On Wednesday June 21, there will be extensive mowing activities occurring as we get ready for the Indiana Junior High Power Championship on Saturday, June 24.
We plan on mowing the ditch as well as the usual grass areas, so mowing will taker longer than usual.
Consider this as you make plans to visit the range.
Here is a summary of the top three finishers in the Mid-Summer Madness Tournament. I show Tournament Aggregate and Individual Match results for Match and Service rifles since we had a good representation in both categories.
NOTE: Revised after initial posting – changes to Saturday Match and Service Rifle standings
| Friday NMC 500 Aggregate | |||||||
| Match Rifle | |||||||
| First | Mark Walters | 476 | – | 1 | X | ||
| Second | Aaron Kohler | 470 | – | 6 | X | ||
| Third | Mike Habel | 445 | – | 8 | X | ||
| Service Rifle | |||||||
| First | Gary Mabis | 477 | – | 7 | X | ||
| Second | Jess Jessup | 471 | – | 10 | X | ||
| Third | Marshall Rohrbach | 469 | – | 8 | X | ||
| Saturday 800 Aggregate | |||||||
| Match Rifle | |||||||
| First | Mark Walters | 761 | – | 27 | X | ||
| Second | Gary Walker | 726 | 17 | X | |||
| Third | Mark Richard | 429 | – | 14 | X | ||
| Service Rifle | |||||||
| First | Tom Collins | 768 | – | 20 | X | ||
| Second | Jeff Beierke | 766 | – | 14 | X | ||
| Third | Marshall Rohrbach | 748 | – | 11 | X | ||
| Sunday 3 x 20 Mid-Range | |||||||
| Match Rifle | |||||||
| First | Joe Bakies | 598 | – | 43 | X | ||
| Second | Mark Richard | 592 | – | 22 | X | ||
| Third | Mark Walters | 584 | – | 30 | X | ||
| Service Rifle | |||||||
| First | Mike King | 592 | – | 32 | X | ||
| Second | Kileen Shaffer | 572 | – | 6 | X | ||
| Third | Gary Mabis | 571 | – | 17 | X |
Our range is mowed by a volunteer crew who keep it looking more like a golf course than the scraggly mowed field look than many ranges have.
Thank you Mowing Crew for the work you do to keep our range looking so nice!
Mowing is nominally scheduled for every alternate Wednesday, but the exact day may change if weather conditions or range conditions don’t allow mowing on a scheduled day. The exact time of day that mowing is under way may change due to personal schedules and just how long it is taking to get the grass cut, so an exact time schedule can’t be posted.
A range is closed to shooting when mowing is under way. If there is no mowing in the Pistol Bays, they may be used even if the rifle range is being mowed, and vice-versa. If mowing moves to a range in use, that range is closed when mowing starts.
Mowing is scheduled for the following dates – all days are Wednesdays:
June 7 June 14 June 21
July 5 July 19
August 8 August 16 August 30
September 13 September 27
October 11 October 28
November 8 (Or we may be plowing snow by then!!!)
Please keep these dates in mind as you plan on using the FWRR Range.
The week ending May 27th was a busy week for High Power shooters. For our Thursday night practice session, we shot an NRA Approved 100-yard match. Seven shooters stood to the line and we had a really good match. When the scores were totaled up, I had to go to the NRA Rule Book to do something I had not needed to do in my several years of being High Power Range Officer. Mike King and Mark Walters both posted 489 scores. When I went to the X-count to break the tie – both of them posted 22X counts. How do you break a tie at 489-22X? The NRA High Power Rules book says that I have to go back to the stage at the longest (or longest simulated) range. That would have been the simulated 600-yard range … and at that range Mark Walters shot a 197-12X. In most matches that would have been pretty good, but Mike King cut a 198-12X … gotcha Mark. Mike King took the match first place with a tie-breaking score on the simulated 600-yard range.
The high Junior was Marshall Rohrbach with a 475-15X.
