Results Sept 2025 Topstraps Rimfire Challenge
- By Topstrap
- All Things Rimfire
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YAY, another beautiful weekend for a match. No rain and pretty decent wind conditions although midday it did start picking up and switching back and forth. I want to thank everyone who helped jump in and paint and score which really helps since this is a one man show. I only can shoot two shooters at a time but everyone seems to enjoy sitting around shooting the bull and sharing tall tales. This was my last regular match this year and next month will be the Timed Event although some call it the Speed Match. Many of us have shot it with a Single Shot so it's not really that hard but is easily the most fun match at least for me to run and watch. Will pass along the particulars as next month gets closer.
This month I added a couple twists to the match, I made your 5 allowable sighter shots that can be used whenever you feel the need worth 1 point each at the end of the match so it made you really think about using one or take the gamble and save them for a total of 5 bonus points at the end. I still had the occasional gamble rack which lets competitors use some of their rounds on a particular stage to shoot a smaller higher valued target. Shooting good, go for smaller target for more points but also could get you a zero which might hurt since a point of two can separate the top finishers. I also made my 150 yard Shoot Thru rack a KYL stage. Last hole to shoot thru is 1 1/2" or maybe a bit less, the rack starts big but the hole gets progressively smaller, a small gust of wind or a wild round can be a miss. Even 3 or 4 dead center hits won't guarantee the next one will go exactly where you want it. Just gotta know when to STOP or not. It got quite a few shooters this month although a few knew when to stop or got 5 good hits and cleaned the stage. At the end for a bonus I had little 3/4" dum-dum lollipops at 85 yards. There was a sighter plate hanging under the lollipops but if used it came out of your 5 sighters and cost you a point. I think only a couple competitors got all 5 but quite a few got 4, they made the coolest poof when they vaporized. That bonus rack is always a crowd favorite.
I also had a small side match amongst 6 of us that bought some ELEY TEN-X from a friend that picked it up at CMP in Alabama. It was old stock they found that was about 12 years old or so. Had a weird gray on the bullet that seemed to scare everyone off and he got a GREAT deal on it. Now I wish I'd have sent enough money down to buy all they had. All the lots he brought home shot great. Didn't mess with the gray on the bullet at all and I'm not saying it is Lapua SLR level stuff but it's by far the best ELEY I've ever tried that shot this good. The six of us bought 2 boxes (100 rounds) dumped them in a bowl and shot the match only taking out the smallest 5 targets at 50 yards and 197 yards thinking it wouldn't be good enough for those. No settings for each distance or anything and off we went. The more we shot it and farther out we got it opened up everyone's eyes. You could take all the sighters you wanted to get a setting but it came out of the bowl. Any left over rounds were added to your final score. I'll make a separate post on it later about our testing and our results. Most of us shot it midday in the worst wind except my son Chris, he had to work but shot it the next day but due to so many shooters he couldn't get in till evening. It was a bit calmer so we decided with his slightly higher score but calmer conditions we'd split the pot between him and Bill Winland. I wouldn't be afraid to use it in a match, Bill shot a Vudoo and Chris used my ratchet barreled Izhmash.
OK, enough rambling. A couple shooters ran the 197 yard rack (10" down to 1") this month, "Martini" Bill Moran shot a very good score with is BSA Martini late Sunday in the fading light with peep sights and even hit one of the bonus lollipops which is totally amazing. He gave up his spot a few times this weekend due to so many left hand shooters and only one bench is comfortable for lefties. He shot on the other one later but looked so uncomfortable and out of position it affected his score with his Anschutz. At one point I had either 3 or 4 lefties waiting for the right bench. I'm thinking about new concrete with swiveling seats for next year hopefully.
Each class winner gets a free entry next month. A class is Carey Emory, B class is Martini Bill, C class is Dewayne Duffield. All ties decided by reverse count.
