Fort Wayne Rifle and Revolver Club

Steve Vinson has been elected as the 2020 President of the Allen County Practical Defense League (ACPDL).

His email address is: mail@vinsons.com

Saturday, May 9th was the inaugural 50/80 Match on the new Silver Mountain electronic targets.  Our target setup can support five active shooters per relay (one target is held as a spare in case something happens with an active target) and we had scheduled two relays in the morning session and two relays in the afternoon session.  Twenty shooters quickly pre-registered for the two sessions and as things progressed, three shooters had to drop out and they were quickly replaced with three more.

Saturday morning dawned as a frosty morning; there was frost on the grass over much of the range – but the wind was initially calm.  We had scheduled to have our first shot go down range at 9:00, but the first and second relay had gathered by 8:40 and when Jim Sweeney, the FWRR President arrived for the First Shot Ceremony, we got things under way.  Jim noted that “… the future of organized High Power shooting was moving toward electronic targets and this match marked the start of a new chapter of FWRR High Power.”

As the first and second relays moved through the match, the calm wind conditions that existed at the start of the match quickly changed – and gusty, cold and blustery winds became the rule.  In accordance with social distancing guidelines, competitors were asked to wear masks except when actually shooting and it turned out that masks came in handy just to keep noses warm!  By the time we moved back to 300-yards, several shooters were heard to make the comment “I can’t feel my fingers”.  Such is May in Indiana.

But, if High Power shooters aren’t complaining about being hot, they have cold to mumble about, so we went back to 300-yards and finished the match. The morning session closed out about 11:15; two-and-a-half hours for an 80-round Regional Match Course.

As the morning shooters packed up and headed to the house to warm up, the afternoon relays took to the course.  We started about 12:00-noon and finished at 3:00.  The afternoon relays might not been as cold as the morning, but the winds became even more blustery as the day progressed.  One afternoon competitor measured winds at 25 MPH with gusts to 32+MPH.

But all in all, it was a good day.  Competition for top spot was close, but Joe Bakies from the Lima Sabers “Creedmored”  FWRR’s Mike King to take top honors for the day

Match Winner:           Joe Bakies                                           772-25X

Second Place:             Mike King                                            772-22X

Third Place:                 Mark Richard                                      762-18X

High Junior:                Madeline Schnelle (Wildcat Valley)  564-  4X

The electronic target system worked well.  There were some issues with targets going off the air, but we believe that this is due to some super-cheap Chinese cables supplied with the batteries.  We have replaced those cables with regular cheap Chinese cables and we believe that should eliminate cables as an issue.  We also had several bullets just vanish on the way to the target (probably about five bullets), but we believe that the extremely blustery winds might have had something to do with that.  A 99.68% arrival rate isn’t bad for a first outing.

I want to offer special thanks to the crew who acted as “Pit Sitters” for us; Marty Didion and Chip Seidel in the morning session (thanks for the donuts Marty) and Mike King and Mike Bailey for the afternoon.  Having people in the pits to resolve battery and cable issues as well as swap out target faces was a huge factor in moving the matches along.

And, as always, another huge THANK YOU to Glenna and Mike Grannis for their willingness to be my Stat Office; collecting money and registrations, gathering and tallying scores and just running around and helping in a lot of places.

Our next match will be June 13th – the second Saturday in June.  As of now I plan to run five relays in this match; two morning and three afternoon relays and I plan to start the match at 8:00 so we won’t run so late in the afternoon.  By 8:00 we have absolutely fantastic light on those white plastic target faces and it will make for a good early session.  This will give us places for at least 25-shooters, and if several things develop as they promise to do – we may have room for up to 35 shooters that day.  Stay tuned for more information on this!

Fairfax, Va. – Due to the current state of affairs surrounding COVID-19, the uncertainties associated with this pandemic at present, and shutdowns across our country that have impeded vital preparatory work, the National Rifle Association has made the difficult decision to cancel the 2020 NRA Precision Pistol Championships, July 1 -5, 2020, 2020 NRA High Power Championships, August 9 -25, 2020 and the 2020 NRA Smallbore Championships scheduled for July 23 – August 4, 2020. We are trying to make the best of the current situation by moving forward with range construction and other improvements as we look towards the 2021 NRA National Championships season. The NRA is also exploring the feasibility of hosting a variety of new NRA events at Camp Atterbury (if conditions are favorable) with the state of Indiana later this year.We share your disappointment that we had to cancel these competitions. The NRA wishes everyone good health and the best of luck. Stay safe and healthy.

