Shooters News for the Minn Area - June 24th, 2014

The Week Ahead 
Highpower  
With the prone mid-range Regional Championships out of the way, The action turns to the Over the Course shooter this next Sat and Sunday.  On both days the OTC competitor can find some stiff competition at the Mpls Rifle Club. Whether they are Service Rifle shooters or Match Rifle aficionados, they can test their skill in the State OTC Championships. The 80 shot competitions start off on Saturday, June 28 with the matches for the Individual championship honors in both divisions. Shooters will fire Offhand, sitting rapid fire, prone rapid fire, and prone slow fire matches on their way to the State Titles. Top competitors such as Kevin Bangen, and the veteran winner, Omer Hamer will be there so bring your best game.  After this match MRC will be feeding the folks a pork chop barbeque and there will be time to talk shooting and swap "I shot a" stories with your friends.
    Click Here for Individual championship match Program
On Sunday, June 29 shooters will choose up teams, and fire for the State Team OTC Championship. Shooters will have the benefit of team coaching during these matches and this makes for a good fun match. I have always thought that the team matches were the most fun.  Once again the course of fire is 20 shots in each of the four positions -- standing, sitting, prone, and prone.   Click Here for the Team championship match program
   Now's the time to start planing your outing to Eau Claire Rifle Club for the annual "Pig Roast" match weekend July 19-20.   Remember Saturday is prone mid range matches and Sunday is OTC matches.  Click here for Match program

Bad News dept.
There will be no Pig at the Pig roast!  That's right, shooters will not be feasting on Pork barbeque at the annual Eau Claire Rifle Club pig roast match this year.  The world as we know it is over !
 From: James Melville match director
Due to the National Matches held in Camp Perry this year being moved up, we have decided not to offer the meal for your Pig Roast Match. We have lowered the match fees to normal price and any one who has already sent in match fees will be given a refund.

I have attached an updated match bulletin."  "

James Melville            Click Here for revised match bulletin

Small Bore
State Championship matches are also on tap for Small Bore shooters this coming weekend.  Small Bore position shooters will be heading to the Elk River Sportsman's Club to contest for the 3 Position St. Championship on Saturday, June 28.  Targets will be shot at 50 meters from the Kneeling, Prone, and Standing positions. Two targets of 20 shots in each of these positions will decide the winner.
 Click Here for 3P match program and entry info
Those wishing to give it another try to win a State Championship will be back to ERSC on Sunday, June 29 for the 4 Position NRA Championship.  This day's shooting will include a match shot from the Sitting Position in addition to three positions shot yesterday. All four matches will be shot on A-23 targets from 50 yds.     Click Here for 4P match program and entry info

ERSC SB Range

I wish I was a 'position' shooter because I like shooting Sm Bore at ERSC.  It's a nice range and you shoot off Grass under the shade of some trees. I'll be there in Sept. for their prone match.  FYI -- This Sm bore range at ERSC is named after deceased member Ed Hassig, a Marine gunner who survived Wake Island, the Alamo of the Pacific in WW2.     Semper Fi Ed.


Last Weekend  
The Regional Mid-Range Championships Matches at Elk River Sportman's Club are in the Book.  All that's left is to clean the gear and remember a weekend well spent at ERSC shooting bullets 600 yds into the bullseyes and enjoying the day and the competition with our friends. As I wrote earlier the weather Saturday for the Team Championship was as perfect as weather could get for a 600 yd rifle match.  Just imagine it -- Bluebird sky's, light puffy clouds, 75 deg, and only a light zephyr of air movement, just enough to produce a visible mirage and show that no sight change was needed -- just load it, shoot it, repeat.  
 I went to the match to take a few pictures because I was just going to shoot Sunday in the individual match.  I had my gear as it was running through my head that if someone needed a forth team shooter, I might be better off shooting Sat than Sun as the forecast was for Rain on Sunday and the Team match Sat was only 60 shots per shooter and that's enough for me. Sure enough Team Rohmann was short a trigger puller and maybe I could help them stay in the competition against the annual power house team from the Mpls. Rifle Club. MRC always comes to prone Championships with only "Win" in mind.  This year would be no exception as they were bringing nationally competitively shooters to the firing line such as multiple past Champion and Long Range Palma team wind coach, Steve Knutson, also on their team is National Long Range Team shooter and many time State and Regional Champion, Stacey Tamulinas. Erik Rhode, Mn St Long Range Champion would fill out their #3 spot and anchoring this formidable team was long time competitor, Leo Huta.    
   Team Rohmann didn't seem to have a chance. MRC had the big names but our team had hope.   Team Capt. and sometimes brilliant shooter, Mark Rohmann would be the boss and call the team strategy.  Second shooter and wind coach would be Phil Klanderud - a strong prone long range shooter, 3rd spot and anchor of this team would be the always competitive, and experienced Steve Erickson (championships too many to list), and who is also the son of the legendary National Champion, 'Doc' Erickson. The #4 shooter on
Team Rohmann would be me, yours truly, no championships. I do have a good gun though.  I would be shooting a 6mm BR, through a Kreiger barreled Rem 700 action, pillar bedded by Randy Gregory in a 32 layer/in. laminated wood stock from Richards MicroFit.  29.7 gn Russian Varget would push a Sierra 107 MK at 2850 fps. Bring it on !

