Fort Wayne Rifle and Revolver Club

Saturday August 12 dawned as a cloudy morning – no rain threatening but as humid and muggy a morning as we have seen in a while.  It wasn’t actually foggy, but by the time we finished setup just about everyone commented on how damp things were.  But, that didn’t seem to affect the shooting ability of the fourteen shooters who came to the match.

We were glad to see Ron Dague return to shooting after a long absence to get some medical problems cleared up. Welcome back, Ron!

Mike King continued his dominance, setting the bar for the rest of the field with an impressive 790-26X score.  Mike commented to the effect; “After shooting so many matches at 600-yards, 300-yards seems to be almost easy”.  He does make it look easy; back at 300 yards Mike did not drop a point, posting 200-8X and 200-9X scores in rapid and slow prone stages. Good shooting Mike!

Jeff Bierke quietly worked his way into second place with a 768-14X, narrowly edging Mark Walters’ 766-23X. Jess Jessup closed out the top four places with a 763-15X.  The top four shooters all posted Master or High Master scores – great shooting guys.

The High Junior was Marshall Rohrbach with 741-11X, closing out the top five shooters for the day.

Our next event is the Indiana State 300-yard Championship Match at Wildcat Valley on Saturday, August 19th.  This match is a match very similar to our FWRR matches; a CMP 80-round match fired on Silver Mountain Targets.  It’s a nice day trip down to Wildcat Valley and I encourage everyone to make the trip.

On Thursday afternoon, August 24th we will shoot an NRA Approved National Match Course 100-yard match at FWRR in place of our regular high power practice.  This is a quick, fun match; that little SR target reduced to 600-yards is harder to hit than it looks like it should be.

The range mowing previously scheduled for August 8th has been rescheduled for August 9th.

Range mowing for October 28th has been rescheduled for October 25th.

Please note these updates when you schedule range visits – and thanks for the crews who keep our range mowed.

FWRR Club Meeting

The next meeting of the Fort Wayne Rifle and Revolver Club will be held on Monday, August 7,2023.  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.

Please make an effort to attend meetings, as a quorum is required to conduct club business.  Sincere thanks to members who take the time to attend meetings and to support the club in so many other ways.  You truly understand what it means to be members of a club.

Proposed Annual Dues Increase

The Dues Committee’s proposal to increase annual dues from $60.00 to $120.00 was not accepted by the membership.  This topic will be revisited at a later date.

Maintenance Activities

The ditch banks were mowed. As usual, thanks go to Ted Smeltzer. A fluorescent light ballast and bulb were replaced in the south building. Thanks go to Matt Hice for picking up materials and Martin Didion and Jim Sweeney for the repair.

New Members

Please welcome new member Robert A. Ash who was inducted as a full member at the June 2023 meeting.

Reminders

AERIAL TARGETS MAY NO LONGER BE SHOT ON FWRRC PROPERTY.  This change was made primarily due to lack of an adequate shot-fall safety zone.

BEFORE DRIVING DOWN RANGE TO THE 200 AND 300 YARD TARGET HOLDERS, CHECK THE RANGE STATUS SIGN.  Be aware that the range status sign is not visible from the 300 yard firing line from some vehicles.

Sad News: It was recently learned that Doug Doehrman (membership date 2014) passed away in May of this year. 

Discipline Reports

ACPDL (Allen County Practical Defense League)

Matches will be held on August 5^th and September 9^th.  Only ACPDL members are permitted to shoot.  The pre-match meeting begins at 9:00 a.m. and shooting commences at 9:30 a.m.  Matches are typically finished by 12:00 noon.  Observers and those persons interested in becoming ACPDL members are welcome.

USPSA (United States Practical Shooting Association)

USPSA matches are held on the third Sunday, April – October.  Registration begins at 9:30 a.m. and shooting commences at 10:00 a.m.  FWRRC membership is not a requirement. 

High-power (HP)

High-power rifle matches (National Match Course) will be held on August 12th (8:00 a.m.) and September 9th (9:00 a.m.)   

Shooters have the option of firing either a 50 or an 80 round match. 50/80 matches are sanctioned by both the CMP (Civilian Marksmanship Program) and the NRA.   

A 100-yard match is scheduled for September 14th at 4:30 p.m. Practice are typically held on Thursday afternoons at 4:30 p.m. 

