Fort Wayne Rifle and Revolver Club

The ISRPA Full Course State Championship is in the books, and man what a nail biter! Mike King and Madelyn Schnelle battled back and forth for 2 days, both shooting incredible scores.

In the end, the battle for the Winged Lady Trophy was settled by X-count.  On Saturday, Mike King took top slot with a 790-25X – bettering Madelyn’s 785-31X.  But on Sunday the scores were reversed with Mike shooting the 785 with a 34X and Madelyn posting the 790 with 23X. Mike took the Bob Ireland Winged Lady with a 1575-59X to Madelyn’s 1575-54X; a Creedmoor decision!

FWRR was well represented at the top of the standings, with Miss Emma Branson taking third place with a 1523-25X, Geoff Branson finishing with a 1515-40X  as top Master shooter and Mark Richard with a 1510-46X (very impressive X-count!)

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Emma Branson led the FWRR Juniors with a third place 1523-25X, followed by Kileen Shaffer with a two-day aggregate of 1463-24X; Marshall Rohrbach with 1384-24X, Addiysn Shull with 1371-9X and Tayt Shaffer – shooting his first 80-round matches – with 1249-13X.

And, thanks to all of the parents who gave up their weekend to bring the Juniors to the State Match – without you, it could not have happened!

The mowing crew be cutting grass today beginning at 11:00. With the mowing area reduced because of the seeded and strawed areas, we’ll likely be finished by 1:30.

Please adjust your range plans accordingly.

The Main Range will be closed from approximately 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m on Monday, August 28th to allow seeding, fertilizing and blowing straw on the areas where recent earth moving has been done.

Please keep this in consideration as you plan on using the range.

  The Pistol Pit will remain open. 

Here is an overview of some of the range improvements being done this week:

Members are asked not to drive over areas that have been graded, seeded and strawed until further notice.

Additional work will be done to correct drainage issues at the north end of the covered 100-yard firing line targets as well as work west of the 300-yard high power firing points

UPDATE:

About noon I received a call to come take a look at the work on the 100-yard high power firing line.

I was extremely pleased with the improvements. The north end of the line was raised about 2 feet – leveling the line across the firing positions. The flat top of the line was widened out – giving shooters about three or more feet of surface to lay on. At the south (low end) of the line the shooting berm was extended about 6 feet; giving an additional firing position at the low end to ease the crowding we had when we tried to put 8 shooters on the line.

Finally, the drainage issues have been addressed – the north end has a swale that will allow water to drain away from the west side (front) of the firing line. Some additional swale work remains to be done in the next day or two at the south end to cut a drainage there to move water from the 200-yard target stand area.

And – a great mystery has been solved. Years ago we had a wind flag at the end of the 200-yard berm, but we lost the pipe that the flagstaff fit into. Well – the missing pipe was found today- buried about a foot deep!

Members are asked not to drive over areas that have been graded, seeded and strawed until further notice.

The following article will show up as an ISRPA Newsletter later this week. I’m sharing it with FWRR members to show our FWRR folks who participated at the state match.

The ISRPA article starts here:

The Triple Crown series of matches for the ISRPA High Power Championship opened up on Saturday, August 19 with nineteen shooters at the Wildcat Valley Rifle and Pistol Club.  It was a beautiful day for a match and the question was which shooter was going to be the next name on the Wildcat 300 yard Reduced State Championship trophy?  Would Madelyn Schnelle repeat her 2022 championship, would Mike King edge her out of the top slot or – would Jeannie Redicker or Bob Winding be at the top of their game and win this first leg of the championship series?

Saturday 19 August was a beautiful day for the Wildcat 300-yard Reduced Course State Championship

It became evident at 200 yard Offhand that Madelyn had come to shoot as she posted a 196-4X personal best for the stage. 

