Fort Wayne Rifle and Revolver Club

As Winter Offhand days go – it wasn’t that bad of a day.  At 33 degrees, it wasn’t precipitating anything, the wind wasn’t bringing tears to eyes or numbing fingers – it was just Indiana grade December dark and gloomy!

Nine shooters came out, but two retired because of back issues with seven shooters finishing up the day. As one of the “retirees” commented; “It’s heck getting old!”

The top three scores for the day were:

Mike King            390 – 8X

Doc Habel           382 – 7X

Mia King              364 – 8X

For the Winter Offhand season, to date – standings are:

Mike King            775 – 17X

Mark Walters     716 –   5X

Mia King              710 – 12X

Miss Mia, recently voted into membership as the first Junior (a girl even) member of the Fort Wayne Rifle and Revolver Club, came in third for the day and currently stands in third place for the season aggregate.

But, the high point of the day came from Tayt, our most junior of Junior shooters.  I’m starting him off by having him shoot off bags to let him learn sight picture, trigger control and to learn the mechanics of running the AR platform.  For the first stage I stressed to him that just where the group landed wasn’t all that critical, the important thing was to get them all in the same area.

As the shooters brought targets back from the first string, Tayt was waving his target and hollering; “I hit the target, I hit the target!”  Indeed he had hit the target with a group about the size of my hand up at 12- o’clock right at the edge of the 5-ring.  He scored a rip-roaring 32-0X on that string, but indeed – he had hit the target.

We made an elevation change on his scope (down 10-minutes) and on the next string he shot a considerably improved score; 190 -3X.  Nineteen of his twenty shots were in the black with one mid-ring 8.  I think we’re making progress.

Today’s match closed out the year for formal High Power activities.  I want to thank everyone for all of their support and I look forward to having a good High Power year in 2023.

FWRR Club Meeting

The next meeting of the Fort Wayne Rifle and Revolver Club will be held on Monday, December 5, 2022.  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:

Election of Club Officers followed by a standard-formatted meeting will take place.   Please make an effort to attend meetings, as a quorum is required to conduct club business.

Election Ballot

Office	Incumbent	Candidate
President	Jim Sweeney	—
Vice President	Matt Hice	—
Secretary	Mike Miller	—
Treasurer	Martin Didion	—
Director	C. L. (Larry) Beardsley	Dean Drews

2023 Membership Renewal

2023 Membership Renewal Forms will be mailed in early December. Please read and follow the instructions at the top of the form. 

Completed Membership Renewal Forms, proof of current NRA membership, and payments are due on January 1^st each year.  

Dues must be received on or before March 1^st to avoid late fees or termination of membership. Dues received with postmark dates after March 1^st, but on or before March 31^st, are subject to a $25.00 late fee. Dues received with postmark dates after March 31^st 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 application 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, 2022 are not required to pay membership dues for the 2023 calendar year; nevertheless, they do need to return the renewal form with proof of current NRA membership.

Updating the roster is a time consuming activity.  Deciphering illegible printing and contacting members to obtain proof of NRA membership can be frustrating and time consuming activities. 

For more information check out our web site: https://fwrrclub.org/index.php/members

Lock Combination Change

The lock combination change is made on Cleanup Day (mid to late April).  Retain your 2022 Membership Card until the change is made.

Newsletter Delivery

Approximately 80% of the membership receives the newsletter via email.  Those members who have email accounts and who currently opt for postal delivery are asked to consider receiving the newsletter via email next year.  Doing so will save printing and postage costs and reduce significant manual labor.  Changes in delivery method will go into effect in April, 2023.

To add or remove your Email address just send an Email to billmac099@yahoo.com with the subject FWRRC-Add or FWRRC-Delete.

Maintenance Activities

The final mowing of the year was accomplished on November 2^nd.   The mowers, sprayer, and cistern were winterized.

Target frame repairs were made on the 25/50/100 Yard Range.

Permanent Target Backers were installed in Pistol Bays 4 and 5. One 4’x4’ corrugated-plastic sheet was installed on each target frame.  (Please remove targets faces and staples after use.)

Eight 2’x2’ corrugated-plastic target backers were made available for use.  The new backers are located inside the building on the 25/50/100 yard portion of the range. (After use, please remove targets faces and staples and return the backers to the building.)

The heater in the building on the 25/50/100 yard portion of the range was repaired.

The gutters on the 25/50/100 yard building were cleaned.

