The Fort Wayne Rifle and Revolver Club, in conjunction with the Civilian Marksmanship Program (CMP) will present a High Power Rifle Clinic for new shooters and as an outreach program to Junior shooters (13 years or older) at our local range off Indiana Highway 37, north of Harlan, Indiana.
WHEN/ WHERE: Saturday, May 7, 2022. Registration opens at 7:30 AM. Class begins
at 8:00 AM and lasts until approximately 3:00 PM. There is a lunch break, but
no lunch available on site – bring a sack lunch. Drinks will be provided. Early registration is requested and
recommended. The Clinic is held at the Fort Wayne Rifle and Revolver Club range
located at 15715 Rupert Road; Harlan, IN 46743.
WHAT: Approximately 6 hours of classroom
instruction on safety, handling, aiming, ballistics, positioning and shooting
M1 Garand and AR-15 rifles. Instruction
will be provided by CMP Certified Master Instructors. There is no live fire conducted during this
Clinic.
WHO: The Clinic is open to citizens of good
character and good mental focus. Priority will be given to Junior Shooters (age
13 to 20 years). The Clinic is limited to 25 shooters.
HOW: Contact the Ft. Wayne Rifle and Revolver
Club High Power Director at FWRRHPDirector@aol.com.
COST:$25.00.
Cost includes classroom instruction, student guide handout materials and
certificate of participation which will qualify participant to purchase an M1
Garand from the CMP. Participants will receive reduced Match fees for 2022 FWRR
Matches.
CMP GAMES MATCH: Participants will not be charged entry fees
for the CMP Games Match that will be held on Saturday, May 14, 2022. Participants in the Match must complete CMP
and FWRR Releases of Liability.
Participants under 18 years of age must have Liability Release signed by
parent or guardian.
The 2021 – 2022 Winter Offhand season ended up with a Bang and a Brrrr. Seven shooters showed up for what was arguably as cold and bitter a day as we had all winter. It was somewhere in the neighborhood of 17 or 19 degrees, a 10 – 15 mph wind from about 2 o’clock in the shooters faces and intermittent sunshine and blinding lake effect snow squalls through the morning.
How hard was it snowing? It was blowing so hard that we had to dig cases out of the snow!
Watery eyes, runny noses and cold fingers were the order of the day, but we adapted, improvised and overcame. Of the group, no one said they should have stayed home – so it was a good day.
Carhartts, gloves, warm wooly cap and a handkerchief for runny eyes and nose. Not a bad offhand position either…
Notably, three of the seven shooters were the Junior girls. They put on their dad’s bibs, their Carhartts, their wooly caps and their warm boots (well most of them put on warm boots..) and they went about the task of shooting. According to one of these delicate little flowers; ”Real women just bundle up and go on with business.” Good work Ladies!
What a giggle of girls! This promises to be one great season.
Considering
the weather, scores were pretty good, as usual. Mike and Mark abandoned us for warmer
climates, they were at Malabar in Florida shooting the Orange Blossom Tournament
this week. But, my sources in Florida tell me that it was a wet, windy day
there – so they had their own weather issues.
The high
shooter for the day was Doc Habel with a 359-3X. Mark Walters was second, shooting a new (to
him) iron sighted gun, with a 350-1X. Third
for the day was Gary Mabis, 347-3X. The
High Junior was Kileen Shaffer with a 295-1X.
This was the
last match of the year, so we have the season results ready … drum roll please:
Top Division Anchor Division Payout
First: Mike King 1155-24X Marshal Rohrbach
1084-11X $45.00
Second: Mark Richard
1112-18X Kileen Shaffer 939- 2X
$30.00
Third: Mark Walters
1105-13X Aaron Kohler 672- 4X
$15.00
Thanks to everyone who came out and shot with us this winter. As usual, there were adventures – I don’t think I have ever seen a match called off because the targets blew away and the target stands broke off from the wind!
Who knows what we may have next winter – maybe a Snownado?
Our next match is the first 50/80 Match of the year on April 9th. Registration and setup open about 7:30, we put the first shot downrange at 9:00. I’m looking forward to seeing you there!
Saturday,
February 12, was a real Winter Match. We
had 12 hardy shooters, 1 full relay.
It
was cold when the match started and didn’t improve any as the day went on; 22
degrees when we started, and 19 when we finished. There was light snow, and the wind blowing it
around a little bit made for even more wintry conditions. The driveways were very icy. Aaron Kohler got stuck, but Gary Mabis got in
his truck and pulled him straight out with little difficulty.
However,
the cold weather didn’t keep the shooters from posting some pretty impressive
scores.
Mike King took top honors with 385-7X. In a close duel for the second and third spots, Mark Richard Creedmoored Mike Habel. Both had 363’s, but Mark registered 7X’s to Mike’s 3X’s. (Mike Habel, the bionic man, with his new and improved body parts and his ‘scoped rifle has become a force to be dealt with.)
