First match of the year is history. Didn't really think many would show up, plenty of other shoots going on the same weekend and it also being Easter. Friday was busy, Saturday only 4 showed up but Easter Sunday I was swamped, maybe everyone wanting to escape family get together? Weather in the morning each day was dead calm as in zero wind, within a couple hours or so it picked up and stayed steady all day with lots of switching back and forth which really affected scores. Kudos to those that braved the wind and shot very well, I was impressed.
As always longrange matches are never fair for everyone, you do the best you can in the conditions you're given and you know if you shot well or not even if the score sheet doesn't reflect your efforts. The level of competition the past few years has really risen and we have shooters that are highly ranked and also some World Record holders, I feel on any given day any of 10 or 15 are capable of winning the match so it's quite competitive.
This year I'm going to have two classes, An "A" and a "B", which the only difference is price of ammo, below $10.99 is B and above is A so the guy that doesn't want to chase ammo lots or buy the higher priced stuff can feel he can still be competitive. I will give a free entry to each class for the next match. The majority shot in "B" class and I think if a few of them had the dead calm wind conditions their scores would have been nearly equal to the "A" shooters.
Randy shot the new Lapua Super Long Range in preparation for the Iron ELR event on Saturday along with my Son Chris. I spotted for Randy and even though I've seen tighter grouping ammo the Lapua SLR was VERY consistent with no noticable dropped shots. Both Chris and Randy did very well at the Iron ELement ELR even with Randy winning the whole thing with a $229.00 Savage MK II with an Arken scope and Chris placed 7th but a dispute over a hit on a 300 yard plate which would have given him a 4th place finish but ended up 7th overall. Good job to both of them against some of the best longrange rimfire shooters out there.
OK, back to my match. We had a couple new shooters stop by and one local fella (Kenny Triplett) that his brother told him about the match after hearing about it on Rimfire Central. He had no idea what to expect and brought a Marlin 60 Semi-Auto. He shot at a few plates but my targets are too small for those sights but he did do something that nobody else has managed to do yet. He wanted to try the 50 yard split the bullet target and on his third shot
perfectly split the bullet. A couple have done it with peep sights but never open sights. Great shooting Kenny.
A few more managed to clean all 10 targets (10" down to 1") at 197 yards with no misses. That is some great shooting in anyones book and got their name written on my shelter roof for bragging rights. This month Keith Phillips, Chris Blaney, Phil Palmisano and Matt Gallagher did it again. Dennis Morrison had a borrowed scope and was doing great then not sure what happened but the scope decided to do it's own thing instead of doing what it's supposed to. A correct adjustment sent it into never never land, bet there is something different on it next month. In case you don't notice there are a lot more Arken Scopes being used, perfect scope for this longrange rimfire game, worth checking out.
On to the scores, I'll put them in order of score but the "A" class winner was Randy (Dead Eye) Wise and the "B" class winner was Jim Lochary. Each will recieve a free entry next month. I shot peep sights right as the sun started to go down and half of the targets were in the shadows, absolutely the hardest time I've ever had trying to find those little 4moa targets. Really had these old eyes watering but I'm happy I can still shoot the peeps. Come give it a try if you get bored with hitting everything with a scope, it's a little bit tough but one thing I've found out is the wind don't affect peep sights. It's true LOL
Ties are decided by reverse count including the bonus rack (Split the bullet on the Axe) * denotes class winner
Class Score Name Gun Sights/Scope Ammo
A* 89 Randy Wise Savage MK II Lapua SLR
A 87 Marc Wright Rim-X Kahles Eley Match
A 84 Matt Gallagher CZ 457 Vortex SE Eley Match
B 83 Dennis Kirkpatrick BSA Martini INT. Peep Sights SK Bia.
