RI: 4P Sectional, Mar 4

Posted on January 4, 2012 by H
2012 NRA FOUR POSITION OCEAN STATE SECTIONAL
Sanctioned by the National Rifle Association
Sponsored by the Rhode Island Rifle and Revolver Association
Hosted by the Smithfield Sportsmen’s Club
The NRA National Open Indoor Championships give competitors a chance to compete in a national event by comparing their scores with those fired by competitors in clubs all over the country. Scores are comparable because of the similar conditions existing in indoor ranges. Competitors and sponsors are responsible for the content of this program (Rule 18.2).
NRA will conduct National Open Indoor Rifle Sectionals starting January 1, 2012 and concluding on March 21, 2012. All results must be at NRA no later than April 2, 2012. Any results received after the closing date will not be included in the 2011 National Indoor Championships Bulletin.
The 2012 National Open Indoor Rifle Championships are determined by scores fired at local Sectional Tournaments, which are compiled at NRA Headquarters. A bulletin showing National Award Winners and a complete listing of all competitors and their scores is compiled and the official results are available at:www.nrahq.org/compete/champ1.asp.
I. GENERAL CONDITIONS

LOCATION: Smithfield Sportsmen’s’ Club,

 
DATE:  March 4, 2012
CONTACT: Hap Rocketto, 18 Stenton Ave., Westerly, RI 02891 or 401-322-7193 or hrocketto@cox.net.
 
TIME: Relay One at 8AM, Relay Two at Noon with Team Matches to be fired at the conclusion of individual relays.
FEE:  Package fee of $10.00 for individual entries and $5.00 for teams.
 
RULES: Current NRA Rifle Rules
 
DISTANCE FIRED: Fifty Feet
 
RIFLE: Rule 3.2
 
SIGHTS AND TARGETS: Any Sights; NRA Official A-17 Target
 
INDIVIDUAL ENTRIES: Open to Adults and Juniors (NRA membership is not required.)
MATCH SCHEDULE:
All matches/positions must be fired in the sequence indicated below.
MATCH 1: Individual Match – 20 shots, prone – 20 minutes.
MATCH 2: Individual Match – 20 shots, standing – 30 minutes.
MATCH 3: Individual Match – 20 shots, sitting – 20 minutes.
MATCH 4: Individual Match – 20 shots, kneeling – 20 minutes.
MATCH 5: The Sectional Individual Championship (an aggregate of matches 1, 2, 3, and 4).
MATCH 6: The Sectional Team Championship – 10 shots prone, 10 shots standing, 10 shots sitting, and 10 shots kneeling. The same position rules as individual matches apply in this fired match.
MATCH 7: National Individual Championship.
MATCH 8: National Team Championship.
There is no entry fee for Match 7 & 8. The entry is automatic with entry in Match 5 & 6 of each Sectional Tournament. Scores from Match 5 & 6 will be used for this Match.
FIRING REGULATIONS FOR MATCHES:
Since Sectional scores are to be used to determine National Champions, all Sectionals MUST be conducted in the prescribed manner.
1. Individual matches: If range facilities permit, two targets for the match should be mounted simultaneously, and an additional three minutes will be allowed for target change of the second stage or match as needed. When only a single target is mounted, due to range limitations, three (3) minutes for each target change will be added to the total firing time for the match.
2. Sighting Shots: Unlimited number may be fired any time
3. Shooting Time: Time allowed includes sighting shots. Time remaining from one position may not be carried over to a following position regardless of the method of changing targets.
4. Firing Order: All matches must be completed by all competitors on a relay before the next match is started. Matches must be fired in the order identified in each of the program sections.
5. Preparation Period: After record targets for a relay have been properly mounted, a three (3) minute preparation period will be given before the “Commence Firing” command.
6. Target Height: Target height may be adjusted.
SCORE CARDS: Special score cards will be used and must be signed by the competitor to be considered for the national bulletin. If no category is circled, a competitor or team will be placed in the Civilian category. If no classification is circled, a competitor or team will be placed in the Master class.
CATEGORIES: As identified in each program section.
CLASSIFICATION: Each individual competitor will be placed in one class according to the NRA Classification System and shall be prepared to exhibit his classification card or Temporary Score Record Book. Unclassified competitors will fire in the Master Class classification (Rule 19.6). Teams will be classified according to rule 19.12.
SOUVENIR PINS: Each competitor firing in the Sectional Tournaments will be given a souvenir pin by the sponsor. Pins are provided by NRA.
CHALLENGES: A challenge fee of $3.00 will be charged for each challenge made. See Rule 16.1 for correct procedure.
 
TEAM ENTRIES: Team participation should be indicated on individual entry card. Team entries must be made in person at the Statistical Office.
 
ENTRIES CLOSE: Individual match entries must be received no later than the Monday preceding the opening date of the tournament. Team match entries may be made any time prior to the start of firing the team match.
 
POST ENTRIES: Post entries will be accepted up to the capacity of the range provided such entries will not require extra relays.
 
SIGHTING SHOTS: Unlimited sighting shots will be allowed in all matches and at all stages and must be taken within the time limit (Rule 8.2).
 
