Greetings fellow shooters from Topstraps Rimfire Challenge here in Eastern Ohio, looks like we made it thru another mild winter and are gearing up for this summers matches. I've given a lot of thought about the matches this year and yes I am going to do them same as last year. I had thought about raising the donation fee to $15.00 per entry which would help with paint, welding rods, electric and taxes and so on but with everything going up so fast which takes away from the funds we have to go to matches and enjoy shooting with others. Paint has gone crazy, was 99 cents a can and now is $3.69 for the cheap stuff, luckily I have plenty of steel lying around targets are not a problem. Donation will still be $10.00/entry again this year.
I think I enjoy watching others shoot and have a good time more than I like competing myself, Yes it gets tiring spotting for each shooter but so many kicked in last year to help it made the job so much easier and is much appreciated. It'll still be around 85 targets from 25 yards out to 197 yards with a bonus stage of some type. I gotta come up with some new ones this year to keep it fun and challenging. The level of equipment, ammo and competitors has really come a long way with scores being much higher.
I still think that ammo is the main deciding factor and the best way to come up with some type of classes. I've seen incredible scores shot with 60 year old target guns and poor scores shot with $7500 custom rifles. This year I think I'm going to go to three (3) classes and the winner of each class will receive a free entry the next match. The twist will be if a lower class shooter wins their class with a higher score than the class winners above them then the higher winners won't get a free entry. Example: Class C winner shoots a 79 and the Class B winner shoots a 78 and the Class A winner shoots an 80. The class A and Class C winners recieve a free entry but the Class B winner does not. An incentive to compete occasionally with lower cost ammo for the challenge and to do well.
I've added the third class this year due to the new higher cost ammo such as Lapua Super Long Range, RWS R50, ELey Ultra Long Range and Norma Extreme along with a few others that are in that catagory. I've played with most of them and Yes they most definately do have a much better group at distance. A Class B ammo could possible compete with them as long as their dropped round is not on a small target but that's the gamble you take with the mid-range priced ammo. The lowest class is for those that are starting out, can't find or haven't tested better ammo but still wish to compete which is why I do this in the first place. Don't feel you can't come have fun and be competitive, you'll be shooting with others with similiar equipment.
Nearly everyone that shoots with us will offer any help they can, most will gladly let you look at their gun, scope, bipod and bags and let you try them out. You don't have to have top end stuff to come shoot and have fun. Plenty of you have kidded me about some of the stuff Chris and I shoot. I'm also going to have the peep sight targets up at each distance which are 4moa which is about the smallest you can see in the varying light conditions. If a stage has gamble targets for the scoped competitors the peep targets will also have a very challenging gamble higher point value target they can shoot at. Keeps both scoped and metallic sight competitors on their toes. Yes they may look bigger a little farther out but up close they are smaller and only one so it gets shot up quickly. If you think it's easy let me know and I'll have a gun there for you to try.
My main goal is to have a safe place to shoot where everyone can come and hit a lot of targets with a few smaller ones that seperate the better shooters. The targets are up all the time and you can get ahold of me if you wish to come try it out or tweak your sight settings. I only have two benches so sometimes there is a wait for your turn to shoot. You have 3 days to pick from (Friday, Saturday and Sunday) starting at 8AM till 5PM or so. It takes about 100 rounds to shoot and about an hour to finish which is on the high end. Open bolts and chamber flags are a must and no handling of guns once they are leaned into the rack.
