Shooters News for the Minn Area - July 31, 2013

It's Camp Perry Time!    

The National Matches at Camp Perry, Ohio are now in full swing.  CMP matches are being fired this week, Highpower matches next week, and Long Range matches will follow that.  Competitive Minn shooters will be out in Ohio participating in some or all of these matches.  Good shooting to all our local competitors who are participating in this historic competition.

Next Week
  No local matches scheduled

Last Week
  State F-class Championships at Elk River Sportsman's Club -- No news
 
Small Bore
              "On the Firing Line Report"
  National Prone Championships at Camp Perry, Ohio 

  From Morgan Dietrich: 
 Jim

Well Camp Perry smallbore 2013 is complete.   Individually, MN shooters did not have a great week, but we had fun.  Day one the cover was damaged in areas, so it was taken down for the whole week.  Luckily, the weather was much more mild than normal, although we had to walk through water and mud the first two days.  Tricky winds on day one, but five 1200's were fired.  Stacey Tamulinas, Matt Griffin, Steve Knutson and myself were the MN shooters.  Day two was a little less tricky, but still not easy.  Reya Kempley shot great the first two days and fired the only 2400- the second time she has done that at Nationals.  No MN shooters earned spots on the Pershing team or Dewar team- but we did show at the matches to support the teams- the USA beat the British team in the shoulder-shoulder Pershing match.  We shot a very good Dewar score, I would be surprised if we do not win that match too. 

The highlight of the week was the fired 4-man team match.  I fired on a Blackhawk team- the sparrow hawks.  Firing members were Michael O'Connor of MI, Olympic medalist Mike Anti, Katie Bridges of TX who recently won the Firecracker match and metric prone title in Bristol, IN and myself.  Bill Beard was the team coach. 

The match consists of a Dewar course, once with iron sights and again with any sights.  Winds were extremely calm, we had to be careful to shoot good shots.  In the iron sight category we shot a perfect 1600, however the AMU also were clean but they out X'ed us.  Second place was a great accomplishment against professional marksmen.  The next match we again fired a perfect score (the only team to shoot back-back cleans) and won the match.  There were four teams that shot a 1600 with any sights, but our 136x's were high.  We are national champions and won the aggregate of the two matches.  This was one of my greatest highlights from all the years of shooting at Camp Perry.

Back to individual shooting, we all put our scopes on and shot the final two days.  Conditions were not high winds, but day one of scope the wind was working both sides of zero.  So if you got unlucky, a nine was coming your way.  You had to be patient and determined.  The final day was even more calm, but the let off would easily take you out.  Very normal for Camp Perry smallbore, the let off has way more value than a pickup.  I cleaned the first two matches on the final day, but the final match at 100, I was too weak mentally to wait out all the let off's and lost a few nines on the up wind side, a huge amount of 1200's were fired.  

Mike Mcphail originally of Darlington, WI now with the AMU was the winner with a huge 4798 score, Matt Chezum was second and Eric Uptagraft of the AMU was 3rd.  

Smallbore will be held at Bristol, IN the next two years- we will see if it returns to Camp Perry after that or not.  As always, it was a great week seeing old friends and shooting shoulder-shoulder with the best in the country!  Scores can be checked at  
 http://competitions.nra.org/championship-results/nra-national-outdoor-rifle-pistol-championships-results.aspx

Morgen Dietrich

     Thanks for that Report, Morgan, and congratulations on your success at the Nationals.

Notes:
 Why do we shoot?   For some it's the thrill of the competition.  For some its just a hobby -- an offshoot of our love of firearms.  For some, maybe it's just in our Genes.
When I grew up, my hero's were the WW2 and Korea guys. Later on the Marine Corp lured me in and taught me the love of rifle shooting that continues today.  What I didn't know was that my father had been a rifle team shooter in the Army till I recently found a few old pictures.
Maybe it is in our genes.  

 

 Fort Sill, Oklahoma, Carbine team 1940

Orville Evenson:
  Minn Nat.Guard -about 1934 to 1938,  
  US Army 1938-1941, 
  US Navy Sea Bees - WW2

Two Weeks Out
August 10,11 - F-class Mid Range Regional at Elk River Sportsman's Club -- Click Here for Match bulletin and Entry info
August 11      - 300 Meter International at MRC
August 17,18 -  OTC matches at MRC      Click here for match bulletin
August 17,18 -  Sm Bore matches at MRC

That's All Folks'
Hawkeye

Shooters News for the Minn Area -- July 24, 2013

  First off -- Good shooting to all the Service Rifle shooters off to Camp Perry for next week's National championships.   "Hold tight -- favor center"  - Larry Weidell

The Week Ahead

    Finally it's time for the Big F-class match at Elk River Sportsman's Club.  Yup!  This Saturday and Sunday, July 27-28, F-class shooters from around the state, and farther afield, will be on the firing line competing for the Minn State F-class Mid range Individual, and Team Championships.  This is a stand alone event for the F-class this year, as participation in F-class shooting as grown to the point where Fclass shooters may well fill the entire firing line 3 relays deep at ERSC's beautiful rifle range. All matches will be fired from the 600 yd line on the MR-1F target.