Kileen keeps score as Madelyn Schnelle shoots on her way to a 196-4X, personal best Offhand score

Mike King shot a 190 and Jeannie Redicker posted a 189 in Offhand.  Jeannie made up some ground at 200 Sitting with a 199-6X; Mike and Madelyn both shot 198’s.   Dave Schnelle and Greg Burget showed that Old Guys can still rule as both of them cleaned the 200 Sitting stage with 200-8X and 200-6X scores respectively.  As the shooters moved back to the 300-yard line, Madelyn was at the top of the Wailing Wall chart with a 394-10X. Mike was trailing with a 388-19X, Creedmooring Jeannie with her 388-13X.

Madelyn Schnelle mentors Kileen Shaffer at the 200-yard Rapid Prone line

Mike made up a little ground at 300 Prone Rapid where he shot a 200-11X clean.  Jeannie Creedmoored Madelyn at that stage with a 198-6X to Madelyn’s 198-5X.  As the match moved to the simulated 600-yard stage, match results were still not settled.  Madelyn was in front with a 592-15X, Mike trailed with 588-30X (an impressive X-count) and Jeannie was in striking distance with a 586-21X score.

But, at the simulated 600-yard stage Madelyn showed that she was the person to beat on this day.  She dropped one point at the 600-yard simulated stage with a 199-7X.  Jeannie followed with a 197-7X and Mike was down one point down from the ladies with a 196-3X.

Jeannie Redicker working on a 197-7X at simulated 600-yard prone

The question was settled; Madelyn had repeated her 2022 300-Yard State Championship, taking the 2023 Championship and CMP Gold Medal with an impressive 791-22X – dropping only 9 points across the whole match.  FWRR’s Mike King took the Silver Medal with a 784-33X and Jeannie Redicker was the Bronze medalist with 783-26X.

The First Expert award for the day went to another FWRR member, Gary Mabis, a Buckeye visitor, with a 761-22X.  High Junior for the day was Miss Emma Branson, also from FWRR, with a 736-15X.  FWRR’s contingent was rounded out by Tayt Shaffer, 12-years old – the most junior Junior, who shot his first State match on Saturday.

Madelyn, Mike and Tayt shoot Offhand

Wildcat Valley 300-Yard State Match Winners;

Mike King, Silver Medal; Madelyn Schnelle, State Champion, Gold Medal; Jeannie Redicker, Bronze Medal; Emma Branson, First Junior and Gary Mabis, First Expert

NOTE: Mike King, Emma Branson and Gary Mabis are FWRR members

Thanks to Lou Famiano and Larry Beardsley who were our “stats” people and kept up with the scoreboard as we shot – and they could not have done their jobs without their scorecard runner, Miss Reese Shaffer.

Young legs run up and down the range a lot faster than “Old Guys”.  Thanks Reese!

What is next on the High Power calendar?  On August 25 and 26, ISRPA will hold a two day Regional Match Course tournament at Camp Atterbury – this is a chance to shoot across the course out to 600-yards and is an excellent tune-up for the State Championship and Governors’ Cup Matches.

The next match of the ISRPA State Championship series is the 100-yard reduced course State Match on September 9th at the Fall Creek Conservation Club.  The series concludes on Saturday and Sunday, 16 and 17 September, with a 2-day full course State Championship at Camp Atterbury.  Saturday will be the State Championship Match and Sunday will be the Governor’s Cup Match – a 1600 point aggregate for the weekend. 

The main range will be closed on Wednesday, August 23 for continuing drainage work. The pistol pits will be open during this work.

There will be additional closures as the summer goes on.

Please plan your range utilization accordingly.

The Main Range will be closed for drainage work Friday, August 18th.  The Pistol Pits will remain open.

Please make your range plans accordingly.

Saturday August 12 dawned as a cloudy morning – no rain threatening but as humid and muggy a morning as we have seen in a while.  It wasn’t actually foggy, but by the time we finished setup just about everyone commented on how damp things were.  But, that didn’t seem to affect the shooting ability of the fourteen shooters who came to the match.

We were glad to see Ron Dague return to shooting after a long absence to get some medical problems cleared up. Welcome back, Ron!

