KS: Margaret Murdock Match Results

Posted on March 8, 2011 by H

submitted by Larry Richardson

2011 Margaret Murdock Match

The Kansas State Indoor Prone Championship AKA the “Margaret Murdock Match”, named in honor of the famous Kansan and Olympic Rifle champion, was held March 5-6 at the indoor rifle range at St. John’s Military School in Salina. This match continues to be a popular competition among serious smallbore rifle competitors, attracting shooters from throughout Kansas and Missouri.

As this match has evolved over the past several years, shooters who have experienced this unique style of smallbore prone shooting have come to look forward to it and develop their own winning strategies. As a result, the match, which consists of 120 shots fired at a range of 50 feet “gallery style” utilizes a variety of difficult targets that mimics, somewhat, the more common outdoor prone game. Without having to contend with the vagaries of the wind to complicate things, the competition is usually tight and this year was no different.

The final result came down to a matter of center shots or “X’s” to decide the winner. When the gun smoke had cleared, after the 28 shooters had fired their last shots that is just what it came down to. Senior shooter and match organizer, Larry Richardson of Derby led the pack with a personal best 1195 93X after the first two relays on Saturday, having dropped all five of his points in the last stage of the match. The “Big Gun” in the form of two-time champion Aaron Wiebe, of Whitewater, showed up on Sunday and, as usual, made things interesting. Wiebe trailed by a single point after the first two stages but showed his championship mettle by only dropping four in the final stage tying Richardson on points. His 108X performance gave him the tiebreaking edge he needed for his third straight victory.

In addition to the tight race for the top slot, the top two were trailed by a single point by William Wilkinson of Dixon, MO who shot a 1194-100X for third place and 1st Expert. In fact only 10 points separated the top nine shooters.

On the Junior side of the match, 15-year-old Jack Berhorst of Lawson, MO blew away his competition for the title of Match Winner with an 1191-89X. Second place and Kansas resident champion honors were won by SJMS cadet Stephen Ritter who fired 1148-55X. Third place Junior went to Tyler Bohl of Phillipsburg who fired 1144-54X.

The sponsoring Wichita B-B Gun Team wishes to thank all of the competitors for their support and MSGT Tony Blair of SJMS for allowing us the use of their fabulous range facility, the finest of its kind in the Midwest.

Match and Class Winners

Aaron Wiebe 1195-108X Match Winner & State Champion

Larry Richardson 1195-93X 1st Senior

William Wilkinson 1194-100X 1st Expert

Jack Berhorst 1191-89X Junior Champion

Steve McGee 1189-104X 1st Master

Kris Lowmiller 1189-88X 1st Sharpshooter

Rod Sothers 1188-95X 1st Marksman

Stephen Ritter 1148-55X State Junior Resident Champion

Tyler Bohl 1144-54X 1st Junior

Richard Wik 1143-45X 1st Intermediate Junior

Christina Morrissey 1115-33X 1st Sub-Junior

Complete results can be downloaded here: 2011-ks-maragret- murdock (Excel, 41KB)

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NH: 3P Air Sectional Results

Posted on March 7, 2011 by H
submitted by Keith Jylkka
The Hudson, NH F&G Club hosted the NRA 3 Position Air Rifle Junior and Open Sectionals on Friday, 3/04 and Saturday, 3/05. Four full relays of shooters filled the range.  The match results are attached. Congratulations goes out to the following competitors:
3P Air Rifle Junior Sectional
*  MacKenzie Martin – 590 – Match Champion – Gold Medallion
*  Megan Polonsky – 580 – Silver Medallion
*  Alexis Nardone – 576 – Bronze Medallion
*  Brian Jylkka – 576 – 1st Junior
*  Sonya May – 570 – 1st IJ
*  Verne Conant – 568 – 2nd IJ
*  Zach Wambsganss – 514 – 1st SJ
*  Taunton Wolf Pack – 2280 – Team Champion
*  Mass Rifle Assn Juniors – 2230 – 1st IJ team
3P Air Rifle Open Sectional
*  Megan Polonsky – 582 – Match Champion – Gold Medallion

