It was a cold, gray and windy morning in early fall as the colors were raised and the anthem was played. The sound of a flag flapping loudly overhead as the shooters were called to their points provided the early warning of the challenges all would face as the next few hours unfolded. Daily temperatures in the 90’s for months had sunk to 50 degrees as a seasonal weather front was pushing through the neighborhood. The three-sided bowl that encompasses the smallbore range at RBGC effectively magnified the prevailing conditions as the wind constantly folded back and forth with gusts to 15 mph making wind decisions often futile. The only thing constant was that these challenging conditions remained the same for the entirety of the two-day match and all shots were fired on the demanding international metric targets.
A total of 22 competitors from states throughout the southeast vied for honors in the final regional championship of the year at RBGC. A few more monthly matches remain, but this would be the final opportunity for distinguished leg points, Camp Perry certificates and the medals received for class wins. The biggest honor, however, is the ability to compete against so many fine and accomplished shooters. With regard to the outcome, there weren’t any suspenseful moments or last minute heroics. To the point, the match was decided almost as fast as the first targets were scored. It would take a skilled wind reader to master the conditions and just one showed up. Everyone struggled trying to find an elusive zero (some more vocally than others). Steve Hardin, who will be traveling to Australia in two weeks as a selected wind coach for the U.S. Team in the International Palma matches, made a large footprint that nobody else would or could follow. Lapping the field as each match was completed, he amassed such a large lead the first day that he was easily carried to the overall championship when the matches were completed on Sunday. The rest scrapped for the remaining honors.
Steve Hardin earned a valuable distinguished leg and the championship win with a score of 2330-99X. Another superb effort by Don Greene also gathered a distinguished leg point and a second place standing overall with his score of 2321-83X. Third position on the podium was taken by Dennis Lindenbaum with 2313-90X.
First Expert was Charlie Kemp (2313-81X) followed by Richard Williams (2304-78X). High Senior was Jim Hinkle (2302-77X). Special mention goes to Fred Scielzo who made the trip from his home in Florida. Fred became the oldest shooter to ever make the Dewar Team at Camp Perry in 2010 and it was his first time to achieve this prestigious distinction. Bill Hocker traveled from his home in Alabama and fired an excellent 1163-54X on scope day. Tom Suswal had to drop out after the first match with a shoulder injury, but remained all weekend to assist with scoring the demanding metric targets. Charlie, Richard, Jim, Bill, Fred and Tom are all Distinguished Smallbore Prone shooters with extremely impressive shooting resumes. The field for this regional competition was very deep in talent. Hopefully, RBGC will contribute additional new names to this coveted list in the next year.
First Sharpshooter was Dave Rabin (2240-55x) followed by Mark Skutle. First Marksman was rapidly improving Jim Holliday (2275-63X) followed by Cor Vanderbeek. A few shooters were only able to make one day of the weekend competition. Of these a notable performance was turned in by Howard Pitts who shot a great 1173-45X on scope day to win that competition.
Team matches were held immediately following the metallic sight matches on the first day. Six teams slinged up for more punishment as if the 120 shots fired that day weren’t enough. Tommy Steadman came out of the match operations booth, found his gear and joined up with long-time partner Charlie Kemp to record a 774-35X in the 50 Meter match. They needed every one of those X’s to beat the first-time partnership of Jim Hinkle and Dennis Lindenbaum who only managed a 774-34X. The challenge period is still open however, and the X’s are being recounted at NRA Central as you read this. Third place went to Don Greene and Cor Vanderbeek.
The matches at RBGC are excellent at all levels. Match Director Tommy Steadman puts together a flawless operation month after month and this weekend was no exception. Special thanks to Linda Steadman for Stat office, David Dye as chief juror and scorer with Tom Suswal, Dave Rabin for range setup, and Jim Hinkle who ran an efficient match as Chief Range Officer.
Our next match will be a Conventional 1600 on October 15th. If you’ve never shot a smallbore match, this would be a good time to come out.
Complete results can be downloaded here: 2011-ga-metric-2400 (PDF, 16KB)
We was robbed in the team match. Just wait till the next time.