    On Saturday, July 27th shooters will fire as 4 man Teams with the benefit of coaching. Shooters will shoot for their own rifle club as Club vs Club teams are encouraged, and "all star teams" are discouraged. Rifle clubs may have multiple teams.   Pickup teams will be organized for those who are not already on a club or assoc. team. Each team member will fire three 20 shot matches.  After the Team match, shooters can relax and enjoy the Barbeque that the ERSC Iron Chef will have waiting for them. I am told that this will be a 5 star barbeque.
    The Individual Championship matches will be fired on Sunday, July 28. Each of the three matches will be 2 sighters shots and 20 shots for record in a time limit of 22 minutes. 
       Click Here for Match program and Entry Information. Camping is available at the range but must be reserved--(see match program). 
  
Last Week
Actually two weeks ago--
Minnesota St. Long Range Championships
And the Winners are:

Left to Right
Pat Scully --  F-Open St. Champ
M. Lehmeier (I think) -- F-TR and Senior Champion
Bill Lair             --  Senior St. Champion
Morgan Dietrich -- Sling Class State Champion 
 
Not pictured are    Elliot Zunich and John Andres - Grand Senior Champs,, T. Brabec, and Eric Hazleton--Junior champs     

Pat Scully won the F-open class but that doesn't say that he had it easy.  Ron Sievers was just 2 points back at the end of the weekend, and Ben Winget back just one.  That's pretty tough competition!  We know that these three guys will be fighting it out again this weekend at the State Mid Range champs and we also know that there will be other good shooters who are ready to knock them off the top of the leader board.   Some times staying on the top of your class is harder than getting to the top. There's always a new guy ready to win and this may be the weekend.  

Complete Results:  click to expand - then use zoom tool to enlarge

 F-Class                                                                         

 

Sling class

Pig Roast Matches at Eau Claire
It looks like Erik Rhode can't be stopped. His current winning streak now includes taking 1st place in last weeks OTC matches at the Eau Claire's Rifle Club's annual Pig Roast. Shooting a 775-25X, Erik simply devoured the competition.  Omer Hamer came close with a great effort and a 768 score, but not good enough to stop Erik from dominating another highpower match.  Kevin Bangen took the Offhand match with two pts in hand over Erik, then lost one point of that lead to Bob Peasley, firing a solid 197 in the Sitting Rapid Match.  Erik only lost that match to Bob by just one X.  The Prone Rapid fire match went to Elliot Zunich who surged back with a fine 199-11X score topping Dick Van Valkenberg's valiant effort and his 195-4x.  The 600 yd line proved to be the place that would separate the winners from the also rans.  Only Mark Rohmann came close to stopping the Erik Rhode freight train this day. His awesome 199-6x was great but 5 Xs short of the score that Erik put on the board to seal the deal.  Erik Rhode is one hot shooter these days.  He is peaking just at the right time, with the Nationals coming up at Camp Perry in just a short time.  He'll represent this state well.  Good Luck Erik! 
   There were also some great scores in the EX class with Dean Gillette narrowly fending off an increasingly competitive Tom Toberg, 757 to 753 with the X count going to Tom Toberg.  We know that Dean is always a threat to win the EX class, but now he and others will be watching out as Tom gains the skill to make that class more competitive than ever before.  Will Leg points be in the future for Tom Torberg -- I think so.    
              


 
Notes:
Morgan Dietrich must be doing well at Camp Perry Nat. Champ Sm Bore matches
From Morgan:    "National Champ Any Sight team- thanks to my teammates, Bridges, O'conner, Anti, yours truly.....and coach Beard"    
  Well Done!

Two Weeks Out
August 10,11 - F-class Mid Range Regional at Elk River Sportsman's Club -- Click Here for Match bulletin and Entry info
August 17,18 -  OTC matches at MRC      Click here for match bulletin
August 17,18 -  Sm Bore matches at MRC

That's All Folks'
Hawkeye

Shooters News for the Minn Area - July 16, 2013

          Breaking News !   See Below--"On the Firing Line Video"
Morgan Dietrich wins it all at the Minnesota State Long Range Championships !

The Week Ahead  

Pig Roast Matches at Eau Claire Rifle Club --July 20, 21
Head on over to ERC this coming weekend for great Mid Range match on Saturday, July 20 and stay over till Sunday, July 21 and shoot an 80 shot OTC match.  Oh, did I forget to say that the Saturday Mid Range match will be followed in the Aft by the famous annual "Piggy roast". If you havent been to one of Eau Claire's Pig Matches, It's time to join the crowd who know this to be one of the best run and fun matches around the area. 
        Click Here for match Bulletin

The F-class State Championships will be held NEXT weekend, July 27-28th at the Elk River Sportsman's Club range in Elk River, MN just a few miles NW of the Twin Cities.  Saturday the 27th, the action centers around a four man team match which will have each team shooter firing 3 matches of 20 shots, from the 600 yd line.  Shooters not having a team to shoot with, will be formed into pickup teams such that everyone can participate. Team shooting is a great way to advance your skills, as you don't have to make any wind calls (coach does that) and shooters can concentrate on just delivering a good shot.
   Sunday, July 28th, the shooters will be firing the individual matches to determine the top shooter and State Champion for mid-range F-class for 2013.  Participating shooters will can fire in either of two classes -- F-Open, or F- Tactical Rifle. From the numbers of F-class shooters that fired this past weekends Long Range matches, I think this will be a this championship weekend will be well attended.
           Click Here for a Match Bulletin and entry info.