The Main Range is closed at 3:00 p.m. on practice days to permit mowing firing points and setting up targets.  Pistol Bays 4 and 5 will be open during HP practice sessions.

Cowboy Action

Cowboy Action matches are scheduled for the fourth Saturday of May through October.  Registration opens at 8:30 a.m. for regular matches and at 9:00 a.m. for voluntary side matches. 

Regular match start time is 10:00 a.m.  The matches begin with a mandatory shooter’s meeting. The ammunition requirements for the regular match are 60 rounds for pistols, 60 rounds rifles, and 30 rounds for shotguns.  Only lead bullets and shot are permitted.  Shot may be no larger than #4 (shot sizes 4 – 9). 

Range Mowing and Maintance/Improvement Activities

Mowing

The 2023 Mowing Schedule is posted on the FWRRC website.  Dates are tentative, depending on weather and ground conditions.  Mowing times vary according to volunteer availability.  Efforts will be made to provide mowing dates and times on the website.  The Main Range is closed during mowing and other range maintenance activities but Pistol Bays 4 and 5 will remain open.  It is recommended that members check the website (https://fwrrclub.org/) for updates before traveling to the range.

If you are interested in joining the mowing crew, contact Marty Didion at martindidion4@gmail.com.

Maintance /Improvement Activities

Work primarily aimed at improving water flow to eliminate damp areas and ponding, is expected to be performed in the August- September time frame.  The grading work will be performed when weather and ground conditions permit. Dates and times also depend on the availability of the contractor who will perform the work.  The Main Range will be closed while this work is ongoing but Pistol Bays 4 and 5 will remain open. An effort will be made to post Main Range closings on the FWRRC website.  Please check the website (https://fwrrclub.org/) for updates before traveling to the range.

For Sale

Jewel single-stage trigger for a Remington 700. Price $180.00.  Call or text Mark Strahan at (260) 927-5515.

Contact Darrell Fish at (260) 615-1046 if interested in the items listed below.

Wheel-weight lead Smelted/Fluxed, $2.00/lb.  500 lbs or more, $1.50/lb.

Dillon XL650 press including a strong mount and 9 mm, .45 ACP and .223 Rem. Dies.. $1200.00.

TX3 Lite SS, .308 Win. with Leupold  4X-12X , VX-II scope. $1000.00.

Contact Mark Walters at (260) 610-1427 if interested in the items listed below.

1800 pieces of .45 ACP brass and .45 ACP dies (a like-new, Lee, three-die set).  All cases have been reloaded at least once.  $150.00.

.45 ACP, 230 gr., round-nose, beveled -base, cast bullets..  5000 pieces in boxes of 500.  $50.00/box or $475.00 for the lot.

300 pieces of .44 Rem Mag. brass and 480 pieces of .44 Special brass. The cases have spent primers intact and appear to have been tumbled. The number of times the cases have been fired is unknown.  $125.00.

1300 (plus)  of .44 caliber (0.430” diameter), 240 gr., lead, SWC bullets (two boxes of 500 plus a partial box). $225.00.

2500 pieces of .357 caliber, 158 gr. lead, SWC bullets. $200.00.

3000 Hornady, 55 gr. FMJBT  .223 caliber bullets.  $300.00.

500 pieces of .30 Carbine brass, fully processed, mixed commercial and military (LC) head stamps. $125.00.

FREE TO THE FIRST PURCHASER WHO DESIRES IT: 138 pieces of .30/06 brass (mixed commercial and military (LC) head stamps).  73 pieces of .22 Hornet brass, 38 pieces of .270 Win. Brass, 51 pieces of .25/06 brass.

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

The Mowing Crew will start mowing at the range about 3:00 on Wednesday, 19 July. Please plan your range activities around this scheduled mowing.

And, Thank You! to the Mowing Crew!

On Saturday, June 24 FWRR hosted the third annual Indiana Junior High Power State Championship Match. The match was a great success with all of the Juniors, Fort Wayne Rifle and Revolver’s Juniors as well as the others, rising to the occasion with great scores – no one had a bad day.

I have prepared an article for the ISRPA Newsletter that I am including in this post, but before we get into that article I want to highlight some of the accomplishments of the FWRR Juniors that need to be acknowledged:

Marshall Rohrbach: Marshall took second place in the State Match, second place to Madelyn Schnelle. Madelyn is a Distinguished Shooter and has been recognized nationally in many instances, so a lot of shooters finish behind her. BUT, Marshall shot a 480-18X for the match and won the Offhand Stage with a 96-2X and the Simulated 600-yard stage with a 197-12X. Marshall’s 480-18X was a solid Master score and was a personal best.