Season
Aggregates:
Mike King 1155-24X
Mark Richard 1112-18X
Mark
Walters 1105-12X
The top Junior is Marshall Rohrbach with an aggregate of 1084-11X, followed by Kileen Shaffer with a 939-2X.
Thanks to Mark Walters for running the match.
The
final 100 yard match for this season will be Saturday, March 12th. Hopefully it won’t be as cold – but this is
Indiana after all….
The Lima Sabers are a co-operating club and their members can shoot at FWRR for our own member rates. FWRR members can shoot at Lima for their member rates.
We have minimal schedule conflicts, so I have no issue with publicizing their schedule. Feel free to go over and shoot with these guys – they’re a great bunch of people and they usually have a lunch after a match – a really great lunch!
Lima Sabres Shooting Association
2022 High Power Rifle Matches
Range located at 5090 East Hanthorn Road, Lima, Ohio, 45806.
Matches are NRA “Approved”. Course of fire will be an 80-shot Regional Course, per NRA High Power rule 7.15. The slow-fire prone stage will be fired at 300 yards on the
MR-63 target.
Registration begins at 8:00 AM and shooting starts at
9:00 AM.
The Ohio Rifle and Pistol Association Reduced Course State
Championship
In addition to the Lima Sabres matches listed above, Ohio Rifle and Pistol Association will hold a Reduced Course State Championship.
The match will take place on May 7th at the Lima Sabres Shooting Association. Awards will be given out to
the top three shooters in Any/Match Rifle and Service Rifle classes.
The Reduced Course Championship at Lima SABRES will take place as an NRA 80 COF, 2 sighting shots will be allowed per position. As such, the COF will be 20 shots Standing, 20 shots Rapid Sitting, 20 shots Rapid Prone, and 20 shots Slow Prone.
The number of competitors will be capped at 54, allowing for 6 relays of 9 shooters. This will allow for an extra target to be open in case target issues arise.
The price for the match will be $20 for ORPA members, $30 for non-members. Lima SABRES will take $10 per entry fee, the rest will go to the ORPA High Power program. This program funds the official Ohio Service Rifle Team, and provides for awards at state championship matches.
There will be sign up forms for ORPA membership present at the event, and preregistration will be open online prior to the match.
Contact Tim Plowman for more information: 419-806-9045 victoryclassicfirearms@gmail.com
ACPDL has decided to have our January & February matches at Midwest Shooting Center. The space there does not allow for as much variety and options – but it is warm and snow-free!
So, we are starting this with our February match this year. (BTW, We postponed our January match because of the temperature. We’ll be doing a double match at FWRR to make it up.)
The next meeting of the Fort Wayne Rifle and Revolver Club will be held on Monday, February 7, 2022. Meeting Place: VFW Post 857, located at 2202 West Main Street in Fort Wayne. Meeting Time: 7:00 p.m. Agenda: Standard meeting format. Cleanup Day projects will be addressed under the heading New Business. Please try to attend as a quorum is required to conduct club business. Food and drink will be available at very reasonable prices before and after the meeting.
Membership Renewal Information
Receipt of Membership Renewal Forms, proof of current NRA membership, and payments are due on January 1st each year. As of January 20th, only about 50% of the membership had submitted renewals.
When returning forms, please print legibly and be certain to include proof of current NRA membership. Thus far, approximately a dozen renewal forms have been returned due to lack of proof of current NRA membership.
Dues must be received on or before March 1st to avoid late fees or termination of membership. Dues received with postmark dates after March 1st, but on or before March 31st, are subject to a $25.00 late fee. Dues received with postmark dates after March 31st will be returned with a notice indicating that 1) the party’s membership has been terminated and 2) future membership requires submission of a membership applications and payment of new member fees (c.f., Bylaws Article IX, Section 2). Dues paid with an NSF check are subject to a $25.00 returned check fee.
If personal hardship prevents timely payment of dues, contact a club officer who may arrange either for dues to be waived or for payment to be deferred.
Individuals who were accepted as members after October 1, 2021 are not required to pay membership dues for the 2022 calendar year; nevertheless, they do need to return the renewal form with proof of current NRA membership.
Donations
Thanks to the many members who have made donations this year. Nothing is truly free. The club has the following recurring expenses: insurance, property tax, postage, as well as costs associated with building, facilities and property upkeep. Your donations enable the club to make facility improvements and help to offset the expenses associated with maintaining the memberships of our Life members –many of whom are themselves donors.
Newsletter Delivery
Approximately 80% of the membership receives the newsletter via e-mail. Those members who have e-mail accounts and who currently opt for postal delivery are asked to consider receiving the newsletter via e-mail next year. Doing so will save printing expenses (newsletter and mailing labels), postage, envelope cost, the time and fuel spent traveling to/from the printer, and the manual labor associated with stuffing, labeling, and stamping/mailing envelopes.
