Bell City Metric Prone Regional
By Hap Rocketto
Over two dozen shooters assembled on the firing line at the Bell City Rifle Club in Southington, Connecticut for a last shakedown before heading west to Bristol, Indiana for the National Metric National Championships and/or Camp Perry to contend for the conventional National Championship.
The conditions were tricky for the metallic sight aggregate with heat and humidity adding to the discomfort of a mirage and switching winds. West Point Rifle Coach Ron Wigger got off to a quick start as he won the 100 yard match with a 385-16X, a score that highlighted the challenging conditions. Len Remaly, showing that his hard work at the Hopkinton Prone Matches was not in vain, posted the high Expert score of 382-11X. Jeff Henry topped the Sharpshooters with a 380-14X while Nicole Ladd, hailing from the Quaker Hill Rod and Gun Club, handily took Marksman honors.
Shawn Carpenter, who coaches Ladd at Grasso Tech, posted a 381-16X to take Dewar honors. Rhode Island Expert Joe Graf was hot on Carpenter’s heels with a 381-10X. Henry continued to steamroll through the Sharpshooters with a score of 378-7X while Ladd repeated as Marksman winner with a 370-4X.
The last match of the day was 40 shots at 50 yards and Wigger returned to winner’s circle on the back of a 388-15X. Former National Champion Jeff Doerschler put together a 383-14X for the Expert class win. Sam McAdoo broke Henry’s stranglehold on the Sharpshooter class when he nipped by Henry by two points with a 374-13X. Ladd finished the day with a hat trick, sweeping all three matches in the Marksman class when she shot a 378-11X.
With the tough day over the scores were totaled and the 1148-41X shot by Wigger saw him through to the metallic sight championship. Graf was second by just three points, 1145-29X, and Jay Sonneborn Jr. placed third just two points behind Graf’s1143-33X. Remaly hammered out an 1140-30X to grab the Expert laurels and, as expected by their dominance, Henry and Ladd were at the top of the Sharpshooter and Marksman class with scores of 1130-31X and 1125-29X respectively.
As the of saying goes, “Where there is scope there is hope,” and more benign conditions than on the metallic sight day, gave the battered shooters a brighter outlook on any sight day. Wigger and Graf battled it out at 100 yards with Wigger winning out with a 393-25X to Graf’s 393-17X, which relegated him to first Expert. McAdoo beat all sharpshooters with a 375-10X while Chad Diefenbach out Xed Ladd for a Marksman victory, 384-17X to 384-12X..
Wigger was on top of his game and won the Dewar with a 393-22X. Greg Tomsen, a scope shark, made his play and emerged out of the Expert pack with a 392-18X. Sharpshooter Henry was back on top with his 381-13X and Eric Sloan, a Digby Hand junior, carded a 377-7X to win Marksman honors.
The 50 yard match proved to be the most exciting part of the day as scopes were turned on Wigger and Tomsen’s targets by those who had finished earlier and were scanning the line. Scores of 200 are rare on the metric targets and Bell City has had a tradition of collecting one dollar of every entry fee in metric matches and building a pot to be awarded to a 200. The last was won by Wigger. Both got off to a quick start but both had, at least to the spectators, one close shot. In the end Tomsen shot a 200-16X to Wigger’s 199-14X to win the $465 stuffed into envelope and carried around by Match Director Nicole Panko since Wigger won it seven years ago. As a small consolation Wigger won the match with a 397-24X for Tomsen, overcome by his windfall, coughed up five points on his second card and had to settle for an Expert win. Henry and Diefenbach were the Sharpshooter and Marksman winners.
The any sight title went to Graf’s 1184-67X. Tomsen and Bell City team mate Ruscio tied with an 1175 each but Tomsen’s 70 Xs landed him class honors. Henry was top Sharpshooter with an 1132-38X and Diefenbach won his class on the strength of an 1137-36x.
With a score of 2331-112X the Gold Medal went to Wigger, Graff was Silver medalist with a 2329-96X, and Jay Sonneborn, Jr., 2309-88X, took home the Bronze. Tomsen posted a 2308-102 for Expert honors, and Henry waltzed through to the Sharpshooter crown by shooting a 2262-69X. Ladd, who used iron sights both days, emerged as both the Ladies and Marksman champion by virtue of her 2246-60X.
Match Director Nicole Panko and Statistical Director Tony Panko ran an excellent match while the Stratford Police Athletic League parents provided a well stocked and attended snack bar.
Complete results can be downloaded here: 2011-ct-perry-warm-up (PDF, 143KB)
