"I'm home from the Eastern Shore of beautiful Lake Wisconsin and the Mid West Palma Championship fired at Winnequah Gun Club.  I have not yet seen final results but here is a brief report from memory. 
   There were about 100 total shooters broken down into about 72 sling shooters and 28 F class shooters.  I'm not familiar with the F class guys but can report that Jim Murphy pretty much dominated that part. 
The event started off Monday the 17th with a 4 person Palma team match (sling & F class).  Minnesota was represented by seniors Jim Soderstrom, Bill Lair, Bob Peasley & grand senior Elliot Zunich.   All 4 shot high master scores in the 438-440 range and our score was 6th out of 10 or 11 teams. 
   Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday we fired a full individual Palma course each day.  And the weather was superb all 4 days with fairly readable cross winds and temperatures in the mid to high 70 range. 
The 3 day Palma agg was won by who else but Brian Litz.  He also won the day 3 Palma match with a 447X28 followed by me with a 447X19.  This was my personal best Palma score and my personal best 1000 yd. stage with a 149X5. 
Despite the bluebird conditions, surprisingly to me, there were no 450's shot and only 1 clean at 1000 yd. by former Minnesotan Stacey Tamulinas. 
Friday was scheduled to shoot 3 20 shot matches at 1000 yd.  It started raining about 730 and quit about noon.  So we shot one 20 shot match and retired to the club house for a dandy Pork Chop BBQ & reward ceremony.
   During the week they also fired a 15 shot match at 1200 yd and the next 2 days fired 2 man teams at 900 & 1000 yd.  I did not participate in those and have no report.   
That's all for now but when I get the final results I'll pass that along if you want to use it on the blog.  Bob

Photos by Brian Mrnak

from Brian Mrnak:  
"Jim,  

Gathering of the Faithful at Lodi

     The 14^th annual Midwest Palma championships were last week at the Winnequah gun club in Lodi Wi.  The shoot was almost a sellout with 28 targets running 4 relays deep with 1/3 being F-class.  A good majority of the best shooters in the country gather there each year for the 5 day championships.  Monday was the 4 man team Palma match where the coaches had their work cut out for them with an in your face fishtail wind that would run 2 MOA on either side of center for short periods of time.   A team of heavy hitters out of North Carolina took the honors with a 1774-70x the shooters were John Friuglietti JR, K. Blair Clowdis, Norm Crawford, and J. P. Young coached  by Peter Laberge,  an honorable mention goes out to the best Midwest team which took second shooting a 1767-77x were the shooters of Stacy Tamulinas, Wayne Anderson, Morgen Dietrich, and Randy Gregory, they were coached by Steve Knutson,

                Day 2 starts all the individual matches with a Palma match shot on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.  The conditions were less than favorable with a 10-15 mph ¾ value wind with complete let offs and sometimes a reversal and challenging light conditions.  In the end a 446-17x was the top score shot by Brian Mrnak with Shirley McGee 445-21, Bob Stekettee 445-20 and “Bud” Solis 445-20  bringing up a close second.

                Day 3  We saw relatively easy conditions with light winds and the scores improved quite well with another Midwesterner Jeremy Graves Taking top honors by out x-ing Ricky Hunt of IA with a  448-26x, the other good scores that day were Bryan Litz MI 447-26x and Norm Crawford NC with a 447-24x. The aggregate after day 3 saw Bryan Litz, and “Bud” Solis 891-48 tied for 1^st with Robert Stekettee MI 891-47x in a close second.

Jim Stekettee guageing the Wind

                Day 4 was a carbon copy of day 3 with excellent conditions for top scores.  At the days end Bryan Litz 447-28x was the top dog, but another local boy Capt. Bob Peasley 447-19x stood tall next to Bryan for second place honors with “Bud” Solis taking 3^rd with a 445-24x.  After 3 days of Palma only 3 points separated  3 of the best shooters in the country with Bryan Litz 1338-76x, “Bud” Solis 1336-72x and Bob Stekettee 1335-65  taking the top 3 spots in the Palma aggregate.