Last Weekend    

  Minnesota State Long Range State Championships

Morgan Dietrich wins it all at the Minnesota State Long Range Championships ! 

   Preliminary results have Morgan Dietrich winning both the Individual Championship and the Palma Championships in the Sling Class at the weekends long range matches at Gopher Rifle and Revolver Club. Morgan is just back from a Silver medal performance at the Raton, NM Firecracker 4800 Prone matches and this week backed that up with the Minn State LR Championships.  Way to go, Morgan !

Complete Results incl. F-class not available at this time.

"On the Firing Line" Video from the Long Range Championships

Click Here for a few pictures and good video

Expand to full screen and pump up the volume!   It's 1080 HD   

300 Meter International
From Brian Shiffman:

   If you didn’t mind sticky or muggy then it was a nice day for a match.  It was overcast until about noon and then the heat and humidity went up quite noticeably.  The wind was not a real factor as it was very light with only a few breezes after the second relay started.  Probably the biggest factor was mirage.  You would shoot well if you could figure out which of the floating targets to shoot. 

 The first relay had 6 out of 7 shooters in F-TR class.  I was watching the computer as shots were fired and the scores showed on the screen.  I thought there would be a close battle between Jeremy Jenniges and his daughter, Courtney.  They matched each other for the first 10 shots of the first string of fire with both scoring 100’s.  Jeremy had 4x’s while Courtney had 6.  But by the time the first string was over, Jeremy pulled ahead.  He shot a 200 with 10x’s while Courtney shot a 198 with 10x/s!  She never did catch up during the match.  He was shooting a bolt .308 while Courtney used a “short Barrel” (18” or so) AR-15; both were shooting factory match ammo.  Terry Stern took the F-TR class with a 594.  His first string of fire was a 198 with 14x’s.  He knew which mirage to shoot at.  This was Janeth Winkler’s first match.  She had done a little shooting of her AR-15 but not in competition.  For a first time competitive rifle shooter she was very consistent with 186, 186 and 187 scores.  I would call that a fine start.  Ed Facundo was here coach.

    The second relay had four 3 Position shooters and the only two F-Open shooters of the day.  Of the contortionist shooters, Kurt Kisch was way ahead of the crowd with a 530.

    Full results can be found at http://edfpages.com/mgfc/results.php?match=7.  Remember, if you click on the name of a shooter while viewing the results page you will see that shooters average in that position for the year to date.

    The next match will be Sunday, August 11.  An announcement will be sent when registration is open.  

Brian Shiffman  shiff004@umn.edu 

MRC Prone SB Matches -- July 14th
And the Winner is:  

M-52D Winchester (1964)

 

  
  It was a battle of the ages:  The old against the new, the aged against the young, newest modern technology against the almost prehistoric 60 year old equipment. In the end the best of the best from the long gone golden age of Small Bore shooting would show that it still had the stuff to go head to head with the best that today's techno-wizards have to offer (at least at a club match).
  They came from around the state to MRC on Sunday to shoot the 1200 prone match.  The group was small but elite.  Jim Biles was there from Duluth and was just coming off two medal winning performances in the NRA State and Regional Highpower Championships.  Also there was Emily Quinar, former NCAA shooter and multiple time State Championship.  Elmer Miller, former Bench Rest champ, turned prone shooter from Souix Falls, SD was there along with rising star Junior Eric Hazleton just back from a head turning performance at the Raton, NM  Firecraker 4800 prone matches where Eric whipped the Expert class like a rented mule.  Rounding out the field was Sm bore Master, and Palma team wind coach, Steve Knutson, a threat to win any prone match. 
   They brought the best equipment and the best ammo.  The line was full of the latest high tech Anchutz, and Walther super rifles.    I brought the old Win. Model 52D.
     It's 60 some years old. It has the original barrel that probably has a million rds through it, as it was at one time a training rifle for the junior team and the ROTC cadets at the ROTC indoor range on the Uof M campus.  I got it when it was sold through GRRC at auction in about 1990. I used this rifle, #3, Saturday mornings at the ROTC range many years ago and I knew it was a good shooter.  The original stock doesn't fit me (way too long) so I sent it Randy Gregory to be restocked with something I could adjust to fit.  He questioned me about spending so much on an old rifle but went ahead and piller bedded it into a McGee prone stock. Its sweet to shoot now.  The next thing I did was to work on the original Winchester Micro-Motion trigger assembly until it didn't hardly work at all any more. Arrrgh!!   Allen Elliot suggested that I send it to Karl Kenyon in Elco, NV and let him massage it.  Karl is the legendary master and Ghuru of trigger assembly's.  Allen said to hurry because Karl was getting pretty old, but was still working on triggers. I talked to Karl, he rebuilt the trigger assy. and had it back to me in a week.  So now I had a beautiful M-52 D with a Kenyon trigger, and the only thing left to do was to top it off with a scope.  The only "proper" scope for an M52 is a Unertl scope so I searched around purchased a 2" Unertl "Programmer" in pristine condition from Mike Tiess. This scope looks like it was never used.  The rifle was ready to do battle with all comers-- Bring it on! 