SQUADDING: Will be assigned by the sectional Statistical Officer. Please state preferred time of firing. Teams are not required to be squadded together to fire as a unit. Additional relays not identified in the sectional program must be coordinated with and approved by the National Statistical Officer. A Match Directors Bulletin announcing the additional relay and NRA approval must be posted on the Official Bulletin Board.
 
ELIGIBILITY: A competitor (individual or team) may enter more than one Sectional tournament of each kind in 2011. However, the individual MUST declare before firing if the Sectional being fired is for score only or for the National Championship. If firing for score only the score card must be marked according. Competitors may enter other types of Sectionals if eligibility limitations permit. Competitors entering for “score only” are NOT eligible for awards in the local sectional or the National Championship. A foreign competitor is eligible to participate in the Sectional and National level (Rule 2.1.1), however, only U.S. citizens may win the First, Second and Third Place National Individual and Team Championship awards.  A special high visitor award will be given.
 
NRA SMALLBORE RIFLE DISTINGUISHED AWARD: A leg toward the NRA Smallbore Position Distinguished Award can be earned by winning a place in the top scoring 10% on the national level.
 
NATIONAL 4-POSITION OPEN INDIVIDUAL CHAMPIONSHIP AWARDS
 
MATCH 7 National Individual Championship
Provided by: The National Rifle Association
Winner: National Championship Medallion, Lister Plaque, and 50 NRA award points.
Second Place: Silver National Championship Medallion and 40 NRA award points
Third Place: Bronze National Championship Medallion and 30 NRA award points
Woman Champion: Sea Girt Trophy Plaque
Senior Champion: NRA Special Award
A High Visitor award will be given to any non-US citizen who places first, second, or third overall.
 
CLASS AND CATEGORY AWARDS:
Separate class awards will be given in each of two categories – Civilian and Service. Awards will be given in all categories in Master, Expert, Sharpshooter, and Marksman classes.
First Place: 10 NRA award points with at least 5 competitors in class and category
Second Place: 8 NRA award points with at least 10 competitors in class and category
Third Place: 6 NRA award points with at least 15 competitors in class and category.
Three NRA award points in each class of each category will be given for each 5 entries or major fraction thereof in a class over 15.
Juniors who have indicated on their entry card that they do not wish to receive award points will NOT receive substituted awards.
 
NATIONAL 4-POSITION OPEN TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP AWARDS
MATCH 8 National Team Championship
Provided by: The National Rifle Association
Winning Team: 5 National Club Trophy Plaques
2nd Place Team: 40 award points
3rd Place Team: 32 award points
CLASS AND CATEGORY AWARDS: Separate class awards will be given. Category awards will be provided in the 4-Position. Awards will be given in the Master, Expert, Sharpshooter, and Marksman class in each category.
First Place: 20 NRA award points
Second Place: 16 NRA award points with at least 10 teams in class and category.
An additional place, 12 award points, in each class of each category will be given for each 5 teams or major fraction thereof over 20.

DIRECTIONS: I-295 North or South to Exit 7B US 44/Putnam Pike, turn right onto Cedar Swamp Road/RT 5, third right onto Walter Cary Road, club will be on your left.

FOOD: There will be no food service available.
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Quiet Please!

Posted on January 3, 2012 by H

by Hap Rocketto and Loy Hamilton

A 19 1/2

For a competitive shooter Camp Perry is both constantly changing and forever timeless. Never was that more obvious than for just nine short days between August 31st and September 8th of 1946.

Pistol and smallbore rifle shooters last gathered for the National Matches five years earlier, in 1941, on almost the exact same dates, August 31st and September 7th. In both cases the 30 caliber shooters and the National Board for the Promotion of Rifle Practice team matches were absent. Three months, to the day the matches ended, the United States was drawn into World War II.

In the intervening years the shooting community rallied to the war effort. Randle Thurman and Connecticut’s Lacy brothers joined the Navy and ran the rifle ranges at the Newport Naval Station. Irwin “Doc” Tekulsky took his dental skills to war, also serving in the Navy. Walter Walsh and Emmett Swanson saw action with the Marines. Art Jackson and Tom Lewis joined the Army Air Forces. Many others, such as Eleanor Dunn, served as civilian marksmanship instructors. Most would return safely but the shooting community lost its share of members.

Camp Perry served as an induction center and more famously as a prisoner of war camp during World War II. The some 2,000 huts erected to hold German and Italian POWs would welcome the 1946 competitors as well as generations yet to come and yet unborn.

The shooting community had hoped the matches would resume at the cessation of hostilities. They held their collective breathes but it wasn’t until late July of 1946 that the matches were confirmed. Noted Double Distinguished and Olympic marksman Brigadier General Sidney Hinds assumed the duties of Match Director and shooters across the nation began making plans.

The 1946 match picked up where the 1941 championship left off. Garret Wayne Moore, who had lost his leg as a lad, borrowed a rifle and ended up winning the first of his two consecutive prone national titles. Adelaide McCord took the second of her four ladies’ crowns as Art Cook swept the junior category.

The matches might not have been held if not for the work of World War I veteran Edward Dobscha of Willoughby, Ohio. Dobscha, a well known rifleman, had been a member of the 1941 Dewar Team and would again win a spot in 1946 as well.

