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2020 High Plains 1000 Yard Challenge Money Match Results

Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2020 9:16 am
by COBPTR
2020 Money Match Scores 2.jpg
2020 Money Match

The match technically has a longer name, but in the end, it is the Money Match. Everyone is trying to end up in the top spot and in the money and everyone has a chance! No coaching, no spotters, just a Rifleman on his mat with his rifle and ammo. The only thing between you and your target a 1000 yards away is Mother Nature, and she was sure upset about something this weekend.
Friday quite a few of us participated in practice. We got a hint of the conditions to come and familiar enough with the range to make a plan for Saturday.

Saturday morning started out pretty sporty from the very first relay and shots downrange at 8:45am. We had variable winds from 8 or 9mph to gusts around 20mph. The early morning high scores in the 80’s or low 90’s were nowhere to be found. Jack Odor started out on top with a 76, followed by Farringer and Garibay with 73’s and Porter right behind us with his 72.
By the 2nd relay things really started to move and heat up. We were getting into the double digits on our Soules and Scopes with let offs in the middle of your string that were tough to assign value to. With your 20 minutes total time for sighters and record shots, there is no waiting out the condition in this match. You have to turn the knobs shot to shot, as the match was designed. The guys on top were on the line saying “I shot in the high 60’s and was glad to get that” as they finished. Relatively new shooter Gary Baylis with his 45-70 Shiloh somehow walked away with a 74. Pretty amazing and now put him in the lead going into the last target of the day. Jason, Jack, Farringer and myself were just a couple of points behind. The last relay of the day things were cooking. Shot markers were all over the targets, left, right, up and down. Some shots were close to zero and now we were dialing into the high teens and 20’s for windage on some shots on our sights. Scores really suffered. If you shot in the 50’s or possibly low 60’s you felt like you had got away with something. Mirage was so thick that if you ended up off the paper the likelihood of seeing your impact through the scope was near impossible. Kenny, Bryan and Farringer put up the best scores in the mid 60’s in the toughest condition of the day. Somehow I was able to put up a 74 in that mess but I’m pretty sure the Devil owns my soul now. So at the end of Saturday I was on top, Farringer just 2 points behind with Jack, Jason, Kenny and Bryan all within striking distance for Day 2. The day ended with most of us huddled under the 1000yd covered area enjoying grilled burgers, brats and fellowship staying out of the rain. We had a good time.

Sunday Morning actually started pretty manageable. Nice and cool from the thunderstorms and rain the night before. If you could keep them on paper you had a chance to shoot a good score. If you had a miss it sank into a dark soupy berm and you were not assured of seeing it through the scope. I think most of us only had a few minutes of right on and MAYBE even got to take a shot or two close to zero.
Jack Odor with a freshly curing JB Weld fix on his front sight (not a joke) took the high score with an 85, I was close behind and still in the lead with and 83-1x but Farringer and Baylis kept an unrelenting steady pace behind us with their scores in the mid 70’s. Steve Fogler shot his best score of the weekend as well with a 76-1x in the first relay.
Mother Nature woke up late just in time for the second set of relays, and she was pissed! Only Jack and Farringer were able to walk away with a score in the 70’s. The rest of us took too many misses and it seemed more like damage control than anything else while you were on the line. Kenny, Klaus and Hugh figured it a little better than some of us and at least managed scores in the high 60’s.
The last relay of the day was pretty unbelievable for conditions and storms were approaching neighboring areas and we caught the winds to go with. Relays 1 and 3 were bad but still a couple of great scores come out of it. Jason, Kenny and Klaus did an amazing job of reading conditions and pulled out some low 70’s.
The very last relay of the day in the rotation was Relay 2. Farringer and I had discussed our previous scores in the pits and knew we were within 2 points of each other for the overall. We were both shooting the last string of the day at the same time. It felt like a little bit of a showdown or shootoff. I think we were both excited and knew we had to lay down a good final score for the win. That to me is what it’s all about! Long story short, he clobbered me! Farringer clearly kept up with the conditions better and put up a much better score than I did. What we didn’t know is that Jack had managed better than both of us throughout the day and managed to sneak in for the Day 2 win.
The results of Day 2 put Jack on top, with Farringer in 2nd place and Klaus in 3rd.
Although Farringer placed 2nd both days his consistency paid off in the end. He finished on top in the aggregate by staying steady and never letting the conditions fully get the best of him. So the Buffalo Trophy is now headed to Indiana. I can’t say I’m 100% happy with that but the upside is that I think we set the hook for Steve and he is likely to be back in Byers shooting another competition in the future. Congratulations to Steve Farringer, the 2020 Money Match Champion! Jack Odor finished 2nd overall and I finished 3rd.
Thanks to everyone who participated, helped and showed appreciation and support. Particularly Lee Kleidon who takes pics and did half the cooking for the meal on Saturday. Thanks to Bryan and Kenny as well for their help running the line and in the pits. It’s a team effort to get this stuff done so we can continue to enjoy BPTR competition.