   Capt. Rohmann ordered up 4th shooter (me) to fire first with Erickson coaching wind. This was an Any sight match so I had my Leupold V-XIII on the gun set on 20x.  Steve said 1 min right and shoot it, and the first sighter went in the 10 ring at 10 o'clock.  Then starting poorly, I wiggled the first record shot into the 9 ring, but after that I just held the dot and broke the shot where Steve said to put it and we stayed in the 10s and Xs, There was little wind, we just shot fast and chased the spotter. Steve was up next for us and kept them on the water line losing only 2 pts to bad wind calls by his wind coach (guess who?) but also suffered an over loaded rd that sailed up to the 7 ring. 

   On the way to the pits for my time pulling targets, I checked

the score board and saw Team Rohmann was in the lead after 2 shooters -- Yes !  The big dogs weren't having it all their way today.  And so it went - shooter after shooter for 3 matches, Team Rohmer holding it's own and building a lead over the X ring specialists from the Mpls Rifle Club. The little guys on the block were having their day. Solid steady shooting by each team member resulted in wins in each of the 3 matches and at the end of the day Team Rohmann was the 2014 Regional Mid Range Champions.  

Congratualtions to Team Champions
Mark Rohmer      -593-25x
Steve Erickson    -584-26x
Phil Klanderude   -592-24x
Jim Evenson.      - 595-36x
The highest individual score of the day (prone class)  was fired by Stacey Tamulinas -- 596-31x

2014 Minn Mid Range Regional at ERSC

The Rest of the Story
*On the Firing Line* -- Mid Range Regional 

From: Erik Rhode 

 

Last weekend, the Elk River Sportsman's Club played host to the 2014 F-Class/Mid Range Prone Regional Championship.  2 days of shooting at 600 yards were on the docket, and a healthy number of shooters made their way to the club to test their skills.

Anyone who had been paying attention to the weather forecast for this match knew to expect a beauty.  I'd been checking WeatherBug all week, and could hardly believe the predictions for 2-4 mph winds for Saturday, and 3-6 mph for Sunday.  If this forecast held up, we were sure to see some SERIOUS scores at this match.

I packed up my wife and dog in the camper and headed up on Friday afternoon to make a full weekend of it.  Full electrical and water hookups for the camper made for a very comfortable stay.  This was my first time shooting at ERSC since 2011, so we decided to take a walk after dinner to get the lay of the land.  Some renovations had been done to the clubhouse, including full bathrooms, and there was also a new storage building near the shotgun range.  We wandered over to the 600-yard line and found it in beautiful condition.  The grass was trimmed short and more importantly; the whole line was flat from end to end.  No holes or humps to have to shoot in or on.  Canopies were set up behind the line for shade and rain cover, should the forecast get ugly.  

Saturday was the scheduled team match day.  I woke up early and shuffled my way over to the clubhouse to find my teammates, and get our squadding assignment.  In total, 7 F-Class and 2 sling teams were on hand for the match.  There was a wide range of skill levels among the F-class gang from folks shooting in their first matches, to seasoned vets.  All of the sling shooters on hand save one were salty old High Masters, so competition was sure to be hot on our side.  

The weather forecast did indeed hold up, and there was nary a puff of wind to speak of when shooting commenced at 9am sharp.  If a shooter could just hold center, there wasn't enough wind to even divert a bullet out of the 10-ring.  An absolute perfect condition to really lock down a solid no-wind zero.  Conditions didn't get much worse throughout the day, and I would be surprised if there were any gusts over 5 mph.   

In the F-Class division, the Turret Twisters were head and shoulders above the rest, led by  Lisa "X-Ring" Olson with her 595-28x topping the scoreboard for the day.   Her teammates Jon Clauson, Adam Shidla, and Joel Danielson weren't far behind with all 3 putting up good scores to give their team the win with a total score of 2363-117x.  Team Adamski was next down the board finishing with a team score of 2316-79x for 2nd place.  

With only 2 sling teams present, second place wasn't going to be anything to brag about.  As it turned out, Mark "Rottweiller" Rohmann's Team Rohmann made the Minneapolis Rifle Club team look like a bunch of Chihuahuas with a decisive 22-point victory margin.  Firing members were the Rottweiller himself, Philly Dawg Klanderud, Stevie Wonder Erickson, and your own Jim "Even Money" Evenson.  All 4 put up good scores for a team total of 2364-111x. While I didn't shoot as well as I would have liked on the "other" team, I did get to spend a lot of time coaching the other shooters on my team all day, which was a valuable experience for me.  

A BBQ dinner was served after the match, and was reported to be top-notch by all who attended.  The wife and I had a graduation party to get to in Bloomington, so I had to skip it this time around in the spirit of keeping family harmony.  One of these days, my relatives are going to have to learn not to schedule this kind of thing on my match days!