In recognition of Dobscha’s efforts Frank Kahrs, who was the public relations manager for Remington Arms and a former staff writer for the Rifleman, asked James T. Berryman, then the Art Director for the American Rifleman Magazine to create a cartoon for presentation to Dobscha.

Berryman, whose father Clifford, a Pulitzer Prize winning political cartoonist, drew the famous cartoon of President Theodore Roosevelt sparing a bear cub which inspired the creation of the teddy bear, would go on in his father’s footsteps to win his own Pulitzer.

The resulting art work produced by Berryman was a pen and ink sketch of a mother cat trailed by her two kittens walking behind a smallbore firing line. A rifleman, irritated by what little noise the felines might have made padding across the grass, calls out, “Quite Please!”

Prominent among the 65 or so match participants who signed the cartoon before it was presented to Dobscha were:

  • Thurman Randle: President of the NRA and donor of the Randle Trophy
  • John Unertl: famed rifle scope manufacturer
  • Harold D. Allyn: well known Massachusetts rifleman
  • Al Freeland: shooting equipment innovator
  • Garret Wayne Moore: 1946 and 1947 National Prone Champion
  • Bob Moore: cousin of G. Wayne and the 1958 National Prone Champion at Camp Perry and the first winner of the Lister Cup in 1952 as National Indoor 4-Position Champion.
  • Sam Bond: the senior prone trophy at the national prone championship is named in honor of this shooting equipment innovator
  • Rans Triggs: 1941 National Prone Champion
  • Bill Schweitzer: noted rifleman and benefactor of the sport for whom the national civilian prone championship award is named.
  • The Tekulsky brothers, Sam and Erwin: noted New York Riflemen
  • The Lacy Brothers, Jack and Jim: Distinguished Connecticut Riflemen
  • Francis O’Hare: the son of Paddy O’Hare shooting equipment supplier and shooter in his own right
  • Eric Johnson: 1921 National Prone Champion and noted Connecticut barrel maker
  • Russ Wiles, Jr.: RIG company president, rifleman, and the founder of the Black Hawk Rifle Club
  • Jim Crossman: firearms writer, Distinguished Rifleman, National Match official
  • John Wark: Pershing Team member
  • Bill Woodring: Perishing Team member, world champion team member and the only person to win three consecutive US national prone titles
  • Kay Woodring: first US female international rifle shooter, wife of Bill Woodring
  • Marianne Driver: the Grande Dame of US Randle Teams
  • Vincent Tiefenbrunn: smallbore shooter Winchester-Western/Western executive
  • Charles Hamby: noted Atlanta, Georgia rifleman
  • “Tiny” Helwig: Winchester employee and noted rifleman
  • A.L. Darkrow: mainstay of Akron, Ohio’s Zeppelin Rifle Club
  • Earl Saunders: Kentucky rifleman and many times member of the Dewar Team

This historical artifact is now in the possession of Loy Hamilton who has graciously allowed us to reprint it.


Posted in Other Smallbore Information | Tagged | 2 Comments

A Creature of Habit

Posted on January 2, 2012 by Hap Rocketto

by Hap Rocketto

To say that my wife Margaret is, what we call in the education dodge, ‘concrete sequential’ is an understatement. She is a creature of strong habit and it works for her. If she didn’t mind being hot and sweaty and uncomfortable she would be an excellent prone shooter because she is so consistent in her life. One of her great pleasures, outside of our daughters and couponing, is playing Scrabble. She loves the word game developed by Alfred Butts, who, as an out of work architect during the Great Depression, developed it to flesh out his meager to non-existent income.

Each Friday night we sit as a family and habitually inevitably eat pizza or fish and chips. As soon as decent after supper my wife leaves me with the daughters as she rushes of to her Aunt Celina’s house. I either transport the two kids about to events in their increasingly broadening social universe or let them recover from a hard school week in front of the TV. My wife, on the other hand, closets herself with Aunt Celina and Cousin Rose Marie and they duel over the Scrabble board. They tally wins and losses and even have rules and regulations for the collection of “dues,” which they pool for a fling at the local casino at the end of the Scrabble season.

On the other end of the familial spectrum is my brother Steve. Random abstract is how the education community would charitably classify him. My brother believes firmly in the bumper sticker aphorism, “So many books-So little time.” His basement contains hundreds of linear feet of shelves, bulging with books covering a wide variety of subjects. In this are my wife and brother are the much same, she is Catholic and he is catholic.

Knowing Margaret’s passion for Scrabble, Steve gave to her a book on the subject, which he had surreptitiously read before he gave it to her. I know this to be a fact as I managed to sneak it away from Margaret before she read it and noted several tiny crumbs of food caught between the pages, which I cleaned out. My brother, a bachelor of long standing, reads as he eats. He is not being impolite, after all he is alone. Actually he is being socially correct as he enjoys stimulating conversation over dinner and isn’t reading a book much the same as carrying on a conversation with the author?

Never-the-less Word Freak, by Stefan Fatsis, is an intriguing look into the people who populate the rarefied atmosphere of world class Scrabble competition. Fatsis was familiar to me through his spots on the Public Radio program All Things Considered and his book was no disappointment. While reading I noted that there seems to be a vague similarity between the characters who sit about a Scrabble board and those that shoot. Both are highly cerebral games and there is much expenditure with little payoff.

