Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Shooters News for the Minn Area - June 30, 2015 
*Update:  Midwest Palma matches --  Complete match Report below!   

  Next weekend   
 Highpower 
This coming weekend we will continue with rifle matches just over the border into Wisconson.  The Eau Claire Rifle Club will be hosting for your pleasure, a John C. Garand match for service rifles. This will be a 50 shot match using the CMP course B course of fire.  This should be a great fun match as it is all shot from the 200 yd line, and that means you don't have to move your equipment all day and you don't have to walk so far to the pits.  Click here for Match Bulletin

Last Weekend    
  *On the Firing line Report - Mid West Palma Matches *     
 From: Morgan Dietrich 

Jim:  
Many people from MN made the trek to Lodi Wisconsin last Sunday.  I have shot this event probably 8 times, this BY FAR was the best weather we have ever had for the whole week.  We had rain on day 1 before the team match began, we got started late but once the day started it turned into a day I was glad that the coach was in charge of the wind.  Bob Mead steered my sights along with Erik Rhode, Brian Mrnak and Bob Steketee's sights to the Palma team win.  It blew so hard I was getting buffeted in position, and with as tight as a position as I am using it did not make delivering a good shot very easy.
 
   On to the aggregate, the weather got better!  Twitchy winds, low in value with mirage slowly changing deceptively lulled you into not paying attention.  Then you finished the yardline and realized you dropped more points than you had hoped to.  Norm Crawford shot a stellar score day one, 448-14.  I was proud of my 23X's, but 443 was not in Norm's league that day.  Day 2 another beautiful day, deceptively easy again.  Ricky Hunt had it figured out, shooting an awesome 448-26, Randy Pike was next with 446 and Brian Mrnak showed how to stay in the middle with a very nice 445-19.  The agg was starting to take shape.  I was having wind zero issue, I had changed it by 1 minute, then got to 900 with mirage running left to right.  My impatient self thought I had the wind figured out.  Mirage changes going right to left with the same velocity it had in the opposite direction.  In my infinite wisdom I decide to make the sight change instead of waiting for the condition to return.  That 7 at 9'oclock is burned into my memory.   grrrrrrrr.  I still would have been back for the day but that one stings and reminds me why "lodi" always wins....... 
  
 Day 3 of Palma, who is going to get it done today?  Another beautiful day arrives, mid-seventies slight wind to make one simply be happy to be outside.  Randy Pike again shows us how to get it done, 450.  boom!  Nobody can catch him for the palma agg, but others are trying.  Waylon Burbach shoots an excellent 449-30, Steve McGee 448, Kyle Liebetrau fired a personal best 448.  Needed to be on top of your game but the conditions were there to take advantage of if you were paying attention.  My 445 was no-where to be seen near the top. 

Final day of the Midwest Palma- two any rifle matches and a Palma/scope match.  I swapped out my Palma rifle for the 243 fresh from its win in Harris.  Having done some slight load development after shooting one day I was hoping for success, the rifle shot great- I needed a little work!  Steve McGee was the Friday wizard, 596!  Kemp Fuller shot a 595 with his Palma rifle and Waylon shooting his palma rifle (I believe) had a 594 for third.  My 593 would just earn me 4th.

For the Midwest Palma Agg, Randy Pike holds on followed by Waylong Burback, Steve McGee, last years winner Bob Steketee and I finished in 5th.  A great week to be amongst friends and fellow shooters.  Per the norm, Winnequah Gun club ran a first class event, it is always a pleasure to shoot there, even when the conditions beat you up.
On to the Weekend!  The WI State LR Match is a Palma match followed by two any rifle strings on Sunday morning.  Many WI greats grace that trophy. Obermeyer, Liebetrau, Pagel, Gregory, Knutson, Burbach, etc.  Who would claim it this year?  Palma day starts out with the same weather as the week, beautiful!  You needed to be clean with a bunch to be near the top at 800, back to 9.  Same thing, I believe I counted 8 riflemen that had cleaned both yard lines (I was not one of the few, stupid 900).  Back to 1K, who is it going to be?  All the WI hard holders are squadded on one line.  Mark Liebetrau had been shooting great all week; Randy G was ready having stayed clean after 9.  Here we go!  I was able to pull a little magic out and won the 1K yard line with a 149-7 as I was on the relay first to shoot there.  Next relay goes to WI.  After the dust settled Waylon Burbach lost the least, finishing with a 448-22 for the Palma win.  No 447's fired then 4 446's- 3 by MN guys Dietrich, Rhode and Jay Johnson. Randy Gregory was in second for WI trophy with a 446.

