Fort Wayne Rifle and Revolver Club

The week following the Independence Day weekend was brutally hot, just the kind of weather where High Power shooters put on heavy coats and go out and lay in the sun with their rifles.  As the week went on, I had the feeling that even though there weren’t going to be National Matches at Camp Perry this year, the CMP had just sent us some Camp Perry weather to use at our local matches.

BUT – on Friday the oppressing heat and humidity broke and on Saturday morning for our CMP Home Range Appreciation Match we had a 69-degree morning.  For the morning match we had several cancellations and no-shows and we were able to shoot the morning session as a single relay match.  We had everyone there by 7:51 so we got started and were done by 9:40 – not bad for an 80-round match.

The afternoon (really late morning) match started at 11:38 when the last two shooters came over from their earlier pistol match and we finished that session at 2:32.  The weather had warmed up a bit, but we had a nice breeze from the west that kept shooting conditions comfortable.  Thanks to everyone who came out and participated.

Mike King took high shooter of the day honors with a 781-20X in his afternoon session (he shot the morning match with a 780-26X, but he only gets to be the high shooter for the day one time).

 Jim Jackson had an excellent day as well, taking second place with a 770-27X including a clean 200-9X in Sitting Rapid at 200-yards.  Congratulations Jim! 

Geoff Branson closed out the top three this month with a 756-22X.

The match went very smoothly – in a large part because of the people working in places shooters never see.  Marty Didion and Chip Seidel gave some of the best Pit Management (aka Pit Sitting) that anyone could ask for.  As we went from the 200-yard line to the 300-yard line, those two guys had the target faces changed well before we ever got back to the 300-yard line.  We had a couple of uh-oh’s with the targets, but they resolved them in literally a couple of minutes and we never had a match interruption all day.

Mike and Glenna Grannis worked at the National Matches for many years and they are giving us NM class Stat Office support.  Glenna does registration and keeps me straight in regards to money. The money is always right!

Mike has discovered that if he sits on the porch of the new building, in the shade, his smart-phone will connect to the SMT Server, even when we are at the 200-yard line.  He can see what every shooter is doing, call up data from the server’s archives and he can enter scores into the scoring spreadsheet in almost real time.

Thank You to all of you folks who help with the “busy work” and let me pay attention to running the matches!

Our next match will be on the second Saturday of August; August 8th.  I will register it with the CMP as our second Home Range Appreciation Match – it is already an NRA Approved match.

Fort Wayne Rifle and Revolver Club

Rifle and Pistol Range Mowing Schedule

Summer – 2020

Wednesday, July 8                          Morning

Wednesday, July 22                       Afternoon

Wednesday, August 5                    Afternoon

Wednesday, August 19                  Morning

Wednesday, September 2            Morning

Wednesday, September 16                    Afternoon

Wednesday, September 30                    Morning

Wednesday, October 14               Afternoon

Wednesday, October 28               Morning

Exact times are not known, depending on weather conditions and other considerations. If you would like to help with mowing (you get to learn how to run a BIG mower) contact Marty Didion, the mowing coordinator, at martindidion4@gmail.com

About a year ago when we were brainstorming ideas about the Silver Mountain Target electronic targets, one of the questions someone asked was; “Just how will these targets benefit members who are not High Power competitive shooters?

It was a valid question, so in the proposal I included electronic target Range Days that would be open to members and guests as well as a Deer Rifle Sight-In day.  Our first Range Day in May was cancelled because of the WooHooFloo, so Saturday June 20th was our first opportunity to have open shooting on the electronic targets for members and guests.

Our High Power luck held out again and we had a nice day to shoot.  It was hot, but not “pass out in your coat” hot.  Ten shooters took advantage of the opportunity, about half High Power shooters and half members and guests.

The electronic target system worked flawlessly as we continue to work out issues and make fewer human errors.  Everyone’s phone, tablet or iPad logged in with no issues and we had no target dropouts or interruptions.  One guest shooter made the comment that the range at Roanoke needs to get one of these systems!

Thanks again to the people who help these events happen; Glenna, Mike, Marty and Aaron and Gary who stayed and helped us put things away.

Our next Range Day will be a Deer Rifle Sight-In on October 24th at 10:00.  We will offer sight-in targets at 100, 200 and 300 yards.  As an example, if you sight in at 200-yards, you can then  shoot at 100 and 300-yards to get exact hold under/over for the other two distances.