Maintenance Activities
A recent wind storm knocked down a segment of the target frames at the 100-yard impact bunker. Temporary repairs were made by some of the Club’s (old and decrepit) Officers.
Reminders
Clay targets are only to be shot from the hut at the north end of the 25/50/100-yard portion of the Main Range. Take care to ensure that clay targets, wads, and shot land on club property.
Lock Combination Change
The combination that opens the locks at the gate, the Weidman Building, and the building on the 25/50/100-yard portion of the Main Range are changed on Cleanup Day. The combination that appears on your 2021 Membership Card will be valid until April 23, 2022. It is suggested that members either keep their 2021 cards until after that date or record the 2021 combination on their 2022 Membership Card.
Cleanup Day Projects
There is a job for everyone on Cleanup Day
Cleanup Day will be April 23, 2022. Work typically commences at 8:00 a.m. Tentatively scheduled projects include the following:
1.
Installing a drain at the 100-yard firing line on the 300-yard portion of the Main Range. A volunteer or volunteers are being sought to perform some preliminary work related to this tasks. This work includes picking up a tractor, trencher, and pipe. If you are interested in helping with these aspects of the project, come to the February 7th club meeting or contact Marty Didion at martindidion4@gmail.com or Mike Miller at fwrrsect300@gmail.com.
2.
Graveling and grading roads.
3.
Installing a gutter, pipe, and a base for a cistern system to provide water for chemical mixing and grass watering.
If you have an idea for a project that you would like to see accomplished or started on Cleanup Day, please present your suggestion at the February 7th meeting.
Mowing Crew
If you are interested in joining the mowing crew, contact Marty Didion at martindidion4@gmail.com prior to April 1st.
2022 Program Schedule
As of January 20th, the 2022 Program Schedule had not been finalized. When all schedule inputs have been received, the final version of the 2022 Schedule will be posted on the FWRRC Website. Electronic copies of the schedule will be sent to members who elect to receive the newsletter via email. Hard copies of the schedule will be mailed to postal newsletter recipients.
For Sale
M1 Garand: New stock and totally reconditioning by Fulton Armory. $1500.00. Price includes a large quantity of brass, reloading data, and accessories. Contact Lowell Black at (260) 637-8625 or roslowbk@gmail.com
Ads may be sent to Marty Didion at martindidion4@gmail.com. Ads must be received three weeks before meetings in order to appear in the next newsletter.
Winter Offhand closed out 2021 with one of the most disruptive weather days we had seen in a long time – a gust of wind on a blustery day broke target uprights, knocked down support rails and sent targets and backers cartwheeling all over the range. Saying things were left in disarray would have been an understatement!
But, 2022 was a fresh start. Weather had been uncertain – cold was guaranteed but the wind forecast was a guess. We were expecting as brutally cold day, but for a change, we won in the game of weather roulette. Depending on whose thermometer you believed, it was somewhere between 17 and 23 degrees when we went to the line but, unheard of in northeast Indiana in January, there was no wind. Although it was frosty, it was actually a fairly pleasant day, especially on the low end of the firing line where the sun peeked around the building.
Frost on the grass, snow on the berm – but not a bad morning!
Mark
Doc and The Other Mark
Marshall
Kileen
Mike
We had ten shooters brave the day and there were some pretty good scores shot. Mike King was high for the day with a 381-4X effort. Mark Walters and Mark Richard tied for second place for the day at 375-5X. High Junior was Marshall Rohrbach with a solid 367-5X for the day.
The season standings look a lot like the standings for
today:
Mike King 770-17X
Mark Richard 753-11X
Mark Walters 746- 9X
Marshall Rohrbach 722-
7X
The next Winter Offhand will be the second Saturday in February, February 12th.
FWRR Junior Colton Eads has been twice nominated
for acceptance to the United States Naval Academy Class of 2026 by Indiana
District 3 Congressman Jim Banks and Indiana Senator Mike Braun.
Admission to a Service Academy is a two-tiered
process. First, the applicant must directly apply to an academy and meet the
minimum medical, physical, and academic qualifications. Then, the applicant must be nominated by a
Congressman or Senator. Colton has
received nominations from both Congressman Banks and Indiana Senator Braun. In June he attended a virtual visit to the
Academy (normally an actual visit, but changed to virtual by COVID) and in October
he was invited to and attended an in-person candidate visit to Annapolis,
Maryland.
Colton is a member
of the Fort Wayne Rifle and Revolver Junior Rifle Team. He attended the FWRR 2021 High Power Clinic
and began shooting with the group in the spring of 2021. By the end of the summer he had achieved the
NRA Classification of Master. He has
contacted the coach of the USNA Service Rifle and Pistol Team to investigate
the possibility of continuing his High Power activities at the Academy. Colton’s two goals are to be commissioned as a Marine Corps Officer
and to study Naval Architecture, possibly in the areas of hull design or
propulsion.