2011-nh-3p-air-open-sectional

2011-nh-3p-air-junior-sectional

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NCAA Individual and Team Qualifiers

Posted on March 4, 2011 by H

The NCAA team and individual qualifiers can be viewed here: http://www.ncaa.com/news/rifle/2011-02-23/individuals-announced-rifle-field

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Notable Quote

Posted on March 4, 2011 by H

DRINK. If you smoke or drink, keep right on in your regular habits, don’t change them; no training pays except practice. If you drink as you shoot use ale, beer or light wine. DON’T drink whiskey or strong liquors, they slow the eyesight, and while you appear to be holding and pulling cleanly, you do not get your shots because you do not see as well as you think you do. Don’t drink a swallow or two at a time as a glass will chill the stomach every time, and the nerves are then unsettled and you cannot hold steady till you get warmed again. –from IMPORTANT THINGS TO REMEMBER IN OFFHAND RIFLE SHOOTING, GALLERY SHOOTING ESPECIALLY by H. M. POPE

you can read some of Pope’s other “things to remember” in South-Shore-Rifle-and-Pistol-League-50-Years (PDF, 34MB)

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Photo of the Week

Posted on March 4, 2011 by Hap Rocketto

Major John W. (Jack) Hession, who some claim was the greatest rifle shot that ever squeezed the trigger, won more than 500 matches during his long career, once held every record from 200 to 1,200 yards and was a member of 12 teams that represented the United States in competition abroad. Less than two months before his death in February of 1961 Hession chalked up a perfect score at the Clearwater Rifle Club range with 40 straight bulleyes from 100 yards, putting 39 of the shots in the one-inch “X” ring.” Hession was born in 1877 at Clinton, Canada. He worked as a ballistics engineer for both the Remington Arms Co. and Winchester Co. His “beavertail” design for a gun stock – which provided a wider and less tiring grip – earned him credit for improving scores of all shooters. Hession made the 1908 U.S. Olympic Team and in 1918 finished 63 points ahead of the runner-up in the U.S. tryouts at France for the inter-allied rifle competition. He once clicked off 102 straight bullseyes with a .22 rifle on a 200-yard course and had 79 in a row during practice at 1,000 yards. His best competitive run was 57 at 800 yards at Camp Perry, Ohio. During a Camp Perry match in 1913, the major scored 19 “bulls” out of 20 shots at 1,000 yards shooting across a 42-mile gale that forced him to aim 25 feet to the right of the distant target. He was a crack trap shot, in addition to his rifle and pistol target ability. During his younger days the major was a bicycle champion too, winning the Dunlop Trophy in 1898.

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March 2011 Issue of Shooting Sports USA

Posted on March 2, 2011 by H

The latest issue of Shooting Sports USA is available here.

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CT: Great Pumpkin Match, Oct 15-16

Posted on March 2, 2011 by H

The Bell City Rifle Club in CT will host the Great Pumpkin Match match on October 15-16. You can download the match program here: 2011Great Pumpkin Match (PDF, 106KB)

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CT: Camp Perry Warm-Up, July 9-10

Posted on March 2, 2011 by H

The Bell City Rifle Club in CT will host the Camp Perry Warm-Up match on July 9-10. You can download the match program here: 2011 Camp Perry Warm Up (PDF, 90KB)

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NH: Upcoming Regionals

Posted on March 2, 2011 by H
submitted by Keith Jylkka
The Hudson, NH Fish and Game Club will host two NRA Regionals this summer.  Both are timed in advance of the National Matches at Camp Perry.
  • The NRA Conventional Prone Regional and State Championship will be held on Saturday, 6/11.
  • The NRA Conventional 3P Regional and State Championship will be held on Saturday, 7/09.
Details for the matches can be found on the match programs below:
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You May Talk O’ Gin An’ Beer

Posted on February 28, 2011 by Hap Rocketto

You May Talk O’ Gin An’ Beer
by Hap Rocketto

There probably isn’t a shooter in the world that hasn’t been through some sort of cessation of fire. The most common reason is severe rain. Matches are often held up, and sometimes cancelled, because the rain is so intense that the targets become unscoreable. A couple of days ago a rather unusual event at a rifle match got me to thinking about all of the different reasons I have heard of, or experienced, that have caused a break in fire.