On to Sunday, and the individual matches.  The wind was no more severe than the day before, but a glance at the weather radar showed it wasn’t a question of if it would rain, only when.  As it turned out, relays 1 and 2 got to fire the first match of the day before it arrived.  Heavy rain with enough thunder and lightning to keep things interesting chased all of the shooters to the cover of the canopies.  After getting drenched in La Crosse last weekend, I was pretty happy to have something to stand under and keep my rifle and gear dry.  The rain kept on and caused a delay of about 90 minutes, causing Match Director Scott Olson to make the executive decision to shorten the day’s program from 80 shots to 60.  This seemed like a good idea to all, and eventually we were able to carry on.  When the rain finally blew through, the wind surprisingly dropped right back off to next to nothing, giving the rest of the shooters a chance at some epic scores. 

Many stepped up to the challenge, with personal bests being set all over the place, and even some national records among the F-Class gang.  Young Jager Brabec carried on a family tradition by setting a new Intermediate Junior National Record shooting an excellent 197-9x with his F-TR rifle in his first match of the day.  I don’t know the exact age of this young man, but he is very young.  He and his older brother have some real skills and I expect we will be hearing their names in MN shooting circles for many years to come.  In the second match, Lisa Olson tied the women’s National record with her 200-16x, and Jon Clauson tied the men’s record with his 200-19x.  These types of scores require some serious shooting by serious shooters.  Congrats to all 3, hopefully they have some empty space on their walls for the NRA certificates they earned.

With 37 total F-Class shooters, there were too many highlights to cover, so I’ll leave the details to the scoreboards.  F-Class medal winners were:

F-Open:

Gold: Jon Clauson 600-47x  (Thats right--47 out of 60 shots into a 3in Xring at 600 yds)

Silver: Mike Jones 599-42x

Bronze: Greg Wahlstrom 599-31x

F-T/R:

Gold: Ed Higgins 594-30x

Silver: Mike Lehmeir 588-18x

Bronze: Jager Brabec 586-24x

 

Medal winners

On the sling side, it was no surprise to anyone to see Stacy “The Surgeon” Tamulinas come out on top, only dropping 1 point all day.  Stacy’s 599-38x performance showed the rest of us what a top shooter can do when presented with perfect conditions.  Right behind him was Mark Rohmann, shooting 2 199’s and a 200 to finish in second place with 598-35x.  Mark has really developed as a shooter in the last couple of years, and is proving that he can hang with anyone on the line.  With only 8 shooters in the class, new NRA rules allow only a Gold medal to be awarded, so Dr. Tamulinas was the only shooter to go home with hardware.  I asked Stacy after the awards ceremony just how many regional medals he has, and he answered that he has lost track.  I don’t doubt it – I picture something like Blackbeard’s treasure chest with gold medals spilling out all over the floor somewhere in Stacy’s den…

Thanks to Scott and the gang at ERSC for putting on a great match.  Everything ran smoothly, and everyone was treated very well all weekend.  Scores were ready quickly, and the awards ceremony ran very smoothly.  The BBQ and pit shuttle were nice touches, and added to the “big match” atmosphere.  As I mentioned earlier, it’s been a long time since I’ve shot a match at ERSC, but I won’t hesitate to go back next time there’s one there for us sling shooters.  

Complete results:

Best regards, Erik

Thanks again Erik for sending in the match report, I appreciate your help in producing this news letter and blog.
Note: we do need an willing F-class contributor to write something about what goes on in F-class


Two Weeks Out 
July 4th        - M1 Garand & M1A match at Eau Claire -- Click here for program
July 5th        - CMP Games Service rifle match at GRRC -- Click here for program
July 6th        - Service Rifle "Leg" match at GRRC -- Click Here for program
*July 19        -  MR prone and OTC at Eau Claire*   Click here for match program

That's All Folks!
Hawkeye

Shooters News for the Mnn Area - June 21, 2014

EXTRA ! EXTRA !     Perfect weather for Mid Range Champs !

This story starts out -- "It was the perfect shooting day..."  
and it was.  After what, it seems like, endless weekends of bad weather for rifle matches, today made up for it.  35 folks turned out to fire the Regional Mid Range Team Championship at Elk River Sportsman's Club today in what anybody would call "Perfect" conditions. It was all shot from the 600 yd line under Bluebird sky's, gentle breezes, on a nice warm summer day for 8 four shooter teams. The competition was good because the 'gentle' breezes were constantly switching from side to side and that kept wind coaches in the game with one eye on the mirage and the other on the wind flag at the 300 yd line. Plenty of high scores were turned in.

Tomorrow -- Sunday we all shoot the "Individual" match and hope that you will join us.  Maybe it will be another great day at Elk Rivers top notch shooting facility.

Erik Rhode at the 600 yd line

            Top F-class shooter -- Lisa Olson







Complete results coming soon
Hawkeye

Shooters News for the Minn Area - June 17, 2014 -- Pt #2

Last Weekend - Part #2    

  **On the Firing Line Report**
 Mid West Palma Championships Team Match

From Erik Rhode:

Hi Jim,

I'm back from Lodi, and trying to get myself back into the "work" mindset.  Before I get too far with that, I figure I'd better send this out while it's still fresh in my mind.