Mia King: Mia also shot a personal best with her 96-1X Offhand score. That put her one X-count behind Marshall, the State Offhand Champion and three points ahead of the State Junior Champion. Her 460-5X, a personal best for a match, was a solid Expert score.

Kileen Shaffer: Kileen started off with scope issues and was only able to salvage an 80 in her Offhand stage, but she hung in there like the competitor she is and came back with 95, 96 and 189 scores in the last three stages, finishing with a match score of 460-5X. Her 92% score put her in the Expert Class and is probably close to her personal best for a match.

Addiysn Shull: Addiysn is classified as an NRA Marksman, but she has been putting up some good scores in practice lately. She kept that up on Saturday, firing a 452-2X aggregate that put her into the Expert Class – another shooter who peaked with a personal best at the State Match

Tayt Shaffer: Tayt is our newest shooter, just turning 12-years old on May 24. This was his first 50-round across-the-course match and he turned in a 349-2X score for the day. It was a great effort and a lot of the other competitors and adults gave him “Atta-boys” for hanging in there on a long match.

All of our “old” shooters shot Expert or higher scores. All of then turned in a personal best at some time during the match. These Juniors are beginning to be force to be reckoned with. When you see them – let them know how proud you are of their accomplishments!

Here is the ISRPA Newsletter article:

Madelyn Schnelle Posts Three-Pete for 2023 Indiana Junior High Power Championship

The question on just about everyone’s mind on Saturday, June 24 at the third Indiana Junior High Power State Championship Match was; “Can Madelyn Schnelle pull off a Three-Pete and take the State title back to Wildcat Valley three years in a row?”  Eight other Junior shooters from all over Indiana had gathered at the Fort Wayne Rifle and Revolver Club Range to do their best to keep her from doing just that.

It was a good day for a high power match; cloudy but not dark and absolutely no wind – the flags drooped listlessly most of the day.  A little spritz of rain fell as the shooters made their way to the line but it stopped quickly and Madelyn fired a ceremonial First Shot to open the match (and to verify a repair to one of the Silver Mountain targets).

At the end of the Offhand stage, it appeared that an upset might be in the making.  FWRR’s Marshall Rohrbach, the Offhand winner for the previous two years, shot a blistering 96-2X followed by FWRR Mia King with a 96-1X, Wildcat’s Alex Becker with a 94-1X and Madelyn with a 93-1X.  The reigning champion went into Sitting Rapid in fourth place.

The match got serious in Sitting Rapid with Madelyn coming back with a 100-4X clean and Marshall following up with a 97-2X score.  As the group moved back to 300-yards to finish up, the score was Madelyn 193-5X and Marshall 193-4X; Madelyn was only ahead by a single X-count.

At the 300-yard rapid prone stage Madelyn and Wildcat’s Logan Becker shot identical 99-4X scores.  Marshall got into an NPA problem and fired a ragged group but salvaged a 90-2X from the string.  Madelyn went into the final stage, Prone Slow fire with a 292-9X to 283-6X 9-point advantage over Marshall.

There is an old saying that it isn’t over until the fat lady sings, but Marshall hung in there.  He opened up his Slow Prone with five 10-X shots, a 9-10-9 series and then eight more 10-X, finishing with a 9 then three 10-X shots for a total of 197-12X.  Logan Becker jumped back into the fray with a 197-6X and Madelyn finished off with a 194-10X.  Marshall made up three points on Slow Prone with a 197-12X, but the 9-point advantage Madelyn had coming into the stage was just too much to overcome.

Madelyn Schnelle had pulled off the Three-Pete with a 486-19X score, but there was serious competition for her top spot all the way.  Congratulations to Madelyn for hanging onto the Indiana State Junior Championship against some serious competition.