Number boards on the 300 yard range were removed and stored for the winter.

Thanks go the following individuals:  Larry Beardsley, Bruce Bickley (membership hopeful), Marty Didion, Darrel Fish, Mark Klingenberger, Mike Peek, and Jim Sweeney.

New Members

Please welcome new members Ed Klotz, Tony Spangler, and Craig Wallace.  These gentlemen became members at the October, 2022 meeting.

Discipline Reports

ACPDL & USPSA

Nothing to report

High-power (HP)

Winter 40-round offhand matches are being held the second Saturday of the month from November through March.    Check-in Time: 8:00 a.m.  Firing begins at 9:00 a.m.   More information concerning the High Power Program is posted on the Club’s website.

Important Reminders

Some of these reminders are repeated from earlier 2022 Newsletters.  They are being repeated because violations are still occurring.  Several members have reported violations but failed to advise offenders. If you see someone in violation, please courteously explain the rule infraction.

DO NOT HANDLE FIREARMS WHEN PERSONNEL ARE DOWN RANGE! Proper range etiquette involves opening actions, removing all ammunition from firearms, and stepping away from the firing line.  

DO NOT POST TARGETS ON TARGET FRAMES OR OTHERWISE INTENTIONALLY SHOOT TARGET FRAMES. All shots should pass through target backers and must land on impact bunkers.

THE RANGE STATUS FLAG MUST BE LOWERED AND RAISED EVEN IF YOU ARE THE ONLY PERSON ON THE RANGE.  Ensure that targets are removed and the status flag is lowered before departing the range.

THE RANGE MAY NOT BE USED FOR COMMERCIAL USE.  We had one report of a member administering what appeared to be a pistol training course to an estimated ten or more individuals.  Members may not undertake for-profit activities at FWRRC.  Be advised that to do so has historically resulted in membership termination.

MEMBERS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE BEHAVIOR AND ACTIONS OF THEIR GUESTS.  Members may take a maximum of two guests to the range per visit, not counting family members.  Do not take more guests and/or family members than you are able to directly supervise.  If your guests or family members are new to the shooting sports, it is strongly recommended that the member refrain from shooting so that all of his/her attention can be devoted to supervision.

Please make certain to close the outhouse doors and to lower the toilet seat covers.

For Sale

A. Jewel single-stage trigger for a Remington 700 or 40X. Incorporates safety and bolt release, $180.00. 

B. 6.5 mm, 142 gr., Sierra, Matchking, BTHP bullets, Qty 4 boxes.  $50.00/box. 

C. 1 lb of Reloader 16, $60.00. 

D. 1 lb of Vihtavuori N550, $65.00. 

Contact Mark Strahan at (260) 927-5515 or ms9568@gmail.com

The High Power Range Officer has the following items that he would like to swap for “something”  that he can use with the Juniors:

A. Qty 100, 90 gr., .223/5.56mm, RMR, BTHP bullets;

B. Qty 900,  9mm, 115 gr., copper-plated, round-nose bullets.

Contact Larry Beardsley at FWRRHPDirector@aol.com.

The Newsletter Editor apologizes to the individual who sent ad information to him in early October.  The email containing your information was inadvertently deleted and  he cannot recall the member’s name.

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

Damage to target frames, uprights and crosspieces is not just an issue on the rifle range side of the house, it is an issue in the pistol bays as well.

In an attempt to reduce the damage to frames, a new target mounting system was installed Monday in pistol Bays 4 and 5. This mounting system spaces the cross pieces a lot further apart and gives a place to mount targets well away from the vertical upright posts.

The backer is a 7mm Coroplex sheet (corrugated plastic – like corrugated cardboard, only it’s plastic). This is the material we use for backers on the high power electronic targets and it is pretty durable stuff. There is room on the backer for several targets while keeping impact areas well away from the lumber.

Please read the instructions on the Coroplex, and good shooting!

Be Safe!

As of 7:00 AM, the official Fort Wayne weather outlook was a slight chance of snow after 4PM.  Well, that should have given us plenty of time to get our first Winter Offhand match over and done with and entered into the books.

We started setup about 8:00 – these guys show up early and get started.  We had to do some work to replace nails to hold target faces, but there were plenty of folks to help and by about 8:45 we had a full relay, we held our safety briefing and the line went hot.  It was dark – not the best day to shoot. We had a light wind out of the northwest – but not punishingly brutal.  Things changed quickly, by the time the first string was finished, it was snowing.  It started out as a few scattered flakes, but it quickly developed into one of those lake-effect snow storms we know so well. 