On monday, the Winnequah Gun Club in Lodi Wisconsin kicked off what many consider to be the premier Long Range shooting event in the country - The Midwest Palma.  Top-notch shooters from all over the US are on hand as I type this, all fighting for the chance to put their name on one of the most coveted trophies in the sport.  To have any hopes of accomplishing this, shooters must grind it out over 4 long days of Palma matches.  Winnequah is a tough range with many surprises, and it has a funny way of turning early leaders into mid-pack finishers very quickly.  Locals seem to have a bit of a home-field advantage, and infrequent visitors are all-too-often left scratching their heads wondering what went wrong.   

The week's festivities begin with the 4-Man Team Palma match.  This match follows the traditional Palma format, with each team member firing 15 shots for record at the 800, 900, and 1000 yard lines.  Rifles must be chambered in .308 Winchester or .223 Remington - pretty much everyone shoots the .308.  Each team can designate a coach that will make the dope calls for the shooter.  The coach can be a firing member of the team, or a full-time, non-shooting coach.  The same target is used at all 3 yard lines, the NRA LR target.  This is generally thought of as the "1000 yard" target, so shooting it at 800 and 900 yards usually leads to higher scores at those ranges.  800 yards is still a long ways with a .308, but having a 1.2 MOA X-ring does help.  

For this year's team match, 8 sling and 4 F-Class teams showed up to test their combined skills.  Wind was fairly brisk, I'd estimate 8-12 mph for most of the day with pick-ups and let-offs keeping things interesting.  

On the sling side, competition promised to be stiff, with all 8 teams being ranked as "High Master" teams by the NRA's team grading system.  There were some big names shooting, including Steve and Shirley McGee, fresh from their magnificent weekend performance in La Crosse.  The F-Class gang's 4 teams were more varied in experience levels, but the competition wasn't any less fierce.  

Looking at the 4 F-Class teams on paper, most would have assumed an easy victory was in the cards for the team from Brux Barrels or Brian Litz's Jack Pine Savages.  As it turned out, these were the top 2 finishers, but only 19 points separated the first place team from the 4th.  Good scores were put up by all shooters present, with the Marksmen, Sharpshooters and Experts keeping pace with the Masters and High Masters in many strings.  At the end of the day, it was the experience of the shooters from Brux Barrels that put them on top.  High Master aggs from 3 of their 4 shooters locked up the victory over the 2nd place Jack Pine Savages.  Congrats to The Brux gang - looks like they know how to do more than just make barrels!

On the sling side, 3 coaches from the US National team were on hand with teams of their own.  Bob "Maestro" Mead, Rick "Rain Man" Hunt, and MN's own Cap'n Bob Peasley demonstrated their wind-reading skills at long range throughout the day.  In addition to the wind, lighting conditions were challenging with fast-moving clouds changing sight pictures for all shooters.  Occasional elevation 9's and even 8's were popping up on targets from some of the best shooters present.

Coach Mead turned in a masterful performance at all 3 yard lines by keeping all 4 of his shooters in the black throughout the day.  I believe only one 8 came up on Bob's #20 target all day, and that was a wild elevation shot that couldn't be blamed on Bob.  He didn't let a lot of 9's out either, and consistent elevation holds by his 4 shooters sealed the deal for the match winning team score of 1778-78x.  Congrats to Bob's Wild Hares - firing members Morgen Dietrich, Brian Mrnak, Bob Steketee, and Erik Rhode.  

Bob's "Wild Hares" shooting team

Also of note to local shooters, MN favorite Stacy "The Surgeon" Tamulinas was the top gun for the day with a very impressive score of 447-31x. Stacy is shooting very well and I am looking forward to shooting on his team next weekend at the Mid Range prone regional championship at the Elk River Sportsman's Club.  

Best of luck to everyone sticking around Lodi for the rest of Midwest Palma week - wish I was still there.

That's all for now, have to get to work so I'll have time to load ammo tonight!

Erik Rhode

Two Weeks Out
June 28,29  - Sm Bore Position St. championship at Elk River
June 28  -     State OTC Championship at MRC - Click Here for match program
June 29  -     State OTC Team championship at MRC  Click here for match program 

That's All Folks
Hawkeye

Shooters News for the Minn Area - June 17, 2014

Extra - Extra !  Palma Team Championship Rpt from Lodi coming tomorrow !!
The Week Ahead
   The fun has already started for Minn area competitive shooters this week. Long range specialists and those just wanting to compete at those longer distances are at Lodi this whole week firing in the Midwest Palma Championship. Tuesday through Friday the course of fire is just Palma and more Palma matches for those 4 days. Saturday June 21, and Sunday the competition will be hot and heavy at the 1000yd line in order to decide the Wisconsin State Long Range Championship.   Good luck to all the local Minn shooters that are down at Lodi to compete.   I'm sure we'll get a match report from Erik Rhode when he gets back.  The way he has been finding the X ring this past year, he might have a good story for us.
  Those of us who are better off sticking to Mid Range matches and stayed behind from Lodi will our turn to shoot a great match both Saturday and Sunday at the Elk River Sportsman's Club. Both Sling shooters and F-class specialists alike will be out there to contest the Regional Mid Range Championship. All matches will be fired from the 600 yd line of Elk River's shooting facility northwest of Mpls.
   On Saturday, June 21, shooters will choose up teams and fire 3 strings of 20 rds each with coaching allowed.  Sunday, June 22 will see the matches for the Individual Championship fired.  Sling competitors will shoot two matches each with Iron sights and two with Any sights. This will be a good weekend to exercise my 6mm BR match rifle.
  Click Here for Mid Range Champ match program and entry info.