The top scores for the match were:

Madelyn Schnelle             Wildcat Valley              486 -19X              High Master

Marshall Rohrbach    FWRR     480 -18X              Master

Logan Becker                    Wildcat Valley              476 -12X              Master

Alex Becker                        Wildcat Valley             473 –  7X              Master

Awards were:

State Champion                Madelyn Schnelle             486 – 19X

1st Master                          Madelyn Schnelle             486 – 19X

1st Expert                           Emma Branson                  465 –   7X

1st Sharpshooter              Marshall Rohrbach           480 –  18X

1st Marksman                   Addisyn Shull                      452 –   1X

High Offhand                     Marshall Rohrbach             96 – 2X

High Sitting Rapid             Madelyn Schnelle             100 – 4X

High Prone Rapid              Madelyn Schnelle                99 – 4X

                                             Logan Becker                       99 – 4X

High Prone Slow               Marshall Rohrbach           197 – 12X

                                             Logan Becker                     197 –   6X

And, a special call-out to Tayt Shaffer; Tayt is our Sub-Sub-Junior shooter, turning 12-years old on May 24 of this year.  This was his first State Match and he closed out with a 349-2X score!

Thanks to the Fort Wayne Rifle and Revolver Club for hosting the match, thanks to all of the sponsors who contributed funds or goodies for the match and thanks to all of the people who pitched in to make the match possible.

On Wednesday June 21, there will be extensive mowing activities occurring as we get ready for the Indiana Junior High Power Championship on Saturday, June 24.

We plan on mowing the ditch as well as the usual grass areas, so mowing will taker longer than usual.

Consider this as you make plans to visit the range.

Here is a summary of the top three finishers in the Mid-Summer Madness Tournament. I show Tournament Aggregate and Individual Match results for Match and Service rifles since we had a good representation in both categories.

NOTE: Revised after initial posting – changes to Saturday Match and Service Rifle standings

Friday NMC 500 Aggregate
Match Rifle
First		Mark Walters		476	–	1	X
Second		Aaron Kohler		470	–	6	X
Third		Mike Habel		445	–	8	X
Service Rifle
First		Gary Mabis		477	–	7	X
Second		Jess Jessup		471	–	10	X
Third		Marshall Rohrbach		469	–	8	X
Saturday 800 Aggregate
Match Rifle
First		Mark Walters		761	–	27	X
Second		Gary Walker		726		17	X
Third		Mark Richard		429	–	14	X
Service Rifle
First		Tom Collins		768	–	20	X
Second		Jeff Beierke		766	–	14	X
Third		Marshall Rohrbach		748	–	11	X
Sunday 3 x 20 Mid-Range
Match Rifle
First		Joe Bakies		598	–	43	X
Second		Mark Richard		592	–	22	X
Third		Mark Walters		584	–	30	X
Service Rifle
First		Mike King		592	–	32	X
Second		Kileen Shaffer		572	–	6	X
Third		Gary Mabis		571	–	17	X

Our range is mowed by a volunteer crew who keep it looking more like a golf course than the scraggly mowed field look than many ranges have. 

Thank you Mowing Crew for the work you do to keep our range looking so nice!

Mowing is nominally scheduled for every alternate Wednesday, but the exact day may change if weather conditions or range conditions don’t allow mowing on a scheduled day.  The exact time of day that mowing is under way may change due to personal schedules and just how long it is taking to get the grass cut, so an exact time schedule can’t be posted.

A range is closed to shooting when mowing is under way. If there is no mowing in the Pistol Bays, they may be used even if the rifle range is being mowed, and vice-versa. If mowing moves to a range in use, that range is closed when mowing starts.

Mowing is scheduled for the following dates – all days are Wednesdays:

June 7                   June 14                June 21

July 5                    July 19                 

August 8              August 16            August 30

September 13     September 27

October 11          October 28

November 8        (Or we may be plowing snow by then!!!)

Please keep these dates in mind as you plan on using the FWRR Range.

The week ending May 27th was a busy week for High Power shooters.  For our Thursday night practice session, we shot an NRA Approved 100-yard match.  Seven shooters stood to the line and we had a really good match.  When the scores were totaled up, I had to go to the NRA Rule Book to do something I had not needed to do in my several years of being High Power Range Officer. Mike King and Mark Walters both posted 489 scores.  When I went to the X-count to break the tie – both of them posted 22X counts.  How do you break a tie at 489-22X?  The NRA High Power Rules book says that I have to go back to the stage at the longest (or longest simulated) range.  That would have been the simulated 600-yard range … and at that range Mark Walters shot a 197-12X.  In most matches that would have been pretty good, but Mike King cut a 198-12X … gotcha Mark. Mike King took the match first place with a tie-breaking score on the simulated 600-yard range.

