Fort Wayne Rifle and Revolver Club

Junior Program Load Development

As we move forward toward a summer of Junior shooting, we are working to overcome the problems of not being to able to get the “good stuff” to load ammunition for the program.

As I’ve noted earlier, we have been able to find components, but they are not what are generally considered for “Match Loads”.  We have Russian primers, not CCI Match,  Remington 7 1/2 Bench rests or even WSR, but they are generally considered to be pretty good.  We are using military cases; LC, WCC and a few TW.  Most have several reloadings behind them, so we will need to watch for neck splits. 

Our bullets are Sierra 69-grain Match Kings.  For some reason they come up as available at suppliers and when I get an email notification, I grab some.  Natchez Shooting supply had 100-quantity boxes one day.  The next day they were gone but they had 500-piece boxes.  You bet your hat I grabbed some both days – we are pretty good to go on bullets.

The biggest unknown has been propellant.  I was able to buy two 8-pound jugs of WC-842 surplus pull-down powder in a parking lot at a convenience store way out  in the country south of Warsaw.  It wasn’t a midnight drug sale, but it did feel weird!  Surplus powder is a big unknown, it is a mix of powder lots from surplus ammunition that has to be demilitarized and cannot be sold as complete rounds.  It has to be characterized one jug at a time.

Just after New Year’s Day, Aaron Kohler and I did pressure tests to see just what this powder looked like.  We started at 20 grains which chronographed as way too slow and went up to a load that was a bit too hot – we pierced the primer.  But, we found that the sweet spot was between about 22.4 grains and 23.8 grains.

The next step was an accuracy test to find if there was a real sweet spot and if our components were compatible when we put them together.  I loaded six rounds at 0.2 grain increments from 22.4 to 23.8 grains.  The test protocol would be that Mike Grannis would shoot half from a match gun and I would shoot the others from my stubby barreled service rifle.  We would shoot on the Silver Mountain electronic targets and use the circle tool to record group size – easy/peezy.  We chronographed the service rifle for muzzle velocity and used the Silver Mountain system to get target velocity for both rifles.

The quick answer – we have components to make some pretty good loads.  Mike was shooting his Match rifle with a 20X scope and I was shooting the Senior Chief at 4X, so it would be expected that Mike would shoot tighter groups that I would, he actually shot groups about half the diameter I shot. But, in both cases we found that in the short barreled service rifle and the long barreled match rifle, groups were as tight as either one of us thought we were able to shoot.

The picture shows the 100-yard target we were shooting with a Shoot-n-See center.  Mike’s aim point was at 12 o’clock on the center and I was hitting at 6 o’clock on the edge of the black.  We chewed it up pretty well for a couple of old guys with runny noses and watery eyes on a chilly, breezy afternoon.

I am attaching a graph with a lot of data on it – look at it and I think you can see the same sweet spot I see.  Once we get our new rifles I am going to run one more test at 22.8, 23.0 and 23.2 grains of powder for a load.  I suspect that about a  23.0 grain load is going to give us the capability to shoot about half-inch groups off the bench.  That makes the shooter the limiting factor – exactly what we are looking for.

Now, we wait for rifles!

Winter Offhand Match

January 9, 2021

The shooters were ready for the 2021 season to get underway this morning.  By the time I arrived at the range at 7:55, folks were already there getting ready to go. The gate was open, the lights were on and the 25 and 50 yard target stands were taken down.  It was a good morning, a bit chilly – it’s January in Indiana after all – but the lack of wind made it a lot nicer than it could have been.  There were cold fingers and couple of drippy noses, but not too bad.

We had to do some target patching, but things went quickly and by 8:30 we had twelve shooters ready for the first relay.  We had our safety briefing and by 8:35 the first relay was under way.  There were four shooters who had to wait for the second relay and we had one Junior shooter. Marshall, who only wanted to shoot 20-rounds for his inaugural match, so five shooters made up the second relay.

We repeated the process, and on the second string of the second relay, we had another Junior who wanted to try his hand as well, so Zion was the fifth shooter on Relay 2, String 2.

It’s always good to get the group together.  I’ve learned that High Power shooters make their excuses early so that if something doesn’t go well – they have a reason to explain it.  One of the Masters of this Mark Richard – I poke fun at him with all the respect in the world. 