Last Weekend   
 Rain, Rain, and more rain pretty much says it all for matches near the Twin Cities this past weekend.  I drove up to GRRC Saturday a little after noon to get a couple pictures of the CMP games afternoon sniper team match. Larry Weidell and Kurt Borlaug were the only two shooters there in the drizzle and were practicing "Rattle Battle" for the Camp Perry Infantry Trophy match coming up in July. They said that 16 service rifle shooters had showed up for the CMP games match but rain and more rain put a stop to that.
I hope the Sm Bore prone match at MRC had better luck on Sunday, but as it was storming rain and wind all morning at my house, I didn't get out there to find out.

However--- someone did get to shoot a match  

 **On the Firing Line Report - LaCrosse Mid Range matches**       Part #1

From: Erik Rhode

Hey Jim,

Just a quick update on the Father’s Day weekend matches at La Crosse. 

This was my first trip to La Crosse, and it didn’t disappoint.  My plan was to use this as a warm-up for the Midwest Palma matches in Lodi that start tomorrow – apparently I am not the first guy to come up with this plan. 

For Saturday’s matches, the range was close to capacity with 55 total shooters spread out on 15 targets over 4 relays.  Sling shooters were definitely in the majority here, with 46 of us compared with 9 shooting F-Class.  There were a few familiar faces for me, but mostly shooters I hadn’t met before – and some really good ones at that.  I got to meet folks from all over the country on their annual pilgrimage to the long range shooter’s Mecca of Lodi. 

Conditions on Saturday were a pleasant – a little windier than usual(according to the locals), but very manageable and some good scores were fired.  At the top of the heap in the highpower class were the tremendous husband-and-wife duo of Steve and Shirley McGee, each putting up 797’s for the day.    Steve’s 48 X’s just edged out Shirley’s 43, so he was Saturday’s big winner.  4 points back and tied for 3^rd/4^th  with matching scores of 793-42x, were John Rhynard and myself. 

Down on the F-Class side, MN favorite Pat “Square Head” Scully put on a clinic by winning the first 3 matches outright.  He was well on his way to another victory in the 4^th when an unexplained squib round fell short of the target costing him 10 points in short order.  Even spotting his competition 10 points, Square Head still managed to win the day with his respectable 783-36x just squeaking by runner-up Brock Schmidt’s 783-27x.  This Scully character is turning out to be one tough F-er.

Despite an ominous forecast, almost everyone returned to do it all again on Sunday morning.  Rain looked like a sure thing on Saturday night, but bad weather seemed to be keeping it’s distance by match time.  Wind was much stronger than yesterday, and high scores today were going to take a lot more effort.  I was lucky enough to be squadded with the big dogs on relay 1, or so I thought.  Not 5 minutes into our first string, the clouds unloaded on us for several minutes straight.  This wasn’t a light, refreshing sprinkle either, but a bone soaking, gear soaking, pour-the-water-out-of-your-action kind of rain.  No one called a cease-fire, so most of us just kept on shooting.  This proved to be the only rain we got all day, but the wind never let up. 

Pat Scully survived the deluge, and kept his foot on the throttle on Sunday while cruising to a 4-point victory, again over Brock Schmidt.  Winning both single-day aggs, ol’ Square Head is the F-Class math winner for the weekend.

Not surprisingly, there was once again a McGee on top of the sling scoreboard for day 2.  Shirley taught all of the boys what hard-holding is all about, finishing with an astonishing 798-42x.  This is a score that most mortals will never shoot in any condition, let alone the nasty winds we had today.  This was truly an impressive accomplishment, by one of the best prone shooters in the country.  Shirley’s worse half Steve shot well again, and was still in the hunt with his 790-40x, but Team USA wind coach Rick Hunt had something to say.  Rick only dropped 7 points for the day to secure the #2 spot. 

Click to expand

Shirley walked away with the 2-day agg with a total score of 1595-85x.  Steve was next with a 1587-88x, and David Mayfield rounded out the top 3 with a solid 1579-73x. 

I had a bad 2^nd match on Sunday, but was happy to finish just a point and an X behind David for 4^th place overall, and 2^nd Palma rifle.  I feel like I got my money’s worth at this match, and should have no rust to shake off come tomorrow morning’s 4-man Palma team match.  Work prevents me from staying more than 1 day in Lodi this year, so hopefully the extra practice in La Crosse will pay off!  This week’s schedule is going to be a killer after I get back Monday night, but I will try to get you a report on the team match in the next few days…

Reporting from the Lodi, WI Quality Inn,    

Erik Rhode

Two Weeks Out
June 28,29  - Sm Bore Position St. championship at Elk River
June 28  -     State OTC Championship at MRC - Click Here for match program
June 29  -     State OTC Team championship at MRC  Click here for match program 

That's All Folks
Hawkeye

Shooters News for the Minn Area - June 10, 2014

Weekend Ahead
While the long Range shooters count their winnings, or lick their wounds after last week's tough match, this coming weekend belongs to the Highpower or Small Bore shooter that wants to pull some triggers and have a little fun.