Then came Saturday, the 300-yard Mid-Range match. It was a fantastic day for a match. We had two full relays and we had to turn away a couple of shooters who showed up at the last minute after we had the two relays set and on the line. We had a special guest shoot with us Saturday; Joe Bakies from the Lima Sabers club. Joe is a member of the US National Shooting Team and specializes in shooting at ranges that most of us can only imagine – routinely out to 1000-yards. Our 300-yard range was a gallery shoot for him, but he still had to deal with his share of trash talk. After all, this was a group of high power shooters.
We had classes for Match rifles, Scoped Service rifles and Any Sight Service rifles. Shooters on each firing point were allowed to set their own match sequence- shooting this as an infiltration match. As we have found, if you just leave High Power shooters alone, they will figure out the best way to run a match. And, as in the last several matches, we ended up with a real “shoot-out” between a couple of our shooters. Mia King and Kileen Shaffer were shooting partners. In the first Match, Kileen had a rough match, shooting a 175-4X to Mia’s 184-3X. As of the end of Match 1; it was Kileen 175, Mia 184 (it was a really solid match for Mia).
Kileen was pretty bummed out with her score; “I don’t want to shoot any more..”. She got some advice; “Every Match is a fresh start, you’ve already bought ammunition, there are two more matches – so put on your big girl britches and get back in there and shoot.” So she did. In Match 2 Mia shot a very respectable 180-3X but Kileen listened to the advice and in Match 2 she came back with a whopping 189-5X to Mia’s 180-3X. At the end of Match 2, Kileen had Creedmored Mia by 3X-counts.
Match 3 was the deciding match. Mia came on strong with a 183-3X – just one point shy of her Match 1 score. But – Kileen came on even stronger with a 188-3X. Her 552-12X aggregate shaded Mia’s 547-9X by five points. This was great shooting by a pair of our Junior girls.
Our guest shooter, Joe Bakies, put on a shooting exhibition for us. Over the 60-shot match, Joe posted a 600-45X score. At that level, just points and X-count don’t tell the story. In his three matches, Joe shot groups of 1.17, 1.14 and 0.95 MOA spread. Joe of course took Tournament Aggregate and he graciously returned his awards to the Junior program.
Results are:
Match Rifle First Joe Bakies 600-45X
Match Rifle Second Mike Habel 588-24X
Service Rifle First Jess Jessup 548-18X
Service Rifle Second Gary Mabis 575-17X
Any Sight First John Halter 515- 5X
High Junior Kileen Shaffer 552-12X
Our next Matches are the Mid-Summer Madness matches on Friday June 9, Saturday June 19 and Sunday June 11. Sign-up is open – so don’t wait too long!
Saturday, May 27th was a beautiful day for a match! We had seven shooters come out, that was about the turnout I expected considering it was the Memorial Day weekend and that there were other, bigger matches in the area.
The seven shooters that did show up did have a great time and shot six fast stages. There were no ladies this time (except for support staff). They must have been home preparing the dinner for all of the men that were out shooting (just a joke).
The one great thing that happened Saturday was the first ever clean match for Anvil Adam when shooting in Pale Rider Gunfighter. For people that do not know what that is, you have to shoot the match Gunfighter style (one pistol in each hand at the same time). The loads have to be black powder, and full power black powder. The shotgun has to be at least 12 gauge (some use a 10 gauge) with 50 grains of powder (usually FFG). The rifle and pistol loads have to be at least 40 caliber or larger and have to be loaded with at least 30 grains of the Holy Black.
These heavy loads handicap you in a couple of different areas. First off, you have the recoil, which is not light by any means. Even bigger than that, you have to see through the smoke to see your targets.
That much black powder smoke would make it difficult for even Superman and his X-ray vision to see the targets, so a big Congratulations to Anvil Adam. (A note from an observer – from the high power range it looked like someone was starting a trash fire or cooking burgers over in the pistol pits with all the powder smoke!)
FWRR’s own Wild Walt finished as the top Outlaw of the day, finishing first in four of the six stages. His total time for the day, 142.04 seconds, was 23-some odd seconds faster that the next shooter and that makes him the Fastest Gun in the East – at least for this match. But – there is always someone gunning for you at the nest session.
The first Hoosier Outlaws match was a success! Despite a questionable weathrer forecast, we had 17 shooters, with several from Michigan, including Three Gun Cole (more about him later).