He had his list ready; it was cold.  His joints hurt, he had a crick in his neck and in his back.  He was unsteady and rocking around like he was on the deck of a ship, and that was why he was going to shoot such an awful score for the day.  Of course he took the top spot with a 194-13X.  I wonder what he would shoot on a day when he felt good?

Mike King took second place for the day with a 369-6X and Robert Davis closed out the top three with a 364-4X, good shooting guys!  For the winter season so far, Mark Richard leads the group with a two match aggregate of 773-24X.  Mike King follows with 755-10X and Mark Walters is third with 736-6X.

After the match I had a class session with our Junior shooter where we went over the basics of shooting from the sitting position.  It was a good session with an apt student.

Several other really good things happened on Saturday that I need to mention.  We had a donation of old shooting gear; leather coats, canvas coats, lightweight jackets and the like.  I had put them out for folks to take for a donation to the Junior Program.  At the end of Saturday, everything was gone and the Junior program was $106 better off.

We needed brass for Junior ammunition and several people brought me bags of brass.  Thank you to everyone who donated to the cause.  I have sorted through the donations and I have about 1500 LC, WCC and TW cases I am sending to a commercial brass processor to get them cleaned, deprimed, decrimped, sized and trimmed.

One more Thank You; Mark Richard donated a can of M193 LC ammunition (about 500-rounds) to be used for Junior practice.  This will be a great help and will ease the burden on our limited supply of components for match ammunition.

Upcoming events: 

The FWRR Club February meeting will be on February 2.  It will be held at the New Haven Community Center, behind McDonalds on Highway 930 (30) just west of New Haven.  This will be an election of officers meeting, so try to attend.  Just a social note; no guns, beer or smoking is allowed in the Community Center, so we need to be on our best behavior.

Our next match will be the second Saturday in February, February 13.  I will not be running the match that day.  My wife has decided we need to make our annual trip to Florida, so I regret having to be in all of that warm weather while you guys enjoy February in Indiana. I’ll think about you.

Be safe, stay well.

Hoosier Home Range Hundred 2021 

The initial Hoosier Home Range Hundred Match was well received last summer and the sponsors have decided to do it again this year.  The Match format will remain much the same; an 80-round Regional Match shot at 100-yards on reduced targets. 

Matches will be scheduled in August and September and a maximum of three matches may be scheduled at any Club. 

Organizations or businesses interested in joining as a Match sponsor should contact Larry Beardsley at FWRRHPDirector@aol.com for more information.

We have just learned that Jack Flaningan, a long time member of the Fort Wayne Rifle and Revolver Club passed away on December 18th. He would have become a life member this year.

His obituary can be found at:

https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/fortwayne/obituary.aspx?n=jack-w-flaningan&pid=197350351&fhid=11137

FWRR Newsletter

November & December 2020

December Meeting Date & Location: The next FWRR meeting will be held on December 1st at 6:30 p.m.  The meeting location is the New Haven Community Center. The Community Center is located behind the New Haven McDonald’s, along U.S. 930 East. Firearms and alcohol are not allowed inside the facility.

NOTE: THIS MEETING HAS SINCE BEEN CANCELLED

Club Election: The biennial election of Club officers will be held at the December meeting. At present, the offices in contention include Vice President and Director. Please make an effort to attend the meeting, as a quorum is required for conducting the election and Club business.

2021 Match Schedules:

Range Officers should submit their 2021 schedules to the Program Manager, Ryan Brammer, no later than December 1, 2020.  Ryan can be reached at rvbrkba@ yahoo.com.

End of Year Notes from the President;

There is a new firing point at 100 yards on the 300 yard range.  Please stay off of it. It is newly seeded and soft.

Winter is coming. Stay off the grassy areas going out to the target frames when the ground is soft. Mowing is done for the year. I would like to thank all of the men who gave there time to take care of the mowing.

A great thanks to those who came out to Workday. The range looks great. There are some projects that still need to be done: 1) Replacing the foot bridge and 2) installing drainage pipes north of the 100 yard target frames and at the low spot between the gate and the driveway that leads to the pistol pit.

If I don’t see you at the December meeting, have a happy holiday and pray for a virus free new year.

High Power Happenings November – December 2020:

We closed out a very successful and active High Power season with the October Mid-range match. Our Silver Mountain electronic targets allowed us to shoot more relays in smaller groups to allow social distancing and overall we had more participants this year than we have had in many years.