Reading the book Fatsis, a Brooklyn boy like me, introduced me to a fascinating cast of characters who all seemed to have tunnel vision, an inability to stay gainfully employed, and were deliciously eccentric. Fatsis was trying to learn how to play Scrabble at the highest level and hung with those that might teach him.

His coterie of junk food eating and hygiene challenged Scrabble masters seemed a world away from the rather conservative and straight laced folks found in the shooting community despite the basic similarity already noted. It wasn’t until Fatis asked Joe Edley, who is to Scrabble as Foth or Dubis is to rifle shooting, what is needed to be a champion.

According to him all you needed to do to become a champion was:

“1. The ability to DESIRE to be the best. Or, DESIRE to WIN whatever championship is important to you.

2. Unshakable honesty within oneself to answer the questions about your own strengths and weaknesses.

3. Controlling your breath.

4. Finding a way to control your emotional states.

5. The X Factor. I don’t know what it is. It’s just the seemingly extraordinary state that any given champion has during the winning tournament.”

Edley’s requirements read like an Army Marksmanship Unit’s Manual’s section on traits of a winner. Particularly number five, the X Factor. Nothing pleases shooters more than Xs.

I guess the only real differences, other than dress, nutrition, bank balance and hygiene, between the winner at the Scrabble table and the winner at the rifle range is that the Scrabble player is probably a better speller.

Posted in Hap's Corner | 8 Comments

MA: Prone/3P Match Results

Posted on January 1, 2012 by H

Results from the Taunton, MA Prone/3P Match held on December 31 can be downloaded here: 2011-ma-taunton-3p-air-rifle (PDF, 37KB)

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MA: Prone/3P Match, Dec 31

Posted on December 23, 2011 by H

MA: Taunton Rifle and Pistol Club in Taunton MA will host a 60 shot prone match and 3P smallbore match on December 31st. You can download the match program here: TRPC 2011 prone and 3 position (PDF, 33KB)

 

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Sixth Annual Camp Perry Open, Jan 13-15

Posted on December 21, 2011 by H

The Civilian Marksmanship Program (CMP) invites you to participate in the sixth annual Camp Perry Open. This year’s match will include a three-position air rifle competition, an international air rifle (all standing) event, a pistol course of fire, and an optional clinic held at the CMP Marksmanship Center – North at Camp Perry, Ohio. The matches will be held 13 – 15 January 2012. Visit http://www.thecmp.org/3P/CPO.htm for more information and to register.

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NRA Airline Survey

Posted on December 20, 2011 by H

from the NRA

Survey Request for The Competitive Shooting Community

NRA is looking for specific information on the treatment of the shooting community by airlines, airports and the TSA. Based on information to date there appear to be patterns at specific airports and with specific airlines. In order to clearly identify the airlines and airports that are doing it right and doing it wrong we need your help. We are asking competitive shooters because your community has some issues, interests and needs that differ from other gun owners.

We need information on your experiences traveling with guns for competitive shooting events only – both good and bad. Specifically, we would like to know:

• The airport where the experience occurred.

• If your comments are about an airline identify the air carrier and if it was with counter personnel or baggage.

• If the experience was with TSA.

• If your experience was with local law enforcement or private airport security separate from TSA please identify the department or company to the best of your recollection.

• In some instances more than one player may be involved so please separate what each participant did or did not do – be specific

• Again, we want both good and bad experiences.

What we will & will not do with this information:

• We will gather the information into a report.

• We intend to use the report to attempt to correct poor performers and this is where the people who got it right are important. We want to be able to show airlines, airports and branches of TSA can do their jobs and respect our rights at the same time.

• We will not put any personal information provided by you into the report but we need to be able to follow up and confirm what you tell us.

• We cannot accept anonymous information. The strength or the final product will be in its verifiability.

How to contact us

E-mail: ILAlegal@nrahq.org
Phone: (703) 267-1161
Fax: (703) 267-1164

Thank you for your consideration of this request.

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First look inside Olympic Shooting Venue

Posted on December 20, 2011 by H

There’s a nice blog post with accompanying photos on the new Olympic shooting venue at  http://853blog.com/2011/12/12/first-look-inside-woolwich-commons-olympic-shooting-venue/

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MA: Taunton Air Rifle Invitational Results

Posted on December 19, 2011 by H

The Massachusetts Taunton Air Rifle Invitational results can be downloaded here: 2011-ma-taunton-air (PDF, 24KB)

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In Memoriam: Albert Metzger

Posted on December 15, 2011 by Hap Rocketto

by Digby Hand

pronematch.com is saddened to have to announce the passing of Albert “Uncle Al-The Shooters’ Pal” Metzger on December 11th at the age of 88.

Al was one of the Connecticut shooting community’s grand old men, truly a treasure, who will be missed by all who knew him.

During World War II served in the US Army Air Forces as a B-24 Liberator crewman with the 420th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy). After retiring from Harvey Hubbell in 1985 he became a school crossing guard. Pronematch is certain that the children of Second Hill Lane Elementary School in Stratford, whom Al, protected as they traveled from home to school and returned, were delighted Al’s brilliant smile and soft engaging laughter. It is easy to imagine the kindly Metzger using his skills with magical illusion to ease the first day of school by pulling a coin out from behind a anxious schoolchild’s ear.

