Shiloh Rifle Forums

Fellow Shooters,

We had a great turnout and were fortunate enough to have exceptional weather today as well. The last couple of days have been particularly wet and cool, but today turned out just right. After a cool night, the sun shined and light breezes whisked across the range, changing every few minutes to give us challenging but shootable conditions. 14 riflemen and women gathered at the Smithmoor Range in Carpenter Wyoming to test their skills. Among the fourteen were many very tough competitors and one new shooter. Roger Stearns had came to watch several times in the past, but made the leap today and shot his first full match. My Dad, Gary, had loaded extra ammo and loaned him a rifle, as well as coached him along all day. He seemed to have fun and hopefully he will be back.

Momma Lorraine outdid herself this month with lunch. She brought out Italian sloppy joes on French bread, fresh corn on the cob from our farm, cabbage salad, and chocolate pretzel crunch bars for desert. She makes me nervous when she tries out a new recipe at one of our shoots, but let me tell you, it was good! Other events of note include Jack and Don trying out new loads that didn't work out so well. Carol also debuted her brand new C. Sharps Highwall. I am sure she will get the kinks worked out and we will see her shoot better next time. Michael Rix suffered a broken rifle part way through the match and had to switch to his backup gun. Mentally this is always hard to do, but I thought Michael handled it pretty well. Also, famous target rifle champion, Robert Garibay, reduced himself to shoot silhouette with all of us "hillbillies and rednecks." He even managed to win the High 2nd Half Class. Good Shooting Robert! Your support is always appreciated. Dick Hennebry was 2nd Place in the 2nd Half class this month.

In the first half class, Brad Rice came in 2nd place, and Bryan Youngberg was first. Bryan and I tied for Match Winner and had to settle it in a shootoff. The shootoff consisted of best of three with time for sighters before. I was able to prevail, but it is always an honor to shootoff against such good shots as Bryan. Row pins were award to Brad, Bryan, Dick, and myself for 10 pigs, Robert Garibay for 5 turkeys, and myself for 5 chickens.

All in all, I had a great day and thought we had an exceptionally good match. Thank you to all that come shoot and support our matches. It is truly a pleasure being able to shoot alongside these great folks. Coralee will have some pictures up on the Smithmoor facebook page if anyone is interested.
take care and hold center,
Cody L. Smith

Shooter Chicken Pig Turkey Ram Total Place
First Half
Brad Rice 4 10 8 4 26 2nd First Half
Jack Odor 0 9 9 8 26
Michael Rix 3 8 6 4 21
Cody Smith 9 10 4 6 29 MW
Lee Wolff 2 9 6 6 23
Bryan Youngberg 2 10 9 8 29 High First Half
Joe Kapler DNF

2nd Half
Robert Garibay 0 9 7 6 22 High 2nd Half
Dick Hennebry 0 10 6 4 20 2nd 2nd Half
Gary Smith 1 4 4 2 11
Don McDowell 1 0 0 0 1
Carol McDowell 0 3 1 4 8
Kevin Finney 1 8 5 4 18
Roger Stearns 2 3 2 1 8

9 chickens Cody? Outstanding!! Good shooting.
Ted

Cody kinda buried the headline on that write up.
Pretty neat to see someone shoot 9 chickens!
The Smith family has put together something special between the .22 range at Cody's and the big bore range at his Dad's place.
Much more than just a shooting match.

Thanks to all of them

Robert G.

9 chickens, that was a great thing to see.
Robert is right much more than a match.

9 chickens is amazing! Congratulations!

But what happened with those turkeys and rams?

Cody,
What did you do with all those feathers? Congrats..................

I'll bet that other chicken was scared. I doubt Cody missed it by much. I wish he had gotten it then he could have had 2 - 5 in a row pins.
Ted

Thank you guys very much! Your kind comments are very appreciated.

Brent, you know how excuses are like rear-ends. Brad and I shot rams our first relay and there were a series of small clouds floating around. The light would go from extremely bright to so dark it was hard to see the animals. This coupled with a constantly changing breeze and mirage made it tough. I was actually quite happy to get six rams. We shot turkeys last and I drew a tough relay there too. Perhaps the toughest of the day. There were at least three strong reversals that were hard to know how much to adjust for. Also, when it would reverse one direction, the bullet would also fly high, and then drop low when it reversed the other way. I never missed by much, but as you know, a miss is a miss. The one part of this range that makes it tougher than others I have shot it is the mirage is often very severe in the afternoon. A lot of the day yesterday it was near impossible to see the bullet strikes on the animals through the scopes due to excessive mirage. Jack and Bryan shot a lot of turkeys and rams and my hat is off to them. I don't golf or race, but I hear how it is a challenge learning a new course. It amazes me how this sport is similar in that it takes a little while to learn a new range. Our range record is 32, set by Michael Rix, and it might be a while before that is broken. Hopefully you get to shoot here one day.
take care, Cody

I noticed a lot of low turkey/ram scores and figured it must have gotten tough.

When are you shooting in Sept? I'm headed out there in late Sept to chase antelopes...

Ted, I would have like two of those 5 chicken pins very much! Maybe next time....

Brent, we shoot the big bore matches the 3rd Saturday of the month year around. Although it is a private range, just about everybody is welcome. It is handy to know who is coming so we can plan, so if anyone reading this wants to come, just let me know. The 22 matches are November through April on the second Saturday of the month. The big bore matches will get canceled due to weather, but the 22 will go on in just nearly all conditions.

I also wanted to point out that Brad would have shot better had he had a better spotter. It was conditions that required a master spotter to do very well, and unfortunately that is not me. The only way to learn is by doing it, and I am working on improving. I am still amazed at Brad and Ty's performance at nationals this year. That was some amazing spotting Ty!

jackrabbit wrote:I am still amazed at Brad and Ty's performance at nationals this year. That was some amazing spotting Ty!

You've got that right. We shot next to them and Brad's shooting and Ty's calling were superlative with all the wind/switches we had. Great work by both.

Don,

I have to ask, where you shooting that Hepburn again and it broke again??

Nope. Shooting greasers in the 44.

It did not like them, I can vouch for that! I spotted for Don once or twice and we are talking four or five foot groups at the rams. It never fails to amaze me how picky these rifles can be.

This rifle is extremely picky about what it will shoot.