Fort Wayne Rifle and Revolver Club

June 2024 FWRRC Newsletter

FWRR Club Meeting

The next meeting of the Fort Wayne Rifle and Revolver Club will be held on Monday, June 3, 2024.  Meeting Place: VFW Post 857, located at 2202 West Main Street in Fort Wayne. 

Meeting Time: 7:00 p.m.  Meeting Agenda:  Standard meeting format.

Please make an effort to attend meetings, as a quorum is required to conduct club business. 

Cleanup Day

Cleanup Day was held on April 27^th.  Seventeen members (a bit less than 5% of the membership) participated.  Target frames at 25, 50, 100 and 200 yards were repaired and 12 new shooting seats of two different heights were fabricated.  Work completed early; therefore, lunch was not served.

On the Thursday following Cleanup Day, Lynn Rosswurm graded the roads and Pistol Pit area.  Lynn has volunteered his tractor and services for many years.  Be sure to thank him when you see him.

Lock Combination Change

The lock combination change has been made.

Driving Off Road

TO AVOID DAMAGE TO SWALES, IT IS NO LONGER PERMISSIBLE FOR ANY MEMBER TO DRIVE OFF ROAD TO THE 100 YARD TARGET FRAME.  Soil conditions permitting, it is permissible to drive on the grass downrange (west) of the 100 yard firing mound on the 300 yard range to access the 200 yard target frames. (Do not drive across the 100 yard firing mound.) It is permissible to park and drive on the grass in other areas, soil conditions permitting.

Discipline Reports

ACPDL (Allen County Practical Defense League)

ACPDL matches will be held on 6/1, 6/29 and 8/3. 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)

The following USPSA matches and practice sessions will be held in the May –July timeframe. Matches: 6/16 and 7/21. Match start time is 9:00 a.m.  Practice Sessions: 5/26, 6/23 and 7/28. Practice session start time is 5:00 p.m.

High-power (HP)

The following matches and practice sessions will be held in the May –July time frame.  

Prone Match: 6/1, 8:00 start time. 

50/80 Matches

• 5/18 and 7/20, 8:00 start time. 

Practice Sessions: Thursdays, 4:30 p.m. with the exception of July 4^th. 

(Range closes to informal practice at 3:00 p.m.) 

• 6/7: NMC, 4:30 p.m. 
• 6/8: RMC, 8:00 a.m.
• 6/9: NMCs at 8:00 a.m. and 11:30 a.m.

A “Count the Bullets in the Jar” fundraiser was kicked off at the March offhand match.  This event is aimed at funding the purchase of three spotting scope stands and mounting heads for use by our Juniors. The fundraiser is an opportunity for participants to count the number of bullets in a jar.  The count closest to the actual number of bullets will receive a Winchester Model 94 in caliber .30-30.  The donation amount for each entry is $15.00. Only 40 entries will be accepted.  Entries will be accepted at club meetings and HP matches.  The count will be made at the Junior State HP Championship Match on June 8^th.

If you have young people who are interested in HP rifle competition, please contact Larry Beardsley:  Email: fwrrhpdirector@aol.com.

Cowboy Action

Cowboy Action Matches will be held on 6/22 and 7/13.  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). 

PCSL (Practical Competition Shooting League)

PCSL matches will be held on 5/26, 6/23 and 7/28..  Match time is 10:00 a.m. Registration starts at 9:30 a.m.  New shooter orientation begins at 9:50 a.m.  Rifles in caliber .223 and pistols in calibers 9 mm, .40 and .45 are used in this competition. Rounds counts are 120/match for rifles and 60/match for pistols.

New Members

Please welcome new members Jerry Brinegar, Derek Brown, John Davis, Riley Fox and Kris Hartwig. These gentlemen were inducted as full members at the April, 2024 meeting.