Al was an avid competition rifle shooter and coached at the Bridgeport Rifle Club, the Stratford Police Athletic League, Bunnell High School and Fairfield Prep.

He is survived by his loving and devoted wife of sixty-six years, Shirley, and four children, Sons Stephen, Robert, and Tim and daughter Susan Lane, In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made in his name to your local chapter of the American Red Cross or the American Heart Association, a fitting tribute to a man who had a big heart.

Over the course of the years this kind and generous gentleman, who was a friend to all, displayed a keen sense of humor. An example might be the year whenFiocchi ammunition was all the rage. Al came to the line with his supply of the Italian knot lot all loaded into his ammo block, as would any good shooter, only his ammo block was a link of pepperoni.

Al believed that Shooting should be fun. The reason most of us shoot is because we want to do something that is both relaxing and rewarding. However, there are times when we go overboard and transform a labor of love into a labor. Camp Perry can be like that. We train all year so that we can be at our best when we get there. So, instead of taking our ease and doing the best we can we get wound up tighter than a two dollar watch. The tension rises and we find ourselves short of temper and score. It just shouldn’t happen but it does, usually on team day.

Some years ago, long before the NRA Smallbore Committee created the Made In America Match, a quartet of members of The CPL Digby Hand Schützenverein swept onto the firing line like a cool blast of air and slashed the tension like a hot knife through a slab of some effete Yuppie’s Brie. They were The All Americans! Tired of the pretentious and uptight air of the competitors on team day, Ned Lombard, Wally Lyman, and Steve Rocketto followed patriarch Al Metzger to the line. Rebellion was in the air and they would banish angst from the firing line during the most angst-ridden match of all: the any sight prone team match.

The ground rules were simple. They would heed the word of our first president, George Washington, and avoid all foreign entanglements. The All Americans would use only shooting equipment and ammunition manufactured in the United States. Remington and Winchester would be the names on their Director of Civilian Marksmanship issued rifles and ammunition while optics would be made by Lyman or Redfield. Ancient 10X mats would protect their ample bellies from grass stains. Freeland blocks would hold their ammunition; old yellow quilted shooting gloves would protect their hands from the cruel pressure of rifle slings made from the hide of a Texas steer. Creedmoor and Champions Choice shooting coats would pad their shoulders and calloused elbows.

They marched up to the line behind Metzger as he piped out the reedy strains of ‘Yankee Doodle” on his harmonica. Flopping down next to the United States Army Marksmanship Training Unit’s first team they made it clear that they were a shooting force with which to be reckoned. Not in shooting expertise, that would be hubris of a monumental proportion, but in love of the shooting sports. From the frame of the awning they hung a length of chain, with a small boulder attached, for a wind gauge and dug in to do battle.

After the last shot had been fired, the gear packed away, and the scores were posted the All Americans were, to no one’s surprise, in last place. It was, to them, a place of honor. They were not really last. They were the solid foundation and the true spirit of shooting which supported all of the teams above them. They had shown that shooting was more than just winning. They had shown that was also having the right spirit.

Jay Sonneborn recalls the follow up the next year when the All Americans Three Position Team, comprised of Al, Ralph Gilnack, Bill Johnston and Jay kept the faith. On a really foggy day they were led to the firing line by Al playing his ever present harmonica, taking their place next to the Army Team for a second consecutive year. Al proceeded to serenade the line. During the prep period Army team member Lones Wigger, never one to shy away from a prank, lightheartedly reminded Al of the distraction he was causing to some of the world’s greatest riflemen. The tale of the encounter must have taken all of three seconds to travel from one end of the line to the other end. The team was still hearing about the happening the next year when they returned to Perry. People could not believe that there would be shooters who would “disrupt” such great shooters as Wigger and his coterie. Thank you Al., Jay still has the photo to prove it.

Several years later Hap Rocketto’s oldest daughter, Sarah, asked if she could go to Camp Perry with him. She was not a shooter but, hoping that maybe the bug would bite her, he agreed to take her in a flash. His wife Margaret was not as easy to convince. She has been to Perry with and knew how focused he was on his shooting. He thought her concern was that he would simply ignore his ten-year old kid and allow her to wander off to Toledo where she would be stolen by gypsies and spend the rest of her life reading Tarot cards and tea leaves in empty store fronts throughout the Midwest. In fact, it wasn’t that. Margaret was positive that worse might happen; that is Hap would not insure that Sarah brushed her teeth, bathed, changed her underwear, and avoided junk food.

After a great deal of family discussion they were able to convince Mom that Sarah could go off with Hap and Uncle Steve. They next turned to Patty Clark who agreed to let Sarah occupy the empty bunk in her hut. She was rooming with her niece, Brittany Guba, and Emmy Caruso. Sarah hit it right off with these girls, even though they were seven or eight years older than she. They had similar interests such as purple nail polish, toe rings, strewing clothing about the hut, and sleeping in. What Margaret didn’t know couldn’t hurt her.

