Fort Wayne Rifle and Revolver Club

Saturday, April 26 was the formal Work Day for the Spring of 2022.  A number of projects were undertaken and the results of those projects will improve the quality of our range for all of our members.

Prior to Saturday, a lot of work had been done in adding crushed stone to the entry driveway and leveling it to take out the potholes and washed out places.  Getting into the range is a lot more pleasant now.  As part of Work Day, all of the graveled driveway and parking areas were scarified, graded and leveled.  It was a task that just went on in the background as the John Deere just went up and down the drives, but it paid a great benefit in accessibility to the areas on the range.  I did not get the name of the gentleman who did the gravel work (or even a picture of him on the tractor)   – but a huge Thank You from all of us for your effort!

Weed control is always an ongoing task at the range and spraying weeds requires water to mix the herbicides.  Until now we have needed to bring water to the range to fill the tank on the sprayer (the well has so much rust and scale that it clogs the strainers and nozzles in the sprayer).  It was decided to build a system to catch rainwater to use for spraying.  What we were building was a cistern and gutter system a lot like what our great-grandparents used on many farms back in the early 20th century!

Another project we had the material and people to finish was installing the set of new number boards on the 200/300 yard range. The old ones had gone ‘way past their use-by date and new ones were needed.  Dave Fritz, a longtime member from up around South Bend painted us a new set of numbers (he also painted the previous set as well). A couple of posts were replaced and new mounting rails replaced the weathered ones.  The new numbers can be removed for winter storage and they look very nice.

There are several ongoing projects that will be done as time goes on and it may be necessary to close the range to allow this work to be completed.  We will try to give several days notice when range closures are needed, so keep an eye on the website for updates.

UPDATE: May 5

We have had a rainy spell since work day and the cistern is working well. It has filled to overflowing and we have plenty of water for weed control. I would not recommend using the water for other purposes for a while because there might still be traces of Glysophate (Round-Up) in the plastic container.

Our High Power season will kick off with the CMP Games Match on Saturday, May 14th.

This match is sometimes called the Garand Match or the GSM Match, is a 30 round for record (and up to 5 sighters) fired from 200 yards. It consists of up to 5 sighting shots fired from any position, then 10 slow fire Prone shots for record, 10 shots Rapid Prone and 10 shots Offhand.

There are categories for just about any rifle you care to bring to the match; M1 Garand (Service and Match), 1903 Springfields, 1917 Enfields, Foreign Military, M1 Carbine, Modern Military, Match rifles and Sporters.  This is a re-entry match – you can bring several rifles and shoot in different categories if you wish.

Registration and setup will open about 6:30 AM and will close at 7:30AM.  The safety briefing for Relays 1 and 2 will be at the 200-yard line at 7:45 and the first shot will go down range promptly at 8:00 AM.

The Match fee is $20 for FWRR members and members of affiliated Clubs and $25 for others.  For re-entry matches, a reduction of $5 per match will apply for each additional match.

We have to keep the lawyers happy.  This is a CMP Match; shooters will be required to execute a 2022 CMP Release of Liability Form.  Junior Shooters will need to have a parent execute a release for them.

Pre-registration is strongly recommended.  I will try to give shooters the relay and firing point they request, but earlier reservations have a better chance of getting their choices.  When making reservations, let me know what rifle (or rifles) you plan to shoot – it makes organizing relays a bit easier.

Registration requests, questions or comments should be sent to FWRRHPDirector@aol.com.

One of the challenges to fielding a Junior High Power Shooting Team is getting equipment for the shooters.  High Power shooting is not an inexpensive sport and the initial investment in equipment is a barrier to Juniors (and their parents).  The reasonable question a parent asks is; “Why should I invest a bunch of money in something the Junior might not like?”  The members of FWRR and the High Power shooters have been extremely generous in their support of the Junior program and have done a lot to minimize the investment required by our Junior shooters and their families.

Obviously the largest item as an initial expense is a rifle that will let the Junior shoot to their abilities.  FWRR has procured two club rifles dedicated to the Junior program and members have made two more rifles available as Junior rifles.  Once a rifle is available, the question of ammunition arises.  Recent events have made match quality ammunition very expensive.  The decision was made to load ammunition for the Juniors and the Club agreed to underwrite half of the cost per round.  This summer we are able to provide ammunition to the Juniors for 35-cents a round, approximately half the cost we incur to load a round. (Compare that to $1.37 a round for match quality commercial ammunition – if it is available.)  One member has loaded about 2,500 rounds of Junior ammunition for the 2022 season.

 I’ll not call you out by name, but Thank You!

Once the ammunition problem is under control (the only thing that Juniors can go through quicker than ammunition is groceries) the incidentals start to mount up.  A member who has many contacts throughout the nationwide shooting community was able to donate a number of shooting coats and mats to the Junior Team.  Some coats we were able to use with the Juniors and some were sold to benefit the program (they were just ‘way too big for Juniors – we don’t get many Size 44 Juniors).  Over the winter we discovered a Size 38 Extra Short coat in the pile, just what we needed for one of our girl shooters.  We did a little tailoring, replaced the pads on the coat and it will make a very nice coat for the upcoming season.  We are working with a grant from the Indiana Youth Shooting Sports Foundation to obtain two more coats from Creedmoor, including a rare left-handed coat

This same member also donated a number of Champions Choice shooting mats.  They were well used and most had non-slip pads that flapped in the breeze.  A trip to the tailor and the pads were sewn down, the ripped out grommets were replaced, new tie strings were added and we have plenty of shooting mats for the crew now.

Thank You to this member also!

What we have found is that as the Juniors get more serious about the sport, they replace the club equipment with equipment that better matches their personal needs.  Three of our five Juniors have purchased their own rifles.  I do not need to explain how having access to a rifle you can call your own improves shooting skills.

Again –  Thanks to the members of the Fort Wayne Rifle and Revolver Club for their support of the Junior program; financially, by equipment donation and by the generous contribution of their time.