For Sale

Jaggi Shooting Glasses Frame with extra nose piece, lenses, blinders and case: $125.00. 8 round M1 clips:  $1.50 each.  Contact Marty Didion at  martindidion4@gmail.com 

Browning Buckmark .22:  $350.00.  Kimber Stainless II: $900.00.  AR-15 Rifle (heavy barrel, Jewel trigger, stock weights, diopter and sling): $900.00. Yugo 8 mm Mauser (scope, Timney trigger and modified bolt handle): $600.00.  Kimber Target 45: $800.00.  S&W K38: $650.00.  Thousands of rounds of pistol brass (calibers .380, 9 mm .38, .357 and .45): Make Offer.  Quantity of 5.56 LC brass, primed and ready for reloading:  Make Offer.   1000 rounds of WCC 5.56 once-fired brass:  Make Offer.  Text or call Mike English at (260) 450-4543.

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

It’s getting to be a jungle or hayfield out on most of the range. Several places were too wet to mow in the last session and they are almost knee high now.

The range will be closed Tuesday morning for the mowing crews to harvest the hay crop.

On occasion everything comes together to make a beautiful day for a High Power Match and Saturday, 18 May was just exactly that day.  The threat of rain earlier in the week was gone, the skies were clear and blue, there was almost no wind all day and what wind there was came from straight downrange and cooled rather than bothered.  It did get warm, but not the “I’m cooking in this coat” warm.

And – in response to the great day we had 23 shooters come to the line at 8:00, the largest number of shooters we have had in a while.  This was a 50/80 Match where shooters may elect to shoot either a 50 round or 80 round course of fire. The matches are fired concurrently; we had 15 shooters in the 80- round match and 8 shooters in the 50-round match.

All of the shooters did well and the match moved right along with very few delays of any sort; we fired in three relays and we finished the last relay at 12:33.  Great job shooters – you make it easy on the Range Officer.

In the 80 round Match, the top three shooters were:

First                      Mike King                           784-28X

Second                 Mark Walters                    775-22X

Third                     Gary Mabis                       758-23X

In the 50 round Match, the top two shooters were:

First                      Jeff McCullough                462-4X

Second                 Jerry Johnson                    443-2X  (It’s good to see Jerry back to shooting)

Thanks to Marty Didion who acted as our match statistician and to Gary Mabis who was kind of our handyman who showed up just at the right times in several places where a hand was appreciated.

Our next match is a 3 x 600 (Reduced to 300) prone match on June 1 with our Midsummer Madness Weekend the next week (Friday June 7, Saturday June 8 and Sunday June 9).  Keep an eye out for more information about that series of matches – 5 matches in two-and-a-half days!

We will shoot the Indiana Junior State High Power Championship on Saturday June 8 as part of that series, but there will be openings for just about everyone who wants to shoot that day – not just Juniors.

The Nasty Old Burn Barrels Are Going Away

Burn barrels have been a fixture in the pistol bays for as long as most people can remember.  While they do reduce the amount of trash residue, they don’t eliminate it (some stuff doesn’t burn and there are ashes and slag left).  And – once the burn barrel rusts and burns out – the barrel itself remains as a trashy item.

Over the next several weeks, the old burn barrels and ash piles in the pistol bays will go away.  They will not be replaced and users are requested not to bring in any new barrels. Trash cans and garbage bags will be provided for clean up after scheduled matches that generate larger amounts of trash.

Shooters are requested to take their range trash (shot up targets, scrap brass, target backers, pop cans and such) back home with them. 

Don’t just throw your trash in a pile and hope someone else cleans up after you – we’re not your mother picking up your dirty socks and underwear!

Cleanup Day is Saturday, April 27th. 

Projects will include grading, trimming brush along the lane, cutting up a fallen tree, marking the property perimeter (using purple paint), repairing target frames, assembling shooting stools, and repairing the damage done to the 100 yard firing point on the 300 yard portion of the main range.

The equipment need to perform these tasks includes:  pruning equipment, chain saws, trucks/trailers (to haul brush), general carpentry tools, tape measures, chaulk lines, a level, shovels, rakes, screw guns and work gloves. 

Support your club, meet new friends, and enjoy a pizza lunch.  