Since Governor Holcomb has allowed Central Indiana High Power to hold matches at Camp Atterbury this weekend (May 2) , I am moving ahead toward FWRR Matches on 9 May.

We will shoot the match in two sessions; a morning session that will shoot at 9:00 and an afternoon session that will shoot at the completion of the morning session – just like Nationals at Camp Perry. In each session I will shoot two relays of 5 shooters – a total of 10 shooters per session. 

I am requesting that everyone preregister so I can assign folks to sessions and relays.  Because of the range limitations, I may not be able to accept everyone’s registration or accommodate them in their requested session.  You can register at FWRRHPDIRECTOR@aol.com.  Please register by Sunday, May 3rd; tell me morning, afternoon or don’t care.  I will notify you when, where and if you are registered.

The morning session will register at 7:30 and I will ask about three people to help me set up in the pits – social distancing again.  Once we get a full session, we will start even if it’s not 9:00.

The afternoon session will register at 11:30 and we will move to the 200-yard line as soon as the morning session clears the 300-yard line.  We should shoot no later than 12:15 or so. I will ask some folks from the second session to help secure equipment after the match.

This will be our first electronic target match as well as our first match conducted under COVID-19 protocols, so we will be doing things a bit differently.  This is not an NRA Match.  We will probably have a learning curve with the targets since we did not have our practice match.  I am going to run block time for slow fire strings with unlimited sighters.  For rapid fire strings, I will run block time for Prep and unlimited sighters.

Match Ground Rules

1. If you don’t feel well, if you have a fever, if you are coughing, have a sore throat, if you’ve been exposed to someone with CVD-19  (you know the drill by now) – please stay home.

• As a courtesy to other shooters, I am asking people to wear a mask except when you are on the firing line shooting.  Scorers, please wear a mask.

• I am going to spread out the firing positions a bit (orange marking paint).  Targets 3 and 4 will be offset to the left, target 5 will shoot straight on and targets 6 and 7 will be offset to the right.

• Paper score cards will be used as official score records.  Tablets, IPhones, etc. will take the place of spotting scopes.

Winter Offhand Match; Saturday 14 March, 2020 

We closed out the Winter Offhand Season with a bang, really a bunch of bangs,  on Saturday March 14th.  The day dawned grey and overcast, a bit cool at about 40-degrees but the wind that had been so brutal on Thursday and Friday had stopped and overall it was not an unpleasant day for shooting. 

The group gathered early and we sent the first shot downrange at 8:48, a few minutes before the 9:00 published start time.  The range was full, with 12 shooters filling up all 12 positions. 

 We were done by 9:45, a quick pleasant match. 

Mike King took top place for the day with a 380-8X, but Randy Jahn shot a season high 380-6X to take second place as Mike Creedmored him.  

Bob Davis rounded out the top three with a 370-5X. Now, for the season results.  Remember, we take the three best scores across the season. 

First Place                   Mike King                    1139-21X         $39.00

Second Place              Mark Walters              1115-19X          $26.00

Third Place                  Randy Jahn                1100-10X         $13.00

X-Man Award              Mike King                          21X            $13.00

 An old Naval Academy tradition is an award for the guy who hung in there and just kept plugging away, the award for The Anchor Man.  

Anchor Man               Mike Bailey                 816-1X             $5.00 

I will write the checks for the awards and I will have them with me so I can present them when we cross paths. Thanks for everyone coming out and I hope you had a good season.

The Final Four – E-target Update

March is the time for the Final Four in basketball, but if you’re building e-target frames – it’s the time to finish off the final four.

I’ve pretty well finished up the last four frames. 

They are a bit different (better I hope) than the first four.  The frames are not really that heavy, but they are a bit much for a little short guy like me to get his arms around.  These last four frames have a hand-hole in the top center of the target to make handling the frame easier.  If you look at the pictures, you will also note that there is a target number in the upper left hand corner of the target.  If you are shooting through a ‘scope, it’s hard to see the number boards way out in front of the pits.  This number, hopefully, will make crossfires a bit less likely.  One last improvement, the Coroplast backers are stapled to the wooden frames with 9/16” staples.  I was concerned that the staples might not hold all that well in the soft pine frames, so on these last four targets I put a bead of Liquid Nails glue under the Coroplast backer to hold it to the frame.  It may be a problem to get it off in two or three years when we need to replace the backers, but that may well be an issue for the next guy to solve!