B* 82 Jim Lochary CZ 457 Arken EP5 SK Bia. *
A 81 Mark Hall (2) CZ 457 Vortex Razor Lapua LR
B 80 Mark Hall (1) CZ 457 Vortex Razor SK LRM
A 80 Jason Grubb CZ 457 Valdada Eley Match
B 80 Joe Bender CZ 457 Vortex Razor SK LR
B 79 Phil Palmisano Vudoo Arken EP5 SK Bia.
A 79 Casey Crooks Rim-X NF Center-X
B 79 Bob Brown (2) Rem 40-X Athlon SK Bia.
B 78 Kurt Yoder Sako Quad SWFA 20X SK Bia.
A 78 Rick Blaney CZ MTR Arken EP5 Eley Ten-X
B 77 Chris Blaney Bergara B14 Bushnell Eley Club
B 77 Chris Kirkpatrick Ugly Beddy (Win 52-C) SWFA SK Bia.
B 77 Tim Humphrey Vudoo NF SK Bia.
B 76 Cuda Gatten Savage Arken SH4 SK Bia.
B 75 Bill Nesbitt CZ 457 Arken SH4 SK Bia.
B 74 Keith Phillips CZ 457 Arken EP5 SK LR
B 74 Dave Callipare Vudoo NF SK Bia.
B 73 Dustin Fletcher (1) CZ 457 MTR Athlon Argos Eley Club
B 73 Dustin Fletcher (2) CZ 457 MTR Athlon Argos Eley Match
B 72 Bob Brown Rem 540-X Mueller SK Bia.
A 72 Herman Crooks Rim-X NF Center-X
B 72 Joe Bender CZ 457 Vortex Razor SK Rifle Match
B 71 Matt Gallagher Ruger 10/22 Arken EP5 SK Rifle Match
B 70 Scott St.Clair Savage Vortex Eley Contact
B 70 Tom Rayner Rem 513 NF SK
B 68 Matt Dillon Vudoo Athlon SK Bia.
B 65 Chuck Wagner H&R 12 SWFA RWS Rifle
B 64 Alvin Taylor Savage MK II SWFA SK
B 60 Matt Shatto Savage SWFA CCI Std.
B 59 Westen Blaney CZ 457 Lux Arken SH4 Eley Club
B DNF Dennis Morrison Savage MK II Leupold SK Bia.
As always longrange matches are never fair for everyone, you do the best you can in the conditions you're given and you know if you shot well or not even if the score sheet doesn't reflect your efforts. The level of competition the past few years has really risen and we have shooters that are highly ranked and also some World Record holders, I feel on any given day any of 10 or 15 are capable of winning the match so it's quite competitive.
This year I'm going to have two classes, An "A" and a "B", which the only difference is price of ammo, below $10.99 is B and above is A so the guy that doesn't want to chase ammo lots or buy the higher priced stuff can feel he can still be competitive. I will give a free entry to each class for the next match. The majority shot in "B" class and I think if a few of them had the dead calm wind conditions their scores would have been nearly equal to the "A" shooters.
Randy shot the new Lapua Super Long Range in preparation for the Iron ELR event on Saturday along with my Son Chris. I spotted for Randy and even though I've seen tighter grouping ammo the Lapua SLR was VERY consistent with no noticable dropped shots. Both Chris and Randy did very well at the Iron ELement ELR even with Randy winning the whole thing with a $229.00 Savage MK II with an Arken scope and Chris placed 7th but a dispute over a hit on a 300 yard plate which would have given him a 4th place finish but ended up 7th overall. Good job to both of them against some of the best longrange rimfire shooters out there.
OK, back to my match. We had a couple new shooters stop by and one local fella (Kenny Triplett) that his brother told him about the match after hearing about it on Rimfire Central. He had no idea what to expect and brought a Marlin 60 Semi-Auto. He shot at a few plates but my targets are too small for those sights but he did do something that nobody else has managed to do yet. He wanted to try the 50 yard split the bullet target and on his third shot
perfectly split the bullet. A couple have done it with peep sights but never open sights. Great shooting Kenny.