                Day 5 was a rain shortened match day with only time to shoot the first match of the day which is a 20 Shot Palma rifle any sight match shot @ 1k yds.  Through tough Conditions Mark Trew TX 199-11x took the match with and Randy Gregory WI 198-12 a close second with MN own Stacy Tamulinas 198-4x taking third.  Though not on the leaderboard Friday Bryan Litz took the top honors in the aggregate with a 1535-82x rounding out one of the closest contested Midwest Palma Championships I have attended the last 6 years.  If anyone wants to put their talents up against the best shooters in the country without traveling to Camp Perry Lodi Wi is the place to do it.   This week long match is held the week following father’s day each year.

Targets 1200 yds away

    WI state long range Championships were held last weekend in Lodi immediately following the Midwest Palma Championships.  Richard Burbach took the honors on day one (Saturday) with a 449-23x  followed closely by Brian Mrnak with a  448-20x,  Sunday would Bring good conditions for high scores with Waylon Burbach,  Day ones leader Richards 17 yr. old son 400-27x in two 20 shot long range matches taking the top honor for day two.  In the end it was Waylon’s 847-55x out lasting Brian Mrnak 846-45x to take the top honors in the state and the total Match Win for the weekend.  This is one of the most contested state championships in the country with over 80 shooters in attendance.  I can tell you this the State of Wisconsin is not only known around the country for great beer but also some of the top shooters in the country.  I hope to see everyone at the Minnesota state long range championships in July."
The

Brian Mrnak

Thanks Guys for those reports.  I know the folks who can't get to these matches really appreciate reading about what happened. 

Two Weeks Out
July 4th       M1A and Garand match at Eau Claire
                      Click here for M1 Garand match program
                      Click Here for M1A match program
July 6-7       NRA Regional Championship weekend at Northwestern Gun Club
                   Individual matches, Team match, and EIC Leg Match

                       Click Here for match bulletin
July 13-14   Long Range State Champ at GRRC    Click Here for match bulletin

That's All Folks!
Hawkeye

Shooters News for the MN Area - June 17. 2013

Extra ! Extra!   --   Look below for Larry Sawyer's excellent article on the  2013  USA Shooting National Rifle Championships

The Week Ahead

      Long Range shooters are off to Lodi, Wisc.  for the Midwest Palma Championships.  It will be a whole week of firing matches at distances from  800yds to 1000yd to see who's the best in the Mid West at long range rifle shooting.  Good luck to those from Minn heading out to challenge for the championship. 

   June 22-23    Over the Course shooters have two excellent matches to participate in this coming weekend.  Mpls. Rifle Club is place you can shoot a reduced course OTC match both Saturday and Sunday.  The 600 yd matches will be shot from MRC's well groomed 300 yd line on reduced targets.   Saturday's  match (June 22)  will be followed by a Pork Chop Barbeque put on by the chefs of the MRC highpower division.  Sunday's (June 23) match will follow the same course of fire including the extra string of prone slow fire from the 300 yd line that makes these matches into 1000 pt aggregate matches. That's right, you get to practice your prone technique for 40 shots each day instead of the usual 20. 
     With the Minn NRA Service Rifle Champ matches coming up the weekend after next at NorthStar Rifle club, these matches should be well attended with those service rifle shooters that hope to be competitive in the championships.  Match Director is Mark Rohmann (mrc.highpower@yahoo.com), who always puts on a good match.
                                      Click Here for Match program and entry info

Last Weekend

GRRC CMP Games 

Twenty one Service rifle shooters came to GRRC for the CMP Games last Saturday. They brought with them many fine old service rifles to shoot and have some fun with.  There were Springfields, Enfields, M1 Garands, a Swiss K-31, an M1A, and a few modern AR's on the line.  Folks came to have some fun with the old guns and get in a little trigger pulling on Gopher's 200 yd line.   Tom Toberg got everyone squaded and the 1st relay got on the line for the first match at 0900 on time and ready to shoot.

  

    

 

The course of fire was easy (it was a Fun match), each shooter started with 5 sighters on the generous SR target while the modern military rifles (ARs) shot on reduced targets.  The first match was 10 shots for record prone slow fire, followed by a 10 shot prone rapid fire string, and then each shooter finished with a 10 shot string of Offhand to finish the 30 shot competition.

  Good scores were shot by all participants, and since everyone had so much fun by the time the match was over at noon, we started over and did the whole thing again.  It was a great day!  It was good no-stress competition, and no one really cared about their score.  The next CMP games match at GRRC is July 6th. See you there!   Oh, I should mention Tom Torberg shot an awesome 285 score to win the 2nd match.   
   

