October Topstraps Rimfire Challenge Results

[Topstrap]

Another season is in the books, had a great turnout all summer and lots of new personal high scores and names added to my ceiling of fame for those that were able to hit all 10 (10" down to 1") targets at 197 in a row with no misses. Shooter skill, better equipment and I think higher grade ammo being the biggest factor. I have two classes with the dividing factor being ammo price, under $10.00/50 being in B class and above that in A class. Occasionally a B shooter will win or be at the top but predominately the A shooters are shooting better scores. Just spotting for every shooter I see the better consistency and center mass hits with the good stuff. Guess it's up to the shooter as to what they are shooting for. I also want to thank everyone that came to the matches this summer, hope you had as much fun as I did watching you all shoot. I also really appreciate all the help with spotting/scoring and painting targets, it really helps and makes the match go much smoother.

It started off really nice on Friday, warm and calm. Saturday was colder with some rain/drizzles and wind picking up, Sunday at times was really cold and wind that was blowing stuff off my benches, trees swaying and made hitting smaller targets really tough at times. It started off windy on Sunday morning and got worse as the went on, I tried to give Jim Lochary his entry fee back due to the high winds but he refused and soldered on.

Lots of good shooting especially when the timer is slowing counting down as you progress thru the racks. Fingers were getting cold and cramped, greasy/slimy rounds slipping out of your fingers as you tried to quickly load the magazine or slip the round into the chamber on a single shot. Some good scores were shot but the $100.00 bounty is still in my pocket, even his score was down from last year due to conditions.

Attendance was also down, not sure if shooters don't like the timed event or the bad weather predicted this weekend. Lots of other matches going on also so maybe that was it. Anyway we'll do it all again next year Lord willing and .... well you know the rest the way things are going.

Scores, they are calculated using targets hit + rounds left over - targets left (if any) then divided by the time you shot the match in by seconds. Similiar to Comstock style scoring. Some were very close. Matt Gallagher brought his 10/22 and really ran thru the racks, thought his may be the high score to beat. It was impressive to watch him blow thru the racks, the 10/22 magazine reloads probably slowed him down a bit but shooting speed he was probably the fastest between shots.

Marc Wright stopped by Saturday evening on their way home from a PRS Regional Finale (which he won the series. Dakota was too cold after all day our in the weather and wussed out staying in the truck. (probably asleep) Congratulations to both of them. Marc must have been prepping, when that timer went off he was off to the races, flying thru the racks getting an occasional miss but with by far his best time ever. Hmmmm, gonna be a really tough score for anyone to beat. Will it hold?

Derrick Warren and Scott Hussel stopped by on Saturday on their way to a Regional Finale on Sunday to shoot, Derrick was burning them down till the 187 yard Horseshoes. I may have to rename that rack dedicated to Derrick, miss miss miss, shot the sighter, miss miss, shot the sighter again, miss miss I think then finally got them. Totally killed his score. Then Scott ran our thru there really nailing them, come to the Horseshoes, miss miss, sighter, miss miss or something like that. Someone in the gallery said "Welcome to Derricks World". He finally got them and moved on. That rack for some reason is the toughest rack on the course.

Sunday Chris came down, asked if he wanted to shoot some R50 I had, nope I have old reliable SK Bia, an old Russian gun with a $300 Arken scope so I'm OK. Candycanes caused a bit of a snag for him due to the wind. Got to the Horseshoes and sailed thru them, ran the top 5 at 197 and got the gong with a slower than his usual time. Time and targets left were really close to Marcs, after the score calculations who will it be?

There were 4 of us that shot single shots, somehow I managed to finish and hit all the targets with time left over. Can't throw the rounds in, sometimes wedge on the far side of the ramp and stick there. Time lost for that but it was fun trying. It does show it can be done but each shooter knows they are handicapped compared to a mag fed gun. Good job to all of them. The others were so close I wish I could have given them a few more seconds. Phil Palmisano was the only shooter to not miss a single target but his time hurt him. I kid some shooters, You have too many CENTER HITS. If they are perfectly centered you're wasting time.

Kenny Arnold shot a 10/22, he's a really good shooter but everything that could go wrong I think did for him and his 10/22. Scores don't always show abilities of the shooters, he don't normally shoot a 10/22 at my matches but thought he'd give it a try to hopefully gain some time with the faster cycling of the shots. He'll get it all together next year.

Chris was only 11 seconds faster with 3 less misses than Marc, that is the closest anyone has come to him. I think both held back a bit due to wind and temp. Look out next year.


Scores: Time Class Name Gun Optics Ammo

1. 158.23 B Chris Kirkpatrick Izhmash Arken SH-4 SK Bia
2. 150.64 A Marc Wright Rim-X Kahles Eley Match (Black Box)
3. 144.74 B Matt Gallagher Ruger 10/22 Arken EP-5 SK Bia.
4. 130.80 B Bill Moran (3) Izhmash Arken SH-4 SK Bia.
5. 125.16 A Bill Nesbitt CZ 457 Arken Eley Benchrest
6. 124.07 B Phil Palmisano Vudoo Arken SK Bia.
7. 122.09 B Derrick Warren CZ 457 Vortex SK Longrange
8. 113.18 A Bill Moran (2) Anschutz 1710 Arken Eley Match
9. 112.16 A Bill Moran (1) Anschutz 1710 Arken RWS R-50
10. 106.33 B Kurt Yoder Sako Quad SWFA SK Bia.
11. 99.18 B Herman Crooks 10X Nightforce SK Bia.
12. 95.83 B Dave Callipare Vudoo Nightforce SK Bia.
13. 93.15 B Scott Hussell CZ 457 Leopold SK Longrange Match
14. 87.20 B Dennis Kirkpatrick Vostok Single Shot SWFA SK Bia.
15. 78.33 A Dan Bartok Anschutz Nightforce RWS R-50
16. 78.00 B Butch McCort CZ 457 Bushnell CCI Std.
17. 75.02 B Matt Shatto Tikka SWFA Eley Target
18. 70.00 B Jerry Shaw H&R 12 Single Shot Arken SH-4 SK Bia.
19. 69.17 B Ted Kernik Vostok Single Shot SWFA SK Bia.
20. 68.33 B Rob Jackson 10/22 SWFA SK Bia.
21. 63.33 B Bob Brown Win 52 Unertil SK Bia.
22. 60.08 A Karen Marsh CZ Ultra Lux Vortex RWS R-50
23. 59.17 B Chuck Wagner H&R 12 Single Shot SWFA RWS Rifle
24. 50.00 B Jim Lochary CZ 457 March SK Bia.
25. 49.17 B Kenny Arnold 10/22 Athlon SK Bia.