Visibility was rotten – but we are High Power Shooters and we don’t let a stinkin’ snow storm run us off the line. (Or maybe we just don’t have much better sense…).

We finished up about 9:45; cleaned up, put things away and headed home.  It was not a good day to hang around and practice, zero a rifle or chronograph loads – those tasks will need to wait for another day!

But – in spite of the weather the scores looked pretty good.  We have an alliterative list of the top five shooters this month; Mike, Mark, Mark, Marshall and Mia:

Mike King                                          385-9X

Mark Richard                                    367-2X

Mark Walters                                   363-3X

Marshall Rohrbach                          354-3X

Mia King                                            346-4X

Congratulations to Mark Walters on wining the Garand Match at Anderson last weekend – even after firing a miss on his first Offhand shot!  Mark has been known to comment that the Garand is useful only as a tomato stick, but it appears that he can do more than just garden with it.

And, late breaking news; a reliable source reports that Mike King took second place in the Garand Match and Mark Richard took at least a share of third place. Another great showing for FWRR. Thanks Guys!

And, Yes, it seemed like everyone had a good time. Now we all have a High Power story to tell; “There was this one time it snowed so hard ….”. Thanks to the parents and grandparents who showed up to watch the Juniors.

Our next Winter Offhand is December 10^th – same time, same place – same format.  Hopefully – less snow, but I can’t guarantee that!

Don’t forget the FWRR Meeting on Monday, December 5th at 7:00 at the VFW/Legion/Marine Corps League Building at the end of Main Street in Ft. Wayne.  This is the meeting where we elect officers, so please plan to be there.

A picture is worth a whole bunch of words, so I took a few pictures to illustrate the points I had made in the “Range Maintenance” post from a couple of days ago.

Our covered range is laid out in a strange way with the 100-yard target frames lying in the 25-yard and 50-yard impact area.  This results in the 100-yard frames getting damage from shots being fired on the shorter ranges.  The range layout makes some damage unavoidable, but we can minimize damage with a bit of attention to how we shoot.

One of the primary rules of range safety is to make sure that you know where your shots are going to land.  Just landing them in the 100-yard impact berm isn’t really the only goal, hitting as little of the 100-yard lumber should also be kept in mind.

The first picture shows a target set up in the 25-yard frame.  Look down range from that target – there is a vertical support post for the 100-yard frames directly in line with the posted target.  Setting a target like that guarantees that the vertical post in going to be in the line of fire and will take some hits – especially if you are doing a good job of staying in the black.

Now, look at the second picture.  The target is in the exact same position, but if the shooter just moves a bit to the right or left, the point of impact moves considerably – in between two vertical posts.  Ladies and Gentlemen – please pay attention to what is downrange and don’t line up the hot zone of your target face with downrange lumber.

Most of the hits to 100-yard structures from shots fired from the 25-yard line are low hits or ricochets.  To minimize the damage to the bottoms of the vertical supports, we added some sacrificial lumber to the bottoms of the posts. We can replace these pieces of lumber as they get shot away and reduce damage to vertical supports.

Last of all, we see damage to the horizontal cross pieces from ricochets hitting in front of the 100-yard frames.  At times it looks like a farmer has dropped a plow and cut furrows in front of the target frames.  This damage is primarily to three of the center sections of horizontal pieces. 

To further reduce damage, we are requesting that:

•  If you are shooting at 50 or 25-yards, if the three center horizontal sections at 100-yards are in place, please remove them before you shoot.  Just lay them on the ground in front or behind the frames.  When you finish – just leave them down.  That is their “stored” position.

•  If you are shooting at 100-yards, the sections of horizontal frames at the south end and north end of the firing line are out of the 25 and 50-yard line of fire.  Those horizontal frames will stay up at all times. If you need to use the three center sections, go ahead and mount them in the frames – but when you finish shooting – please put them back on the ground.  That will protect them from most ricochet damage.

This will take a little more effort on the part of shooters, but it will make life a lot easier for the people who take time to keep our range facilities in good repair.

Thank You – and Be Safe!

Several members spent their Monday afternoon at the range repairing the damage at the 100-yard range. Three uprights and three sections of target horizontal frames were replaced at 100-yards, the shot up upright was replaced at the 50 yard target and target horizontal rails were replaced at 25-yards.