All was well until bedtime. This was Sarah’s first time away from Mom and she was off to bunk in with some strange, and you can interpret that word in any way you wish, people. After a few tears and some strangled sobs she slipped into her hut, clutching her plastic baby “Dolly” with whom she has slept as long as she can remember. Hap was nearly a wreck figuring that he might have to get her on a plane bound for Rhode Island the next morning. Facing such a crisis he did what any sensible father would do, he ran off to Al Metzger and Lester Hull for advice. These two old gents have been the mainstay of the Stratford PAL Rifle program for many years. They are the support team that gets everyone and everything to its appropriate place at the appropriate time. Al and Lester seem to do it all. They are the foundation of a well-run program. They are the oil on troubled waters.

Al and Lester assured Hap that they would see to Sarah and he should not worry but rather turn his attention to shooting. The next morning Hap was up early to see that Sarah washed and changed her underwear. He gave her a sawbuck and turned her over to the genial gentlemen. The next he saw her she had been to town, had breakfast, spent the ten bucks, and had become a cocky Camp Perry veteran in a single trip to Port Clinton. Over the next week Al and Lester hauled her about, taught her magic tricks, and kept her profitably employed and out of trouble. By the end of the prone phase, to hear Sarah talk you would think she had been born in a hut and had her first solid food in the old Mess Hall. And though it all there was the prepubescent squeals of “Uncle Al says…” and “Lester told me that…” and “Me and Uncle Al and Lester were hawking the board and what happened to you in the Meter Match?”

When Hap asked Uncle Al when he first went to Perry he was a bit evasive and Lester was not one bit helpful. He is nothing, if not persistent, and eventually got Al to admit he had been there as a youth while he was in the service. Hap knew he had been in the Navy so he continued to harp on him as he figured he was a stalwart on one of the Navy Teams before World War II. Turns out, in a funny way, he was.

While Al will not admit to it publicly, a search of Naval enlistment records in the National Archives revealed that Uncle Al had joined the Navy as a young lad. His first berth was that of a powder monkey aboard the Lawrence on that fateful September day in 1813 when Perry beat the British. Wearing list slippers, he hopped from the powder magazine to the 32-pound carronades carrying serge bagged powder charges. If you don’t believe me just look at the celebrated oil painting of Perry shifting his famous “Don’t Give Up The Ship” flag from the Lawrence to the Niagara. If you carefully study face of the young lad who mains the steering oar you can’t help but recognize a young Al Metzger. The guy casting them off looks suspiciously like Lester Hull, but that could just be the powder smoke or the Mon Ami Chardonnay talking.

Generations of Connecticut shooters have been shepherded through their first trips to Perry by these wise old veterans. It is for certain that they got one scared little girl and her near panic stricken father through their first long trip away from home and Mom. They helped Hap’s little girl grow up and maybe did the same for him.

We are diminished.

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NC: Sir Walter 2012 Outdoor Season

Posted on December 14, 2011 by H

You can download the 2012 North Carolina Sir Walter Gun Club match scedule here: SWGC smallbore match bulletin 2012 (PDF, 143KB)

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Photo of the Week

Posted on December 14, 2011 by H

(CAMP PERRY, OH, DATE UNKNOWN) The long gone and lamented Mess Hall of Camp Perry. The Mess Hall was damaged during a tornado in 1998 and was eventually torn down. CLICK PHOTO TO ENLARGE.

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Rocky Mountain Rifle Championships, Feb 1-5

Posted on December 12, 2011 by H

from USA Shooting
Rocky Mountain Rifle Championships

Get rid of the after-Christmas and mid-winter training blahs, kick start your 50-meter training for the New Year or get a jump on the U.S. Olympic Team Tryouts and enter the Rocky Mountain Rifle Championships (RMC). As always, RMC is a top notch competition along with Super Finals, plenty of training time and great awards. This year the championship will be held Feb. 1-5 at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo. To receive a program for this extraordinary match, contact Wanda Jewell at wrjbronze@comcast.net or 719-338-5940. The rules for staying at the OTC have changed, so get your entry in soon! The deadline for entries is Jan. 6, 2012.

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Dear Diary

Posted on December 7, 2011 by Hap Rocketto

by Hap Rocketto 

Perhaps one of the most important tool in the shooter’s kit is the diary. A diary’s importance is based on two facts: shooting is a sport that requires consistency and the human memory is not 100% perfect. The diary serves as a readily available reference to mental, physical, and mechanical events in the shooter’s life. The events recorded in the diary serves as a baseline of information for the shooter. From this documented base the shooter may experiment and be assured that a return to the original condition is possible. This allows the shooter the maximum amount of freedom in seeking change to improve performance. The shooter is free of the fear of losing something that works.

The fact that a shooter must think about what is being done and then write it down is one of the diary’s most important facets. By writing down events the shooter is forced into thinking about the events in a deeper and more insightful manner than just talking about them. The additional thought and time spent often makes new avenues of approach to a problem appear. The diary is a bit like dry firing in that, if it is done with intensity, it enhances performance. The format is up to the writer. I write performance factors on the right hand side page of my diary, and scores are put on the left hand page. My reasoning is that I don’t want to confuse score with performance and by keeping them apart physically I keep them apart mentally. I feel that I must record scores so that I have a yardstick for measurement purposes in training and competition and that I have a way to check the scoreboard.