300 Meter International
From Brian Shiffman:  
It looked pretty bad if you were sitting in your easy chair having a cup of coffee and looking out of the window.  However, at the range it was not bad at all.  The wind was howling from the East but that is a direction that has a lot of trees to block it from the range.  There was little wind to worry about and some of the scores bore that out.  It was cloudy all the time but the rain let up until part way through the second relay, and then it was not that bad.  Being inside with the heat on, it was quite comfortable.  
   In addition to the shooters there were some guests and the second relay was a bit late in starting as people caught up on news and views.
   The first relay had all the F-Class shooters, except me, and two Prone shooters while the second relay had 3 Position and Offhand shooters in addition to me.  Something for everyone this month. 
    As I mentioned the scores were pretty high in the F Class ranks.  Terry Stern became the 4^th person to shoot a perfect 600 while his neighbor, Greg Meller (who shot a 600 in April) shot a 599.  Right behind him was Robert Smith with a 598.  All this was in the first relay.  Dr. Smith used an unobtanium front rest controlled by a joy-stick and built like an Abrams Tank.  Terry shot his 600 using .223 and a bi pod in F-TR Class.  I know, the results page shows all F class shooters as F-Open but that is not correct.  The F-TR class got lost somewhere between here and there.  Terry’s rifle was something he worked on which obviously worked.  Me, well, I came in last of all F Class shooters.  Well, someone has to be last; I volunteered. 
    The full results can be seen at http://edfpages.com/mgfc/results.php?match=6

   The next match is July 14^th.  Registration will be open on July 1^st.

Brian D. Shiffman    shiff004@umn.edu

 
Small Bore  
  It was a small contingent that showed up at MRC for the monthly Prone 1600 match but the competition was still tough.  Jim Biles was down from Duluth,  Eric Hazleton top ranked Junior prone shooter came as did Emily Quinar, former NCAA competitor.  Rising star in the Highpower ranks, Erik Rhode, was there to get his prone Sm bore career started with 160 shots for record this day.  Myself and young Junior Noah Olson made up the rest of the line.
    Since it was a monthly club type match, I brought the old (1964) M52D Winchester and some inexpensive SK yellow box ammo to shoot in the first two matches (iron sights). I would then switch to the ultra modern Anshutz 2013 for the last two matches (scope).  
 As it turns out, I should have stuck with the old gun for the whole match.  I dropped only 6 pts on the first 4 targets at 50 and 100 yds (80 shots--iron sights) and then went into the tank with the Anshutz for the last 4 targets using the Scope.  Oh, well at least I shot an EX score. 
  The big winner was Jr. Eric Hazleton, who continues to amaze us all with his growing skill.  Erick dropped only 6 pts all day while successfully finding a shooting window when the wind was rapidly switching from left to right for the last two matches.  Erik Rhode, who was shooting next to Emily Q, got some good lessons on wind reading, from the former St Champ, and I'm sure he will start applying this at the 600 yd line in up coming Highpower matches. 160 shots prone slow fire in one day with instant feedback will improve anyone's skill at the mid-range firing line.
  Jim Biles was having a great day leading the pack after first two matches, but a few gusts of wind and he was tied with Emily for 2nd overall, and then lost that pos. on tie breaking X count.  You do learn to shoot for Xs in Sm bore Prone.

EXTRA!  EXTRA !  EXTRA !

USA Shooting National Championships
From Larry Sawyer:
  Jim, 

Here's a recap of the USA Shooting National Championships held last week in Ft. Benning. Sorry it's so long- I include some background info for those not familiar with the International Rifle games.    

2013 USA Shooting National Rifle Championships Recap
 

I traveled to Ft. Benning on June 1st to spend nearly a week competing in USA Shooting's National Championships and U.S. Team Trials. Although I find the act of flying with firearms to be a p.i.t.a., the match is always enjoyable and forces me to bring my best game, since shooting it means you're competing against Olympic Champions and World Record holders. It does not get any more intimidating than this event! Plus, this would be the first time U.S. Nationals would be fired under the new ISSF rules. 