The side matches and main match got started a little late as we were getting everything organized. The first shot went off at 10:15 AM, and we had the entire match finished with awards handed out by 2:30 PM. Right as we finished, the freezing rain started coming down – we finished just in time! We only had one shooter from FWRR, but we did have several spectators from the Club come out and watch.
The main match was 60 rifle rounds, 60 pistol rounds, and 26 shotgun rounds on steel targets. The feedback was excellent, and many shooters said that they would return. Three Gun Cole is a world champion shooter in his class from southern Michigan, and his feedback was very positive; he said that he would highly recommend this match to shooters in the future. The beauty of the Single Action Shooting Society is that there are many categories for age and gender, and different shooting styles.
The top shooter was Three Gun Cole; Wild Walt (your correspondent) came in second, and Dallas McBoomBoom came in third. Of the 4 female shooters, Kaya finished fifth overall; first in the Cowgirl Class.
Match Results (top five) were:
Match Alias Category Time
Finish
1 Three Gun Cole 118.39
2 Wild Walt Senior 145.43
3 Dallas MacBoomBoom PaleRider Gunfighter 166.77
4 Ya Big Tree Senior Frontier Cart. 168.96
5 Kaya Cowgirl 171.53
Next month’s match on May 27 is on Memorial Day weekend, also the weekend for the Ohio State and Iowa SASS championship, but we will shoot at FWRR for those folks who do not want to travel to those matches.
Get you an alias and come out and shoot with us!
There is a new game in town and it starts on Saturday, April 22 at the Fort Wayne Rifle and Revolver Club Range ay 15715 Rupert Road; Harlan, Indiana. Cowboy Action returns to FWRR on that date when the Hoosier Outlaws Cowboy Action Club start the Single Action Shooting Society season.
The next easiest way is to go to a GOOGLE Maps search and just type “Fort Wayne Rifle and Revolver Club” into the search box. That brings up both a road map and a satellite image of the area. Google: 15715 Rupert Road for detailed directions.
The FWRR Cowboy action matches will be held on the 4th Saturday of every month from April 22 through October 28. All matches will be SASS sanctioned matches.
Registration will open at 8:30 AM; side matches, which contestants are not required to enter, will start at 9:00 AM. The start time for the main match is 10:00 AM with a mandatory shooters meeting prior to the main match.
There will be 6 stages for the main match with an ammo requirement of 60 rounds for pistol, 60 rounds for rifle, and 30 rounds for shotgun. ALL AMMO MUST BE LEAD. Rifles must be pistol caliber, and shot shells must be loaded with lead shot, #4 shot or smaller (4, 6, 7 1/2, 8 or 9).
Entry fees will $15.00 for FWRR members, $20.00 for non-members. Eye protection is mandatory, and ear protection is highly recommended – things do get loud! It is always a good idea to bring extra ammo.
For more information, contact Mark Walters, Cowboy Action Range Officer at MKW1427@gmail.com
The 2023 Summer High Power season got off to a good start on Saturday, April 8th. Fourteen shooters, all five Juniors, came out of a bright but brisk day to see if equipment and bodies were ready for the upcoming season. Since there were questions about both bodies and equipment, we shot this match as a Club match; scores were not sent to either the CMP or to the NRA.
We took all the time we needed and there were a lot of sighter shots as folks warmed up. On the equipment side, there were no major failures, but we did hear “I forgot my sling, does anyone have any extra earplugs, my tablet died” and the eternal “I forgot how to get into the server.” As for body issues, the most common comment was; “Groan … I’m getting too old for this stuff”. It was the usual set of high power complaints, nothing especially new.
The results (ranked by percentage) were:
First Mike King 80 shots 781-27X 97.6%
Second Mark Walters 80 shots 764-22X 95.5%
Third Jeff Beierke 80 shots 752-15X 94.0%
Fourth Randy Jahn 50 shots 467- 7X 93.4%
Fifth (Tie) Doc Habel 80 shots 744-15X 93.0%
Marshall Rohrbach 50 shots 465- 9X 93.0%
We had two new shooters join us for the match, Bradd Shull (Addiysn’s Dad) and Tayt Shaffer (Kileen’s younger brother). Welcome to both of you, y’all come back, ya’ hear!