The 2024 High Power season opened on Saturday with a 50/80 match.  This was a “fun” match to let us work out the kinks, find the things that we had forgotten and the things we needed to work on before we shoot a match for CMP or NRA classifications.

And, there were several things we forgot.  As we started shooting, some people reported cross fires on their targets, some folks had missing shots on targets and even some shooters had no issues at all.  What in the world was going on?

We called “CEASE FIRE” and went down range to straighten things out.  It turned out we had moved the target frames one lane to the right – target 3 was in front of number board 4, five was in front of 6 – and so on all the way down the line.  Shooters on either end of the line just shot the target at the end of the target lines, some shooters in mid line counted targets and some used the number boards. But, we got it figured out and things went on after a bit of confusion,

It was a brisk day, temperatures in the high 40’s, intermittently cloudy, partly cloudy and at times even sunny.  The wind was fairly steady out of the west at about 10 MPH (predominantly from about 12 o’clock).  It wasn’t hand numbing cold, but there were several drippy noses and rosy cheeks.

We had eleven shooters.  We would like to welcome newcomers Charles Novak, Tim Jackson and Jeff McCullough to the high power group.

For the shooters firing the 80-round match, Mike King took top honors with a 785-25X.  Marshall Rohrbach (Junior) took second with 764-16X, Jim Jackson was third with 756-12X and Kileen Shaffer (another Junior) closed out the top four shooters with a 750-13X.

For the 50-round match, Jess Jessup took top honors with a 470-11X followed by Tim Jackson’s 434-4X .

Congratulations to the shooters who came out on top of the standings and Thanks to everyone who came out for the day.  It was a good day.

Next Saturday, April 27 is our Range Clean-up Day. The fun will start about 8:00 depending on task but work will continue until early afternoon, so if you can’t be there early – come on out anyway.

Our next High Power Match will be on Saturday, May 18.  Registration and set-up will start about 7:00.  Registration will close at 7:45 and the first shot will be at 8:00 sharp.  If we have a two or three relay match, we should be done by noon or so, so plan to come out and shoot with us!

By the end of March, High Power shooters begin to get antsy.  Among the gray, wet nasty days there are enough teasingly nice days to make people want to get out to the range and shoot.  A group of guys who had carried on a “half-NMC” competition over the winter wanted to shoot (more about that later) – so with a bit of urging we set up a March Madness 3 x 600 match for March 30th.

March 30 broke dark, gray with intermittent to steady drizzle at start time.  But, the weather did not  stop 10 dedicated high power shooters.  Rain fell steadily as we started setup about 8:30 and we had the usual first match of the season issues.  Folks had to figure out which color cable went where and one server decided to go on strike and it took all of us a while to get things switched over.  By about 9:00 it had slowed down to a sprinkle and we set up canopies on the firing line to keep things dry.

Yeah, it really was that dark as we set up the canopies

But – as the day went on, things improved.  By 10:00 the rain had stopped and midway through the match the sun came out and it was a beautiful day to shoot!

The sun came out and we had beautiful light to shoot

But, with the sun came some wind.  One canopy blew over and another blew around. We moved them out of the way and kept shooting.  It was a laid back match – no time limits, unlimited sighters, along with coaching allowed and help fixing guns. Everyone shot in the same category – a mix of Service, Palma, Match  and F-Class rifles.  At this level of shooting, the shooter is the major factor.  Some fantastic scores were posted for the day.  Sixteen strings of over 195 were posted with five 199’s and 4 perfect 200 strings.

Tom Bonner took top honors for the day (service rifle) with a 598-40X aggregate.  Mike King (service rifle) followed closely with a 597-32X (but, he did get a canopy dropped on his head…) and Bryan Scott took third with 594-21X.

A special note; Jack Baker took the top slot in the Grand Senior Group.  Jack, at 82-years old, is still banging away!

Mark Walters (seated) and Mark Richard in their usual place at the high end of the line.  Mark Richard is determined to make the FatRat shoot!

At the end of the day just about everyone decided that we needed to do it again next year.  And – the  FWRR Juniors benefitted by receiving $100 from match entry fees and another $70 from shooters who donated their prize winnings to the Junior Fund.