     As a side note, I focus on International-style rifle for many reasons: If one wants to shoot the hardest target, shoot International. If one wants to earn a spot on the U.S. Team, you have to compete in Team Trials. If a kid wants to shoot in college, they need a long resumé of scores from International type matches. The easy target won't cut it for the coaches looking for the top kids. And if a kid wants to land on the U.S. Team, by far the most opportunities are via junior/national events, as those events serve as Junior National/Development team tryouts. So…

 

      

     First up was Men's 3-Position Rifle. One day of training and then two 3x40 matches means, "I hope you're ready." First step was to go through equipment control, where all kinds of equipment specs are checked for compliance: clothing stiffness is regulated, thickness too; new boot rules were demonstrated but not enforced Rifles are weighed. Old standard rules still apply: sling width is maxed at 40mm, glove thickness is limited; jacket overlap can't exceed 10cm, and on and on. 

     The ISSF (International Shooting Sport Federation) has made many changes in the past year, to make Shooting more TV-friendly. Among them: far shorter match time limits, a new order of firing, and new finals formats. We are now shooting a three-position rifle match this way: 15 minutes for unlimited sighters, then the clock stops, and then: 2 hours 45 minutes block time for 40 kneeling, 40 prone, and 40 standing. That, my friends, is FAST. There is now precious little time to wait out wind changes. If you spend 40 minutes on your 40 kneeling, change-over in 5 minutes (which is VERY fast and efficient by the way); build/settle your prone position and shoot sighters for 10 minutes, then spend 40 minutes on prone; change-over in 10 minutes (again very fast), build your standing position and shoot sighters for 15 minutes (which ain't much)...you'd have 45 minutes for 40 shots standing. Take longer ANYWHERE in there, and you'll end up with less than 45 minutes for standing. That leaves almost NO time for waiting out wind changes. We had very easy conditions and the best I could do was six minutes left on the clock, and that was after shooting everything with minimal breaks and a steady cadence on my shots. I probably rushed it, but you REALLY don't want to have six shots left with two minutes on the clock. Final score for me on day one: 1129/1200. (My stage scores were 378/400 kneeling, 393/400 prone, and 359/400 standing.) Middle of the pack. Thanks for playing! Oh, well, I had no expectations other than to put the new gun to the test and see what I could do after a long winter of no shooting. 

    Day two: Slightly worse performances across the board: 392/400 prone, 375/400 kneeling, and 348/400 standing. (That's a miserable standing score for someone who routinely shoots in the 360's.) Final tally for day two: 1116/1200. Overall, not the direction I wanted to go. At age 53, there are very, very few other competitors in my age class at this match and others like it. Seems the oldsters all are content to shoot belly matches. So, I ended up the 2013 USA Shooting Senior National Champion in Men's 3-Position Rifle. Apparently one gets credit for just showing up and enduring the heat and torture.   
      Last event for me: Men's Prone Rifle, 60 shots. This event is changed in a big way from past formats. The time limit is shorter and all shots are scored to decimal tenth's. A quick explanation of decimal scoring: Imagine each ring, 1-10, has eight more rings added to it, each one worth 1/10th point. Thus, shoot an eight that juuuuust touches the eight line, and it's an 8.0; but shoot an eight that aaaallllmost touches the 9 ring, and you now have 8.9 points. Deep 7's become 7.something, deep 9's are 9.something, and perfectly centered 10's are worth 10.9 points. A ten-shot string now has a possible score of 109.00 points. 
       Everyone is struggling with the mathematics. You can now have two guys who shoot the same (old-style) raw score, like 592, and one can score 615.7, while the other scores 609.2. And the next day they can reverse places! It's now a game of centering every shot, not just hitting the 10 ring somewhere. If all you do is graze the 10-ring all day long, your score will suffer badly. Think center!!   
     In addition, the new time limit format is 15 minutes for unlimited sighting shots; clock stops; then the match is 50 minutes for 60 shots, straight through. Take a break if you want, at your own peril! Either wait for your condition and shoot fast, or shade. I racked up a raw 589/600 and 590/600, but again, those numbers now mean nothing. Real scores were 614.7 and 612.8. (First 40 shots on day two I posted a 398/400. That's pretty good. Then the wheels came off.)  In the end, I finished middle of the pack and good enough for the bronze medal in the Senior Class, right behind Steve Goff (former AMU shooter) and Ron Wigger, current Rifle Coach at West Point.   

