November Monthly Match at Smithmoor Range

[jackrabbit]

November 22 , 22 Silhouette Match Write-up

Wow! we couldn't have possibly gotten a more beautiful November day for the match. It was nearly dead still with only an occasional breath of wind. Temperatures ranged from the mid 40's to the mid 30's. The overcast sky did leave a few challenges as the targets were not as bright as we would have liked them.

We had twelve riflemen and women for our inaugural match in Cody's Shooting shed at Smithmoor Range. The shed has been many years in the planning and building and I can't think of a better way to celebrate its completion than with a shooting match. I was very pleased with how well the building worked. About the only hiccup that I forgot was the fact that we cannot use normal shooting sticks in the building as the floor is concrete. The day was nice enough that we moved forward eight feet and shot off of the pad in the front of the building. I will be ordering some benchrest style sticks from Cat's shooting sticks so we won't have this problem in the future. We had the stove fired up and it was a popular place to hang out between relays.

There were several shooters that had not fired a 22 silhouette match before and I think we may have them hooked. Squading worked out perfectly as we have four bays and we ran three relays. Judging by all of the joshing and laughing, I am pretty sure there was a good fit with folks in each group. I broke the shooters into three groups, traditional iron sight, traditional scope, and modern class. Carol McDowell came out on top of the traditional scope class with a 16, I had a good day and managed a 31 to win the traditional iron sight class, and Travis Purdum was the modern class winner with a 22.

As we all know, you cannot have much of a match without shooters and I want to extend a extra thank you to those that came and helped us celebrate. What a great day!
Also, a special thank you to my wife, Coralee, for her continued support and for throwing together some chili and refreshments, and to the Travis Purdum family for helping me get ready this morning as well as all of your help and support you have graciously given.

We will be holding this match the third Saturday of each month while reserving the fourth Saturday if the weather proves too poorly to provide folks with a safe drive down. We will hold these through April. I will be keeping track of the scores and plan on having the April shoot be a series championship with some awards.

Hope to see you next month!
Hold Center, Cody Smith


Traditional Iron Sight
Chicken Pig Turkey Ram Total

Steve Anderson 3 9 3 7 22
Doc Munson 0 0 3 2 5
Cody Smith 5 10 9 7 31 1st

Traditional Scope

Coralee Smtih 2 7 1 1 11
Don McDowell 0 7 1 6 14
Carol McDowell 1 7 3 5 16 1st
Gary Smith 1 1 1 1 4

Modern

Cecil Sauer 0 10 5 5 20
Dave Clark 2 6 5 3 16
Travis Purdum 1 7 9 5 22 1st
Ethan Purdum 0 5 2 1 8
Jim Rodebaugh 3 8 4 3 18

[Don McDowell]

Excellent and well thought out range and match. The level of interest from "new" shooters there today was great. There's going to be some grand doin's at that range in the future.

[bryany]

Cody, sounds like a good match and a nice day. We had hard winds all day in Casper, I was hoping you had better weather at your place. I'm looking forward to getting there next month.

Bryan

[jackrabbit]

Hey Bryan, do you have any ideas for shooting sticks that will work on the concrete? Travis had wondered about some type of base made out of a board that would allow our normal sticks to be used?

[powderburner]

as to sticks, why not make tripod sticks , any flat plate with cross sticks on it has the potential to fall over ,especially prone,

[ironramrod]

Jackrabbit,

Re: your cross-sticks question I assume you're talking about prone position sticks w/ some sort of spike in the bottom ends. If so, how about a 1x4 about 2' long or so w/ a series of 1/4"-3/8" deep crosswise table saw cuts over the full width about 1/2" or so apart for the full length? Then just set up, pick out which saw cuts work the best, get buttoned down on your rifle, and let out the clutch. Rimfire loads shouldn't beat up the 1x4 base plate (for lack of a better term). Might also work w/ sitting cross-sticks, but the base plate would need to be longer. Just an idea, and may need improvements to be sure.

Regards
IR

[Don McDowell]

Cody, Bryan's bench sticks would work fine on your concrete for the prone shooters, but would need to be enlarged somewhat for the sitting folks.

[stevewhr]

Cody, my sticks are a tad different than others. The first and foremost difference is the leather "thong" betwixt the legs. The leather properly adjusted prevents the legs from spreading apart regardless of the surface. Secondly the leather is what adjusts the height of the sticks. Some people have trouble using this style but once learned they are absolutely great. Try a google of "Purdy Gear", Karla and a friend of mine in Washington actually build them. Another approach would be Okanogan Shooting Sticks. I can't say with certainty that they are NRA approved, but I can say they are absolutely the best sticks out there. If all else fails drop me a line and I'll get contact info for you. Steve