Much of the damage at the 100-yard line was due to inattention of shooters firing at targets placed on the target holders at 25-yards. Shooters at 25-yards are not paying attention to where their shots are impacting downrange. One upright at 100-yards was shot off at ground level and it getting it out of the ground was a lot like a dentist pulling a tooth that had broken off at the gum line – yuuck!

Another issue is ricochets from the shots fired at the 25-yard line that bounce off the ground in front of the 100-yard target frames and riddle the cross pieces. Shots fired at the 50-yard targets also hit those same cross pieces.

After the uprights were replaced, we put sacrificial pieces of 2 x 4 lumber on the front of all of the uprights. We hope that these pieces of lumber will absorb stray bullets and preserve the uprights. They can be easily replaced with just a couple of screws when the need arises.

Additionally, to reduce the damage from stray rounds hitting the cross pieces, we left the three new center section pieces (6 pieces of 2 x 6 x 14’ lumber) laying on the ground where they are less likely to be hit by ricochets. That leaves three sections of frames on the low end and two sections of frames on the high end for folks who want to shoot at 100-yards. For matches when we use the entire 100-yard firing line, we can just put the boards in their holders.

Shooters – we ask that you pay attention and help us reduce damage to target frames:

A. NEVER mount targets to vertical posts. NEVER mount targets directly to the horizontal rails. Suspend them between the two rails.

B. In the near future, there will be red paint on the vertical posts as well as red painted areas ON THE HORIZONTAL Rails about 1-foot in from the vertical supports. Please do not mount targets in red painted areas.

C. WHEN FIRING AT TARGETS MOUNTED ON THE 25-YARD FRAMES – WATCH WHERE YOUR DOWN-RANGE IMPACT WILL BE. ADJUST YOUR SHOOTING POSITION AND TARGET PLACEMENT SO THAT YOU DO NOT SHOOT THE VERTICAL SUPPORTS AT 100-YARDS!

If your 25-yard target hides the 100-yard vertical post – move your target or your shooting position!

For a quick review of Range Rules, click here:

Range Rules 101 – The Picture Book

We reload our Junior ammunition with a surplus powder, WC-844.  It is available only once or twice a year and we jump on an opportunity to buy 24 or 32 pounds in a single purchase just in case it doesn’t show up again.

But, unlike commercial powders which are manufactured to be consistent from container to container, military powders do not have the same lot-to-lot consistency.  Different lots may vary and when the military arsenals load ammunition, they vary the charge weight in the cartridge to get a specified velocity within pressure limits.  So, an M193 round loaded at Lake City in 1998 may have used 24.3 grains of WC-844, but an LC 2015 cartridge might only have had 23.8 grains.  When we use powder from pulled down ammunition, the powder can be a mix of who knows how many different powder lots – we only know that it is WC-844.  We need all of our powder to be the same for accuracy and safety reasons.

As the picture shows, we had five different jugs of WC-844.  Now, they might all have come out of the same drum of surplus pull down powder — but then again they might not. To make sure that all the powder is the same, I have to blend it together – a process not terribly different from mixing flour, sugar, baking powder and salt to make a cake.  You pour a little out of one jug, add in some from another, and stir well (with a wooden paddle).  Then you repeat until you have all of the powder from the five jugs in one big bucket – all mixed up into a consistent batch.

That is when you realize that you have about 35-pounds of smokeless powder sitting in an open bucket in your garage – pucker time.  You pour it back into the black anti-static plastic jugs with a glass cup and once it’s all back – you give a big WHEW! 

Now we have our powder blended for the summer of 2023.  I have to do test loads to make sure that we are not going to have any pressure issues – but that should be done by mid-November.  Mark Walters and I have looked at many fired cases, and we think we will reduce our load by a half-grain for 2023 – a basic load of 23.5 grains from the 24.0 we used in 2022.  That should not have any real difference in zeroes and muzzle velocity, but it will make life a bit easier on rifles and cases.

It is amazing what ideas can come out of a trip over to Port Clinton, Camp Perry and a session at Small Arms Firing School and National Matches.  Once the Juniors saw everything that was happening over there – they wanted to do it!

So, over the end of summer we managed to put on a Rattle Battle – but the Juniors wanted to shoot a Sniper Match.  As we all know, the Vintage Sniper Match is shot with old guns; M1903’s, M1903A4’s, M1C’s, M1D’s and several rifles from other countries.  The Juniors don’t shoot those old wooden guns, so we thought we would just shoot a Vintage Sniper Match format and let the Juniors shoot their service rifles just to get the flavor of the match.