Shooters enjoy Barbeque after SB at MRC

  This was a 1200 match, which means 120 shots prone for record outdoors. There would be 3 matches of 40 shots, each match being 20 shots on 2 targets.  The first match (Dewar Match) went to Youth---Junior Eric Hazleton. Three of us cleaned the first target, 2 seniors and a junior, but after 2 targets Erik's 399-29x left us in the also-ran column. The M-52 was down 2 pts as the "nut behind the bolt" flinched one out into the nine ring on the 100 yd target and lost a pt to wind as a light zepher of air movement moved across the range.  The next match would be the always tough "100 yd match"-- two targets of 20 shots. It was an "Any" sight match so I attached the nearly 2 ft long Unertl scope with its double set of cross hairs ( one horziontal line for 50 yds and one lower line for 100 yds)  The M52 cleaned the first target and only due to opperator error dropped 1pt on the 2nd target. The resulting 399-17x showed the youngsters -- the Anchutzs, and Walthers how it is done.   The final match of the day is always the hardest--- The Meter match, shot at 50 meters on insidiously hard targets. Clean the meter match and you always go home happy.  With old age and (must be) palsy kicking in, I and the M52 dropped 4 pts on the first target and dropped out of solid lead in the agg.  Emily Quinar, who was shooting Iron sights, fired the only 200 on this target and now whole field was within a point going into the last target-- Steve Knutson leading with his monsterous X count.  Emily (13x) and Steve (15x) each drop 2 pts in the final 20 shots losing their share of the lead.  Jim Biles comes back hard in this match firing a great 199-11x, but it's not good enough.  The M-52D drilled the middle out of the targets, scoring a 200-13x and wins the days aggregate going away on the last shot! (...by one point)    OBTW, I was using cheap SK yellow box ammo. 
    I do love this old gun. It's not really getting older, it's just getting better !

MRC results from July 14
 

 
Two Weeks Out  (or more)

Aug 10,11    -- Mid Range F-Class Chams at Elk River Sports Mans Club
                      Click Here for Match Bulletin
Aug 11th      -- 300 meter International match at MRC

That's All Folks
Hawkeye

Shooters news for the Minn Area - July 9, 2013

The Week Ahead   

Long Range shooters  -  This is your weekend coming up. 
The Gopher Rifle and Revolver Club's long range shooting facility at Harris, Mn will be the scene of this weekends Minnesota Long Range State Championships.  These matches include the 1000 yd State Championship and the F-class State championship on Saturday July 13th. Sunday, July 14 shooters will fire for the 800 to 1000yd Wadekamper Palma Championship.
                             Click Here for Match Bulletin and entry info

Small Bore shooters - also have the luxury of two days of great competition at the Mpls Rifle Club this weekend.    Saturdays matches are for the Position shooter with an afternoon 3P match - squading at noon.         Click Here for 3P Match bulletin

Prone shooters have their chance on Sunday, July 14th to fire a 1200 (120 shot) outdoor conventional prone match.  The "Warm up for Camp Perry" match has been shortened to a 1200 because there is a picnic and barbeque for all shooters after the match. I think I know where I am going to be on Sunday.                               Click Here for Match Bulletin   

Mid Range Prone
July 13, 14th Southern Minn shooters shooters might want to head on down a few miles farther south and enter the Third Annual Iowa St. 300 yd prone championship at the River City Rifle and Pistol club-- 5 miles NW of Mason city, Iowa.  
                            Click Here for match Bulletin

300 meter International 
from Brian Shiffman:
    Summer finally arrived, about two months late.  By this time I have usually biked 10 or 12 times and gotten the winter cobwebs out of my legs.  This year just feels weird.  However, the shooting continues.   

    The July Minneapolis Rifle Club 300 meter match will be held THIS Sunday, July 14^h 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............

Brian Shiffman   shiff004@umn.edu  

 Last Week

CMP matches at GRRC
15 shooters arrived at GRRC Saturday morning looking to have a good time, and by the time we all left in the afternoon we had done just that.  This was a match for the old guns - the M1s, M14s, the Springfields, the Enfields, there was even a Swiss K-31 on the line. 
  The mornings match was easy -- CMP course A
The whole match was shot at 200 yds on the fairly easy SR target.  Each shooter on the 3 relays started with 5 sighters from the prone position, and then fired 10 more prone slow fire shots for score.  The next part of the match was a ten shot string of "sustained" or "rapid" fire in a generous time limit of 80 seconds.   The final 10 shots of the match were fired from the "offhand" position and so altogether 30 shots were fired for record and a total possible score was 300.  We were done about 1230 and  Tom Torberg gave out the CMP pins for those who shot a min qualifing score. The next event of the day was the "sniper" match. Six teams of two shooters took the field with older sniper rifle. 