Our e-target setup will have five primary active targets (I plan to shoot five shooters per relay) and one active target to be available as a shooting hospital in case of a malfunction of any of the primary targets.  In addition to the six targets that have electronics for scoring, I have built two spare target frames with backers and faces.  These two frames will be spares in case one of the six active frames gets broken.  Until they are needed as replacements, these will be inactive hospital targets.  (Every shooter always needs the opportunity to crossfire!)  The five primary active targets will be targets 3 through 7.  Target 8 will be the standby, and target carriers 2 and 9 will have non-functional hospital targets in them.

We have a combined High Power Work Day and Practice Match on March 21st.  We need to move cardboard targets out of the target shed to make room for the new frames and we need to put the final touches on just how we will set up the frames in our carriers.  Once we get that done, I want to shoot a Practice Match to make sure that the electronics and the Range Officer are ready for that first match in April.  If you come to work, the Practice Match is free; if you come to shoot, the fee will be $10.00.

For a change the weather prognosticators were right and Saturday morning was better day for a torpedo shoot than any kind of a rifle match.  Over the course of the morning it went from a drizzle to a downpour and back – several times.

We had changed the event from a Winter Offhand Match to an electronic target learning session.  It was a learning session because all of us were going to figure out things about our system.

There was a brief introduction to the system and review of how it works, and then we went over how we intend to set up targets for a match.  We covered sensor setup, cables and target insert installation.

Then, we took all the time folks needed to figure out just how to set up their display device (Smart Phones, dumb phones, tablets, Ipads, Fires and whatever) to connect to our server system.  It was good to see everyone helping one another.  No one person knows just how each and every device works, but one way or another, we figured out how to get everyone hooked up.

I demonstrated how shots show up on the display, and then I divided up the group into “Target 4” and “Target 6” teams and we shot a match on the simulator.  We shot slow fire strings, we shot rapid fire strings, we learned how to handle cross fires and what to do about just out and out misses.

There were questions asked – some of which I could answer, some we just haven’t decided the answer as yet – and some I just don’t know – but I’ll find out.

Probably the most amazing thing at the session was what we found when we took a break.  Most of us have never been out at the range in a serious rain storm, so today was a first for us.  Check out the pictures of the creek.  The creek flows from north to south (right to left) across the range.  On the north side of the bridge that crosses to the 100-yard targets, water had backed up like the bridge and culvert was a dam.  Drift junk has piled up like a beaver dam on the north side of the bridge and just to the south of the bridge water was spilling into the ditch like a waterfall.  What a mess!

Unless things just don’t work out, I plan to hold this same training session later this month as an evening session for members who couldn’t make this session.  I am going to send out a notice to the High Power group as well as a general notice to the club.  Thanks to everyone who came out today – it was a good day!

Electronic Target Update – December 31st

Well, the High Power Elves were busy over Christmas; cutting, screwing, clamping, gluing, stapling, measuring twice and trying to cut just once – and we now have four electronic target frames completed.  We’re halfway there! 

Mike Grannis and I plan to go to the range on either January 2^nd or 3^rd to calibrate the three new targets.  (We will decide which day based on weather and just what kind of a mood we are in …).  If you want to come out to help, observe, kibitz, make helpful suggestions or take a few shots – welcome!  Gripers and complainers – just stay home.

  Harrumph!  I will post a High Power email with details as we get closer. 

At the January Winter Offhand Match, I plan to have the usual 12 targets as well as the addition of targets E1 through E4 – these four targets.  You are invited to use them in the January match if you wish.  This will give me some experience in managing several shooters at a time.  If we run into uh-oh’s or aw-pooh’s, I will let the brave volunteers reshoot on manual paper targets. 

I invite folks to bring some extra ammunition.  Then, after the formal match is over, I want to do some more shooting on the electronic targets.  I want to run some rapid fire strings and I want to simulate things we see in a match like misses and crossfires.  We will shoot until everyone who wants a turn gets a chance – just stay and help me tear down.

I am excited about using these in our summer matches.  They promise to make matches run faster and …  NO PIT DUTY!

Well, for two months in a row we have had a good weather day for a Winter Offhand Match.  Saturday December 14 was just about as mild a day as we could ask for in mid-December; about 35-degrees, no wind and an overcast but bright morning.  We had eleven shooters show up – and at least two more sent notice that family obligations had to take precedence this month.  (That’s one reason we only count three of the five matches for season aggregate!)