In my diary I record all aspects of shooting. If a shooting related event occurs on a non-shooting day I enter it. It might be the cleaning of gear, the purchase of new equipment, or sending a match entry. What ever it is it goes into the diary as it helps me to think about my shooting. The one critical thing to remember is to read your diary! You can write all you want but if you don’t take advantage of your recorded memory than it is of no value to you.

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U.S. Olympic Team Trials for Airgun

Posted on December 6, 2011 by H

from USA Shooting

U.S. Olympic Team Trials for Airgun Day 2 Report

Sergeant First Class Daryl Szarenski (Seale, Ala.) continued to gain a leg up on the competition in Men’s 10m Air Pistol today with another world-class score—584 points to be exact.  Szarenski, a member of the U.S. Army’s World Class Athlete Program, led the field by over 18 points after two days of competition at the first part of the U.S. Olympic Trials for Airgun.  From the Civilian Marksmanship Program’s South Facility, Szarenski’s two day aggregate score was 1275.8 points.  Jason Turner (Rochester, N.Y.) finished with 577 and 580 points for a two day total of 1257.5 points (including his best final of 100.5 points).  Will Brown (Twins Falls, Ida.) is tailing Turner by just six-tenths of a point.  Brown marked 1256.9 points after the two day event. 

In Men’s 10m Air Rifle, Corporal Matt Rawlings (Wharton, Texas) of the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit (USAMU) leads the race for an Olympic berth.  Rawlings fired 595 match points today, which brings his aggregate total to 1297.2 points.  Matt Emmons (Browns Mills, N.J.) is less than two points behind with 596 match points today for an aggregate total of 1295.6 points.  After 596 match points today, Jonathan Hall (Carrollton, Ga.) is keeping chase with 1293.3 aggregate points.

Sarah Scherer (Woburn, Mass.) and Emily Caruso (Fairfield, Conn.) are deadlocked at 898 aggregate points in Women’s 10m Air Rifle.  Scherer fired 399 match points today and Caruso fired 395 points, while both scored a best final of 104 points.  Jamie Gray (Lebanon, Pa.) is in third place with 896.2 aggregate points.  Gray fired 397 points to stay in the race at only 1.8 points behind.

In Women’s 10m Air Pistol, Sandra Uptagrafft (Phenix City, Ala.) is ahead of the competition with 859.5 aggregate points.  She marked 378 match points today to propel her nearly twenty points ahead of the competition.  Darian Shenk (Annville, Pa.) is in the second position with 839.6 aggregate points.  Kylie Gagnon (Bozeman, Mont.)  jumped up a few places with 375 match points today for an aggregate of 836.2 points.

USA Shooting would like to thank the CMP South in Anniston, Ala., for the use of their facilities and our tireless volunteers for another successful event.   The athletes will continue their quest for a spot on the U.S. Olympic Team at the second part of the U.S Olympic Trials in Camp Perry, Ohio, Feb. 23-26.  Until then, follow your favorite athletes as they chase their Olympic dreams with updates on USA Shooting’s Facebook page and website.  For final results, please visit the CMP website.

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NJ: 2012 Sectionals

Posted on December 6, 2011 by H

Below are match programs for the 2012 NJ Open Sectionals.

2012 NRA 4P sectional program (PDF, 45KB)

2012 NRA 3 pos ISU sectional program (PDF, 94KB)

2012 NRA 3p metric sectional program (PDF, 94KB)

2012 NRA air sectional program (PDF, 90KB)

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A Short History of the Infantry Trophy Match

Posted on December 2, 2011 by Hap Rocketto

A Short History of the National Trophy Infantry Team Match
by Hap Rocketto

There is no rifle match that will make a high power shooter’s pulse race at Marathon rates as the National Trophy Infantry Team Match. The match is designed to simulate an infantry squad’s mission, which is “to close with the enemy and destroy or capture him.” Competitive riflemen pride themselves on being calm and in control but this exhilarating rapid fire event brings out the exact opposite in the competitor….

Want to read more? Download the entire article in PDF format:
A Short History of the Infantry Trophy Match (PDF, 373KB)

Posted in Shooting Histories | 2 Comments

December 2011 Issue of Shooting Sports USA

Posted on December 1, 2011 by H

The latest issue of Shooting Sports USA is available here.

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Rodriquez Range Rebuild

Posted on November 29, 2011 by H

from Mike Krei, Director of the NRA’s Competitive Shooting Division

Rodriquez Range Rebuild

Each year at this time the CMP, Ohio National Guard and the NRA meet to go over after action reports from the just completed National Matches held at Camp Perry. I was pleasantly surprised to see a great deal of construction activity being done at Camp Perry when I arrived for the Fall Planning Conference. Completion of the power upgrades, buildings being re-roofed, parking lots being repaved but the most exciting activity was seeing the Rodriquez butts being taken down. On the priority list for many years has been the complete reconstruction of the Rodriquez butts and targetry replacement and this project will be complete by the National Matches 2012.

Construction crews with major earthmoving equipment were tearing out old concrete pit walls, walkways and targets. The plan is to use modular concrete walls to rebuild the pit walls and walkways, but a great deal of earthmoving will take place before that part of the project begins. Talking with the project foreman, the June 1, 2012 project deadline would be met without much trouble, weather is always a question mark up on Lake Erie but the project is moving along at a fast pace. New targetry will be installed and I have been assured that all of the bugs that we found in the Viale range targetry have been addressed.