Mike King continued his dominance, setting the bar for the rest of the field with an impressive 790-26X score.  Mike commented to the effect; “After shooting so many matches at 600-yards, 300-yards seems to be almost easy”.  He does make it look easy; back at 300 yards Mike did not drop a point, posting 200-8X and 200-9X scores in rapid and slow prone stages. Good shooting Mike!

Jeff Bierke quietly worked his way into second place with a 768-14X, narrowly edging Mark Walters’ 766-23X. Jess Jessup closed out the top four places with a 763-15X.  The top four shooters all posted Master or High Master scores – great shooting guys.

The High Junior was Marshall Rohrbach with 741-11X, closing out the top five shooters for the day.

Our next event is the Indiana State 300-yard Championship Match at Wildcat Valley on Saturday, August 19th.  This match is a match very similar to our FWRR matches; a CMP 80-round match fired on Silver Mountain Targets.  It’s a nice day trip down to Wildcat Valley and I encourage everyone to make the trip.

On Thursday afternoon, August 24th we will shoot an NRA Approved National Match Course 100-yard match at FWRR in place of our regular high power practice.  This is a quick, fun match; that little SR target reduced to 600-yards is harder to hit than it looks like it should be.

The range mowing previously scheduled for August 8th has been rescheduled for August 9th.

Range mowing for October 28th has been rescheduled for October 25th.

Please note these updates when you schedule range visits – and thanks for the crews who keep our range mowed.

FWRR Club Meeting

The next meeting of the Fort Wayne Rifle and Revolver Club will be held on Monday, August 7,2023.  Meeting Place: VFW Post 857, located at 2202 West Main Street in Fort Wayne.  Meeting  Time: 7:00 p.m.  Food and drink will be available at very reasonable prices before and after the meeting.

Meeting Agenda:  Standard meeting  format.

Please make an effort to attend meetings, as a quorum is required to conduct club business.  Sincere thanks to members who take the time to attend meetings and to support the club in so many other ways.  You truly understand what it means to be members of a club.

Proposed Annual Dues Increase

The Dues Committee’s proposal to increase annual dues from $60.00 to $120.00 was not accepted by the membership.  This topic will be revisited at a later date.

Maintenance Activities

The ditch banks were mowed. As usual, thanks go to Ted Smeltzer. A fluorescent light ballast and bulb were replaced in the south building. Thanks go to Matt Hice for picking up materials and Martin Didion and Jim Sweeney for the repair.

New Members

Please welcome new member Robert A. Ash who was inducted as a full member at the June 2023 meeting.

Reminders

AERIAL TARGETS MAY NO LONGER BE SHOT ON FWRRC PROPERTY.  This change was made primarily due to lack of an adequate shot-fall safety zone.

BEFORE DRIVING DOWN RANGE TO THE 200 AND 300 YARD TARGET HOLDERS, CHECK THE RANGE STATUS SIGN.  Be aware that the range status sign is not visible from the 300 yard firing line from some vehicles.

Sad News: It was recently learned that Doug Doehrman (membership date 2014) passed away in May of this year. 

Discipline Reports

ACPDL (Allen County Practical Defense League)

Matches will be held on August 5^th and September 9^th.  Only ACPDL members are permitted to shoot.  The pre-match meeting begins at 9:00 a.m. and shooting commences at 9:30 a.m.  Matches are typically finished by 12:00 noon.  Observers and those persons interested in becoming ACPDL members are welcome.

USPSA (United States Practical Shooting Association)

USPSA matches are held on the third Sunday, April – October.  Registration begins at 9:30 a.m. and shooting commences at 10:00 a.m.  FWRRC membership is not a requirement. 

High-power (HP)

High-power rifle matches (National Match Course) will be held on August 12th (8:00 a.m.) and September 9th (9:00 a.m.)   

Shooters have the option of firing either a 50 or an 80 round match. 50/80 matches are sanctioned by both the CMP (Civilian Marksmanship Program) and the NRA.   

