What a great year 2024 has been, lots of great shooting and meeting lots of great competitors. I want to thank each and every one of you for taking the time to visit my little range nestled down in the trees and small valley. I've been blessed to compete with and become friends with some of the finest shooters in the Country. They have proven they can compete anywhere in the US and World and shoot with the best. I've learned a lot from watching each and every one no matter what their skill level.
This October match was my timed even which may sound intimidating but really isn't, it does show you can shoot quick when needed on some very small rimfire targets and be very accurate. I'll post the video from 2021 which held the record and was also the target to beat with a $100 bounty if you beat the score on your first entry. Really easy really, you start with 100 rounds in a bowl, any gun/scope combo and one 10 round max magazine. a 5 round mag is fine and I even shot the event with an old Russian Trainer Single Shot with a mix matched reticle/turret old SWFA 16X scope.
At the buzzer you loaded your mag and proceeded to hit each target starting at 25 yards with a rack about every 12 1/2 yards, there were no more than 5 targets on each rack and I took out my smaller targets to allow easier hits but still small enough to keep you on your toes. You had a sighter plate at each distance you could shoot any time you felt the need if you couldn't hit a target or wanted to quickly check your setting or wind judgement. Those came out of your 100 rounds in the bowl though. I only called misses so it was up to you to spot your own hits/misses unless you got so completely lost I helped you get back on.
The goal is to hit all the targets with as few misses as possible shooting as quickly as possible. It was great fun to watch the fumbling with getting rounds out of the little salsa bowl, those things sure get snotty after a while and grabbing them the right direction to fel in the magazine. I did state you had to hold the magazine to keep everyone on a more level playing field, some mags have ears on each side and setting it on a table and pushing the tabs down and feeding rounds in.
Quite a few competitors still show a bit too slow wanting to get perfect solid hits and didn't make it to the end, others tried to shoot too fast and ran out of ammo. A few blazed thru it like greased lightning and was a pure joy to watch. I didn't record any this year, I now regret that, one competitor did use a scope cam and I'll try to include it and it'll give a nice perspective of what it's like to see each target hit as he progressed. Friday and Saturday were nearly perfect days but Sunday came on with a vengence, it was WINDY. The last few shooters even though about not wasting ammo but they shot VERY well making incredible wind calls.
Quite a few came with the goal of winning the $100 bounty, The top finishers while watching them look capable of taking my money, I tried to quickly do some scoring during the match but there is a bit of calculating so I really didn't know any scores for sure until Sunday evening as we double checked the calculations. Dave Ostrowske shot very well his first run thru, there wasn't anyone in line so we chatted awhile about small things affecting how this match can be shot. He reentered and cut nearly 2 minutes off his time, maybe I should have kept our secrets to ourself. His second run thru did set a new high score for this event.
It may sound like 20 minutes is a long time to shoot 75 targets but with reloading the magazine, setting the correct dope, finding the right rack, checking wind and getting accurate shots off is a lot harder than it may seem. Those 1200 seconds scream by and each time you can shave off a few seconds really adds up at the end. Lots of different strageties on what type of gun to use, what power to set your scope on, what bipod/bag combo will adjust faster/easier for each distance and even when to prepare for a reload.
OK, enough of that. Sunday a new record score was set with another old Russian rifle with an Arken scope. Truth is he's won every Timed Event I've had and he does not practice it ahead of time. Neither of us do but he did spend an evening practicing reloading his magazine our of a bowl to try to find a better way of doing it. That failed miserably with the snotty rounds and them shifting around in the bowl. I still think the new record score is beatable but you're gonna have to work for it.
I'll try to list the scoring so it'll show the time it was shot in, how many targets were hit, any targets left over and the time left on the stop watch at the end. The number after a name indicates how many times they shot and the order. Score was calculated with number of targets hit plus rounds still left in the bowl, minus any targets left down range if any and divided by the time used to shoot. Looking at rounds left you can see how many misses they had based on 100 rounds in the bowl. Targets hit minus rounds left equal misses, a few misses but faster time can be a bit better. Some shooters had very few misses and lots of rounds left but were slow on the go switch.
I do hope everyone had fun no matter how you finished, it's something unique and it isn't something any of us usually have to do at a match. Timer goes off and all well planned thoughts go out the window and it's spaz mode for most. I promise to only do this next fall and not thru the summer so hopefull it didn't scare anyone off. These are fun matches and hopefull you can pick up on some things shooting the matches that make you a better shooter.