A few more managed to clean all 10 targets (10" down to 1") at 197 yards with no misses. That is some great shooting in anyones book and got their name written on my shelter roof for bragging rights. This month Keith Phillips, Chris Blaney, Phil Palmisano and Matt Gallagher did it again. Dennis Morrison had a borrowed scope and was doing great then not sure what happened but the scope decided to do it's own thing instead of doing what it's supposed to. A correct adjustment sent it into never never land, bet there is something different on it next month. In case you don't notice there are a lot more Arken Scopes being used, perfect scope for this longrange rimfire game, worth checking out.
On to the scores, I'll put them in order of score but the "A" class winner was Randy (Dead Eye) Wise and the "B" class winner was Jim Lochary. Each will recieve a free entry next month. I shot peep sights right as the sun started to go down and half of the targets were in the shadows, absolutely the hardest time I've ever had trying to find those little 4moa targets. Really had these old eyes watering but I'm happy I can still shoot the peeps. Come give it a try if you get bored with hitting everything with a scope, it's a little bit tough but one thing I've found out is the wind don't affect peep sights. It's true LOL
Ties are decided by reverse count including the bonus rack (Split the bullet on the Axe) * denotes class winner
Class Score Name Gun Sights/Scope Ammo
A* 89 Randy Wise Savage MK II Lapua SLR
A 87 Marc Wright Rim-X Kahles Eley Match
A 84 Matt Gallagher CZ 457 Vortex SE Eley Match
B 83 Dennis Kirkpatrick BSA Martini INT. Peep Sights SK Bia.
B* 82 Jim Lochary CZ 457 Arken EP5 SK Bia. *
A 81 Mark Hall (2) CZ 457 Vortex Razor Lapua LR
B 80 Mark Hall (1) CZ 457 Vortex Razor SK LRM
A 80 Jason Grubb CZ 457 Valdada Eley Match
B 80 Joe Bender CZ 457 Vortex Razor SK LR
B 79 Phil Palmisano Vudoo Arken EP5 SK Bia.
A 79 Casey Crooks Rim-X NF Center-X
B 79 Bob Brown (2) Rem 40-X Athlon SK Bia.
B 78 Kurt Yoder Sako Quad SWFA 20X SK Bia.
A 78 Rick Blaney CZ MTR Arken EP5 Eley Ten-X
B 77 Chris Blaney Bergara B14 Bushnell Eley Club
B 77 Chris Kirkpatrick Ugly Beddy (Win 52-C) SWFA SK Bia.
B 77 Tim Humphrey Vudoo NF SK Bia.
B 76 Cuda Gatten Savage Arken SH4 SK Bia.
B 75 Bill Nesbitt CZ 457 Arken SH4 SK Bia.
B 74 Keith Phillips CZ 457 Arken EP5 SK LR
B 74 Dave Callipare Vudoo NF SK Bia.
B 73 Dustin Fletcher (1) CZ 457 MTR Athlon Argos Eley Club
B 73 Dustin Fletcher (2) CZ 457 MTR Athlon Argos Eley Match
B 72 Bob Brown Rem 540-X Mueller SK Bia.
A 72 Herman Crooks Rim-X NF Center-X
B 72 Joe Bender CZ 457 Vortex Razor SK Rifle Match
B 71 Matt Gallagher Ruger 10/22 Arken EP5 SK Rifle Match
B 70 Scott St.Clair Savage Vortex Eley Contact
B 70 Tom Rayner Rem 513 NF SK
B 68 Matt Dillon Vudoo Athlon SK Bia.
B 65 Chuck Wagner H&R 12 SWFA RWS Rifle
B 64 Alvin Taylor Savage MK II SWFA SK
B 60 Matt Shatto Savage SWFA CCI Std.
B 59 Westen Blaney CZ 457 Lux Arken SH4 Eley Club
B DNF Dennis Morrison Savage MK II Leupold SK Bia.