     The last event for men was Air Rifle. I don't shoot that. I know better.  
Full results of all men's and women's rifle and pistol events can be found here: http://www.usashooting.org/7-events/101-match-results/nationalresults

Larry Sawyer     

  Thanks Larry for sharing that with us and congratulations on winning that Senior 3P 
Championship !

Two Weeks Out

June 29-30    Service Rifle State Champ and Leg match at NorthStar Rifle Club -- Click Here for Match bulletin
June 29-30    Sm Bore 3P and 4P Championship --- No match bulletin available    
July 4th         M1 Garand and M1A matches at Eau Claire -- match bulletins available soon  

That's all Folks
Hawkeye

Shooters News for the Minn Area - June 11, 2013

The Week ahead
 
Have a Service rifle?  This weekend is a great opportunity for you to get it out and have some fun.  GRRC is hosting the CMP Games for Military rifles on this coming Saturday, June 15th at Gopher rifle and Revolver Club's range just north of the Cities at Harris, Mn.  These matches (two per day) are designed to be Fun.  Yes, they'll keep score, but the point here is to get some rds down range with the service rifle and have some fun.  This is a perfect match for a newer shooter.  It all is shot from the 200 yd line on the generous SR target,  and the course of fire is easy.  First the shooters will fire 5 sighters from the prone position, followed by 10 shots for record prone, then 10 shots rapid fire prone, and finishing up with 10 shots from the standing position.  Each shooter needs to bring at least 35 rds plus extras for possible refires in prone rapid fire. 
  The 2nd match of the day is a repeat of the first.  The Sniper match will be shot on July 6 at those CMP games
            Click Here for Match program and entry info. 

Prone and 3P Small Bore Matches
Minneapolis Rifle Club will again be the site of tough shooting competition this upcoming weekend.  Saturday June 15,  the Position shooters will be fighting it out, shot for shot, in three 40 shot matches - shooting first from the Prone position, then Standing and finally from the Kneeling position. 
                       Click here for match program

On Sunday, June 16th Prone shooters will have their chance for some trigger time.  160 shots for Record on 8 targets makes up this days competition at MRC.   Prone specialists, some of whom were competing in the 1000 yd Long Range matches last Saturday at GRRC, will now be sweating it out trying to shoot 10 or an X on unforgiving Sm bore targets a 100 yds away. 
                          Click Here for Match program

All in all, it looks like a great weekend for the Minn rifleman. I'll be out to GRRC for the CMP match Sat. Morning and then on Sunday I think I'll take in a nice day of prone shooting at the MRC SB match.  

Last Weekend
It was a weekend for the skilled and/or the brave.  You have to be brave to launch some bullets at a target 1000yds away, and you have to be skilled enough to actually hit the middle of the target if you have any hope of winning a match at a competition such as Long Range Regional held last weekend at GRRC. 

 

Capt Bob and Bill Lair fire at Targets 5/8 mile away

  Thirty six brave and skilled shooters showed up at GRRC's Long Range Shooting Facility Saturday morning for the first three matches on the weekends program. They all knew that today had to be the day to do their best and get to the top of the leader board, as the Sunday weather forecast was for rain and thunderstorms, and it was a high probability the Regional Long Range Championships would be decided this day. 
  It was a great day -- that summer day we have all been waiting for --  Blue sky's,  sunshine,  and (whoops) a fishtailing wind from the SE gusting to from 0 to 12 mph (mostly when you weren't looking).  Dale Wickstrom and Elliot Zunich were down from Northwestern gun club.  Small Bore prone specialists Eric Hazleton, and Morgan Dietrich came to give the High Power shooters some lessons in belly shooting.  Palma shooters, Stacey T. , Bill Lair, Brian Mrnak and others would give everyone a good  run for the gold. 
   The F-class ranks were filled with top shooters such as past Champion Pat Scully,  Adam Schidla and, up and coming Junior shooter Tyson Brabec.   

