Shooters News for the Minn Area -- May 28, 2014

Next Weekend
I hope you all are well practiced up after the great rifle matches held last weekend, because this weekend its time to travel to the north woods to shoot the 'Over the Course' Regional Championship at Northwestern Gun Club. May 31st, and June 1st,  NWGC will host 2 days of OTC matches at their beautiful 500 yd rifle range on the shores of Hunter Lake, just a little NW of Duluth.  Both days are 80 shot matches and include a 20 shot Standing match, two strings of Rapid fire from the sitting position, two strings of Rapid fire from the prone position and finish with 20 shots slow fire prone shooting from the 500 yd line. Saturday's match will be a 4 man Team match with pickup teams organized for those not already on a team, and Sundays match is for the Individual championship.
  First rds. will go down range at 0900 hrs each day.
Match Director -- Jim Fernandez email:  jimvafern62@yahoo.com   (218) 729-5975 
Click Here for match program and Entry info
 

Last Weekend 

High Power -- OTC matches  at Northstar Gun club

 

 From Erik Rhode:

Hi Jim,

Just a quick recap of what transpired over the weekend.

Shooters from MN and surrounding states converged on North Star Rifle Club in Red Wing, MN for 2 days of good old-fashioned Highpower shooting.  The weather was perfect all weekend with high temps around 80º, and a nice breeze coming mostly out of the south.  We were unsure of what to expect for attendance as I had only received 1 early registration by mail, but when campers started pulling in on Friday evening, it started to look like we might have a pretty good turnout.  We ended up with a total of 29 shooters for the weekend, including some exotic, far-away lands like TX, MO, IA, WI and SD.  4 shooters were first-time shooters at NSRC, including 2 who were shooting in their very first match.  We had a very good mix of veteran shooters and new blood.

For many, this was the first official OTC match of the season, and the first real chance to shake off the winter rust.  There were an unusually high number of alibis and general weirdness as shooters worked out the kinks from the long offseason.  I was reminded early in the weekend that it doesn't take very many shots on other people's targets to really hurt a guy's score!

In the combined Expert/Shaprshooter/Marksman class, Mark "Sledgehammer" Schoess took top honors while placing 1st or 2nd in class in 7 of the 11 total matches.  Great shooting Mark, that's the sort of consistency that gets you to the top.  Close at his heels for the weekend was newcomer (can you call a guy with a P100 tab a "newcomer"?) Greg McCarty.  Greg had solid performances all weekend including a very nice 100-5x at the 300 yard line on his way to winning the Sunday Agg.  I'm guessing we will be seeing more of him this summer.

In the Master Class, in all the commotion to get scores tabulated and awards paid out, we had an arithmetic error that was not caught until I entered all of the scores in the spreadsheet this morning.  It was an honest mistake and my apologies to all involved - hopefully no hard feelings!.  After getting all of that sorted out, "Lovable" Larry Weidell was at the head of the class after winning both daily aggs and several matches on his way to the top of the Master class for the weekend.  His 1521-35x just edged out Craig Bennis, who also put in a solid performance with 2 class wins and a match win for his 199-4x at 300 on Saturday.  Jim Schonke was threatening all weekend, and it looks like between these guys and a few others, the Master class is going to be a tough one this season.

Up in the High Master Class, Campin' Kevin Bangen overcame some early struggles on Saturday to turn in a solid performance on Sunday (including the weekend's top 600 yard score) and add another match win to his collection.  Kevin has been the man to beat in MN for as long as I've been shooting Highpower, and it looks like he intends to keep it that way. Great shooting Kevin, and congratulations on the win!

Thanks to everyone for coming down, and we hope to see everyone again.  I think it's safe to say that a good time was had by all.  This is our last scheduled match at NSRC for the year, but we will most likely add another match or 2 as the rest of the MN schedule shapes up.  Cap'n Bob or myself will pass along any info as it becomes available.  

Hopefully everyone can make it up to Northwestern Gun Club in Duluth next weekend for the 2014 OTC Regional Championship matches.  On Saturday, the North Star Rifle Club Screaming Weasels will be defending their several-year streak of team match victories by taking on any and all challengers for the team title.  The individual match on Sunday should be hotly contested by all of the top shooters gunning for one of those big, shiny regional medals.  There is also an 80-shot warm-up match starting at noon on Friday for the die hards wanting to make sure they have solid zero's going into the weekend - I know I'll be there.