   Each team was given a 5 minute sight in period on the 300 yd line, and then one shooter from each team made ready to fire one shot each time the target was exposed in the pits for 20 seconds.  While one shoorter from each team was firing, the other shooter acted as wind coach and spotter.  After each team had fired from the 300 yd line, we moved back to the 600 yd line and shot the same course of fire.  It was obvious that the older guns were really shooting well, but limited by the optics of the old sniper scopes.  No mater --  it was a fun match and we all had a good days fun.  It was a beautiful day -- a great day to be pulling some triggers with the old service rifles.   I was thouraly amazed though, at the fact that there being 350 members of GRRC (and probably half of them own one of these fine old service rifles) that yet there only a couple of club members out to shoot this fine match.  Where are the John Hoffers, the Shade brothers, the Don Johnsons, the Secords, the Dave Grosses and others of today's GRRC.  These CMP "Club" matches used to draw many, many club members out to get to know each other.   The next time Tom Torberg puts on one of these matches, get that old service rifle out of the safe and come out to participate. 
 
Regional OTC matches at Northwester Gun Club
   No match reports forwarded

Firecraker 4800 Championships
Two of Minnesota's top prone shooters (Morgan Dietrich and Eric Hazelton) traveled to Raton, N. Mexico last week to compete in the Firecraker 4800 Championships, put on every year by Olympian Lones Wigger.  The Firecracker is 4 days of intense prone shooting competition.   Here are the final results forwarded from Rick Curtis.

  

  From Rick Curtis

"Shooters,
The 2013 Firecracker 4800 in Raton New Mexico is now in the history books. Having fired this match in the past I can tell you, and I'm sure this years participants will agree, this is one of the best matches run in America today. You just can't go wrong when no less a figure than the greatest Olympic, 300 Meter and American smallbore shooter this country ever produced, Mr. Lones Wigger, makes this match his personal business. If you have never competed at the NRA's showcase range, the Whittington Center, you owe it to yourself to make it a priority to do so.

     From the very start of this years match Katie Bridges made her intentions to prevail very clear as she was obviously here to win. Her brilliant final day score of 1200-88X's, though not the days highest score, was enough to earn her the title of Champion with a total score of 4795-375X; congratulations Kate! Hot on her heels over the four days of shooting was Minnesota's own Morgen Dietrich who also had winning on his mind as evidenced by a fantastic final day score of 1200-99X netting him a second overall placing with 4794-363X's. Just to illustrate how intense the competition was former National Champion Mike Anti was also right there with a solid 4793-369X to take third overall honors. 
      The various class battles that were fought in this years tournament showcased a lot of up and coming talent indeed. The Master Class saw Peter Reul regain his form to claim the class victory with a strong 4787-333X score over Rachel Martins 4781-326X effort. The Expert Class once again showcased a Minnesotan's skills and abilities as Eric Hazelton went wire to wire finishing with 4780-324X to beat out Arizona's all around good guy Oliver Milanovic who gamely posted an admirable score of 4774-297X to claim second in a very talented Expert class. It's interesting to note that just last year Oliver began shooting smallbore as a way to train for high power prone shooting. All I can say is he has made a great start to a smallbore shooting career that I'm sure will stand on it's own one day. 

   Moving into the Sharpshooter and Marksman Class contests the water is a bit murky here. The final score sheet that I have attached was incomplete but it would appear that Minden Miles most likely won the Sharpshooter Class over James Piotrowski and Scott Casey prevailed over Corey Miller to Win the Marksman Class. Should I hear or see anything otherwise I will gladly post an update.      Congratulations to all the winners and I know I have this match on my calendar for next year so I hope  to see many of you there!  See you on the line,
    Rick Curtis  NRA High Power Rifle Director Arizona State Rifle and Pistol Association" 

  Final results

 



Congratulations to Morgan and Eric.  You guys made Minnesota look good!

 
  From Lones Wigger:
This was the largest Firecracker Match to date with 43 shooters and two relays.  Even with two relays we were finished each day before 2:00 pm and avoided the late day winds and storms that are prevalent in Raton in the summer.  Conditions were tricky later in the day on most days, but the last day was definitely 1600 weather even though we shoot only 1200.  I want to grow this match to at least 60 shooters and have even a bigger and better prize table even though everyone got a prize and the table had about $8000 worth of prizes from 40 sponsors.
    Wig
$8000 worth of prizes !!!!

Two Weeks Out
July 20, 21 -     Mid Range Prone (Pig Match Sat.), and OTC (Sun) - click here for Match Bulletin
July 27, 28 -     F-class Champs At Elk River (w/barbeque) - Click Here for match Bulletin

That's All Folks'
Hawkeye

Shooters News for the Minn Area - July 7th

Extra ! Extra !    Firecracker 4800 Results Day 2 and Day 3

   Minnesotan's own Morgan Dietrich and Jr. Eric Hazelton make waves at Raton Championship matches !!

 

From: Rick Curtis

Shooters,

 Due to a glitch in the results program, Fridays scores went up very late yesterday so my onsite crew couldn't get them to me until today. So without any further ado lets get to the results. In the High Master Class Nancy Tompkins fired one of only two clean scores yesterday, Her 1200-104X's took the day and beat out fellow classman Joe Farmer, who like an old bear awakened from the stupor his dismal day one score had induced, hammered out a 1199-100X score to claim a class second placing. In the Master Class Katie Bridges kept the hammer down as her 1198-102X score was class high but only by a little as veteran shooter Cal "Hammertime" Cooper also put up and 1198 but with 12 fewer X's.