 
  F-class drilling Xs

 






  In the Sling class all shooters would fire these matches using Iron sights only. 
Jim Soderstrom was ready to go in the first match and fired 12 Xs and 8 tens for the only 200 score - that's right, a clean target at 1000 yds.  Jay Johnson and Stacey Tamulinas were lagging behind by only a pt or two.  In F-class Pat Scully's 199-12 wins F-open and  R. Shultz wins FTR.
 In the Second match the conditions got a little more tricky -- a little more switchy -- and Erik Rhode continued his winning ways of two weeks ago up north in the 3 day OTC matches. Erik scored a 198 for the match win, buy only by out X-ing a hard charging Phil Klanderud.  In F-class it was another past champion, Ben Winget winning F open, and Scott Olson from the Elk River club getting a hard earned F-TR win
 Going into the deciding 3rd match of the day Phil Klanderude was on top of the leader board, down only 4 pts for the days shooting. Jay Johnson was in 2nd place just a few Xs back and also only 4pts down.  The last match would go to the shooter with the most patience to wait out the wind shifts.  Those who were too quick off the scope and on the trigger would be rewarded with dreaded 8s and fall by the way side in this competition.  Employing the patience of the typical Master Class Sm bore prone shooter, Morgan Dietrich, played the wind shifts like a fine violin, dropping only 3 pts while shooting half of the 20 shots in the tiny X ring.  Capt. Bob finally got in the groove and posted a fine 195 score for 3rd place behind Stacey who shot one pt better for 2nd, and a good comeback to his disaster in the 2nd match.  Third match win in F open goes to Pat Scully with Jon Clauson just behind, while Steve winzelman gets 1st place in FTR.
  In the end it was Erik (quiet man) Rhode who having won the 1st match, and shooting top 5 scores in the other matches who scored the highest final score and its Erik Rhode who is now the Regional Long Range Champion.
 Congratulations and the Gold Medal to Erik -- you are on the top of your game!  Morgan Dietrich, and Bill Lair  win the Silver and Bronze medals. 

Erik Rhode  -- Regional Long Range Champion

Complete results:  click to expand

 












 F-class Champions are Pat Scully taking gold in F-open with Ben Winget getting the silver medal.   The FTR long range champ is Scott Olson followed by Steve Winzelman\

Notes:
 New (Old) Team Trophy  - Found and Repaired 

From Erik Rhode:
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention the team trophy!  This beauty will be awarded to a team down at the 

MN State HP Championships at North Star on June 29-30, apparently for the first time since 1936!  Picture should be attached.

   Ok, quick update. I brought the trophy in this morning to my local trophy shop - Dakota Awards in Rosemount. They are a small mom and pop type of shop. I have used them in the past and they do nice work with good prices.  

   They quoted me a price of $100 to build  and finish a base out of wood, make 4 plates, and engrave the 60 team names and years that we have record of. He said they could have it done in 2 weeks. He said the price could possibly be slightly higher than $100, as they have someone else build the base for them, but not much more.

Erik 

From: George Minerich, MRRA Pres. 
"Hi MRRA Board Members:
Look what I found. (the trophy)  It was hiding since 1935. It's latest hiding place was Bob Van Gene's basement.  Judging by the dust on it, it was there for a long time. Please read Erik's email
...

Just some thoughts on the recently-discovered state team trophy.

Obviously, this thing has been missing for a loooong time.  it's sort of cool the way it is with only the first 5 winners on it from the 30's, however, I do have the accompanying plaques that list the team champions for 60 more years that the match was fired.  Would the MRRA want to get the rest of the names added to it?  I don't know that they'd actually all fit(I'm thinking they wouldn't), but perhaps a pedestal with placards could be built or bought?  Any other ideas as to what to do with it?"

George

Two Weeks Out

June 22-23     1000pt OTC matches both days at MRC     Click here for match bulletin
June 29-30       NRA Champ matches w/Leg match           Click Here for match bulletin 

That's All Folk's
Hawkeye

Shooters News for the Minn Area - June 4 2013

The Week Ahead  
 
HighPower        
Long Range Weekend is finally here!   Yup, this weekend you get a chance to put a few shots on the 1000 yd targets at the Gopher Rifle and Revolver Club Long Range shooting facility near Harris, MN.
 On Saturday June 8th,
  starting at 0900, hopeful shooters from around the 5 state Region will use Iron sights to try and put 20 shots in the 10 ring in each of the 3 matches.