Best regards,

Erik Rhode    

Small Bore -- Regional prone Championships at MRC

The growing popularity of outdoor prone Sm Bore shooting was evident last weekend at the Mpls. Rifle Club.  Enough high caliber shooters showed up to contest this Regional Championship that for only the 4th time in recent memory 2 relays were required.  The weather was great with mild temperatures in the 70s and sunshine all weekend.  

  Both days saw the wind as most deciding factor in the competition.  Gusty winds plagued the shooters from the beginning to the end of the matches  and only the patient shooters were rewarded with the most tens and Xs.    Wind or not, the best shooters rose to the top of the scoreboard  fighting for every point and regretting every errant nine that leaked out  when the flags changed sides several times a minute. 

  Congratulations to Morgan Dietrich whose skill and patience reading the wind earned him the Gold medal and championship honors. 

The Silver Medal for 2nd place goes to Matt Griffin who's tanacity and hard holding kept him 3 points ahead of the always hard charging Stacey Tamulinas who had to settle for the Bronze Medal after two days of stiff competition and 320 shots for record.  Other great scores were shot by Steve Knutson,  Randy Gegory, and Junior Eric Hazelton.     

 Two Weeks Out 

 June 7th - Service rifle clinic at Post 435 Gun club 

                   Click here for Match program 

June 7th -  CMP Games match at Oakdale Gun Club

                   Click Here for match program

June 7,8 -  Long range Regional at GRRC

                   Click Here for match program

That's all Folks

Hawkeye

 

 

Shooters News for the MN Area - May 15th, 2014   

  The Memorial Day weekend this year, offers up two great 2 day tournaments with both the 'Over the Course' shooter, and the Belly shooter in mind. 
 OTC shooting enthusiasts will be heading down towards Red Wing to the NorthStar Rifle Club for 2 days of fun in the sun shooting Offhand, Sitting Rapid fire, Prone rapid fire, and Prone slow fire. A regular 80 shot OTC match is scheduled for Both days - May 24-25th
                        Click Here for Match program and Entry info

The Prone shooting specialists will be gathering at the Minneapolis Rifle Club both Sat, May 24th, and Sunday May 25th to compete in Prone Regional Championship for Sm Bore rifles. That match will test the skills of many of the State's top Prone shooters who will be trying to shoot that elusive X or Ten on those tough 100yd Small bore target. Saturday is all Iron sight shooting, and on Sunday, those who would rather shoot with scopes can do so in the Any Sight matches. There will be four 40 shot prone matches each day. While 8 twenty shot targets a day seems like a long day, each target usually only takes about 12 min to shoot and that makes for an easy, comfortable shooting day. With tough competitors, tough targets, but always good shooting conditions, Sm Bore prone matches always fit what German Salazar says about Small Bore competition-- "It's easy to participate in, but it is hard to Excel".   Click Here for match program and entry info 
  I'll be at this match, testing the technology of the 60's, and shooting my 50 year old Winchester M-52D (orig, barrel), as I have left my 2013 Anshutz in Arizona for use there. While the M-52 still does shoot quite well, I am looking around for a used modern Anshutz to buy.  I am also still looking for a used Creedmore style shooting jacket in Size 40-42 Rh. Take note. (651-653-2206)

With two great matches to choose from next weekend I hope you'll all get a chance to get out there and compete.    

 Above photo: Morgan Dietrich, Randy Gregory, and Steve Knutson shooting Sm Bore in Any/sight matches last year at MRC championships

Results:
300m Championships  George Minerich has made available to us the results from April's Minn State 300 m Championships --Click Here for scores and pictures. 
Congratulations to Erhard Bruderer who won the MN 300m State Championship, and to Junior Norman Lilyerd who won the prone Junior Championship, and to Junior Eric Hazelton winning the 3 position championship. 
That's all Folks
Hawkeye

Shooters News for the MN area -- May 6, 2014

Highpower
Gopher Rifle and Revolver Club to host Service Rifle matches
This coming weekend GRRC will host the 2nd in their summer series of CMP service rifle matches on Saturday, May 10th. These fun and easy matches will appeal to shooters who just want to get out and pull some triggers on what looks to be an actual 'sunny' day. Let's hope the forecast is right for a change ! The day will start out with an 'individual'  30 shot match, which consists of 10 shots prone slow fire, ten shots prone rapid fire and finishes with 10 shots offhand --  all from the 200 yd line.  After a break for lunch the 2nd match on the schedule is a Sniper Team match where two shooters alternate shooting and coaching from the 300 yd line and 600 yd line.  A good time will be had by all who attend, so dig out that older service rifle and give it a try. 
    Click Here for match bulletin