Many years ago I was shooting standing at a Connecticut Big Bore League match and the shooter next to me was kneeling. I happened to look over and was taken aback to see him drop his rifle and keel over. I plopped my rifle on my stool and bent down, with a couple of others, to help him. He was purple and, despite our best efforts, the old gentleman had fired his last shot. The Great Range Master in The Sky had called time on his relay. As we futilely tried to revive him the line was shut down and shooting did not resume until the ambulance had taken him away.

Many old belly shooters will remember, with some nostalgia, the matches shot at P.J. O’Hare’s in central New Jersey. It was a nice range and the competition was always fierce in that hotbed of prone shooting. It was the domain of Miss Winnifred Carr. Winnie was a prone shooter of some repute and worked for O’Hare. She was prim, proper, fine boned, and thin. The perpetually serious expression on her sharp-featured face always made me think that she believed I had just violated some grave and obscure aspect of the shooting canon. She was the physical embodiment of the stereotypical high school librarian. Well, to get back to the story, a set of railroad tracks ran through the complex and it was not uncommon to hold up shooting as boxcars trundled across the range.

Ranges in New York have offered some unusual delays. At Camp Smith I have had to stop to wait while a helicopter flitted in and out from a small landing pad between the 600-yard line and the targets. Various types of fauna also inhabit the range and not much is thought about the flocks of geese that foul the grass. However, the deer that browse the area are off limits and shooting stops whenever they wander into sight. At Colonie the 1,000 yard firing line is not readily seen from the area between the line and the butts. Matches there have been stopped as hikers or dirt bikers strayed onto the broad grass field.

While my brother Steve was living in Peru he was active in the local shooting club. One morning, while out practicing his 300-meter skills, with an original Peruvian 1909 Mauser with a Lange sight, when he caught the sight of the range help scurrying about and shouting. His Spanish was not that good and he was wearing earmuffs anyway so he just kept on shooting. He noticed that his less than rock steady hold was deteriorating. He stopped to adjust his sling. After getting back down he again had trouble keeping steady. The Range Officer delicately lifted his earmuff and politely asked him, in better English than Steve’s execrable Spanish, to leave the shooting booth. It was at this moment he realized that it wasn’t his hold that was shaky. It was the ground and he was in the midst of an earthquake!

There are legions of shooters who have spent a good many minutes sprawled on the grass of Vaile, sorry I am just too old to get used to Viale, Range at Perry while the United States Coast Guard chivvied a boater out of the impact area. The area is well marked and I can never understand how folks drift in there. One school of thought leans toward the fact that the splashes look like those of the area’s favorite game fish, the walleye, and the boaters who stand into danger are not locals but tourists from Cleveland or Cincinnati.

The incident that reminded me of all this happened this past week my brother Steve took his high school rifle team to a match at a local rod and gun club. This place is one of those old New England clubs that slowly has been taken over by card and bingo players, adding a bar to accommodate the new clientele. The club is in a rural area and serves as a social center for the area. Unfortunately, it has become less of fishing and shooting club and more a social club. Shooting now seems to disturb the main function of the club that revolves around hearts and clubs and gin and suds, rather than revolvers. It must be noted that the club is civic minded and generous. It has a junior rifle club and also hosts the local high school’s varsity shooting program.

During the match, right in the middle of a relay, the side door of the basement range banged open and a bright shaft of light split the darkness. Two huge guys rumbled in from the bright sunshine rolling beer barrels. They had broad shoulders, tattoos on their arms, and hair on their knuckles. These tough teamsters were unloading a brewer’s dray to make the weekly beverage delivery. Here was another unusual reason to cease fire to be added to our growing list.