Now – just a couple of stories:

About 9:30, Marty and I were going downrange to start setup.  I was coming up on the ditch when a critter ran across the road in front of me – right to left.  Rabbits, groundhogs, dogs and the occasional cat are pretty common visitors to the range, but this was a solid black, low slung, slinky critter that looked like it had a leash on its neck.  It was gone in a flash, but after a second or so, I realized that I had seen a mink!  Minks hang out along ditches where they find frogs, crayfish and other delicacies and they are really not uncommon – just reclusive.

But, what about the leash?  It took another second or so and I realized that, of course, a mink would not have a leash.  This mink had caught a small snake and was dragging it out of the woods.  It just looked like it was trailing a leash.  After he crossed the road, he dashed into the weeds and went back down into the ditch to enjoy his breakfast.

There is another critter story too.

Marty called my attention to a very strong, musky odor around the dirt pile down by the pits.  Now we know that is a ground hog hotel, but this was a lot stronger odor than ground hog.  After a bit, we both agreed it was definitely the smell of fox urine – the scent we use to cover our scent when we go deer hunting.  We’ve seen foxes at the range several times, so we have a resident fox; maybe even a litter of fox kits; just something to keep an eye out for. Maybe the foxes will discourage the ground hogs!

50/80 Match

June 13, 2020

When I woke up about 2:30 on Saturday morning, I thought I was hearing a mouse gnawing on something in the ceiling.  Then, as I got my wits about me, I realized it was worse than a mouse – that was rain pecking on the window.

Aw Poooh – why does it have to rain on High Power Match day? 

I tossed and fretted until 5:30 and I got up and got my day started.  I looked at the radar from several places and even though it was still raining, it looked like there was a good chance it would break up even if we had to delay an hour.

But, by the time I got to the donut shop at Harlan, the rain had stopped to the point it just needed an occasional swipe of the wipers to keep the windshield clear.  By the time I got to the range –the rain had stopped and it looked like we would not get rained on.  Mike and Glenna had already gotten the Stat Office set up started.  We waited a bit to be sure the rain was gone and we went downhill to start setup.

As we get more familiar with electronic target setup, we are finding that four or five guys can set up an 8-target line in just about the time it would take for 8 pit-pigs to go down and setup cardboard backers, smear paste and put on paper centers.

When we started at 8:10, it was cool and cloudy.  Jackets felt comfortable and that wind straight from 6:00 was cold on the back of your neck.  One target decided to act up, but we quickly figured out a work-around and life just went on.  The clouds broke up quickly and by the time Relays 1 and 2 went back to 300-yards, we had just about as beautiful a day to shoot as could be asked for.  The light was absolutely fantastic, wind was light and almost constant and the temperature was “just right”.  Relays 1 and 2 finished up at 10:49 – an 80 round match shot in less than three hours.  Good work guys!

The afternoon went just as smoothly; the rookie Range Officer ended up setting up a pair of shooters to shoot on an MR-63 F-Class target because of his fat fingers on the master control display.  But, at least the shooter doesn’t have the shot-out barrel he thought he had!  Relays 3 and 4 shot their 80-round match in just under three-hours as well!

We had 23 shooters for the day out of 27 registered, with 4 shooters cancelling for last minute issues.  We had some fantastic shooting, with many scores above 190 for the 20 shot stages.  Joe Bakies took top spot for the day with a 790-26X, but his 199-12X at 300-prone took second place to Robert winding’s 199-15X.  It was that kind of a day

Results are:

First Aggregate:          Joe Bakies (Lima Sabers)        790-26X           $ 71

Second Aggregate:     Robert Winding                      776-31X            $ 51

Third Aggregate:         Mike King (FWRR)                773-15X            $ 28

High Offhand              Joe Bakies                               195-5X

High Sitting                 Mike King                                198-5X

High Prone Rapid       Geoff Branson                      199-9X (Correction)

High Slow Prone         Robert Winding                      199-15X                      

        Creedmore         Joe Bakies                              199-12X

One of the visiting shooters commented, “I haven’t been here for a couple of years.  I forgot just how pretty this range is.”

Our next High Power activity is a Range Day for just fun shooting on the electronic targets on June 20th starting at 10:00.

The next 50/80 Match is July 11 – it starts at 8:00.  Although I have not heard from the NRA, this may be the first NRA Approved Match of the season.

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.