The three (3) classes of ammo will be C: $6.00/50 and under, B: Over $6.01 to $14.00 and A: Over $14.01 This may change and I don't have a complete list made up but will base this on prices normally found at the online shops and not a sale item. I've sure everyone knows about where their ammo falls, also anyone with a tuner may use it but will jump you into the A class automatically. No Benchrest style front or rear rests. Bipods (even Rempel style) sandbags or an attached monopod are OK. Any scope/rifle combo is allowed but if you show up with a BR style gun shooting in C class you may get a shifty eyed sideways glance wondering what's up with this. Lots of matches this year, hope we get a chance to enjoy a lot of them thru the summer. I'll be sending out notices on my matches, my first one if weather is decent will the the second weekend in April (Friday, Saturday and Sunday 12th, 13th and 14th) Any questions please ask. [email protected]
Dennis
I think I enjoy watching others shoot and have a good time more than I like competing myself, Yes it gets tiring spotting for each shooter but so many kicked in last year to help it made the job so much easier and is much appreciated. It'll still be around 85 targets from 25 yards out to 197 yards with a bonus stage of some type. I gotta come up with some new ones this year to keep it fun and challenging. The level of equipment, ammo and competitors has really come a long way with scores being much higher.
I still think that ammo is the main deciding factor and the best way to come up with some type of classes. I've seen incredible scores shot with 60 year old target guns and poor scores shot with $7500 custom rifles. This year I think I'm going to go to three (3) classes and the winner of each class will receive a free entry the next match. The twist will be if a lower class shooter wins their class with a higher score than the class winners above them then the higher winners won't get a free entry. Example: Class C winner shoots a 79 and the Class B winner shoots a 78 and the Class A winner shoots an 80. The class A and Class C winners recieve a free entry but the Class B winner does not. An incentive to compete occasionally with lower cost ammo for the challenge and to do well.
I've added the third class this year due to the new higher cost ammo such as Lapua Super Long Range, RWS R50, ELey Ultra Long Range and Norma Extreme along with a few others that are in that catagory. I've played with most of them and Yes they most definately do have a much better group at distance. A Class B ammo could possible compete with them as long as their dropped round is not on a small target but that's the gamble you take with the mid-range priced ammo. The lowest class is for those that are starting out, can't find or haven't tested better ammo but still wish to compete which is why I do this in the first place. Don't feel you can't come have fun and be competitive, you'll be shooting with others with similiar equipment.
Nearly everyone that shoots with us will offer any help they can, most will gladly let you look at their gun, scope, bipod and bags and let you try them out. You don't have to have top end stuff to come shoot and have fun. Plenty of you have kidded me about some of the stuff Chris and I shoot. I'm also going to have the peep sight targets up at each distance which are 4moa which is about the smallest you can see in the varying light conditions. If a stage has gamble targets for the scoped competitors the peep targets will also have a very challenging gamble higher point value target they can shoot at. Keeps both scoped and metallic sight competitors on their toes. Yes they may look bigger a little farther out but up close they are smaller and only one so it gets shot up quickly. If you think it's easy let me know and I'll have a gun there for you to try.
My main goal is to have a safe place to shoot where everyone can come and hit a lot of targets with a few smaller ones that seperate the better shooters. The targets are up all the time and you can get ahold of me if you wish to come try it out or tweak your sight settings. I only have two benches so sometimes there is a wait for your turn to shoot. You have 3 days to pick from (Friday, Saturday and Sunday) starting at 8AM till 5PM or so. It takes about 100 rounds to shoot and about an hour to finish which is on the high end. Open bolts and chamber flags are a must and no handling of guns once they are leaned into the rack.
The three (3) classes of ammo will be C: $6.00/50 and under, B: Over $6.01 to $14.00 and A: Over $14.01 This may change and I don't have a complete list made up but will base this on prices normally found at the online shops and not a sale item. I've sure everyone knows about where their ammo falls, also anyone with a tuner may use it but will jump you into the A class automatically. No Benchrest style front or rear rests. Bipods (even Rempel style) sandbags or an attached monopod are OK. Any scope/rifle combo is allowed but if you show up with a BR style gun shooting in C class you may get a shifty eyed sideways glance wondering what's up with this. Lots of matches this year, hope we get a chance to enjoy a lot of them thru the summer. I'll be sending out notices on my matches, my first one if weather is decent will the the second weekend in April (Friday, Saturday and Sunday 12th, 13th and 14th) Any questions please ask. [email protected]
Dennis