See you all next year hopefully the second weekend (Fri, Sat and Sunday) of April 2025
Place Score Time Used Name Targets Hit Rounds Left (in bowl) Targets Left Time Left on Timer Equipment Class
1. 223.74 7:18 Chris Kirkpatrick 75 23 0 12:42 Izhmash Arken Lapua SLR A
2. 194.06 8:25 Dave Ostrowske (2) 75 23 0 11:35 Vudoo Burris XTR Eley Match A
3. 180.98 9:07 Mark Hall (2) 75 24 0 10:53 Vudoo Vortex Razor Eley Match A
4. 171.08 9:27 Mark Hall (1) 75 22 0 10:33 Vudoo Vortex Razor Eley Match A
5. 155.67 9:51 Bill Moran (2) 75 17 0 10:09 Izhmash Arken RWS R50 A
6. 153.60 10:25 Matt Gallagher 75 21 0 9:35 CZ 457 Vortex SE SK Bia. B
7. 145.06 10:48 Dave Ostrowske 75 19 0 9:12 Vudoo Burris XTR Eley Match A
8. 140.06 11:54 Brian Murray 75 25 0 8:06 Bergara Arken SK LR B
9. 138.57 11:40 Kurt Yoder (2) 75 22 0 8:20 Sako Quad SWFA 20X Eley Match A
10. 129.35 11:51 Matthew Watson 75 18 0 8:09 (2) CZ Custom Burris XTR Center-X A
11. 127.74 12:55 Bill Moran (1) 75 24 0 7:05 Izhmash Arken RWS R50 A
12. 125.32 13:10 Matthew Watson (1) 75 24 0 6:50 CZ Custom Burris XTR Center-X A
13. 122.32 13:13 Kurt Yoder (1) 75 21 0 6:47 Sako Quad SWFA 20X Eley Match A
14. 117.72 13:44 Phil Palmisano 75 22 0 6:16 Vudoo Arken SK Bia. B
15. 115.38 13:52 Jeff Valentine 75 21 0 6:08 Vudoo NF Lapua SLR
16. 109.04 14:22 Austin Andrella 75 19 0 5:38 CZ 457 Arken EP5 Center-X A
17. 103.77 15:54 Michelle Murray 75 24 0 4:06 Bergara Vortex SK LR B
18. 103.00 12:42 Bill Moran (3) 75 4 0 7:13 Izhmash Arken RWS R50 A
19. 102.16 14:41 Brien Murray 75 16 0 5:19 (1) Bergara Vortex SK LR B
20. 98.00 14:58 Bill Winland 75 13 0 5:02 Vudoo NF SK Bia. B
21. 94.58 15:41 Kenny Triplett 75 14 0 4:09 CZ 457 Vortex SE RWS Rifle Target B
22. 87.64 18:04 Matt Shatto 75 20 0 1:56 Tikka SWFA Eley Match A
23. 82.92 16:41 Dennis Kirkpatrick 75 8 0 3:19 Vostok Single Shot SWFA SK Bia. B
24. 77.95 18:49 Tim Humphrey 75 13 0 1:11 Bergara NF SK LR B
25. 75.83 20:00 Joe Bender 70 26 5 0:00 CZ 457 Vortex RZR Center-X A
26. 75.80 18:15 Tom Rayner 75 8 0 1:45 Ruger 77 NF Center-X A
27. 73.33 20:00 Jerry Shaw 69 25 6 0:00 CZ 457 Arken SK Bia. B
28. 72.50 20:00 Dustin Kettlewell 74 14 1 0:00 CZ 457 Arken EP5 Eley A
29. 70.87 19:03 Rob Jackson 75 6 0 0:57 CZ 457 MTR Arken CMP Eley B
30. 66.67 20:00 Jeff Wolfe 66 23 9 0:00 CZ 457 MTR Sightron SK Rifle Match B
31. 65.83 20:00 Mark Elliot (2) 69 16 6 0:00 CZ 452 Bushnell SK LR B
32. 65.00 20:00 Johnie Johnson 54 45 21 0:00 Bergara DNT Center-X A
33. 64.17 20:00 Dave Callipare 67 17 7 0:00 Vudoo NF SK Bia. B
34. 62.5 20:00 Rich Harris 64 22 11 0:00 Bergara Vortex SK LR B
35. *61.67 20:00 Chuck Wagner 57 35 18 0:00 H&R 12 SWFA RWS Rifle Match B
36. *61.67 20:00 Randy Gibson 64 21 11 0:00 2500XR March Lapua LR A
37. 58.33 20:00 Karen Marsh 59 27 16 0:00 CZ Ultra Lux Vortex RWS R50 A
38. 55.83 20:00 Bob Brown 55 32 20 0:00 Bergara Athlon SK Bia. B
39. 54.17 20:00 Dan Steyaert 54 32 21 0:00 Savage MK II Vortex Lapua LR A
40. 52.50 20:00 Mark Elliot (1) 61 16 14 0:00 10/22 Lilja Vortex RZR SK AM B
41. 50.00 20:00 Cuda Gatten 65 5 10 0:00 Savage MK II Arken Aguilla G
42. 48.62 18:10 Kenny Arnold 64 0 11 1:50 10/22 SWFA Eley CMP C
43. 42.42 19:15 Dennis Hillberry 62 0 13 0:45 Ruger ? CCI Std. C
44. 40.83 20:00 Eric Tice 61 2 14 0:00 CZ 457 Arken Wolf MT B
45. 36.67 20:00 Jim Lochary 55 8 19 0:00 CZ 457 March SK Bia. B