Sunday arrives with bad weather, I was thinking seriously about packing up my car and heading south. The radars lied, the sky cleared and we were able to shoot without getting wet.  Any sight rifle up first.  WI Relay starts out the day, who can catch Waylon? Only two cleans fired in the first match, Norm Crawford and Myself got it done. Many 199's and 198's.  Conditions were great, but you needed a little luck to get through with no nines.  Waylon had lost one in the first match, I had to go clean to be able to catch him.  Norm had a chance too having fired a 445 the day before.  Jay Johnson shooting his dasher cleans the second match for the win, now who will get the any rifle aggregate?  5 people fired 398 scores, Waylon Burbach slams the door and claims the title with a pair of 199's with 21x's. Myself, Crawford, Steve Clark and Mark Trew had to compare X counts for placement.  Waylon Burbach is the 2015 WI State LR champ, I was able to finish 2nd in the aggregate and Randy Gregory came in 3rd with a huge X count shooting his palma rifle in all matches.

Congrats to all the class winners, I do not have Fclass results- however; Pat Scully was on FIRE on Saturday.  Had he not lost one loan nine at 1000 he would have had a national record!  His 449 left all other shooters in the dust.  His X count was great, he continued on for the F open win the following day.
Morgan Dietrich

     Great report Morgan! Thanks for taking the time to write it and send it in!


 NRA State Championship at Duluth
  From: Jim Fernandez 
    The Winners!
Notes:
Pig Roast match -- lots of shooting, but no Pig! 
  From: James Melville
 Hello everyone,
It is getting close to our July match only about 3 weeks away. As most of you know we will not be having the Pig Roast again this year because of scheduling conflicts with Camp Perry.
   That brings up another subject, preregistration. I will be leaving for Camp Perry on the weekend of July 11th, so I will need all preregistration in before that. Ron and my wife will be running the match and I need to have everything set up for them before I leave. Paying the day of the match would be fine too.
   I have attached a match bulletin and have fun shooting.
Thanks,  James -- ECNRC High Power Match Director  

Two Weeks Out  
July 10 - Full Bore long range at GRRC - click here for match bulletin   

July 11 -  CMP service rifle match at Oakdale Gun Club - click here for match bulletin

July 11,12 - Long Range and Palma St. Champ at GRRC - Click here for match bulletin


That's All Folks
Hawkeye
  

Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Shooters News for the Minn Area - June 24, 2015 
  
 Next weekend  
   *Update:  Midwest Palma matches -- US Rifle Team, Mead wins team match with local area shooters.
 
Highpower  

   This week the Mid West Palma matches are in the spotlight as many top Palma shooters from across the country gather in Lodi Wisc. for this increasingly popular annual long range summer tournament.  For top local shooters "being seen" at these matches are on the "must" list if they want to be a contender to be selected for the US Palma team, and the US Veterans rifle team. Top Palma coaches such as Bob Meade will be there eyeballing the field.  For F-class competitors, shooting at Lodi is a priority as this range is being considered for selection as location of the 2016 F-class Nationals, currently being held at Ben Avey range in Phoenix, AZ.  

  For Highpower and Service Rifle shooters, one of the biggest matches of the summer is taking place this weekend up at the Northwestern Gun Club near Duluth. Two days of Over the Course matches (June 27-28) are on tap to decide who will be the State Champion Highpower shooter.  Saturday, June 27 is all about Team effort as shooters will form up teams and coach each other through the whole 80 shot match.  Team members will each fire Off Hand, Sitting and Prone Rapid fire, and a 20 shot match prone from the 500 yd line to decide the Team Championship.   
  On Sunday, June 28, the individual matches will take place.  Once again the 80 shot OTC course of fire will be used and the best shooter will be crowned State Highpower Champion.
If you have never shot a match at NWGC, go up and enjoy this great range. Its only about 2 1/2 hrs from the Twin Cities on good freeways. There are motels in Cloquet and modern camping at the range (indoors!).  Good luck to all !!! 
              Click here for match program and entry info.