    I just might dig out my older Service rifle and head up to Gopher Rifle and Revolver Club Saturday, June 14th, for the 30 shot morning CMP games match. I like these matches (I only have to shoot 10 standing).  The match consists of 10 shots prone slowfire, 10 rds prone rapid fire, and 10 rds standing -- all from the 200 yd line.  I could do that. The afternoon match is a sniper style match where two shooter teams are made up and Rds are fired at both 300 yds and 600 yds while the shooter team alternates coaching and firing.    Click Here for Match program

   Traveling Highpower shooters can find a great Mid Range Prone/F match just down Hwy 61 at the LaCrosse Rifle Club both Sat, June 14, and Sun June 15th.  Shooters will fire from the 600 yd line in four 20 shot matches each day for a 1600 pt two day aggregate score.  Click Here for match program  E-mail entries to deadeyepagel@yahoo.com.

  Small Bore shooters, both prone and position, will also be slinging up for matches Saturday and Sunday. Mpls. Rifle Club will host the matches both days. The Position shooters are first up Saturday morning to compete in a 3x20 three position match all to be shot at 50 m on the A-50 target.  In the afternoon the prone shooters take over the competition with 3 more matches at 50m also on the A-50 target.  Click Here for match program. On Sunday June 15 the hard core prone shooter will heading to MRC for the monthly 1600 pt prone match.  Where else do you get to fire 160 shots in a day for record on tough targets in usually great conditions, with instant feedback, and no pit pulling? Eight targets of 20 shots will test the skill of the shooter at distances of 50 to 100 yds.
Click Here for Match program
 If my new rifle sling comes from Creedmoor this week (been on order since April), I'll be there trying out a more modern rifle than I had a the last match. (anybody want to buy a pristine Unertl 2 in. 15x target scope in a presentation box?) Hopefully we can get 2 nice weather days in a row for the weekend so everybody can have a little fun out at the range. I'm ready for that.

Last Weekend 
**On the Firing Line -  the Minnesota Long Range Regional Championship**


From: Erik Rhode

Hi Jim,

Here's how things went down up in Harris over the weekend:

Saturday morning brought a steady rain that had started well before match time.  Both radar and hourly forecasts seemed to agree that things would let up around high noon, so the decision was made to postpone start time until then.  Since the match program had 60 shots of Any/Iron matches on the schedule for Saturday, and only 40 shots of Any/Any matches for Sunday, it was decided to swap the schedule and shoot the any/any matches first to better fit in the shortened Saturday timeline.  Fine with me - I just wanted to be able to try out my newly-restocked Palma rifle at it's first match!

Just as predicted, the rain stopped around noon and we were able to get the show on the road by 12:30.  Conditions stayed dark and dreary throughout the day with target faces being sometimes difficult to find for those of us without optics.  

Up on the high side of the range, things were tight with the F-Class gang, with only 5 points separating the top 5 spots.  One of only 2 men present to achieve the elusive F-Class Long Range High Master classification, Big Bad Ben Winget finished the day at the top of the board with a 392-10x.  His Saturday agg included what would prove to be the highest match score of the entire weekend with his 199-8x in the first match of the day.  A single point behind and tied for X's was Rick Sievers.  Rounding out the top 5 after day one were John Rykus, Wade Brown, and Pat "Square Head" Scully.  

Down on the sling side, the competition was no less fierce.  12 of the 15 shooters were High Masters, and nobody felt like giving up easily.   Brian "Short Pants" Mrnak set the tone early with a matching pair of 198-8x's to give himself a 4-point cushion over 2nd place Philip Klanderud's 392-16x.  Brian's 396-16x was enough to take the first day agg, and get his name on the "Any Rifle/Any Sight" trophy one more time.  Jay Johnson and I were both 5 off the lead with 391's and still in the hunt, with Us National Team Coach Bob Mead hot on our heels with his 390.  

On Sunday morning, we were treated to bluebird skies. 70º temps, and a nice breeze coming out of the north.  As is often the case at GRRC, the north wind was fishtailing fast throughout the day.  Luckily, mirage was much easier to spot than on Saturday, but it didn't always match the wind flags and could be difficult to pin down.  There were some pretty long holds while shooters waited and hoped for their preferred wind to return, and anyone not paying close attention to the rapidly-changing conditions was likely to be punished with surprise 8's or even worse.

On the F-Class side, Square Head Scully kicked things off in Match 1 with a 197-7x to top the field and gain a bit of ground on the leaders.  Winget's 195 and Siever's 196 tied them up for points, with Siever having the edge on X's with 2 matches to go.  It was starting to look like Saturday's leaders might be able to hang on until the end.  

As fate would have it, both Ben and Rick tapered off after that first match, leaving the door  open.  Adam Shidla posted solid scores to finish with Sunday's top F-Class agg of 588-16x, but after a disappointing Saturday, it wouldn't be enough.  Down in the Expert class, dark horse John Rykus saw that open door and heard opportunity knocking.  His 193 in the first match was good enough to keep him in the race, and with 197's in matches 2 and 3, John finished just 1 point behind Adam for Sunday's agg.  More importantly, his 587-21x combined with his 390-12x from Saturday put him at the top of the leader board for the grand aggregate! 

