Match Jefe Hap Rocketto instructs young Chris Hoskins in the finer points of shooting "glass"
More than four dozen members of the Corporal Digby Hand Schützenverein, the club of the light hearted competitor, braved frigid rain and blazing chili at the annual 100 Shot Mexican Stand Off Rifle Match held on the shooting grounds of the Quaker Hill Rod and Gun Club on April 25th. Viewed by many as a more certain harbinger of spring than the arrival of the first Robin, the event serves as the outdoor shooting season’s shakedown match for cabin bound New England rifle shooters.
The Chili Match, as it is more commonly known, features the club’s traditional banquet of Forty Eight Hour Road Kill Chili, prepared by Distinguished Rifleman and Iron Chef Shawn Carpenter, in two varieties-mild and hot, the distinction between the two being largely subtle and semantic. The chili was of an extraordinary high quality this year as the harsh winter and the fear of El Nino had encouraged small animals to carelessly cross the highways in unprecedented large numbers.
As is traditional the match’s award schedule is generous, extensive and unvarying. Each competitor is awarded an identical club logoed ‘premium’ for winning a class and category of the Match Jefe’s choice. This year’s award was a practical and attractive rifleman green backpack with the club’s logo and name richly embroidered in cavalry yellow thread.
Shooters and dependents from the four southernmost New England states gathered to renew friendships as well as their life memberships in the egalitarian shooting club. Glowing from a hearty portion of ‘size’, tempered with sides of beans, rice, and salad, and quenched by a bowl of ice cream the members laid plans for the upcoming season, compared notes on schedules and hot lots of ammunition before returning to their home ranges with a renewed vigor and energy for the summer shooting which lays ahead.