By 8:50 we had a full line and no one else in the parking lot, so we started a bit early.   By 10:15 we were done and the day’s standings were as follows:

First:                Mike King        382-6X

Second:           Randy Jahn     372-2X

Third:              Mark Walters 369-7X

This was also the first time we have used our Silver Mountain Targets E-target in a match setting.  I had a high level of confidence that the target would work well, but a lot less confidence in how I would be able to run the system when someone’s score mattered.  I asked Mike King if he would be my guinea pig for the debut – since he is the State High Power Champion, I felt confident that he would do well in this first test.

Mike did very well, as the scores above show.  And, I was pleasantly surprised when the practice in my basement in how to handle things worked out nicely on the range.  In addition to just watching shot placement on the target, folks looked at how the system shows shot velocities and how it calculates the standard deviation of velocity across the string.  Once Mike finished his two strings and saved his target on his phone, the rest of us played with the target for a bit and I practiced deleting cross-fire shots and inserting misses into a shooter’s string.

When we went down-range and compared the group on the tablet to the actual group on the target, if there was any difference in the two it was hard to see and by anyone’s judgment it was much less than one-half of a bullet diameter.

Here is the actual target face at the end of the day.  Only one of the shots out in the white is Mike’s, his second sighter was out at 8-o’clock.  The others and the .308 holes were added in our after match activities.  If all goes well, I want to try to have at least three e-targets for the January match so I can get some experience in managing several shooters at a time.

It was good to see some familiar faces we haven’t seen for a while. Russ Bell came out to shoot today, he’s been buried with work and stuff for the last couple of years. Marie and Dennie Shook came out to visit and kibitz – it was good to see them as well.

Our next match will be January 11 at 9:00 AM. Come out and shoot – or just come out and visit for a while.

A line from a movie says; “I love it when a plan comes together!” Well, today a plan came together.  A week or so ago Mike Grannis and I went out to the range to set up the first electronic target and calibrate the target face to the frame.  Well, it didn’t work out so well the first time and we went home with our tails between our legs to learn a bit more about the software.

I did some studying, set up a six-target system in the basement and played with things for a while.  Dave Schnelle answered some questions and late last week I was ready to try again.  Mike and I went out to the range this afternoon and started the process again.  We set the target up at the 100-yard line and went through the setup and calibration process step-by-step.

We’re glad no one was around to watch the process.  Having two retired engineers try to read a set of instructions on operating a computer system is, to say the least, interesting.  Mike had his iPad, I had my Nexus 7 and we followed each other along as we tried to figure out the simple directions.  It was an “Insert Tab A into Slot B while folding at Line C” procedure and each step was thoroughly debated before any buttons got pushed.

But, after a while we got things going and it was time to put a hole in the target to do the up-down, left-right correction. Mike got to do the honors and shot a 10, just out of the X at 11:30.  The uncalibrated system showed it as a 9, just out of the 10 ring at 11:30. We went downrange and measured the vertical and horizontal offsets from the center of the X.  We went back to the warm clubhouse, (thank you Mr. Sweeney) – made the conversion to millimeters and punched them into the system!

SON OF A GUN!  The shot’s location on the two displays popped to exactly the position it had been on the target.  We looked, compared and decided that it was time go for it.  I put on my Range Officer Hat (really a warm fuzzy cap today) and called the shooter to the line.  I set Mike up for 2 sighters and 10 shots for record on a 200-yard target.

Things worked just like we had hoped they would.  The system marked the first two shots just where they were on the target and labeled them S1 and S2.  The third shot was labeled as 1, and so on it went through shot 10.  I had Mike shoot mid-ring shots, shots at 12, 3, 6 and 9 o’clock out in the white.  He finished up with X-ring shots to close out the string.  The system scored properly, every shot showed a velocity and there was a running calculation of velocity Standard Deviation as the string progressed.

My confidence in the system went up a lot on the third shot in the string.  According to the system, Mike put a shot right on the 10-ring at about 2:30.  When I took a look through the spotting ‘scope, there the hole was was, sitting on top of the 10 ring line right where it was supposed to be. (You can see the hole in the actual target and Shot 3 on the display)

There is more testing to be done and I still have to learn more about the operations I need to do to run a line efficiently.  But, we have demonstrated that we can build a stable target frame, can set up a system and have confidence that the system is telling us what is really happening downrange. 

Many thanks to Mike Grannis for his advice, insight from his experience with his SMT system and sweat and chilling as we learn how to make this work.

Now we just need to build a bunch more!