 

Folks, as you all know, every shooter who progresses up the classification tree has defining moments in the journey. In Fridays match hotshot Minnesota shooter Eric Hazelton had his as he decimated his fellow Experts with that other 1200 I mentioned earlier! 1200-92X's to be exact; Wow, defining moment indeed!

Lapua's rep Kevin Thomas was game as his 1196-78X's proved but Hazelton now has a commanding class lead after two days of intense competition. The Sharpshooters witnessed a heavyweight battle break out between Minden Miles and James Piotrowski as they seesawed back and forth all day. When the dust settled Miles had squeaked by the day one leader to take the class win with a 1189-73X total over James's 1187-63X score. Last but certainly not least the Casey's in the Marksman Class opened the proverbial can of whoop-ass and stomped a mudhole in the rest of there brethren with an epic battle. Sydney Casey came out on top with a sizzling 1195-77X total beating out Scott Casey's 1192-84X score. 

 

For all the Day two scores please see the attachment so labeled.

 

Moving into todays shooting the competitors were met with something that had stayed pretty dormant so far in the championship and that something was wind! Just enough it seems that no one would walk away from todays event unscathed. However Minnesota's own Morgen Dietrich negotiated the condition the best to not only claim the High Master Class win he also carried the day with a fine 1st place 1199-84X total. Close by was West Points own Rifle Team head coach Ron Wigger who managed the second highest overall score of the day with a well executed 1197-88X score. The Master Class would once again see Katie Bridges rise to the top as she rolled onto another class victory but today it was much closer as her 1197-86 barely got by a very promising young junior named Rachel Martin who also finished with an 1197 but with four fewer X's!

 

The battle in the Expert Class between Hazelton and Will Anti remained in full swing today but Eric maintains the upper hand as he delivered another class winning score today. His 1191-73X total was four points and ten X's batter than Anti's finish. Barring a total meltdown Hazelton should grab the class high podium finish come bling day tomorrow! The Sharpshooters are seeing there own herculean struggle as Miles and Piotrowski continued to test each other today but like yesterday Miles prevailed with a solid 1187-65X finish four points and seven X's better than Piotrowski! The Marksman Class saw a new name rise to the top for the class win today as Corey Miller dominated with a great 1185-70X performance that left his fellow classmen in the dust. Scott Casey was the only one close with a game 1175-52X but it was Miller all the way today. Please see the attached day three scores for all the rest of the action.

 I will publish the day four results as well as the grand aggregate scores as soon as I get them!

 Hope to see some of you local shooters out for smallbore at PRGC tomorrow!

   Rick Curtis

NRA High Power Rifle Director, Arizona State Rifle and Pistol Association 

highpower@asrpa.com,,  www.asrpa.com

Thanks Rick for the Firecraker 4800 news.  Keep it coming

Hawkeye

Firecraker 4800 Match results

Extra ! Extra !   Minnesota Junior Shooter Eric Hazleton leads Ex class at Raton Championship matches

On the Fireing Line Report  

From: Rick Curtis
"Shooters,

 Yesterday, on the anniversary of the birth of this nation, the Firecracker 4800 kicked of in fine form in Raton New Mexico. Under sunny skies and cool temps the 40+ competitors were met with an unlikely condition; Flies and a million of them! One competitor told me that in addition to the flags and mirage you could read the wind by the drifting clouds of flies. But in this contest, as is usually the case, someone will rise above the challenges and make there mark in the pages of the rich history of this fantastic event. With names like Anti, Wigger, Farmer, Goff and Tompkins on the line you would surely wager one of them came away with the day one victory but friends, that would be a bet you would lose as young shooting phenom Katie Bridges seized the moment and came away the day one winner, with a perfect 1200-103X's! Joining Katie in the day 1 "clean club" were Tom Csenge, Mike Anti and Peter Raul. 

      In the class battles Csenge was top dog in the High Masters and Raul galloped away with the Master Class W. In the Expert Class Eric Hazelton (Mn) and Arizona's own Oliver Milanovic slugged it out all day with Hazelton coming out on top with an 1195-77X effort over Olivers 1193-60X score. Keep an eye on Mike Anti's son Will as he and Doan Trevor battled to an draw at 1191 with only six X's separating them. In the Sharpshooter class James Piotrowski, grandson of legendary scholar and noted historian Ron Piotrowski, dominated the class with a great 1183-57X score!

      For the complete day one scores please see the attached photo. Because of the image size it is best to save it to your pictures so you can zoom in for better viewing.  

     That's it for now, I will be posting day two scores as soon as I see them!

Rick Curtis     NRA High Power Rifle Director, 
Arizona State Rifle and Pistol Association"   
 
Note:  Minnesotan Morgan Dietrich fired an  1197-94  and lies in 7th place among this steller field.

