RBGC Smallbore Season Opener
submitted by Dennis Lindenbaum
A beautiful day of sun, light breeze, and warm temperatures topping 80 degrees greeted the modern day record turnout of 31 competitors for the kick-off Any Sight 1600 of the 2011 Smallbore season at RBGC. It was very satisfying to view the long line of targets against the backdrop of the most southern reaches of the Appalachian Mountains in North Georgia. Whatever the day’s final aggregates, everyone had a great time shooting and socializing with new and old friends as the thaw of a cold winter brings warm expectations to everyone. And there were some hot performances.
A change this year is the order of matches as we now shoot the 50 yard and 50 meter matches first followed by the Dewar and 100 yard matches at the end. Competition was close all day at the top of the field and when the final scores were tallied, a single X separated first and second. Top honors for the day ultimately went to Wayne Forshee who shot a 1598-120X with Bill Hocker an X back. I personally was cheering for Cindy Forshee who shot a fine 1595-100X for third place overall and top woman.
First in Master Class was Dennis Lindenbaum shooting irons for a 1594-118X just ahead of the great master Jim Hinkle 1594-96X who is definitely getting back in form after health issues last year. I expect him to peak the last week in July.
Combined Expert/Sharpshooter class was won by U.S. Palma team wind guru and coach Steve Hardin with a 1593-112x besting Mike Upchurch with a well shot 1589-98X.
Marksman class was notable for the performance of newbie Don Greene who practiced all winter to nail an incredible 1593-101X. He must be receiving some excellent coaching advice and obviously won’t be in this class much longer. Cor Vanderbeek was second with a 1584-92X. Special mention goes to the Allatoona High School rifle club juniors, with several shooting outdoor prone for the first time, who were able to shoot with some much (much) older shooters and gain great experience while enjoying the day. We hope they come back for our Metric 1200 in April.
As usual, the match was run seamlessly due to the fine efforts of Match Director Tommy Steadman, Chief Range Officer Jim Hinkle, Linda Steadman running the Statistical Office, Tom Suswal and David Rabin with range set-up and breakdown, and David Dye scoring the winning and losing targets. This looks like the best season ever.
Complete match results can be downloaded here: 2011-ga-1600-03-19-11 (PDF, 25KB)