    All Matches allow unlimited sighters but shooters must be on target in 6 shots (with coaching allowed). If you have Zeros at 500 or 600 yds, this should not be a problem.  The last match of the day will be a 2 man Team match.  Sunday June 9, will see competitors switching over to Scope sights in the two 20 shot matches, again with unlimited sighters and then finish with the Any Sight Team match.

 F-Class shooters will be contesting the F-class title both days in the same matches. 
  Remember this is a Regional Championship, so there are nice medals to be awarded and bragging rights to be had about who really can hit the target from 5/8s of a mile with a rifle.                       Click Here  for Match Bulletin

 

Nice shot from 1000 yds with Iron sights !!!

                                                                                          
300 Meter  International
June 300 Meter Match at Minneapolis Rifle Club

 From Brian Shiffman:
        You certainly can’t tell by the weather but it is now June; feels like April.  We are now open for registration for the June match. 
  The June Minneapolis Rifle Club 300 meter match will be held on Sunday, June 9^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.  Pay attention as you 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  

Last Weekend  
NorthWestern Gun Club 3 Day OTC Highpower matches
From Capt. Bob  
 Jim:  

Two pictures from the weekend at NWGC.  They predicted 70% chance of rain Fri. & Sat. but nary a drop till the last relay was just finishing up at 500 yd.  39 deg. when we awoke Sun. & one needed 2 or 3 layers to stay warm till about 1030.

 Relay 1 squaded and ready to shoot at NWGC

Match results - Click to expand
 



So, What happened ?--- It was billed and expected to be a battle of the veterans, Omer Hamer and Kevin Bangen. Both of these long time competitors have earned many of state titles over the years and so one was expected to take the win. Friday's 80 shot match showed there was a couple new Big Dogs on the the block as it was up and comers, Dick VanValkenberg, and the new NorthStar Highpower Director - Erik Rhode who traded match wins all day and confounded the aspirations of the Favorites. Dick V. won the Sitting Rapid match and shot the match best score at the 500 yd line, dropping only 2 pts there.  It wasn't good enough though as Erik won the Standing match and scored the only 200 of the day in the 300 yd rapid match (backed up by 8 Xs) to post the wining score for the day and start out Saturdays match on top of the leader board.   How about the "Veterans" ?--- Omer and Kevin traded match 2nds all day and while down, were not out of it yet.  Kevin was just getting warmed up.
   Saturday matches started with Kevin Bangen  back to usuall form and winning the Sanding match with a nice 189.  Kevin then took a 2nd in the Sitting Rapid match dropping only one point, while Erik Rhode stayed on top by shooting the only clean score and backing that up with12 tie breaking Xs (as if he needed them).  Larry Weidell, always competitive with his service rifle wins the 300 rapid fire match. In the 500 yd match, it was only Bob Peasley that could match Erick Rhode great score of 197-8X. and Bob gets the match win on tie breakers.  So for  the day it was again Erik Rhode as the match winner with Kevin Bangen just back a couple pts.   Two days of matches and two victory's for Erick -- that's a good start.
   Sunday was the perfect day to settle the issue.  Weather was good -  Day was fair.  
Omer Hamer, who averaged 189 in the three days standing matches won this days Standing match with that score. Omer, a grand senior shooter has been winning these standing matches for many years and looks to keep it up for quite a few more. Omer came right back and shot clean 200 in the Sitting rapid match but Kevin did the same with a couple more Xs and wins that match.  In the last match of the weekend, it was Mark Rohmann whose never say Die attitude held the hardest - shooting a clean 200 to win that last match.  Kevin's' awesome 785 score was the day's highest total. 
  All in all it was a great weekend of shooting OTC matches at NorthWestern Gun Club.  
So -- Who won it all ??     Erik Rhode's consistent match scores of 782, 779, 778 for the 3 days of shooting gave him an solid 20 point lead over 2nd place Kevin Bangen and Erik is the weekend's Winner!  Good shooting Erik!