A 100-yard match is scheduled for September 14th at 4:30 p.m. Practice are typically held on Thursday afternoons at 4:30 p.m. 

The Main Range is closed at 3:00 p.m. on practice days to permit mowing firing points and setting up targets.  Pistol Bays 4 and 5 will be open during HP practice sessions.

Cowboy Action

Cowboy Action matches are scheduled for the fourth Saturday of May through October.  Registration opens at 8:30 a.m. for regular matches and at 9:00 a.m. for voluntary side matches. 

Regular match start time is 10:00 a.m.  The matches begin with a mandatory shooter’s meeting. The ammunition requirements for the regular match are 60 rounds for pistols, 60 rounds rifles, and 30 rounds for shotguns.  Only lead bullets and shot are permitted.  Shot may be no larger than #4 (shot sizes 4 – 9). 

Range Mowing and Maintance/Improvement Activities

Mowing

The 2023 Mowing Schedule is posted on the FWRRC website.  Dates are tentative, depending on weather and ground conditions.  Mowing times vary according to volunteer availability.  Efforts will be made to provide mowing dates and times on the website.  The Main Range is closed during mowing and other range maintenance activities but Pistol Bays 4 and 5 will remain open.  It is recommended that members check the website (https://fwrrclub.org/) for updates before traveling to the range.

If you are interested in joining the mowing crew, contact Marty Didion at martindidion4@gmail.com.

Maintance /Improvement Activities

Work primarily aimed at improving water flow to eliminate damp areas and ponding, is expected to be performed in the August- September time frame.  The grading work will be performed when weather and ground conditions permit. Dates and times also depend on the availability of the contractor who will perform the work.  The Main Range will be closed while this work is ongoing but Pistol Bays 4 and 5 will remain open. An effort will be made to post Main Range closings on the FWRRC website.  Please check the website (https://fwrrclub.org/) for updates before traveling to the range.

For Sale

Jewel single-stage trigger for a Remington 700. Price $180.00.  Call or text Mark Strahan at (260) 927-5515.

Contact Darrell Fish at (260) 615-1046 if interested in the items listed below.

Wheel-weight lead Smelted/Fluxed, $2.00/lb.  500 lbs or more, $1.50/lb.

Dillon XL650 press including a strong mount and 9 mm, .45 ACP and .223 Rem. Dies.. $1200.00.

TX3 Lite SS, .308 Win. with Leupold  4X-12X , VX-II scope. $1000.00.

Contact Mark Walters at (260) 610-1427 if interested in the items listed below.

1800 pieces of .45 ACP brass and .45 ACP dies (a like-new, Lee, three-die set).  All cases have been reloaded at least once.  $150.00.

.45 ACP, 230 gr., round-nose, beveled -base, cast bullets..  5000 pieces in boxes of 500.  $50.00/box or $475.00 for the lot.

300 pieces of .44 Rem Mag. brass and 480 pieces of .44 Special brass. The cases have spent primers intact and appear to have been tumbled. The number of times the cases have been fired is unknown.  $125.00.

1300 (plus)  of .44 caliber (0.430” diameter), 240 gr., lead, SWC bullets (two boxes of 500 plus a partial box). $225.00.

2500 pieces of .357 caliber, 158 gr. lead, SWC bullets. $200.00.

3000 Hornady, 55 gr. FMJBT  .223 caliber bullets.  $300.00.

500 pieces of .30 Carbine brass, fully processed, mixed commercial and military (LC) head stamps. $125.00.

FREE TO THE FIRST PURCHASER WHO DESIRES IT: 138 pieces of .30/06 brass (mixed commercial and military (LC) head stamps).  73 pieces of .22 Hornet brass, 38 pieces of .270 Win. Brass, 51 pieces of .25/06 brass.

Members who wish to sell shooting-related items may send ad information to Marty Didion at martindidion4@gmail.com  and Ads must be received three weeks before meetings in order to appear in the next newsletter.