 John Rykus takes home the Gold Medal and is your 2014 Long Range F-Class Regional Champion!  Great shooting John, hopefully you dropped that Expert card in the trash can on your way out.  Ben Winget took home the Silver, and Pat Scully finished in 3rd for Bronze.

Back over by the sling shooters, Short Pants Mrnak was determined to be more than just a one-day wonder.  He negotiated a respectable 196 in tricky conditions in match #1, but Jim Soderstrom, Stacy Tamulinas and myself all shot 197's to inch our way a little closer to the front.  In match #2, Brian took off his long pants to let everyone know that he meant business, but 8 shooters gained ground - this was going to be a close match indeed.  Going into match #3, Brian's lead was razor-thin, and several shooters were charging hard.  Jay Johnson, Bill Lair and Stacy Tamulinas all put up 198's to keep the pressure on, and I was not far behind with my 197.  Stacy's remarkable Sunday scores of 197-5x, 197-12x and 198-6x gave him the Sunday victory and the "Any Rifle/Iron Sight" trophy for his already-crowded mantle.  But like Shidla, his Saturday scores just weren't high enough for him to take the whole shebang.  

So I suppose you're asking who won this thing?!?  Well, as it turns out, it was me.  Consistent scores both days allowed me to stay in contention, and finish with the top score of 980-35x.  The new rifle handled even better than expected, and after making a few minor adjustments after Saturday's first match, I couldn't have been happier with how it performed.  I didn't have time to do any load development before the match, and I guess I'm not going to do any now.  

Medal winners on the sling side:

Erik Rhode, 980-35x - Gold Medal - 2014 Long Range Prone Regional Champion

Jay Johnson, 977-38x - Silver Medal

Stacy Tamulinas, 976-39x - Bronze Medal 

    Thanks to Wade, Jeremy and the GRRC gang for running a great match!

Best regards,  Erik Rhode

  Thanks, Erik for that match report, I know we all enjoy reading them. So -you are the double winner this week. Not only do you write up a good match rpt for us, but you also win the Regional Long Range Championship. Great shooting, Erik !  I'm sure we'll see you out at the Berger Long Range matches again this winter showing those westerners how to shoot the X-ring.

All right, there's some good matches coming up this weekend, so lets get out there and do some shooting.

Two Weeks Out   

June 16 to 22 - Mid West Palma and Long Range at Lodi -- click here for program

June 21, 22    - Mid Range Prone/F Regional at Elk River - Click Here for program

That's All Folks !

Hawkeye

For Sale:   Unertl 2 inch, 15x rifle scope - pristine condition - $800  651-653-2206

Shooters News for the Minn Area - June 2, 2015

The Weekend Ahead
This coming weekend should be a great one for Minn area competitive shooters.  There are good matches scheduled that should appeal to most upper Midwest High Power shooters. 

Long Range shooters and prone specialists are looking forward to two days of 1000yd matches to test their skill or to just have some fun shooting bullseyes almost a kilometer away at Gopher Rifle and Revolver Club's long range shooting facility near Harris, MN. On Saturday June 7th,  traditional shooters will engage the targets 1000yds away with iron sights and using only rifle slings for support in three matches of 20 shots each with unlimited sighters.  F-class shooters will use scopes and rests in all matches on both Sat and Sunday trying to keep their shots into that small minute of angle ten ring. Saturday's competitors will have the opportunity to participate in a 4 man Team match where a wind coach helps the shooter gauge the wind and offers sight corrections as the wind changes throughout the match. If a shooter is not already on a team, they can join a pick-up team for that match.  Sunday June 8th, all shooters will fire two more matches of 20 shots and unlimited sighters using any sights. 
Click here for match program 

**Here is a video of last years Long Range Championships  showing both f-class and Sling shooters in action** 
 

Service Rifle shooters
Gather your gear and head to Oakdale Gun Club for a CMP games match on Saturday June 7th. Click Here for match program.  This is the 3rd CMP match of Oakdale's summer series of Service Rifle matches.  30 shots for record is the course of fire,  10 prone slow fire, 10 prone rapid fire, and 10 shots offhand. This is a great match for the beginning shooter or good fun practice for the OTC shooter looking for some practice and some fun.

Service Rifle clinic and match
Are you a new prospective new shooter that would like to know more about Service Rifle shooting? Post 435 Gun Club has a service rifle clinic and 50 shot match on Saturday June 7th that would be just the thing for you.  The day will start with classroom session to explain to the new shooter how to participate in a rifle match and the basics of marksmanship.  The classroom session will be followed by a 50 shot CMP service rifle match where shooters are coached for safety and skill. Click Here for match program. 
Contact Mark Havlik match director  651-655-4853

300 m International 

From Brian Shiffman
The June Minneapolis Rifle Club 300 meter match will be held Sunday, June 8^th.  There will be two relays scheduled; the first starts at 10 AM and the second at noon.   Registration begins Sunday June 1. 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  

May 300m match:

Now, these were just about as fine as it gets for shooting; sun, very little wind, comfortable temperatures.  And the scores showed it with many scores above 590 for F class shooters.  Linda Stern topped Bob Mann by 4 points for the F-Open win.  Gary LaValley and Chuck Van Heel had a nice match going with Gary winning the F-TR class by 3 points.  Ed Facundo was top 3 position shooter.  We deserve more shooting days like this one.  This is the link to the May match results:  http://edfpages.com/mgfc/results.php?match=5

Last Weekend    
"On the Firing line" 
 From Erik Rhode
  Hi Jim,

Just a quick report on last weekend's match.  

