Talk about living the dream!  We had scheduled the FWRR Hoosier Home Range Hundred Match for Saturday morning with an 8 o’clock first shot.  I got to the range about 6:55 and I noticed that the gate was open.  I hung the FWRR Rifle Match Today sign on the gate and headed a bit further down the road.  As I topped the little rise, I saw five trucks parked at the pits.  Most of the target frames were already in the holders by the time I got there.

I wandered over to the edge of the pits and I told the guys; “Hey –this isn’t Camp Perry, we don’t start at 7 o’clock.”  The response from at least three people was; “Well, we do – you’re late!”

I unloaded the electronics that I had taken home for an update and we finished setting up.  Sunrise was at 7:12 this morning;  and by 7:19 – we were ready to go.  We went back up to the “new” 100-yard firing line and sat around a bit to let the sun get a bit higher.  Everyone on the first relay was there (all eight targets were in use – no spare set aside for “oops”), so we went to the line and at 7:55 the first shot went downrange. 

Getting Things Set Up; “Is the Server up yet?”
The line is full – 8 shooters – and the Range Officer is already sitting down!

No sooner had the offhand stage gotten under way but the clouds parted and the targets were bathed in brilliant sunlight.  One shooter commented; “The clouds parted, the sun came out and all that was missing was music… .”  Did I mention that it was about 60-degrees and absolutely no wind?  It was like shooting offhand in an air-conditioned field house with stage lighting!  Not even the grouchiest high power shooter could have asked for netter conditions.

Our new 100-yard firing line

Things went along very smoothly and we used block time to move along promptly.  The first 80-round match was finished by 9:30.  I had scheduled the second relay for 10:00, but by the time the first relay finished, all of the second relay shooters had arrived, so we went right back to the line.  Several shooters had signed up to shoot two relays, and after the first relay a couple more wanted in for two, so we ended up with one shooter sitting out the second relay – we ran out of slots for him to shoot in. (We could have pair fired on one target – but we decided not to do that.)

The second relay went along pretty well – one target went red and we managed to fat finger our system – but we put the spare server on line and had only a short interruption.  We finished the second 80-round match at 11 o’clock (before the very brisk winds came up) and everyone was done in plenty of time to spend the afternoon at home.

Let’s see – a great set of shooters who can’t wait to help, beautiful weather, two smooth matches … what more could a High Power Director ask for?  Now you see what I meant by “Living the dream” at the start.

Life is hard on target faces at a Hoosier Home Range Hundred Match

FWRR Match Results

First                 Mark Walters             781-19X

Second            Mike King                    780-26X

Third               Mark Richard              779-27X

Fourth             Geoff Branson             766-27X

Statewide Match Standings

Here are the Hoosier Home Range Hundred individual shooter standings as of September 5, 2020 – but there are more matches to follow and things can change rapidly with these standings! (Remember, these are Service Rifle matches, so some Match Rifle scores have not counted for the standings.)

State Champion         Mike King                     FWRR                          782-28X

First High Master       Mark Richard            FWRR                          779-27X

First Master                Mark Walters             FWRR                          781-19X

First Expert                 Robert MacWilliams  St. Joseph                     775-14X

First Sharpshooter     Madelyn Schnelle       Wildcat Valley             740-14X

First Marksman          Joe Freiburger            FWRR                         718-8X