Several FWRR members were consistently among the top shooters at the State level this year. Mike King repeated as the Governor’s Trophy winner and Mark Richard, Mark Walters and Geoff Branson were consistently in the top-10 in just about every match they shot.

The Hoosier Home Range Hundred series was a brainchild of Mark Richards. With at least five clubs and 85 shooters competing for an award pot of $1,000 it turned out to be a very popular ISRPA event.

At the close of the year we managed to put in a 100-yard shooting position to give us a third distance to use with the electronic targets. We plan to shoot a 100-yard reduced range match on one Thursday night every month next summer. This would be during a Thursday practice time and will not take any more range time – another opportunity to work on upgrading your NRA or CMP Classification.

I have turned in a proposed 2021 schedule and part of that schedule includes several dates for NRA and CMP Team Matches at Camp Perry and Camp Atterbury. FWRR has been out of the team match habit too long – next year we come back!

Winter Offhand starts on November 14th; Saturday morning at 9:00. Depending on weather, we might shoot at electronic targets – we’ll see how it goes. Yeah, I know that is the opening day of deer season – so I guess I can understand why someone might want to go sit in a tree instead. Just be safe – wherever you go!

Larry Beardsley High Power Range Officer

Safety Officer: Many times the Club Safety Officer comes across as the bad guy – like the OSHA inspector at a job site or that QA guy who keeps getting in the way of finishing a job. But – every so often the Safety guy finds a way to make life a bit better for everyone.

I had some issues with some things in the pistol bays that led to a very good discussion of how things were being done and what could be done to make our range a safer place to shoot. The outcome was that we will do a major range improvement in the pistol bays – raising the wing berms to the level of the base of the containment berm to allow the Action Pistol folks to safely use a wider angle of engagement in their match setups.

Before we get too far into winter, I want to do some marking of our south property line to warn potential trespassers that they are encroaching on a danger area. This will include a simple horse wire fence line, purple markings on trees (per Indiana law) and signage to warn people off.

Larry Beardsley, Safety Officer

Newsletter Editor: A Newsletter Editor is being sought. The volunteer must have access to a computer, word processing software, and email. The present Newsletter Editor, Chip Seidel, is willing to assist with the transition. Contact Jim Sweeney or Martin Didion for further information. Thanks go to Chip for his work on the newsletter as well as with special mailings and membership renewals.

End of an Era: The muzzleloading program will come to a close this year due to low participation. Sincere thanks to Dennie McNabb for the many years that he ran the program.

2021 Membership Renewal: Members should expect to receive the 2021 Membership Renewal Form via U.S. Mail no later than the end of November, 2020. The exception is individuals who are inducted at the October and December 2020 meetings. Be sure to include proof of current NRA membership with your completed form. NRA Life members who have previously submitted proof of lifetime membership are not required to submit proof annually. The renewal form and proof of NRA membership (as applicable) must be submitted by all members, even FWRR life members.

Normally I do not post Meeting Minutes to the website – but these are unusual times and I have decided that unusual times require unusual actions. The December meeting has been cancelled, so keep an eye out for updates on when we will meet next.

FWRR MEETING 10/6/2020 

Meeting Minutes 

Meeting held at FWRR Range @ 7 pm. 

 Called to order by President Jim Sweeney.  23 members in attendance. 

Pledge of allegiance recited.   Minutes of last meeting read by Secretary, Mike Miller   Motion to accept and seconded. Minutes accepted by membership.   

Treasurers report:  Presented  by Treasurer Marty Didion. 

Motion to accept and seconded.  Report accepted by membership.

DISCIPLINE REPORTS

High Power  Larry Beardsley reports a good year for Hi‐power. September 5 held a new match, the Hoosier Home  Range Hundred.  

September 12 was the John Garand/cmp Games Mates with 20 shooters. 

September26 hosted the Leonard Johnson Memorial Match .  Mike King is the ISRPA State Champion for the second  year. 

Dirt moving has begun for the new 100 yard firing point.  fforts continue to start a Junior group   

ACPDL  Matt Hite  reports matches with 20 ‐25 shooters. 