WINTER HALF-RMC RESULTS

Over the winter a group of shooters organized a “Half-RMC” Match.  These matches were shot after Winter Offhand matches and at other times.  40-round matches were shot at 100-yards on reduced targets; 10-rounds offhand, sitting rapid, prone rapid and prone slow.  Four matches were shot over the course of the winter and shooters had handicaps (like golf or bowling) to make the matches more competitive.

The top three shooters fired all five matches and the final standings were:

Mark Walters     1982-46X

Gary Mabis          1974-51X

Mike King            1968-53X

Thanks to Gary Mabis for organizing these matches – and thanks to the shooters who contributed $100 in match fees and $30 in prize awards to the FWRR Junior fund.

You’ve heard of Flash Mobs – not a good thing – but we have a Flash Match (a good thing). By popular demand, we have set up a match that we didn’t have on our original 2024 schedule.

On Saturday, 30 March we will have a 3 x 600 (Reduced) match at the FWRR Range. It will be a lot like our Mid-range matches, 3 strings of fire – 20 rounds for record on the MR-63 reduced 60-yard target. Each string will be a 25 – minute time limit with all of the sighters you want to fire before you go for record prior to each string.

We will shoot on electronic targets, so bring your display device and a hot battery for it.

Entry fee is $20.00. This is not a formal match registered with anybody – it’s just us having fun. 50% of entry fees go out as prizes; top three shooters if less than 10 entries – top 5 if 10 or more. This is a benefit match for the Juniors and the “Count the Bullets” Jar will be there with chances to purchase opportunities to make your estimate of the bullets in the jar.

Sign-in and setup will open about 8:00 or 8:15 – registration closes at 8:30 and shooting starts when I get a full relay – or about 9:00 when if looks like everybody who is coming has arrived.

Come on out and get an early start to the 2024 season.

Winter Offhand for the 2023-2024 season is over and as that great philosopher and intellectual Yogi Berra might have put it; “The fat lady has sung”.  As we went into the final match of the season, there were three people in contention for the top spots, Mike King, Mark Walters and Marshall Rohrbach.  We had predicted a close finish if Mike stumbled a bit and Marshall brought his A-game and we were not disappointed.

It was an overcast and dark day with some wind from the northwest, but all in all, not a bad day to shoot – certainly not a dreary rainy day that we had been promised earlier in the week.  Mark Walters took high score for the day with a 384-6X and Marshall did indeed bring his A-game, matching Mark’s 384, but with only a 4X-count.  Mark Creedmoored him.  Mike King slipped just a little bit (well, for Mike) with “only” a 381-7X.  Even so, Mike held on for a season win.

For the 2023- 2024 Winter Offhand season, the top five shooters were:

Mike King                           1536-31X             (Four matches)

Mark Walters                    1522-21X             (Four matches)

Marshall Rohrbach           1506-25X             (Four matches, High Junior)

Gary Mabis                         1419-  9X             (Four matches)

Kris Hartwig                       1069-  6X             (Three matches)

Congratulations to these top five shooters – and one lesson that can be taken from these standings is that if you want to finish at the top, you need to be there to shoot!  You can’t leave points on the table with this crowd.

BUT – then after the match, we had Breakfast with the Juniors.  The clubhouse that usually smells like wet boots and gun oil had a different aroma today; sausages, gravy, biscuits, eggs and fresh coffee. The Juniors put out a great breakfast spread and if anyone went home hungry – well it was their own fault!  About 30 people came to breakfast – thanks to everyone for coming out. 

Thanks to Gary, Mia, Sajea and Wendy for their help in putting the event together.  It went so well we are considering Lunch with the Juniors later on in the summer.      

If you are one of the approximately 60 members who have not renewed your membership, please do so before March 1st.  Renewals received after March 1st will be assessed a $25.00 late fee. If you fail to renew by March 31st, your name will be removed from the membership role. 

Respectfully,

Martin Didion ; FWRRC Treasurer