I first thought we could shoot a Sniper Match on a Thursday at practice – but several “not Juniors” said they would like to shoot as well, so someone (not me) had the great idea that we could shoot it after the Mid-Range Match last Saturday; so we did.  I set up two classes for the match; Vintage Class for “old  wooden guns” and an Open class for everything else.  We would shoot the usual SR-3 target at 300 yards and then just to add some interest – we moved about 80-yards back to a firing line at the front of the mower house and shot on the MR-63 target.

The Sniper Match is a Team Match and teams are known for their imaginative team names.  We had four teams initially sign up for the match –but one team had to drop out (a casualty of old age, cold and Arthurite-is) and we had a three team competition.  The overall favorite team for the Match was the team of Mark and Mark (Mark Walters and Mark McKee).  Mark McKee, the old bear, came out of hibernation just for this match!  This pair are serious shooters –  a nationally ranked team in the CMP Vintage Sniper Match competition at Camp Perry – usually finishing well into the medal classes with their scores.  They bring a pair of well-tuned M1903’s to the line, both with the Unertl 8X externally adjusted scopes shooting optimized match loads.

The next Team was the Branson Bunch, the father-daughter team of Geoff and Emma.  Geoff and Emma had an ammunition shortage, so they had to borrow FWRR Junior ammunition and both of them shot Emma’s service rifle.

The final team was The Coot and The Cutie; Larry Beardsley and Kileen Shaffer.  Larry was shooting an M1903A4 with a  4X Weaver K25-F and LC66 M2 Ball ammo and Miss Kileen shot her service rifle.

We had never shot this match at FWRR – so it was a bit of a learning experience, but once we went through a couple of the LOAD AND BE READY, TARGETS, UNLOAD AND DISMOUNT command cycles – things went very smoothly.

After the first stage at 300-yards, the competition was pretty close.  The Branson Bunch, with their modern service rifle, was narrowly out in front with a team aggregate of 193-3X.  Astonishingly – The Coot and The Cutie were in second place with a pair of 94’s for a team aggregate of 188-3X.  Mark and Mark had a couple of shots wander out into the far regions and came off the line at 300-yards with a 182-5X.

Then, we packed up, switched to the MR-63 face and moved back to the extended range.  This was a true unknown distance – we had not lasered the move-back so all shooters had to establish new zeroes after some sighting shots.  The five-minute sighter period was a bit hectic, and the wind had picked up a bit as the afternoon wore on.

Mark and Mark’s experience showed as they quickly settled into a steady pattern of good shots.  The wind blew them around a bit, but they also hung a lot of shots into the middle of the target ending up with another 182-5X; a very consistent team effort.  It goes to show that Old Age, Cunning and Practice do pay off after all!

The Branson Bunch struggled a bit after the move back.  Their second string had a number of shots wandering wide both upwind and downwind as they fought wind conditions.  They ended up at the longer range with a 159-1X.

The Coot and The Cutie shot last.  The door was open for them to snatch a victory off the table if they could hold their performance from 300-yards.  But, then The Coot made a very bad strategic decision.  He decided to change from the LC66 M2 Ball ammo he had shot at 300-yards to 168-grain Hornady BTHP Match loads.  BAD MOVE BUBBA!  The heavier ammo shot to a different zero – not just elevation, but windage as well. The Coot started turning knobs and promptly turned the windage knob the wrong way – then turned it further the wrong way on the next shot. Then, getting flustered – he proceeded to cross fire on the third shot for record.  After turning the windage so far right that the next shot was a Miss, he finally managed to get back into the scoring rings for the last few shots.  The Cutie did what she could do to salvage the day, but the damage was done. Her 88-1X only brought the team up to a 143-1X for the extended range stage.

At the end of the day, Mark and Mark – with their pair of old wooden Vintage M1903’s carried the day with a match aggregate of 364-10X.  The Branson Bunch followed with a 352-4X and The Coot and The Cutie trailed with a 331-4X.

It was fun though.  Gary Mabis, who was watching – made the comment that we should do it again when he could shoot.  I suspect that once the girls get over their distrust of the big gun, they will want to try the Vintage Match at Port Clinton.  And, I suspect we will work one of these into next summer’s schedule.

Thanks to everyone for a fun match to close out the year!

What a Glorious day for a shooting match!