USCPA  Ryan Brammer will be replaced by Brian Smith. Brian will also act as Safety Officer. Last match had 33  shooters.   Black powder  Dennis McNabb reports 3 shooters at last event

Safety Officer  Larry Beardsley reports  problems with pistol pit separation berms not being safe.   Bay closed sign are not visible at all times.                                    

OLD BUSINESS    None. 

NEW BUSINESS     New members:  Michael Camperman, Martin Hardwick and Doug Johnson are  accepted.     Work day was September 19 . Brush clearing and drainage repair were performed. Officer elections are in December and any person interested in holding office is encouraged to make itknown. Director and officers positions are open.      Mark Strahan is moving and has resigned as VP. Matt Hice will finish this years term as VP.  

Motion  is  made  to  increase  the  height  of  the  pistol  bay  separation  berm  at  a  cost  not  exceeding $7000.     Motion seconded and accepted by membership.    Next meeting (Dec 1) will be held at new Haven Community Center starting at 6.30 pm . 

  Motion to adjourn, seconded, and passed. 

 Submitted,   

 Mike Miller, Secretary 

Directions to NHCC: On highway 930 ,west of New Haven. Drive entrance on south side of road, near  McDonalds. Big sign is present.  Use east parking lot and entrance. 

Please be advised that due to COVID concerns and restrictions,  the December meeting has been cancelled.

Details concerning the next meeting will appear in the January/February newsletter.

Saturday, November 14th marked the start of the 2020-2021 Winter Offhand season.  The day started out as a very frosty morning – about 22-degrees.  But, there was no wind and it was surprisingly comfortable to shoot.  I don’t think I heard a single “My fingers are freezing, or I can’t feel my nose” comment from the line.

We have a new software update for the electronic targets that is hoped to fix the “red target” issue we have been having, so we decided to shoot this first match on the electronic targets instead of the usual paper targets.

The new 100-yard range isn’t ready for traffic as yet, so we moved back to 200-yards – a change from the usual 100-yard match.  Our eight electronic targets would not handle the number of shooters we had for the match, so we decided to explore a feature of our system we had not used previously- pair firing. 

We had the usual start-up fluster of tablets, phones and IPads that wouldn’t connect, or stay connected – but we worked through those issues and got things under way.

Oops!

The Ranger Officers are still learning the system and we started off getting the order of fire wrong.  The Left shooter’s scores showed up on the Right shooter’s score column and vice versa.  Once we figured out what was going on, we told the shooters to just swap scores and life went on.

When we went to the second relay, we got the firing order correct and all went smoothly.  It was a learning experience for the Range Officers to figure out how the multiple shooter feature works and several of our shooters had never pair-fired before; kind of a win-win.  One shooter made the comment; “I liked that, it slowed me down and I shot at a better pace during the match.”

Thanks for all the folks who came out to shoot – and Thanks for helping us learn how to use the features of our Silver Mountain electronic target system.

Oh yes – the improved software looks very promising.  With the eight targets in operation for about four hours (32 total operating hours), we had only one brief “red target” incident – but it cleared itself with no intervention from us.  The system seemed to work well even in the cold conditions – something we had not verified for ourselves.

Our next match will be the second Saturday in December, December 12th.  We will shoot on paper targets from the 100-yard line under the porch.  We will start at 9:00 A.M. or whenever the first relay fills up the 12-target firing line.

Come on out and join us!

As we move into winter – it really will come sooner than we want it to – the range is in very good shape. Over the summer we made some really nice improvements by cleaning up brush, keeping the ditch cleared off and just in the last month or so finishing some dirt moving work on the High Power and Pistol Bay ranges.

As we move into winter there a few things we need to keep in mind to keep the range as nice as it is now:

Loose ammunition and cases: Housekeeping under the covered firing points has improved greatly over the last year or so. We don’t see the piles of .22 rimfire cases like we once did and folks have really improved in picking up steel cases that can’t be reloaded. Just a reminder – police up your brass (or steel) and if you don’t want it, put it in one of the buckets marked “BRASS”. The brass mice seem to get rid of it.

And, before you leave – take one last look around. We have found several live rounds laying around the porch lately; several .22 rimfires, some .223 that look like they got mischambered and thrown out and some dinged up .308 rounds. Leaving live rounds laying around isn’t a good idea- there is no telling where they might end up and cause mischief.