Shooters News for the Minn Area -- July 2. 2013

Shooters News for the Minn Area -- July 2, 2013

The Week Ahead          
Celebrate our country's Independence and the 4th of July at a Rifle Match.  What better way to celebrate the 4th than to be on the range pulling some triggers.  This coming Independence Day, dig out that M1 Garand and/or that M1A you haven't fired in a while and mosey over to the Eau Claire Rifle Club for the holiday matches.  You know that Ron Berg and the Wisc. guys always put on a good fun match, so go and have some fun.  The CMP course of fire "B" will be used in both matches.
            Click Here for M1 match bulletin        Click Here for M1A match bulletin 

After practicing up on the 4th and a little closer to home here in Minn, the Gopher Rifle and Revolver Club will be hosting it's own CMP games on Saturday, July 6th. Once again, it's a fun service rifle match that is the order of the day.  This time shooters will be firing CMP course "A" in the morning -- 5 sighters prone at 200 yds, and then 10 shots for record in each of the three regular positions, Prone slow fire, Prone rapid fire, and Standing slow fire. The morning's match is to be followed in the afternoon by a CMP Sniper Team match.  Shooters will choose up two man teams, then fire and coach each other thru 10 record shots per shooter at both 300 and 600 yds. That should be a fun match!  
               Click Here for GRRC's  CMP match bulletin.  

Regional NRA Championship matches are taking place this coming weekend, July 6 & 7th at the NorthWestern Gun Club, just a couple hrs. North of the twin cities.  A good turnout is expected as shooters from the upper Midwest enjoy the north woods scenery on the shores of Hunter Lake and know that they will always find this picturesque rifle range to be one of the nicest places anywhere to shoot a rifle match.  There is camping available at the range and there is also always a social hr. after the match for shooters to unwind with a cool beverage, and get to know their fellow competitors.  The course of fire for the weekend is similar to the State matches last weekend at Redwing.  Saturday's match will be for the individual Regional Championship, and the Prone slow fire part of the Team Match.  Sunday's action will start off with the finish of the team match, and then about 1100hrs Service Rifle shooters will again try to earn some of those elusive, and very hard to earn, Leg Points in the EIC Leg Match.              Click Here for Match Bulletin

Last Weekend
Small Bore -- Minnesota Small Bore 3-P and 4-P State Championships June 29,30
     No match report available at this time  

 High Power                   

                                      Minnesota State Champions for 2013

"On the Firing line Reports"

 "2013 MN State NRA and Service Rifle Championships"
From: Erik Rhode

 Hi Guys, 
Just wanted to fill you in on the results from last weekend.  Cap'n Bob has the results for the Leg Match and will be sending that in. 

    Rain overnight on Friday and into Saturday morning might have scared off a few potential shooters, but we still had a good turnout with 32 total shooters for the day with 20 shooting Service Rifles and the other 12 shooting the fancy guns.  After a few years of low numbers, it was nice to see 11 targets all moving at the same time.  The rain held off and it turned out to be a good day for a shooting contest.  
After a quick safety briefing/pep talk from Cap'n Bob, we got underway at 9 o'clock sharp.    

"200 Yard Standing Match"

Jim Biles and Matt Griffin came out of the gate strong in the standing match with both putting up very solid 193's.  Griff could not find the X ring and Jim's single X edged out Matt's zero for the match win and the right to put his name on yet another trophy.  In the Service Rifle ranks, Jim Schonke and Scott Brabec both put up 188's with Jim's 5 X's topping Scott's 3 to take that match.   

 "200 Yard Sitting Match"        

The sitting match was next, and most were happy to get off of their feet and start shooting good scores!  I managed to hang on for a 200-7x to win that match and the trophy.  JIm Biles, Matt Griffin and Omer Hamer were close behind, each firing 197's.  On the SR side, Mark Havlik put up a strong 196-7x for the win. 

"300 Yard Prone Match" 

Once we got into the prone matches, Kevin Bangen reminded everyone why he has been the top OTC shooter in MN for so long.  Kevin managed the only 200 of the match and backed it up with 5 X's to walk away with that trophy.  Cap'n Bob matched Kevin's X-count but dropped 2 points to finish 2nd with a 198-5x.  
    

Over in SR country, we had to get out the official NRA rule book to figure out a seemingly unbreakable tie.  Two foreigners - Matt Cwach of Yankton, SD and Jim Schonke of Pepin, WI fired identical 198-7x scores with both also firing the same total for each string - 99-2x and 99-5x.  If I recall, the rules give the tie-breaker to the 600 yard score so Matt ended up as the match winner for that one.  Glad we had a rule book handy!      

                                            Service Rifle shooters at the 600 yd line      

"600 Yard Prone Match"  
Back at the 600 yard line, the winds were starting to swirl, like they almost always do in the afternoon at North Star.  Kevin Bangen, Omer Hamer and Phil Klanderud all shot 198's, but Kevin's astounding 15 X's left the others in the dust for the win.  I was lucky enough to be scoring for Kevin at 600 and was mightily impressed by his string of 8 consecutive X's in his first 10 shots.  Just another reminder of why Kevin is the guy all of the rest of us strive to beat. 

Service Rifle
Over to the black rifle guys - it was a father vs. son brawl with South Dakotans George and Matt Cwach both firing identical 196-6x scores.  The Creedmoor tie-breaker went to George, as he reminded Matt that he's his Daddy, both literally and figuratively.    