On Saturday, October 8th we closed out the 2022 High Power season with a Mid-Range 300-yard Prone Match.  The weather co-operated with brisk but not brutal temperatures and cloudy bright to clear skies.  The winds made shooting as bit challenging with winds fish-tailing from southwest to northeast at as much as about 10 MPH – but with periods of calm as well.  Fourteen shooters came out and we had almost two full relays.

All of our shooters were well experienced shooters, so we were able to run the match as an infiltration match.  The shooters were allowed to decide how they wanted to come on and off the line and we gave a total block time to finish the match.  Some folks decided they wanted to shoot straight through; some shot alternate shooters and some shot two matches and rested one.  It worked very well and things moved as smoothly as just about any match has in a long time.

We had planned the match as a late start match to let shooters from distant places come over without having to get up at oh-dark-thirty and the scheme worked out well.  We had three shooters come over from the Lima Sabers – it was good to see those guys at our FWRR range.

And – to top the day off; the shooting was excellent. Fourteen shooters shot three matches each, for a total of 42 matches.  There were 8 iron sight matches, the rest were scope matches.  Of the 42 matches, 19 matches scored 190 or better – pretty good shooting.

In the iron sight matches, Joe Bakies from Lima Sabers took top iron with his third match score of 200-11X.  Norb Norden took second iron with a 184-4X and Mark Walters closed out the money with a 178-6X.

In any-sight, the top shooter was Geoff Branson with a 200-15X.  Ron Dague was second in any-sight with a 200-8X. Bob Working dropped a point and took third with a 199-6X.  It was a tough day and it only took one little error to cost you!

The High Match Aggregate was shot by Joe Bakies with a 596-32X.  (Joe shot all three matches with iron sights).  Geoff Branson took Second Aggregate, down by one point, with a 595-39X.  (Geoff takes the X-Man award with the 39X count; he wins bragging rights).  Ron Dague rounded out the top three places with a 592-24X.

The top Junior for the day was Miss Emma Branson, continuing her sharp eyed hot streak from the Atterbury State Weekend, with a fifth place overall score of 577-17X.

Thanks to all of the shooters who came out for the day.  It was fun and it was a great way to close out the 2022 High Power season.  Our next match will be Winter Offhand on Saturday, November 12 at 9:00. We will shoot our usual 100-yard format; two strings of 20 shots for record (first string will be 22 shots, drop the low 2 as sighters).  We’ll see you then!

Web Note: The web version of the Newsletter has pictures that the mailed version does not because we try to minimize the page count of paper mailings.

October 2022 FWRRC NEWSLETTER

FWRR Club Meeting

The next meeting of the Fort Wayne Rifle and Revolver Club will be held on Monday, October 3, 2022.  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.  In addition, nominations for Club offices will be addressed.  Please make an effort to attend meetings, as a quorum is required to conduct club business.

A Message from the President

“We have an election coming up in December.  If anyone is interested in running, nominations can be made in October.”

“I would like to thank the grass mowers.  This year, the grass could have been cut every week… [due to] rain.

Overall, the range looks good.”

Mowing Crew

The following individuals were members of the 2022 mowing crew:  Bob Bausser, Marty Didion, John Halter, Joe Harbor, Matt Hice, Jim Johnston, Russ McCurdy, Dennie McNabb, Ozzie Ostheimer, Shannon Parks, David Rinaldi, Rick Schwaiger, Ted Smeltzer, Jim Sweeney and Gary Walker.

Mowing Schedule

The 2022 Mowing Schedule is available on the club’s website.  The mowing dates that are scheduled to occur before the December meeting are: 10/5, 10/19 and 11/2.  Dates are tentative, depending on weather and ground conditions.   Mowing times vary according to volunteer availability.  Efforts will be made to provide mowing date and time updates on the website.  The Main Range is closed during mowing and other range maintenance activities.   Pistol Bays 4 and 5 remain open during mowing.  It is recommended that members check the website for updates before traveling to the range.

Newsletter Delivery

Approximately 80% of the membership receives the newsletter via email.  Those members who have email accounts and who currently opt for postal delivery are asked to consider receiving the newsletter via email next year.  Doing so will save printing and postage costs and significant manual labor.  Changes in delivery method will go into effect in February, 2023.

To add or remove your Email address just send an Email to billmac099@yahoo.com with the subject FWRRC-Add  or FWRRC-Delete.

Maintenance Activities

Nothing new to report.