Last Weekend  

CMP service Rifle match at Oakdale Gun Club 

   From: Tom O'mara   
Jim
It was a beautiful evening this past Saturday at Oakdale Gun Club. Nine shooters participated in the June CMP match sending 50 rounds down range at 100 yards on reduced targets. Three of the shooters were new to this style of competition - always a good thing to have new shooters. Four shooters earned CMP medals for their scores: Dean Gillette, Dennis Zilm and Barry Olson earned Gold, Tom Schwartz earned Bronze. All shot modern military. The Garand guys promised to practice more for next months match. That match will be Saturday, July 11 at Oakdale Gun Club. First round down range at 5PM. Registration & setup open at 4PM. $7 for OGC members, $10 for non-members.    

Thomas J. O'Mara                               

            Tom, It's great that you are getting up some interest in service rifle shooting at the Oakdale gun Club.  Every new shooter is an asset to our sport!   

Father's Day Mid Range match at LaCrosse  
  From: Erik Rhode  
Hey Jim,
    Just a quick note on these 2 matches.  3.5 hour rain delay at Winnequah yesterday for the team match meant I didn’t get home until almost midnight.  I now have 3 days to get 5 hours worth of work done, so not much time to write.  I’ve attached photos of the score boards for both matches if you’d like to use them for the newsletter.  

    There were lots of shooters at Lacrosse, so I had to do 4 pics of the scores to get both days.  As you look at the scores, it is worth noting that Jay Johnson put on a prone shooting clinic on Saturday, shooting a perfect 800 score for the day.  The rest of the field was left in the dust, but we tried to take notes and hopefully learn something, since we were being taken to school!  Excellent Shooting, Jay!



    The Team match at Midwest Palma was hotly contested as usual.  Heavy rain and thunderstorms had finally blown through the area by around noon, leaving only extreme wind for the coaches to deal with.  Even though it had just rained for 3 hours straight, the wind was strong enough to kick up sand on the range during heavy gusts.  There were several times when I was shooting when I was unable shoot on command due to the wind blowing my sights around too much.  Glad I didn’t have to try to figure out what it was worth!  At the end of the day, US National Rifle Team Coach Bob Mead turned in another masterful performance, leading his 4 shooters to a winning team score by a single X over a US Vets team made up of some real heavy-hitters.  As you’ll notice, there was an error with one of the Vets team members score on the interim results which resulted in them being initially listed as the match winner.  Stat maiden Karin Leibetrau made the correction, and the scores written in pen are correct.  Due to the closeness of the match, the results took some time to be posted, and Coach Mead was gone before they went up.  He may not even know he won yet!  This is the second consecutive year that this team has won this match with Bob at the helm.
This was a great 3 days of shooting, I wish they could all be like this!
Best regards,
Erik    Complete results:  1. Sling class and 2 day agg    2. F-class and 2 day agg.
                               
     Tks Erik for that report. I'm sure you did have fun in that team match -- You led your team to victory and shot the highest score of the match along the way!  I'm sure that the "National" team coaches noticed that score!  


Notes: 
For those of you that are making last minute decisions to head to Camp Perry for the National Matches, the State Service Rifle Team is still trying to organize more shooters for the team matches.
   From: Kurt Borlaug:
Boys, well it's time to start counting who's in and who's out for Perry/CMP Week this year. If you're planning to attend you better get registered right away as the line is filling up. The dates are July 17th-22nd. Add a day for travel in front and after for your scheduling.
  The head count is a bit low right now but there may be some folks who shake loose soon. Those people may not be known to me, so please forward this to anyone who maybe interested in participating. Please reply to me with your travel dates and arrival times so we can have an idea on numbers for the two team matches. Also, please reply if you're NOT going so I know that too.
  Tom has a few hats and t-shirts left from past years and he needs to know who's interested in replacing some worn out attire. He has handled this effort himself over the years and a quick reply is appreciated so he can order the right amount for everyone if needed.
  Thanks, Kurt Borlaug


Two Weeks Out  
 July 4 -  M1, M1A match at Eau Claire  -   click here for match bulletin
July 5
-  Possible match at NorthStar GC, Redwing     

July 10 - Full Bore long range at GRRC - click here for match bulletin  
July 11 -  CMP service rifle match at Oakdale Gun Club - click here for match bulletin
July 11,12 - Long Range and Palma St. Champ at GRRC - Click here for match bulletin
That's All Folks
Hawkeye