Score Class Name Gun Scope/Sights Ammo Bonus Hits
1. 97 A Carey Emory Vudoo NF Lapua SLR 4
2. 96 A Bill Nesbitt CZ 457 NF Lapua LR 4
3. 95 A Bob Brown Rem 40X Athlon Lapua SLR 3
4. 94 A Ron Bagnato(1) Rem 540XR Discovery Eley Tenex 3
5. 92 B Martini Bill Moran BSA Martini PEEP SIGHTS RWS SM
6. 92 B Ron Bagnato(2) Rem 540XR Discovery SK Bia 4
7. 91 A Bill Winland Vudoo NF Lapua SLR 4
8. 91 A Dan Auman(2) CZ LRP Vortex Center-X 3
9. 90 A Dave Keiser Vudoo Razor Eley Match 4
10. 89 B Travis Art CZ 457 MTR Vortex SE SK LR 4
11. 88 A Bob Merillat Anschutz March Lapua LR 3
12. 86 B Mike Art CZ Burris SK LR 4
13. 86 A Dan Steyaert Savage MK II Vortex Lapua LR 5
14. 86 A Tim Jackson Vudoo DNT Lapua LR 4
15. 86 B Kenneth Triplett CZ 457 Vortex Venom SK LR 1
16. 85 A Kurt Yoder Sako Quad SWFA Eley Match 3
17. 84 A David Chroma Rim-X Burris Eley Match 4
18. 84 A Darrell Smith Tikka Arken Lapua LR 3
19. 84 A Jacob Slyder CZ 457 Bushnell Lapua LR 2
20. 84 A Dave Zander Bergara Khales Lapua SLR 3
21. 83 A Mark Roberts Rem 40X Vortex Lapua LR 3
22. 83 A Ethan Heinay Rim-X NF Lapua Midas 2
23. 79 A Chuck Wagner H&R 12 Arken RWS SM 3
24. 78 B Rich Harris Bergara NF SK LR 3
25. 78 B Rob Jackson Anschutz 1761 Arken SK Bia. 2
26. 78 A Bill Moran Anschutz Arken R-50 1
27. 77 B Todd Rhoads Bergara Arken SK 5
28. 77 A Karen Marsh CZ Vortex R-50 0
29. 76 A Dustin Kettlewell CZ 457 Burris Eley SABR 4
30. 74 C Dewayne Duffield CZ 457 Arken Tac-22 3
31. 73 B Jim Lochary(1) CZ March Center-X 4
32. 71 A Dan Auman(1) Rim-X Vortex Lapua LR 1
33. 71 A Jim Lochary(2) CZ March Center-X 1
34. 68 C Cuda Gatten Izhmash Arken Federal 2
Side Match with Bargin Priced Eley Tenex
10 less targets shot but any excess rounds minus any sighters used were added in at the end as hit points. Same rules with any bonus targets, KYL rack and lollipops. Scores are higher due to the extra rounds left over but overall the scores were on par with the high scores in the regular match. I know I was needing to add 2 moa to any other ammo setting I used in that gun before so it was a fun time for us all figuring out what setting to use.
1. 106 Chris Kirkpatrick Izhmash Arken 10-X 3
2. 103 Bill Winland Vudoo NF 10-X 4
3. 95 Dennis Kirkpatrick Anschutz Arken 10-X 1
4. 93 Tim Humphrey Bergara NF 10-X 2
5. 89 Ron Bognato Rem 540XR 10-X 4
6. 80 Rich Harris Bergara NF 10-X 1
This month I added a couple twists to the match, I made your 5 allowable sighter shots that can be used whenever you feel the need worth 1 point each at the end of the match so it made you really think about using one or take the gamble and save them for a total of 5 bonus points at the end. I still had the occasional gamble rack which lets competitors use some of their rounds on a particular stage to shoot a smaller higher valued target. Shooting good, go for smaller target for more points but also could get you a zero which might hurt since a point of two can separate the top finishers. I also made my 150 yard Shoot Thru rack a KYL stage. Last hole to shoot thru is 1 1/2" or maybe a bit less, the rack starts big but the hole gets progressively smaller, a small gust of wind or a wild round can be a miss. Even 3 or 4 dead center hits won't guarantee the next one will go exactly where you want it. Just gotta know when to STOP or not. It got quite a few shooters this month although a few knew when to stop or got 5 good hits and cleaned the stage. At the end for a bonus I had little 3/4" dum-dum lollipops at 85 yards. There was a sighter plate hanging under the lollipops but if used it came out of your 5 sighters and cost you a point. I think only a couple competitors got all 5 but quite a few got 4, they made the coolest poof when they vaporized. That bonus rack is always a crowd favorite.
I also had a small side match amongst 6 of us that bought some ELEY TEN-X from a friend that picked it up at CMP in Alabama. It was old stock they found that was about 12 years old or so. Had a weird gray on the bullet that seemed to scare everyone off and he got a GREAT deal on it. Now I wish I'd have sent enough money down to buy all they had. All the lots he brought home shot great. Didn't mess with the gray on the bullet at all and I'm not saying it is Lapua SLR level stuff but it's by far the best ELEY I've ever tried that shot this good. The six of us bought 2 boxes (100 rounds) dumped them in a bowl and shot the match only taking out the smallest 5 targets at 50 yards and 197 yards thinking it wouldn't be good enough for those. No settings for each distance or anything and off we went. The more we shot it and farther out we got it opened up everyone's eyes. You could take all the sighters you wanted to get a setting but it came out of the bowl. Any left over rounds were added to your final score. I'll make a separate post on it later about our testing and our results. Most of us shot it midday in the worst wind except my son Chris, he had to work but shot it the next day but due to so many shooters he couldn't get in till evening. It was a bit calmer so we decided with his slightly higher score but calmer conditions we'd split the pot between him and Bill Winland. I wouldn't be afraid to use it in a match, Bill shot a Vudoo and Chris used my ratchet barreled Izhmash.