Look for some pics and load info on https://bptra.org/match-reports in the next couple of days.
Also, remember Cheyenne’s first 300, 500, 600yd match is this coming Saturday, followed by an all 600yd match on Sunday. Let Dick Hennebry know if you’d like to come ASAP.


Robert Garibay
BPTRA

Re: 2020 High Plains 1000 Yard Challenge Money Match Results

Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2020 10:04 am
by GrumpyBear
Nice write up Robert, enjoyable reading.

Re: 2020 High Plains 1000 Yard Challenge Money Match Results

Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2020 10:07 am
by Aviator
I sure had a good time!

Thanks to all, for making me feel like I belonged there!

Re: 2020 High Plains 1000 Yard Challenge Money Match Results

Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2020 5:10 pm
by Kenny Wasserburger
It was good to have you Steve, enjoyed it a great deal.

Robert put on an amazing match, ordering up some very tough conditions for our enjoyment.

The money match is a real challenge, no spotter weeds things out quick.

See you in September, long live BPTRA....

Kenny Wasserburger

Re: 2020 High Plains 1000 Yard Challenge Money Match Results

Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2020 6:53 pm
by Don McDowell
I'm going to jump on the bandwagon too. :D
Robert did a great job of organizing and putting on the Money Match.
The course of fire is a difficult one with 20 minutes for sighters and 10 record shots, and there's no coaching or help from the pits when either the first shot hits paper or you declare to go for score. Byers wind and mirage are infamous to those who've shot that range. It's painful to have to sit there keeping score for someone who's shooting clean misses, and can't detect the bullet strike because of smoke drift obscuring the view from his ground scope, or you see a switch and can't tell them to hold up.
This match isn't for the faint of heart but it is darn sure one worthy of testing your metal. Pandemic allowing next year those that are up for a challenge sure need to plan on attending.
Steve did a great job of proving his metal again, and should serve as an inspiration for shooters thinking about trying competitive shooting. He's only been doing this for less than 2 years and hasn't owned a rifle or shot blackpowder much longer than that.

Re: 2020 High Plains 1000 Yard Challenge Money Match Results

Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2020 8:22 pm
by COBPTR
I think it was a case of the "new guy" didn't know it was supposed to be hard.
Farringer stayed very consistent and never let a miss frustrate him too much. I know because we shot next to each other the whole weekend.
Looking back through match stuff there were only 4 clean scorecards for the weekend that didn't have a single miss in a string of fire. Farringer is not included in that group. The difference was, when he did take a miss he learned and recovered quickly. Only once did he have 2 misses in a row the whole weekend. It is easy to tell he is a problem solver by nature. Most of the rest of us took 2 misses (or more) in a row before we figured out how to adjust. Of course there are alot of variables included in that, but that is what the cards show.

A few shooters had some amazing wind reading and shooting in individual relays, Jack, Gary, Bryan, Kenny, Jason and Klaus to name a few. The problem was putting enough of those together to make it count at the end of a 2 day match. That is the main reason we decided to change this from a one day match. As I stated in one of our morning meetings, it's possible to get lucky one day, but it's real hard to get lucky two days in a row in Byers.
The format is very challenging, but as Fogler kept saying, you can learn more about your equipment, shooting and spotting skills in the Money Match than you can at most matches in a very short amount of time. The same would apply to the Cup Match in Lodi.

Everyone that is serious about longrange BPTR should make it to one of these matches sooner rather than later.

Robert Garibay
BPTRA

Re: 2020 High Plains 1000 Yard Challenge Money Match Results

Posted: Tue Jul 07, 2020 7:14 am
by Aviator
For sure, when you have the second miss in a row, and you didn't see the impact of either one, anyone would be getting frustrated! Especially when your scorer says he knows where they went, but he can't tell you! :shock: :lol:
Fortunately the next one was on paper, and I found my way back into the game! I really like this format, and would like a 3 day match even better.

Re: 2020 High Plains 1000 Yard Challenge Money Match Results

Posted: Tue Jul 07, 2020 7:31 am
by Don McDowell
It was just absolutely painful to have to sit there and watch that, not being able to stop the shot in the switch and not being able to tell where the dirt was flying, :) But you stayed unflappable and came roaring right back, just like Kenny did.
Lots of fun to be sure.

Re: 2020 High Plains 1000 Yard Challenge Money Match Results

Posted: Tue Jul 07, 2020 8:52 am
by desert deuce
Now that was a truck load of tough competitors there stalking the firing lines and manning the pits.

Great write up Robert and, by the way, running a match and shooting the match at the same time is challenging. Double good job.

Mariah certainly lived up to her reputation and apparently did not smile excessively on any one competitor. As per usual she simply had her way.

Hear there is another gathering at Byers in September. Great opportunity to visit one of the best ranges anywhere and shoot with some of the best riflemen anywhere for a really good time.

Re: 2020 High Plains 1000 Yard Challenge Money Match Results

Posted: Tue Jul 07, 2020 9:56 pm
by SFogler
I'd like to see a money match day ahead of each LR match. Maybe some sighters time in the AM then two relays of money match in the PM. Real humbling if you get off target in those conditions and can't see the impact or the dust near the target. Next time.