Last weekend, Friday through Sunday, June 19 through 21 – was the Mid-Summer Madness series of matches.
We started on Friday afternoon with a 50-round National Match Course match. It was as perfect an afternoon to shoot a match as one could ask for and twelve shooters gave us a full line with twelve electronic targets operating for the weekend.
Not surprisingly, Mike King fired the high score with a 494-20X. followed by Mark Walters’ 483-7X. Our visitor from Frankfort Kentucky, Bill Balda finished out the top three spots falling one point shy of Mark.
On Saturday, June 20, 2066, the Fort Wayne Rifle and Revolver Club hosted the sixth annual Indiana Junior High Power Championship match. This match was held along with a CMP 80-round Match and included “old folks” as well as Juniors. A total of 31 shooters competed – including 12 Juniors. It was a beautiful day for a match with sunny skies, moderate temperature – but the gusty fishtailing winds made shooting Offhand a challenge for the competitors.
The 2026 Indiana Juniors.
(For a left handed shooter, Port Arms is Starboard Arms.)
But, it was a good day for Emma Branson. The previous weekend at Camp Atterbury, Emma finished her final leg for Distinguished Rifleman (pending CMP review) and she came into the championship match on a roll. Emma opened up with a 190-4X Offhand stage in spite of the wind and continued to dominate from there – posting a 770-21X aggregate to take the State Championship and the CMP gold medal for the match.
Dave Schnelle presents Emma Branson the Championship plaque
As a note, Emma is a third generation High Power shooter. Her grandfather, John Halter (P100) and father Geoff Branson (DR) are accomplished High Power shooters; she’s just carrying on an old family tradition.
Three Generations of High Power Shooters
GrandPa John Halter, Emma Branson and Dad Geoff Branson
Logan Becker took the CMP silver medal with a 756-16X, also taking recognition as First Master for the match. Aria Hobbs’ 751-11X was good for the bronze medal and First Sharpshooter award. Kileen Shaffer was First Expert and Ashton Hovey was First Marksman.
Kileen Shaffer, First Expert; Emma Branson, State Champion – Gold Medal; Aria Hobbs, Bronze Medal – First Sharpshooter; Logan Becker, Silver Medal – First Master
A Flock of Juniors on a Beautiful Day
The Juniors took the spotlight. But for the whole match, “not Junior” Mike King again took the first place with 773-18X, followed by Mark Walters’ 771-17X. Emma Branson was third overall with the high Junior score of 770-21X. Fourth was Junior Silver medalist Andrew Beaver with 763-28X who Creedmoored Jim Jackson in fifth place with a 763-20X.
The Grouchy Old Match Director/Range Officer Conducting The Safety Briefing
We had planned to shoot a Garand match after the Junior match, but many of the display devices, targets and most of the shooters had dead batteries after the morning match and we decided that enough was enough.
We will reschedule the Garand Match later in the summer.
Then, on Sunday morning we closed out the weekend with a 50-round Father’s Day Match. We had nine shooters, finishing up in a record time. On Father’s Day, the top finishers were a repeat of the previous matches; Mike King – first – 497-17X; Mark Walters – second – 485-15X and again Bill Balda from Frankfort, KY third with 484-14X.
Now – on to National Matches at Camp Perry!