Sunday, May 11th head for Mpls Rifle Club near the small town of Now Then just NW of the Twin Cities.
From Brian Shiffman   shiff004@umn.edu
The May Minneapolis Rifle Club 300 meter match will be held this Sunday, May 11^th.  There will be two relays scheduled; the first starts at 10 AM and the second at noon.  My fuzzy caterpillar claims that it will be a nice, warm day.  I told him or her that if it made a mistake that it will become bird food!  (Contact Brian for entry & squadding )

May 10th &11th.Traveling shooters who prefer prone shooting only can find two good days of Mid Range prone shooting at the LaCrosse Rifle Club   Both days matches will be shot  from the 600 yd line and both days will have any/any, any/iron, Palma, Service, and F-class categories.   Click Here for match bulletin  E-mail entries to  deadeyepagel@yahoo.com

Small Bore

If you just like to shoot a lot and not pull targets, grab that small bore match

rifle and head to Mpls rifle Club Saturday, May 10. Starting at 0900, shooters 

will fire a 60 shot 3 position match, and after a lunch break they can fire a 60 

shot prone match -- all on the 50m A50 target.Click Here for match bulletin

Sunday, May 11 MRC will host a second day of sm bore shooting -- all prone.

This will be a 160 shot conventional outdoor prone match with targets at 50yds, 

100yds, and 50 meters.  Click Here for match bulletin

This match is a good warm up for the Regional Sm bore champ in two weeks

Last Weekend

From Erik Rhode
Hi Jim,

Attached are results from the April 26 4x600 at Eau Claire, and the Palma 

Regional at in Lodi for you to use or ignore at your discretion.  I've been 

meaning to get these to you sooner, but have been extremely busy.  I also sent 

a message to the new HP chairs at GRRC asking for their help in getting 

 results both to you for the newsletter/blog, and onto the MRRA results calendar.  

Hopefully we will have better luck than last year.

The weather at Eau Claire on the 26th of April was cool, but manageable.  Rain

threatened in the morning, but held off and everyone got in a full day of shooting.  

Light and fairly consistent winds led to some high scores being shot throughout the 

day. 

 Randy Gregory and Matt Griffin duked it out for the win, with Randy squeaking past

 Matt by X's with a 796-48 to Matt's 796-44.  I was 2 points back for a distant 3rd place.  

Sunday's OTC match ended up being called due to rain at about 11 am after the 

standing match and 2 relays of sitting.  I don't believe that anyone was too upset by 

this decision, as it was pretty cold and very windy.  When the rain started, the fun 

was pretty much over.  I'm pretty sure my 181 won the standing match, if that gives 

you any idea of the conditions.  Here's a link to Saturday's scores, in case they did 

not copy you on them:

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BwNBGsygr_lXVEpSaXJNOHFmRGM/edit?pli=1

On to Lodi.  This past weekend was the Palma Regional at Winnequah Gun Club.  

The forecast was threatening rain all week, but when I hit the road on friday 

afternoon, WeatherBug was showing a dry weekend.  It indeed ended up staying 

dry, but the conditions were anything but pleasant.  

Saturday presented us with an honest-to-goodness 25-30 mph gusting, fishtailing 

 headwind that would occasionally even kick up sand to keep everyone on their toes.  

Fast moving clouds were making light conditions very tricky on top of the extremely 

difficult wind situation.  I heard one shooter come off the 1000 yard line say that he 

didn't see the same target twice through the whole string!  Mirage was sometimes 

visible, but was often blown out and very hard to read, so most shooters switched to 

watching the flags.  I found the center flag on the 600 yard line to be somewhat reliable 

and based my corrections off of that.  Even the best shooters were getting caught for

 7's(or worse) and off-paper misses were not uncommon.  Several long-time Winnequah 

members stated that it was the hardest condition that they have seen at their range.  

Shooters left at the end of the day with wind-burned faces and dried-out eyes...