I would like to pass along the best wishes for a very Merry Christmas to everyone from the entire staff of the NRA Competitive Shooting Division.

Best regards,
Mike Krei, Director
NRA Competitive Shooting Division

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Riflery can arm you for college

Posted on November 29, 2011 by H

A recent article on boston.com related to rifle teams and college.

http://articles.boston.com/2011-11-27/sports/30447852_1_rifle-teams-scholarship-money-wvu#.TtRSw2a2CCw.mailto

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Wayne, Williams, and Wigger

Posted on November 28, 2011 by Hap Rocketto

by Hap Rocketto

At left, Lones Wigger and Hap Rocketto in 1965 and again at Camp Perry in 2009.

I never met Ted Williams. I saw him play a few times, but not in person, only through the miracle of black and white television so I did not see the vibrant green of Fenway Park’s grass and walls and the rich burnt orange of its dirt but rather varying shades of gray. Williams was a complex figure. Sportscaster Bob Costas, who, like my daughter Leah, attended the S.I. Newhouse School of Communications at Syracuse University, once asked Williams if he realized he was the real life American hero often portrayed in the movies by John Wayne. Williams laconically replied, “Yeah, I know.”

They differed in some ways. Williams left California to find his fortune and Wayne moved there to find his. Williams performed in real life what Wayne only performed in reel life. Wayne was a silver screen pilot in seven movies while Williams was a real pilot in two wars. Wayne portrayed a Marine in The Flying Leathernecks and Sands of Iwo Jima while Williams was one.

They also had much in common. They looked a bit alike in their mature years. Williams was a great athlete while Wayne, who played football for the University of Southern California, was a good one. Marriage was not a comfortable institution for either one as they both were married thee times. They were both outdoorsmen, politically conservative, and patriots. Both have been recognized with the ultimate accolade of their professions, Cooperstown for Williams and an Oscar for Wayne. Williams went on to manage a bit after he retired from the field and Wayne moved behind the camera as a director and producer.

Modern baseball statistical analyses, Sabermetrics, place Williams, alongside the great Babe Ruth and the fraud Barry Bonds as the three most potent hitters to ever have played the game. A 2007 Harris Poll placed Wayne as the third most favorite American film stars. Both men were consummate professionals, so much so that even now, long after their deaths, both still rightfully rank in the top three of their respective professions.

I have met Lones Wigger. I have shot with, and against him, countless times since we first met in 1965; me a wet behind the ears high school senior while he was a young captain, fresh from a gold medal performance at the Tokyo Olympics, on a rising trajectory in the little known, or appreciated, sport of rifle shooting.

In some respects Wigger is the antithesis of Williams. Physically he is a short stocky man while Williams was well known as “The Splendid Splinter.” Wigger has been married but once and that relationship has lasted over 50 years. He is the father of three children who have followed in his footsteps, becoming successful in their own right in a field where their father cast the largest of shadows, Deena an All American and Olympian, Ron also an All American and the successful West Point rifle coach, and Danny an NRA Distinguished Rifleman. Williams was married three times and enjoyed a twenty year relationship with a fourth woman. Williams’ only son, John Henry, was offered a courtesy tryout with the Boston Red Sox but, after a short time, faded into the obscurity of the low minor leagues and left baseball.

Williams comes from the west coast while Wigger is a son of the prairies, much like Wayne. Williams was taciturn and did not get along with the press while the garrulous Wigger’s memory for names and faces and outgoing demeanor reminds one of a politician running for office.

Both were military men with combat experience. Williams saw service in World War II and Korea as a Marine aviator. Wigger, a career Army infantry officer, did two tours in Viet Nam. Wigger is patriotic, conservative, and outspoken on matters close to his heart, much like Williams. Wigger, like Williams, is a fierce competitor be it softball, volleyball, or shooting.

Like a Ph.D. candidate preparing to defend his thesis Williams studied all aspects of hitting, from pitching delivery to bat construction. Wigger knows no facet of shooting so insignificant that it doesn’t deserve detailed study, from the rules, to reading conditions, to ammunition testing, to rifle set up. The story of Wigger tearing apart a rifle to see if there was a way that he could squeeze a few extra Xs out of it on the morning after he used it to shoot a 3200 is a part of shooting folk lore.

They both were blessed with superb vision and quick reflexes. It was said that Williams could see the seams and stitches of a rotating baseball as it closed on him at 95 miles per hour, just 0.4 of a second to see and react! Wigger is a keen observer of conditions and some think that he can actually see the wind as it plays across a rifle range.

Williams is in the Baseball Hall of Fame while Wigger is a member of the Olympic, International Shooters’ and the US Army Marksmanship Unit’s Halls of Fame. Wayne has an Oscar, his foot prints in concrete in front of Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, and a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame.

The similarity between the three men in seemingly divergent fields leads me to believe that those at the top of their fields share common attributes. They paid close attention to detail, have an overwhelming desire to succeed, and the will to devote countless hours of hard work-not in competition-but in the all important exhausting tedious grind of preparation and honing basic skills.

Wayne, Williams, and Wigger: maybe close to the end of the alphabet but in the forefront of their chosen vocations.

Posted in Hap's Corner | 3 Comments