New Members

Please welcome new member Derek Hatman.  Derek was accepted as a member at the August meeting.  

Discipline Reports

ACPDL & USPSA

Tim Wunderlich, reports that ACPDL & USPSA, “…had some great turnouts in the last few months. Tim also notes that “…USPSA practice is getting very busy.”

High-power (HP)

Match Results

August 13th  50/80 Match. 1st Place: Jim Jackson, 770-22X;  2nd Place: Mark Walters, 758-24X;  High Junior: Marshall Rohrbach, 702-5X.

August 18th  Junior 100-yard Fun  Match. 1st Place: Marshall Rohrbach, 479-13X;  2nd Place: Kileen Shaffer, 463-8X;  3rd Place: Mia King, 451-10X.

September 10 th 50/80 Match. 1st Place: Carl Johnson, 773-24X;  2nd Place: Mark Walters, 763-9X;  High Junior: Mia King, 728-10X.

Wildcat Valley 300-yard Championship.  State Champion: Madelyn Schnelle (Junior Girl), 791-31X; First Master: Mark Richard, 779-29X;  First Expert:  Mike Habel, 757-12X, High Junior: Marshall Rohrbach.

Fall Creek 100-yard Championship. State Champion:  Mike King, 786-20X. Other Participants: Mark Richard, 772-17X; Mike Habel, 736-11X; Kileen Shaffer, 678-4X; Addisyn Shull, 517-0X.

ISPRA Full-Course State Championship.  State Champion:  Madelyn Schnelle, 1589-52X; 2nd Place (Silver): Mark Richard, 1581-49X;  3rd Place (Bronze) Mike King, 160-46X; Other Participants: Geoff Branson, 1543-57X: Emma Branson (Junior Girl), 1501-28X.

Leonard Johnson Memorial Match. First – Jerry and Doug Johnson; 764-10X. Second – Jay Werhle and Mark Walters; 761-15X. Third; Tom Easley and Norb Norbert; 742-7X.

Camp Perry, Small Arms Firing School (SAFS)

Four of our five Juniors attended the SAFS at Camp Perry.  (Colton Eads had to travel to Texas A&M for the start of the school year.)  Marshall Rohrbach finished 17th out of 267 competitors in the Excellence in Competition Match to win four points toward his Distinguished Rifleman Badge.  Kileen Shaffer, Addisyn Shull and Mia King placed 79th, 176th and 220th, respectively.

LtCol. Eric Andreasen, former CO of the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit (USAMU), served as FWRRC’s Junior team coach.  Col.  Andreasen stated that they (USAMU) see a lot of Junior teams when the they run matches.  He went on to say that it has been a long time since the AMU staff has seen a group as polite, respectful, courteous, and attentive as our Juniors. Congratulation to our Juniors, their parents and their shooting mentors.

Notes and Reminders:

DO NOT HANDLE FIREARMS WHEN PERSONNEL ARE DOWN RANGE! Proper range etiquette involves opening actions, removing all ammunition from firearms, and stepping away from the firing line.  

MEMBERS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE BEHAVIOR AND ACTIONS OF THEIR GUESTS.  Members may take a maximum of two guests to the range per visit, not counting family members.  Do not take more guests and/or family members than you are able to directly supervise.  If your guests or family members are new to the shooting sports, it is strongly recommended that the member refrain from shooting so that all of his/her attention can be devoted to supervision.

Please make certain to close the outhouse doors and to lower the toilet seat covers.

For Sale

1) .224 diameter, 90 gr., Sierra, Matchking, BTHP bullets, Qty 250.  Per Larry Beardsley, ‘[will] swap for something”. Contact Larry at FWRRHPDirector@aol.com.

2)   Jewel single-stage trigger for a Remington 700 or 40X. Incorporates safety and bolt release, $180.00.  6.5 mm, 142 gr., Sierra, Matchking, BTHP bullets, Qty 4 boxes.  $50.00/box.  1 lb of Reloader 16, $60.00.  1 lb of  Vihtavuori N550, $65.00.  Contact Mark Strahan at (260) 927-5515 or  ms9568@gmail.com

3) 98 Mauser Sporter in Cal. 270 Win.: Forged bolt handle; Buehler-style safety; Leopold, one-piece base and 1-inch rings; Walnut Monte Carlo stock that accommodates a receiver sight.  $525.00.   Contact Dave Dolezal at (260) 433-1505.

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.