Brian Mrnak managed the only HM score of the day with a 439 for the win.  I was pleasantly

 surprised to find that my 433 was good enough for 2nd place!  The conditions 

managed to get even worse for the bonus 20-shot 1000 yard match, and not one 

shooter out of 29 was able to crack the 190 mark.  There were 3 189's shot, including 

the match winning 189-6x from Frank Evica, out of the Expert class, no less!  I was

happy to escape with a 186-3x, which gained me 3 points on Brian's lead and kept 

me in 2nd place for the 1-day agg.  

On Sunday, conditions proved to be much more favorable(though still not easy), and 

 scores were much higher for the day.  Rick Burbach posted a very respectable 445-20x 

for the top spot on Sunday, with crafty vet Bill Lair shooting a 441-15x for 2nd place.  

In the combined Master/Expert/SS class, Paul Cross won the weekend agg after 2 days 

of solid shooting with a 1036-29x.  A newcomer,  Sharpshooter-ranked Chris Veldkamp 

was just 8 points behind Paul for 2nd place using mostly borrowed equipment.  My bet is 

that we can expect for Chris not to remain a sharpshooter for very long.  

On Sunday afternoon when the dust settled, Brian "The Machine" Mrnak came out on top, 

and brought home the Gold Medal with a score of 1063-29x.  Brian is really at the top of his 
game
right now, and he will be the man to beat at any match he chooses to enter.  Waylon
Burbach showed why he's the #1 ranked junior shooter in the world by clawing his way up 

to 2nd for the Silver with a 1055-31x..  My pitiful performance at the 1000 yard line on Sunday
dropped me down to 3rd, but considering the conditions, I was happy to sneak away with the
 Bronze after shooting a 1051-33x.  

Over on the F-class side, Pat Scully made North Star Rifle Club proud in his first visit to

 Lodi by winning the F-Palma on Saturday AND the bonus 20-shot 1k match, giving him 
a comfortable lead going into day 2.  Sunday was a little tougher on him, but he hung on 
for the Gold medal and match win over 2nd place Bob Sebold with a 1048-23.  Pat also 
managed to earn the new nickname of "Square Head" from the Wisconsin guys - I think 
that one's gonna stick!

See score board photos from Lodi below.

Later,

Erik

Thanks Erik for sending in the Match report!!!

Thats All Folks !
Hawkeye

Shooters News for the MN area - May 1, 2014

Big Weekend coming up for Minn Area shooters.

  There are Rifle Matches galore this weekend, so grab up some of that ammo you have spent all winter loading and get out there and shoot--No excuses this weekend, there is something for everybody
  There are Prone matches for serious mid-range shooters, "Fun" matches for the service rifle shooter, and to top it all off there is an EIC (excellence in competition)  'Leg' match for the aspiring Service Rifle shooter to try and earn some of those elusive "Leg points" needed to earn the coveted "Distinguished Rifleman's"  badge.
  For the 'occasional' or beginning shooter that wants a "fun" match to go to, head on over to Oakdale Gun Club on Saturday morning May 3, and take part in the 2nd of their summer series of CMP Military rifle matches.  Easy and fun, these CMP matches are a good way to practice your skills. You will shoot some sighters and then 10 shots from the prone position, then a 10 shot string of  'rapid fire', also prone, and finally 10 shots from the standing position to finish out your turn on the firing line.
     Click Here for match program and entry info

Gopher Rifle and Revolver Club will also be hosting rifle matches both Saturday, May 3, and Sunday May 4th.  Saturday will see shooters on the line contesting the venerable Bob Hall Memorial OTC match.  Open to both 'match' and 'service' rifles, this will be an "Over the Course" type match--(50 of 80 shot?) and will be the warm-up for the all important Service Rifle Leg match taking place on Sunday May, 4th.  For service rifle shooters the 'Leg Match' is the holy grail of shooting. Come and participate and you will find out why.   Click Here for match program -- first shots down range at 0900 hrs.
   Belly shooters will be heading down to the beautiful NorthStar Gun Club just North of  RedWing, Mn, along the banks of the Cannon river. Two days of Mid Range matches await the faithful. Saturday shooters will fire 20 shot matches from the 300, 500 and the 600 yd lines, with Iron sights, and one 600 yd match with 'Any' sights.  On Sunday, all 4 twenty shot matches will be fired from the 600 yd line. Two with 'Irons' and two with 'any" sights. All matches on both days can be fired with scopes in the F-class.
   Click Here for Match program   Contact Bob Peasley (507)744-5200 for latest information

That's All Folks
Hawkeye