Isn’t it is rather ironic that this little tale about shooting delays on the range starts with a story about a shooter’s bier and ends with a story about a shooter’s beer?

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CT: JORC Warm-up and PTO, March 26-27

Posted on February 25, 2011 by H

The Bridgeport Rifle Club in Connecticut will be hosting a USA Shooting JORC Warm-up / PTO on March 26-27. You can download the match program here: BRCJORCWarmupProgram2011 (PDF, 70KB)

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VA: NRA Spring Fling, April 16-17

Posted on February 25, 2011 by H

The 2011 Spring Fling/Ken Quandahl Smallbore Rifle Memorial will be contested April 16-17, 2011 at the NRA Indoor Range. The Spring Fling is fired indoors at 50 yards, three positions, using any sights – an excellent event to get prepared for the outdoor season.

The course of fire is forty shots in each of the prone, standing, and kneeling positions fired on the NRA conventional A-23 target. There is also a two-person “paper” team match using the scores from the individual championship to compute team scores.

Three relays are scheduled per day starting at 8:00 a.m., 12:00 p.m., and 4:00 p.m. Registration for the Spring Fling is on a first-come, first-served basis. Only 90 competitors will be able to compete due to range limitations. Call HQ Moody at 703-237-1475 to register for the Spring Fling and to request a tournament program.

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Photo of the Week

Posted on February 24, 2011 by Hap Rocketto

Circa Mid 1920s. Action on the 22 caliber range, Camp Perry. Girls from a Washington DC high school shoot smallbore at Camp Perry.

By 1923 smallbore was no longer viewed as a sideshow to the military matches and the smallbore shooters were delighted to be greeted by a new centrally located shooting ground.  For the past three years it took a hike of about a mile to reach the smallbore facility then located at the extreme western reaches of Camp Perry.  Competitors found an innovative target carrier system instead of the traditional wooden frames upon which targets had been tacked.  They were replaced by six small gauge railway type tracks that ran down range.  Upon these were fixed wheeled trucks holding the target frames that were moved to the required distance by a rope and pulley arrangement similar to that found at indoor shooting galleries.  It soon became apparent that the new facilities would be inadequate for the unexpected large number of contestants so Captain G.L. Wotkyns, smallbore range director, doubled the range capacity by adding six more sets of target carriers to meet demand.

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NJ: Air Rifle PTO, March 26

Posted on February 23, 2011 by H

Somerset Junior Rifle Club will be hosting a USA Shooting Air Rifle PTO on March 26th. You can download the match program here: Air rifle 2011 (PDF, 74KB)

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KS: Indoor Prone Championship, Mar 5-6

Posted on February 20, 2011 by H

The Kansas State Indoor Smallbore Rifle Prone Championship (also known as the Margaret Murdock Championship Match) will be held on March 5-6, 2011. The match is all shot at 50 feet and uses various targets to simulate the outdoor prone game. You can download the match program here: 2011-KS-MURDOCK-PROGRAM (PDF, 102KB)

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NH: Junior 3P Sectional Results

Posted on February 19, 2011 by H

New Hampshire held its 2011 Junior 3P Sectional on February 16th -19th. Complete results can be downloaded here: 2011-nh-3p-junior-sectional (PDF, 12KB)

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GA: Upcoming Matches

Posted on February 19, 2011 by H

Submitted by Dennis Lindenbaum

It’s time! The 2011 Smallbore competition season at River Bend Gun Club near Atlanta, Ga is about to commence. It may be hard to believe, but spring is just a few weeks away and we can put our off-season training and equipment upgrades into action. The competition schedule at River Bend continues to improve each season and this year is no different. In 2011, we will be offering 20 Smallbore matches: nine conventional and metric prone, four 200 yard prone, and seven light rifle offhand events. Included in the competition schedule, participants will have the opportunity to shoot a Metric and a Conventional Regional, a Half-Perry 2400, and the Club Championship series. Matches typically begin at 9:00 am with the ceremonial firing of the salute cannon followed by the national anthem and raising of the colors. For March and November, the matches will begin an hour later at 10:00 am due to the usually colder temperatures in those months. As is always true, we welcome all shooters and there will be plenty of support and assistance for those who are new to the sport. Award ceremonies are held immediately following conclusion of each match.