OK, enough rambling. A couple shooters ran the 197 yard rack (10" down to 1") this month, "Martini" Bill Moran shot a very good score with is BSA Martini late Sunday in the fading light with peep sights and even hit one of the bonus lollipops which is totally amazing. He gave up his spot a few times this weekend due to so many left hand shooters and only one bench is comfortable for lefties. He shot on the other one later but looked so uncomfortable and out of position it affected his score with his Anschutz. At one point I had either 3 or 4 lefties waiting for the right bench. I'm thinking about new concrete with swiveling seats for next year hopefully.
Each class winner gets a free entry next month. A class is Carey Emory, B class is Martini Bill, C class is Dewayne Duffield. All ties decided by reverse count.
Score Class Name Gun Scope/Sights Ammo Bonus Hits
1. 97 A Carey Emory Vudoo NF Lapua SLR 4
2. 96 A Bill Nesbitt CZ 457 NF Lapua LR 4
3. 95 A Bob Brown Rem 40X Athlon Lapua SLR 3
4. 94 A Ron Bagnato(1) Rem 540XR Discovery Eley Tenex 3
5. 92 B Martini Bill Moran BSA Martini PEEP SIGHTS RWS SM
6. 92 B Ron Bagnato(2) Rem 540XR Discovery SK Bia 4
7. 91 A Bill Winland Vudoo NF Lapua SLR 4
8. 91 A Dan Auman(2) CZ LRP Vortex Center-X 3
9. 90 A Dave Keiser Vudoo Razor Eley Match 4
10. 89 B Travis Art CZ 457 MTR Vortex SE SK LR 4
11. 88 A Bob Merillat Anschutz March Lapua LR 3
12. 86 B Mike Art CZ Burris SK LR 4
13. 86 A Dan Steyaert Savage MK II Vortex Lapua LR 5
14. 86 A Tim Jackson Vudoo DNT Lapua LR 4
15. 86 B Kenneth Triplett CZ 457 Vortex Venom SK LR 1
16. 85 A Kurt Yoder Sako Quad SWFA Eley Match 3
17. 84 A David Chroma Rim-X Burris Eley Match 4
18. 84 A Darrell Smith Tikka Arken Lapua LR 3
19. 84 A Jacob Slyder CZ 457 Bushnell Lapua LR 2
20. 84 A Dave Zander Bergara Khales Lapua SLR 3
21. 83 A Mark Roberts Rem 40X Vortex Lapua LR 3
22. 83 A Ethan Heinay Rim-X NF Lapua Midas 2
23. 79 A Chuck Wagner H&R 12 Arken RWS SM 3
24. 78 B Rich Harris Bergara NF SK LR 3
25. 78 B Rob Jackson Anschutz 1761 Arken SK Bia. 2
26. 78 A Bill Moran Anschutz Arken R-50 1
27. 77 B Todd Rhoads Bergara Arken SK 5
28. 77 A Karen Marsh CZ Vortex R-50 0
29. 76 A Dustin Kettlewell CZ 457 Burris Eley SABR 4
30. 74 C Dewayne Duffield CZ 457 Arken Tac-22 3
31. 73 B Jim Lochary(1) CZ March Center-X 4
32. 71 A Dan Auman(1) Rim-X Vortex Lapua LR 1
33. 71 A Jim Lochary(2) CZ March Center-X 1
34. 68 C Cuda Gatten Izhmash Arken Federal 2
Side Match with Bargin Priced Eley Tenex
10 less targets shot but any excess rounds minus any sighters used were added in at the end as hit points. Same rules with any bonus targets, KYL rack and lollipops. Scores are higher due to the extra rounds left over but overall the scores were on par with the high scores in the regular match. I know I was needing to add 2 moa to any other ammo setting I used in that gun before so it was a fun time for us all figuring out what setting to use.
1. 106 Chris Kirkpatrick Izhmash Arken 10-X 3
2. 103 Bill Winland Vudoo NF 10-X 4
3. 95 Dennis Kirkpatrick Anschutz Arken 10-X 1
4. 93 Tim Humphrey Bergara NF 10-X 2
5. 89 Ron Bognato Rem 540XR 10-X 4
6. 80 Rich Harris Bergara NF 10-X 1