Sandbags: We try to keep a number of sandbags on the covered firing points for folks to use. But, we are seeing an issue with how people use them. We get the bags free from the Allen County Highway Department – we just have to fill them with sand and lug them out to the range. But, since they are free – they’re not a really high quality bag – they are intended to be biodegradable.

Folks tend to misuse them two ways. If you support a rifle with a quad rail on the bag, the notches on the bottom of the rail tear the bag open and all the stuffing spills out. It ruins the bag, makes a mess on the bench and gets grit in your rifle. The other misuse is that shooters rest the muzzle of the rifle on the bag and the muzzle blast tears the bag or burns a hole in the fabric. To help eliminate these problems, we have put several carpet squares on the bench up next to the house. If you want to rest a quad rail or muzzle on a sandbag, put a carpet square under the rifle – please.

One last request. When you finish with a bag, put it back up on a bench. If you leave it on the deck, it gets wet, freezes and becomes either a soggy sack of wet sand or an ice block; neither is a good place to rest a gun.

Trash: This is a strange request. We have trash cans at both covered firing points with liners in them. There is no trash pickup service at the range – trash gets hauled off by people who notice that the cans are full or overflowing. The request – use the cans as little as possible. The greatest volume of trash stuffed in the cans is shot-up targets and target backing cardboard and plastic. If you bring out targets, faces or backers and shoot them up – please take them back home to your trash.

Yeah, some trash will accumulate. When it does, there are new trash can liners inside the door to the clubhouse, just under the light switch. Feel free to pull the full liner out of the can, put in a fresh liner and take the full liner home to your trash.

THANK YOU FOR KEEPING OUR RANGE SO NICE!

       

At the October meeting of the Fort Wayne Rifle and Revolver Club, the membership voted to make improvements to the pistol bays to raise the height of the berms separating the south facing bays.  By raising these berms, the FWRR Action Pistol and the ACPDL could be more flexible in placing their targets in their action scenarios and increase the overall safety of the range.

When the project was approved, it was not clear if the work could be accomplished before winter weather set in; but we have been blessed with an unusually warm and dry Fall and work started on the project today, November 11th.  The contractor brought in his earth moving equipment about noon and if all goes as planned, he will finish by tomorrow evening.

By completing the project this Fall, the improved ranges will ready to go next Spring with no interruption to match schedules or practice sessions due to new construction.

Update; 14 November

The work on the pistol bays is complete. The berm walls between Bays 1 and 2, Bays 2 and 3 and 3 and 4 were raised by approximately four feet. It was an impressive addition to the existing berm

After the new dirt was placed, the new berms had some seed and straw added to give fresh grass cover a start over the winter to be ready to sprout in the Spring.

The next FWRR meeting will be held on December 1st at 6:30 p.m. 

The meeting location is the New Haven Community Center. 

The Community Center is located behind the New Haven McDonald’s, along U.S. 930 East.

Firearms and alcohol are not allowed inside the facility.

The construction of the new 100-yard firing point has gone as far as it can this Fall.  Ted Smeltzer got a new (at least a replacement) track for his Bobcat and he finished up the remaining dirt moving work.  The top is smoothed off nicely and there is a gentle slope front-to-back at the firing positions.   He also did a very nice job of feathering in the ends and edges.

THANK YOU TED!

Today I fertilized and seeded the bare dirt with a tough football field grade turf seed that Ag-Plus said would grow on chipped concrete (at least that was the claim).  With rain the rest of the week it should get a chance to water in and sprout a bit before we get any really hard freezes that would freeze the dirt.  We’ll see what happens; we may need to hit it with some Ryegrass overseed next spring.

It appears that our local deer herd likes the new firing position – there were a lot of deer tracks in the moist dirt this afternoon – it looks like all of the four-footed neighborhood kids were playing King of the dirt pile on the mound.

Saturday, October 24th was our Deer Rifle Sight-In event at the range.  Indiana deer season starts November 14th, so we wanted to give members and guests a chance to set zeroes and to have plenty of time to practice with a rifle they knew was zeroed where they wanted it to be.  This was a free event to allow club members who are not High Power shooters an opportunity to get a benefit from the electronic targets the club has procured.

Our High Power luck held for another Saturday – it was cool but beautiful.  We set up electronic targets at 100, 200 and 300-yards so hunters could set a zero at one distance and then see just how high or low they shot at the other distances. We had seven or eight hunters take advantage of the event. 