Regional Prone Championships (small bore) at MRC

It was to be two solid days of prone shooting on those tough outdoor small bore targets.  Each day prone shooters would shoot on 8 targets - 20 shots ea.  Three targets are shot at 50 yds and are fairly easy targets.  To be competitive you should clean these targets if you hope to be around on top at the end of the day.  The next 3 targets are shot at 100yds and are tough targets.  When you factor in the wind reading ability it takes to shoot a 10 or X at 100 yds with a small bore match rifle you can see why competitors face a tough task shooting a 200 in these matches.   The final two targets of the day are shot at 50 meters and are on even tougher (smaller 10 ring) targets and is usually considered the toughest match.  There is no give on small bore targets. "If your shot isn't perfect -- it isn't a ten" is the old saying, and why Sm Bore prone shooting is the way so many Long Range shooters get to be as good as they need to be to hit the black at 800 to 1000 yds.

    Saturday June 2  -- Iron sight day
The day dawned cool, crisp, sunny with a gusty cold North wind at the Mpls Rifle Club.  It would be day to glue your one eye ball to those wind flags while the other one lined up the shot though the sights,  because you would only get a half a sec. to see your shooting window  when the flags were lined up the way you wanted them to be and get off the shot----if you got that long.  Ok, it was a tough day, but the conditions were the same for every one. 

       It was a good turn out.  The line was filled and overflowing to a 2nd relay.   Long Range Palma specialists, Wyane Anderson, Randall Gregory, and Stacey Tamulinas were there to contest for medals with some of the states top Small Bore contenders, such as Morgan Dietrich, and the future Olympic stars from our hot shooting Junior Sm Bore teams.  Elmer Miller came in from Souix Falls,SD to fill in the Senior division. 

 Stacey and Eric fire the any sight match

  Morgan Dietrich and Junior Carmen F. both found a handle on the wind and cleaned  the first two targets -- the 50 yd match for 400 pts.    Wayne Anderson shot 33 of the 40 shots of the Dewar Match in the X-ring and dropped only one pt on the 100 yd target to win that match.  Emily Quinar, past NCAA shooter, wins the 100 yd match with a wind whipped 398 score.  She used every minute of the 20 minute time limit to somehow find the flags lined up to get off a well called shot.  In the 50 meter match,  Emily destroyed the competition, by timing every gust, and by putting all but 3 shots of 40 in that little 10 ring while the wind blew the rest of us all over the 8 ring.  That was some show of patience and wind reading ability by Emily.  The ability to see the condition and then quickly deliver a good shot is something I wish I was better at.  Emily Quinar now leads the pack by 9 points over Intermediate Junior and Long Range shooter, Eric Hazleton.  Those juniors must have better eyes than us old guys have. Do you think?
      Sunday June 3 --  Scope day (any sights)
Again it is cool with a strong wind whipping across the range with the flags reversing every few seconds.
Wayne Anderson starts off the day winning the 50 yd match with patience and good trigger control scoring a clean 400.  In the DeWar match there are no clean scores, Stacey T. and Morgan D. held for 399s losing only one pt, and Staceys high X count winning the tie.   When the conditions are tough, only the tough survive, and Wayne Anderson would not be denied in the 100 yd match -- Swirling wind or not.  Wayne adds another match win to his column with a 397 score.  The final match of the Weekend was won by Stacey Tamulinas with a 398-25x just nipping again Eric Hazleton by a couple Xs. The day's best score was a 1592-112x fired by Stacey Tamulinas, with Wayne Anderson just two Xs back.  
    The Regional Gold Medal goes to Wayne Anderson, with Junior Eric Hazleton getting the Silver, and  Emily Quinar earning the Bronze.  

 Service Rifle Clinic at Post 435 - June 1

    From: Mark Havlik

"Jim,

      You mentioned you'd be interested in a report from the Post 435 annual SR clinic.

We had 22 shooters show up for this years Service Rifle Clinic. After some instruction on positions and proper sling use we ran 3 relays through the 50 shot National Match Course of fire. We had to call a short cease fire mid afternoon when Mother Nature decided to literally rain on our parade. 

     Judging from the positive comments i received at the end of the day I'd say it was a job well done. We signed up a couple new members and set the hook on a few others.

Here  is a link to the photo slideshow.   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Na93EFiezuI

Enjoy. "  Mark  Havilk 
   

Two Weeks Out
June 15th -  CMP Service Rifle games at GRRC   
June 22,23 -  OTC  matches at MRC (and Barbeque!!!)    Click Here for match program

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Hawkeye