The high Junior was Marshall Rohrbach with a 475-15X.

Then came Saturday, the 300-yard Mid-Range match.  It was a fantastic day for a match.  We had two full relays and we had to turn away a couple of shooters who showed up at the last minute after we had the two relays set and on the line.  We had a special guest shoot with us Saturday; Joe Bakies from the Lima Sabers club.  Joe is a member of the US National Shooting Team and specializes in shooting at ranges that most of us can only imagine – routinely out to 1000-yards.  Our 300-yard range was a gallery shoot for him, but he still had to deal with his share of trash talk.  After all, this was a group of high power shooters.

We had classes for Match rifles, Scoped Service rifles and Any Sight Service rifles. Shooters on each firing point were allowed to set their own match sequence- shooting this as an infiltration match. As we have found, if you just leave High Power shooters alone, they will figure out the best way to run a match.  And, as in the last several matches, we ended up with a real “shoot-out” between a couple of our shooters.  Mia King and Kileen Shaffer were shooting partners.  In the first Match, Kileen had a rough match, shooting a 175-4X to Mia’s 184-3X.  As of the end of Match 1; it was Kileen 175, Mia 184 (it was a really solid match for Mia).

Kileen was pretty bummed out with her score; “I don’t want to shoot any more..”.  She got some advice; “Every Match is a fresh start, you’ve already bought ammunition, there are two more matches – so put on your big girl britches and get back in there and shoot.” So she did.  In Match 2 Mia shot a very respectable 180-3X but Kileen listened to the advice and in Match 2 she came back with a whopping 189-5X to Mia’s 180-3X.  At the end of Match 2, Kileen had Creedmored Mia by 3X-counts.

Match 3 was the deciding match.  Mia came on strong with a 183-3X – just one point shy of her Match 1 score.  But – Kileen came on even stronger with a 188-3X.  Her 552-12X aggregate shaded Mia’s 547-9X by five points.  This was great shooting by a pair of our Junior girls.

Our guest shooter, Joe Bakies, put on a shooting exhibition for us.  Over the 60-shot match, Joe posted a 600-45X score.  At that level, just points and X-count don’t tell the story.  In his three matches, Joe shot groups of 1.17, 1.14 and 0.95 MOA spread. Joe of course took Tournament Aggregate and he graciously returned his awards to the Junior program.

Results are:

Match Rifle First               Joe Bakies           600-45X

Match Rifle Second          Mike Habel          588-24X

Service Rifle First              Jess Jessup          548-18X

Service Rifle Second         Gary Mabis          575-17X

Any Sight First                    John Halter         515- 5X

High Junior                         Kileen Shaffer     552-12X

Our next Matches are the Mid-Summer Madness matches on Friday June 9, Saturday June 19 and Sunday June 11.   Sign-up is open – so don’t wait too long!

Saturday, May 27^th was a beautiful day for a match!  We had seven shooters come out, that was about the turnout I expected considering it was the Memorial Day weekend and that there were other, bigger matches in the area.

The seven shooters that did show up did have a great time and shot six fast stages.  There were no ladies this time (except for support staff).  They must have been home preparing the dinner for all of the men that were out shooting (just a joke).

The one great thing that happened Saturday was the first ever clean match for Anvil Adam when shooting in Pale Rider Gunfighter.  For people that do not know what that is, you have to shoot the match Gunfighter style (one pistol in each hand at the same time).  The loads have to be black powder, and full power black powder.   The shotgun has to be at least 12 gauge (some use a 10 gauge) with 50 grains of powder (usually FFG).  The rifle and pistol loads have to be at least 40 caliber or larger and have to be loaded with at least 30 grains of the Holy Black.

These heavy loads handicap you in a couple of different areas.  First off, you have the recoil, which is not light by any means.   Even bigger than that, you have to see through the smoke to see your targets.  

That much black powder smoke would make it difficult for even Superman and his X-ray vision to see the targets, so a big Congratulations to Anvil Adam.   (A note from an observer – from the high power range it looked like someone was starting a trash fire or cooking burgers over in the pistol pits with all the powder smoke!)

FWRR’s own Wild Walt finished as the top Outlaw of the day, finishing first in four of the six stages.  His total time for the day, 142.04 seconds, was 23-some odd seconds faster that the next shooter and that makes him the Fastest Gun in the East – at least for this match.  But – there is always someone gunning for you at the nest session.