One gentleman brought out his new rifle with a freshly mounted scope – with no idea just where it might be shooting.  We did a crude bore sight off the bench and then took the first two shots.  The Silver Mountain Targets told us that he was about 24-minutes off to the left.  He was not sure which way his scope adjusted, so we put about 6-minutes of what we thought would be “right” on the knobs and shot again.  The third shot was about 30-minutes left; obviously we guessed wrong.

So – we put about 30 minutes of the “other right” on – and his fourth shot was solidly in the black.  His fifth and sixth shots were solid 10-X shots and he was well sighted in at 100-yards with just a couple of more shots.  He went over to the 200-yard bench and shot three more shots to verify his drop at 200-yards; as far as he intended to shoot at anything.

The point of the story; within 30-minutes and about half a box of ammunition, a hunter was able to go from a new unfired rifle to a rifle with a solid set of zeroes that more than meet his needs.  That would have been hard to do with a paper target, shoot and walk setup.

Several other people shot at various ranges, mainly putting touch-up adjustments on their rigs and we had some casual shooters try out the electronic targets for the first time.  They agreed that electronic targets would spoil people very quickly.

It was a successful day – thanks to everyone who came out and helped with target set-up, helped work with hunters and to tear down and put things away.

2020 has been a bummer of a year for a variety of reasons, but our string of good luck for High Power shooting continued for the Leonard Johnson Match on Saturday, September 26th.  Again, we could have not asked for a better day; bright, cool but not nose dripping –finger numbing cold and just enough wind to challenge but not frustrate.

Three-and-a-half teams participated

The teams and results were:

The Buckeye Brothers – Bakies and Baker:

Rim fire:          375 – 6X          Center Fire:     365-7X             Aggregate:  740-13X

Theyrrre Back – Ron Dague and Doc Habel  (First Match for both of these guys this year!!!)

Rim fire:          370 – 0X          Center Fire:     366-7X             Aggregate:  736-13X

Johnson and Johnson – Jerry and Doug Johnson

Rim fire:          371 – 3X          Center Fire:     270-3X             Aggregate:  641-7X

(New rifle, serious issues and finally just plain ole broken and had to withdraw)

Our half-team was John Halter:

The Last Mohican – John Halter

Rim fire:          173 – 1X          Center Fire:     101-2X             Aggregate:  274-3X

In case you might wonder about the low center fire scores, we shot the 300-yard stage on the MR-52 target, which is a 600 yard target reduced to 200 yards – but we shot it at 300 yards.  The SR-42 target is a hard target, but the MR-52 is even more of a challenge.

Doug Johnson took high .22 rim fire individual with a 190-3X.  Joe Bakies took center fire individual with a 191-6X.  Ron Dague shot an outstanding 186-4X center fire considering this was his first match of the year after some health problems.

I want to thank Joe Bakies and Jim Baker for turning their awards back to the club for our electronic target fund and for Joe’s very nice comments about the match on his Facebook page.

On Saturday September 26th, during the Leonard Johnson Match, Eicher Concrete called and asked if we were ready to move dirt for the new 100-yard firing point. It was short notice, but as you know, when you get a construction guy ready to go – you don’t put things off!

Eicher Construction was going to move excess dirt from the south end of the 200-yard practice berm and FWRR member Ted Smeltzer, who lives nearby, was going to use his Bobcat loader to level and feather dirt at the edges of the pile. Well, that plan went awry when Ted blew a track on his Bobcat.

We put two truckloads of dirt on the firing point and put another load of loose dirt aside to do edges of the firing point and to fill some potholes and wet places on the range. The operator for Eicher did some leveling and packing with his excavator and we got the dirt pile roughly profiled.

This is about what it is going to look like – we hope to get it all leveled and seeded before frost this year.

This firing point will give us a 100-yard point for the electronic targets. Now, how are we going to use it?

We will shoot an NRA Approved Hundred Yard National Match Course next summer on one Thursday evening practice session every month, we will see if the Hoosier Home Range Hundred carries on into the new year and we are investigating the possibility of hosting the ISRPA Reduced Range State Championship in 2021.

I shouldn’t have to say this – but guys – please don’t drive across the fresh pile of dirt – it isn’t an off-road obstacle