And, we learned that one of our long time high power shooters recently had some significant heart surgery. Ron Dague is reportedly recovering well and will be back with us as soon as possible. Get well Ron!
Our next match will be our annual CMP Games Match on Saturday, May 13th. This match will start at 8:00 AM and we will shoot the 30-round Garand Match Course of fire; up to five sighters and ten shots for record Slow Prone, ten shots Rapid Prone and ten shots Offhand from 200-yards. We will shoot categories for Modern Military, Unlimited Modern Military, M1 Garand (As-Issued and Unlimited), 1903/1903A3 Springfield and Vintage Military (1917 Enfield, 98 Mauser, Swiss Schmitt-Reuben… etc.). We have a category for just about every safe rifle. Bring all of your rifles, shoot in several categories or shoot the same rifle as a re-entry match.
One of the goals of the FWRR Junior Program is to share the sport of High Power shooting with young people who are not familiar with the discipline. On Sunday, April 2 we had a unique opportunity to do this. The DeKalb County 4-H Hotshots, a 4-H Club that specializes in a number of shooting activities (archery, air pistol, air rifle and .22 rimfire) asked us to make a presentation about High Power shooting to their group.
We decided to present a Mini-High Power Clinic concentrating on the topics of firearms safety, shooting equipment and shooting positions. And, who better to make these presentations that the Juniors themselves? Our presenters were Kileen Shaffer (4-H Hotshots President). Addiysn Shull (4-H Hotshots Vice-President), Mia King (an Ohio 4-H presenter) and Tayt Shaffer (4-H Hotshot member).
We prepared brief 15-minute presentations based on material from the NRA and CMP training materials, we did a rehearsal of the presentations on a Thursday gathering at the range and we executed our plan. A major part of 4-H is making presentations and demonstrations, so this Mini-Clinic worked into both the High Power and 4-H skill sets. We had about sixteen 4-H members present and we were well received by the group.
The Juniors proved to be excellent Ambassadors for the Club. Now that we have the presentation, we may have the opportunity to do it for an Ohio 4-H Club.
Sandbags – they seem simple. But, I never thought I would have to comment on sandbag etiquette:
We get our sandbags from the Allen County Highway Department. The Highway Department is very co-operative, we just go out to the south barn, fill the bags, load them in the truck and bring them out to the range. The bags are not terribly high quality, so we double bag the sandbags. They should last a long time, but several factors make our bags wear out a lot quicker than they should.
FIRST: People rest the muzzle of their rifle on the sandbag. This is the biggest single factor that damages sandbags. The blast from the muzzle burns a hole in the woven cover on the bag. It only takes a couple of shots to melt through both layers of bags and the sand starts to drizzle out of the hole. If we catch this soon enough, we can put what is left of the bag in another bag, but many times the bag is thrown on the shooting deck, the sand runs out in a pile and we end up having to clean up the mess and throw away the broken bag.
POINT OF ETIQUETTE ONE: Don’t lay your muzzle on the sandbag. Not only does this burn a hole in the bag – it is not a very stable shooting position.
SECOND: Picatinny Rails: A Picatinny Rail on the underside of your rifle will cut up the bag. Back to Point One, these are not really durable bags. That rail is very hard on the bags. We try to keep some carpet squares on the shooting benches to lie on top of the bags. If the squares have wandered off, sit the rail on your hat and remember to bring a towel or something to put under the rail the next time you come out to the range.
POINT OF ETIQUETTE TWO: Don’t lay a Picatinny Rail on a sandbag without some protection between the rail and the bag.
Third: Wet Sandbags: Please don’t leave sandbags lying in a place that will let them get rained on. In the first place, it makes the bag about 50% heavier and harder to move around. Most people don’t want to lay their rifle on a wet bag. In cold weather, a wet bag freezes solid and turns into a block – not useful for bench shooting. That frozen bag sticks to the bench and tears the bag when you try to pry it loose.
POINT OF ETIQUETTE THREE: When you finish with sandbags, please move them to a location where they will not get wet from rain or snow.
The bottom line: A little thought and courtesy will reduce the work associated with maintaining sandbags and will give everyone more bags and nicer bags to shoot from.
Thanks to everybody!