MN area shooters headed up to the great north woods last weekend for what was to be one of the most important match weekends of the year, the annual Highpower OTC Regional Championships.  Despite an ominous weather forecast, the die-hards still made the trek to take their chances for one of the top spots.  

On Friday, 8 early-bird shooters took advantage of what would turn out to be the only pleasant weather of the weekend to shoot an 80-shot practice match.  With only 2 relays, and keeping our own scores, we were able to get the whole thing done in about 3 hours.  Lil' Dickie VanValkenburg posted a cool 777 for the top score of the day, winning a crisp $1 bill from yours truly in the process.  Enjoy it Dick, you won't be getting many more!  Also of note on Friday was Jim Fernandez coming back from knee surgery to shoot a personal-best score of 770 - way to go Jim!

Next up on the weekend's schedule was the 4-man team championship on saturday morning.  The North Star Rifle Club Screaming Weasels were ready to scream their way to another in their seemingly unbreakable streak of team victories with new member Barb Bangen, but it was not to be.  The rain had already started well before 9 am, and satellite radar showed no indications that it would be stopping anytime soon.  At around 10:30 it was decided that the match would have to be scrubbed.  This was unfortunate, as there appeared to be enough shooters for 5 teams, which is a good turnout for an OTC team event these days.  A group of 8 ventured into Duluth proper for lunch and some light sightseeing.  Afterwards, the rain stopped for just long enough for 4 of us to get in a few shots from the 500 yard line before the clouds opened up again.  As of Saturday night, the forecast for Sunday looked even worse than Saturday's did, and I was fully expecting to be on my way back home by 10 am.  

On Sunday morning, it was still raining lightly, but the updated radar showed everything staying to the south.  The forecast had already done it's damage though, as none of the extra shooters from Saturday came back to shoot the individual match.  It was decided that since we were already there, we may as well try to shoot the match, even though with only 14 shooters, the NRA would only allow 2 medals to be awarded.  No problem, whoever was going to get a medal was just going to have to fight a little harder for it, and what a fight it would turn out to be!

In the combined Sharpshooter/Expert/Master class, Lovable Larry Weidell continued his streak from last weekend by putting up the top score with a solid 766-16x.  If you want to win any matches in the master class this season, you'd better hope that Larry has other plans for that weekend!  Nipping at his heels all day was newly-minted Master Mark "Rottweiler" Rohmann finishing just 2 points behind, including a match-winning performance at the 300 yard line with his excellent 200-12x.  Another recent surgery patient, Elliot "The Serbian Sensation" Zunich was back in action for the first time since having neck surgery over the winter and didn't miss a beat, putting a 757-18x on the board.  Lots of good shooting from these guys.

Up on the top of the board in the HM class, it was a battle between 2 shooters and the rest of us were just along for the ride.  2 men that are no strangers to Regional medals duked it out all day long to see who'd go home with the gold.  Always a contender at any match he enters, Campin' Kevin Bangen brought his "A" game as Jim "Big Match" Biles reminded us that while he doesn't come out of hibernation often, he makes it count when he does.  Kevin and Jim shot matching 190-2x scores in the standing match, then hung neck-and-neck all the way to the finish line.  Jim's 199 sitting score edged out Kevin's 198 to put him 1 point ahead as they headed back to 300.  Once there, Kevin drilled out a clean 200 vs. Jim's 199 to bring them back to even.  Looks like the whole match would be decided on the 500 yard line.  Conditions were good there, with light overcast skies and seemingly easy winds, but great scores proved to be more difficult than expected all around.  Jim's relay shot first, and he managed a respectable 195.  I know Jim would've liked to build himself  a bigger cushion there, but sometimes things don't work out like we hope in this sport.  Kevin brought his gear to the line needing a 196 or better, which is a score I've seen him top many times.  The conditions were tougher than they looked, and Kevin finished with a 195 of his own, leaving the 2 big dogs with scores of 783 for the day.  This is why they keep track of those X's.  After match director extroardinaire Denny Bertrand put his abacus back in the drawer, JIm's 32 X's left Kevin's 19 in the dust, making Jim the 2014 Highpower Regional Champion!  Great shooting to both, and congrats to Jim on a great match!

See attachments for scores and photo of the winners. 

Hope to see everyone next weekend in Harris for the 2014 Long Range Prone Regional.

Best regards,  Erik Rhode

Thanks for that match report, Erik

Two Weeks out 
June 14 -- CMP games service rifle match at GRRC - program click here   
June 14,15 - Mid Range prone at LaCrosse -- program click here  

That's all Folks !
Hawkeye