River Bend is a beautiful facility in the foothills of the Blue Ridge mountain chain just north of metro Atlanta. Directions and further information about the range as well as all shooting programs are available at the website – www.rbgc.org. Matches will be fired on Multi-Purpose Range 2 and the 200-600 yard High Power Range. Modern convenience facilities are available at each range and a few vending machines. Bring lunch or snacks.

March 19th will be the date for the initial match of the 2011 season. This is an Any Sight Conventional 1600 and first shot will be at 10:00 am. For any questions and further information, feel free to contact the Match Director Tommy Steadman at steadmant@comcast.net or the Communications Director  Dennis Lindenbaum at dblinden@comcast.net.

The match program can be downloaded here: 2011-Conventional Match Program (PDF, 74KB)

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Costa Rica: 63rd Annual Canopy 3200

Posted on February 19, 2011 by H

submitted by Dennis Lindenbaum

Writing from beautiful Quepos, Costa Rica, the 63rd annual Canopy 3200 was completed this weekend to the overwhelming enjoyment of all the participants. This is always a well-run affair and steeped in historical tradition. As with the previous 62 annual matches, this one was held under sunny skies and 85-88 degree F temperatures with wafting breezes from the north each day. Since this is summer in Costa Rica, it is dry with low humidity. Under the shade of the canopy, it couldn’t have been more comfortable.

The number of competitors this year was lower than typical and everyone was blaming the economy and the skyrocketing cost of Eley. Import duty taxes charged at Juan’s Garage (the only local ammo supplier) adds further costs. Competing this year were four howler monkeys, two three-toed sloths, a half dozen juniors under the age of ten, and myself. However, they all have earned their Master classification and brought their A-game as usual making the competition very tough.

You should have heard those monkeys scream when I brought out my scope for Scope Day. Evidently, everyone shoots irons all the time down here. Everyone started calling me a “Panamanian” which apparently is a pretty derisive term down here. The matches are run pretty efficiently, but those damn sloths seem like they take forever just to hang a new target after each string. Those sloths are incredible, though, when it comes to waiting for a condition. I have never seen more patience.

It is customary to down a cold Corona after each card during the delay while the sloths are taking their time. This was something that I really hadn’t trained for. I try to avoid making excuses for my poor shooting, but a 238 with no X’s on the final 100 meter match of the day ruined any chance for a decent placing in the overall aggregate. They shoot the 100 meter match last each day and it is an all metric event. Since this wasn’t in the original match program, I questioned the match director (his name is Hap) about this, he just looked at me and said, “Todos metricos todos al tiempo”. One of the monkeys overheard this conversation and screamed, “The center is still the center!”. Turns out they just scream all the time and they were a great bunch of guys to shoot with.

Some guy named Bob was the match winner (never got his last name) and I have enclosed a photo of him at the award ceremony. Tried to get a group photo, but couldn’t get everyone to sit still long enough. Although I didn’t do my best, I’ll definitely be back next year.

Pura Vida – Senor Dennis on the road to Perry

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MIT Pistol featured in The Boston Globe

Posted on February 17, 2011 by H

There was a nice article and video on the MIT Pistol team on February 6th in The Boston Globe. You can view it here.

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AZ: Roadrunner 3200 Results

Posted on February 17, 2011 by H

The Arizona 2011 Roadrunner 3200 results can be downloaded here: 2011-az-roadrunner-results (PDF, 49KB)

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South Shore Rifle and Pistol League, 1936-1986

Posted on February 16, 2011 by H

This is a unique document published by the South Shore Rifle and Pistol League of Massachusetts on the the league’s 50th anniversary. The league is still operating today and many of pronematch.com’s contributors participate. The PDF file is rather large so give it a little time to download. South-Shore-Rifle-and-Pistol-League-50-Years (PDF, 34MB)

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