At the end of the day, it was Matt Griffin proving that slow and steady wins the race, and his consistent stage scores added up to an excellent match-winning score 783-18x.  Kevin Bangen's late-day surge left him only a single point back with 782-29x.  I know Kevin would had spotted Matt a few of those X's in exchange for 1 more point!  Jim Biles took the Bronze and was also the High Senior with a 779-17x.  Omer Hamer was the High Grand Senior with a 774-16x.  I hope to get Omer back out to Camp Perry one of these years as I know he would take the Grand Senior trophy at the National Championship just as easily as he does it in MN.  

Wrapping up the Service Rifle Contest, Matt Cwach made the long drive from Yankton worthwhile by shooting a 767-19x for the match win.  Since the MRRA rules dictate that the trophy has to stay in MN, Matt will receive a nice plaque to commemorate his title.  The top MN resident was up-and-coming NSRC member Scott Brabec.  Scott fired a rock-solid 765-20x from the Expert Class to take home the title of "MN State Service Rifle Champion" and the coveted jug trophy that goes with it.  Scott is going to be a guy to watch out for in the SR ranks.  He has only shot in 3 or 4 matches and already has Leg points as well as a state championship title under his belt. You can bet that the hard-core service rifle shooters noticed!        

 Congratulations and Great shooting to Matt Griffin, Matt Cwach and Scott Brabec!  

 "Team Championship Match"          

The team match started at about 4:30 Saturday afternoon and consisted of 4 teams vying for the long-lost and newly restored Team Championship trophy.  NSRC fielded a Match Rifle and a Service Rifle team, Minneapolis Rifle Club sent their top 4 MR shooters and the MRRA was also represented with a state association team.   
     We finished up around noon on Sunday and when the dust settled, the North Star Rifle Club Match Rifle Team consisting of Kevin Bangen, Omer Hamer, Cap'n Bob Peasley and yours truly managed to hold on to the title for a 4th straight year with a score of 1934-53x.  I am happy to report that the team trophy is sitting right next to me as I type this, along with the 200-yard sitting trophy.
   Special thanks to Mike May for calling the line all weekend and running a tight ship.  Stat officer extraordinaire Barb Bangen helped tremendously throughout the weekend.  As always, the match wouldn't have happened at all without Bob Peasley's experience and expertise. These folks really made the club look like a professional operation. 
  Thanks to everyone for coming down and making the match a success!  We hope to see you all in September for our Mid Range Regional Championship! 
Best regards,   Erik Rhode    NSRC Highpower Director 

  Match Rifle results     

 

    Service Rifle results
 








Team Match  
From Capt. Bob

 "Only 4 teams were entered with 2 shooting service rifle & 2 match rifle teams. 
As mentioned the North Star team of Kevin Bangen, Erik Rhode, Omer Hamer & Bob Peasley took the NRA trophy.  You will also note that the MRRA winning SR team had 5 shooters!  That team consisted of Mark Havlik, Joe Simones, Mark Schoess, Kurt Moline & Larry Weidell.  One of the members had a family emergency & could not return to finish the team match Sunday.  We all agreed it was better to have them finish with a substitute than not shoot.
  There was a 50% threat of rain Saturday but it didn't happen.  Sunday was a bluebird day for shooting with light wind and temperatures in the mid 70's.   There were not enough teams for cash awards but the North Star match rifle team won the recently recovered team trophy.  It will reside with North Star HP director & team member Erik Rhode for a year.  Or until his wife gets tired of dusting it & makes him give it to another team member. The Walnut team plaques will also stay with Erik." 

Leg Match
Congratulations to  

Matt Griffin, Jim Schonke and Larry Weidell for winning medals in the Leg Match.  It looks like with 17 non-Distinguished shooters on the line that there should have been two all-important Legs given out and those legs would go to Scott Brabec and George Cwach.  Congratulations to Scott and George for getting a "leg up on the competition" in their quest for that Distinguished Rifleman's Badge. 
Results of Leg match  

My Excuse from Capt. Bob:
"Once again had I shot better standing,  sitting  & prone I would have won the whole thing!"
Yup!  Bob, you only needed 68 more points, 5 more Xs and you'd have been right in there. That reminds me of the year I almost won the National Champ at Camp Perry -- just 120 more points and.......well, who knows.

P.S.  What ever happened to the "Jug Trophy" for the Senior Service Rifle Champ that was awarded at Elk River Sportsmans Club a few years ago?? 

Notes:
Our Friend, shooting companion, and contributor to this blog, Mark Havlik's, wife has been diagnosed with a debilitating Illness.  Let's keep them in our thoughts and prayers as we may not see Mark so much this year while he is spending his time helping his wife recover. 

Two Weeks Out
July 14th  --  300 meter International at MRC --no program available
July 13,14 --  MN long Range, Palma, and F-class LR State Championship at GRRC
                                 Click Here for Match Bulletin  
July 13th  --  Sm Bore 3P 1200 at MRC   Click Here for match bulletin
July 14th  --  Sm Bore Outdoor Prone 1200 and Barbeque at MRC   Click Here for match bulletin

That's All Folks !
Hawkeye