But, should the appointment to Annapolis not come to be, Colton has a Plan B – an application to Texas A&M and pursuit of a commission through the Texas A&M ROTC Corps of Cadets. Then, there is also Plan C – Virginia Tech and their ROTC Corps of Cadets.
We wish Colton well as he pursues his options.
Oh, by the way – check out the logo on
Colton’s rifle
Saturday, November 13 broke as a raw, windy day but it didn’t keep a sizeable crew from showing up to start work on the new shelters for the firing points in the pistol bay. The old firing point covers were well past their service lifetime and the Club had agreed with the shooters in the pistol disciplines that it was time for an upgrade. A proposal was made to the Directors, it was accepted and plans went into action to get the project underway by the start of winter.
A blustery day, but lots of people to get the job done
Lots of ladders to get to the high work
At 7:30 Saturday morning a dumpster was waiting at the gate and by noon the old firing point covers were loaded up and the dumpster hauled away. A trailer loaded with material had been spotted in the pistol bays and the crew made short work of getting it to the places it needed to be.
A trailer with material was ready for the work crew
Setting the trim edge in Bay 3
All five of the pistol bays will have an aluminum framed, metal roofed shelter built as a cover to protect shooters and match officials from the weather. They are going to be an attractive addition to the pistol facility.
Gusty winds made handling sheets of metal roofing interesting – to say the least!
There is an old saying; “It’s all fun and games until someone gets an eye put out”. Well, a similar saying about High Power shooting could be; “It’s all fun and games until it’s time to do brass preparation”.
Over the 2021 High Power season, our Junior shooters went through about 800 rounds of ammunition each. Now that the season is complete – it is payback time. To get ready for the 2022 season, we are trying to have about 2500 rounds of ammunition ready for the Juniors – and that means we have to get 2500 cases ready to load.
We sent cases out for cleaning, depriming, sizing and trimming, but we need to deburr and chamfer the cases to make loading easier and to be sure that cases feed reliably. SO, it is case prep time. There is an assembly line process here; Marshall and Colton clean up the inside of the case neck and Kileen and I finish up the outside of the case. It took us a bit of time to get things running smoothly, but we went through most of a 600 round bag of mixed brass in the first session.
We swapped jobs – Colton and Kileen are cleaning up the outside of the case
The inside turners finished up all 600 cases in the bag and the outside turners had about a hundred left at the end of the session. Good work guys! We have planned several case prep sessions and once we get the cases finished, the Juniors get to learn the next step – squeezing a priming tool!
We need to work up our load for next year – we will be using a different powder than we used this summer (2021 was WC 842, 2022 will be WC844) and then we start loading the cases.
The season runs from November through March, six sessions. We will shoot on the second Saturday morning at 9:00 or whenever we get a full relay of 10 shooters. Registration will open about 8:30.
Course of fire will be 40 Offhand shots for record,
fired at 100-yards on the SR target. We
will use paper targets. The first string
of fire will be 22 shots, with the high 20 taken as shots for record. The second string of 20-shots will not have
any sighters (you already had 22). You
will need a spotting scope – if you don’t have one, there will probably be one
available to borrow,
Scores
will be the best four scores shot during the season. Most people will miss one session for
whatever reason and we generally have one session cancelled because of weather.
I will divide shooters into two divisions for
scoring purposes. Division 1 will be the
High Masters, Masters and Expert shooters, kind of like Alabama, Georgia and
Ohio State. Division 2 (like Ferris
State, Valdosta State and West Georgia) will be Sharpshooters, Marksmen and any
Unclassified shooters who may shoot with us.
Juniors may shoot in the award pool if they pay
match fees, or they can shoot for fun and shoot for free. Juniors must declare their intentions at the
first match, so no late entries.
The award pool will be 50% of the total match
fees paid. Each Division splits up half
of the award pool. Division winner takes
half the Division pot, second place gets one-third and third place takes
one-sixth. (Same award formula as normal High Power matches.)
We have a new meeting place for our Club meetings. Our first meeting there was Monday, October 4th, and for the first time in a long time, we had a good crowd, not just a quorum; it was a very well attended meeting.
The Meeting Room at VFW Post 857
Our future meetings will be held at VFW Post 857, located at 2202 West Main Street in Fort Wayne – just follow Main Street through Ft. Wayne and you run into the site. There is a lot of easily accessible parking and the meeting room is also easily accessible – no steep dark stairs to climb.
Meeting Times will be 7:00 p.m. The VFW Post has a kitchen to provide supper before the meeting and beverages are available on site as well.
Our next meeting will be the FIRST MONDAY IN DECEMBER, December 6th. See you there!
