Jan Smithmoor 22 Offhand Target Match
Posted: Sun Jan 24, 2021 9:19 am
Shooters and Friends, 1/24/2021
We had a practice match/trial run for our February Offhand Championship yesterday at Smithmoor East and I thoroughly enjoyed it. We ended up with 9 rifleman making it out with several of them having never shot this style of match before. I was very pleased and proud of the scores these guys shot. We truly have some fantastic rifleman at Smithmoor Range!
We shot the 100 yard 3 ring German Ring WSU Target at 100 yards offhand. All of our superior quality targets are acquired from our sponsor Larry Baker at SPG Sales (www.blackpowderspg.com) I built some 12" steel gongs that we used for sighter targets and I wanted to see how that would work out. I think they worked pretty well. Wyoming Schuetzen Union Rules are always used here at Smithmoor, which means that you cannot return to the sighter after you begin your record shots and only 10 shots are allowed to be fired at each target.
The weather was beautiful for January with only slight breezes. It was chilly with temps in the 30's, but we all stayed quite comfortable shooting from the shed with the fire burning hot in the stove. Dad has been up to his handy work lately and built us a nice grate to go on top of the stove so we can heat things on it. A camp coffee pot was dug out of the hunting stuff and genuine cowboy coffee was enjoyed throughout the day. That angel of donuts, Dick Hennebry, also blessed us with a couple of boxes of the delectable delights to go with our coffee. Thank you Dick!
Coralee picked a recipe from her German cookbook and built us a delicious lunch. Real German Goulash is quite different from the macaroni American version we are all used to, but it was quite good. Along with some super special homemade bread from Coralee and brownies by Grace, we all enjoyed the good food.
I am attempting to define some kind of division among the skills of the shooters. We are calling the more experienced shooters that routinely land some high scores Division 1 and the newer shooters Division 2. In February, we will use the Day 1 scores as a qualifier for who is in which division. I am thinking the line will be drawn in the 850-900 range. Hopefully there will be a clear division among the scores and it will be an easy decision….lol.
In yesterday's Division 2 match, Steve Anderson shot a very respectable 870 total score to be 1st Place. This was Steve's first offhand target match and 870 is a super score for a first match. The single high target of Division 2 was shot by Greg Bybee with a 196. This was also Greg's first match and he had a couple of stumblings that set him back, but no doubt he will be a tough competitor after he gets a few matches under his belt and the jitters out of his system. I also wanted to brag on Ed Himelhoch for a moment. Ed shot an excellent 845, but the impressive part is watching his improvement. He has been a regular face at our Thursday evening matches and has been working hard at improving and it shows. Good Job Ed!
We had 3 rifleman in Division 1. Jack Odor has been a top schuetzen shooter for many years and is my resident schuetzen expert. It is so nice to have someone to ask "Hey Jack, what do we do about this??" Thank you Jack for all the support over the years. Jack shot the single high overall target with a super 223 out of 250. If he gets the cobwebs out of the system by next month, he will be almost unbeatable. Jim Rodebaugh whined a little about being put into Division 1, but he is a Grand Master 22 BPCR shooter and I know his potential. After he gets into his groove, he will be darned hard to beat as well. I think my shooting illustrated an important concept of offhand paper target matches and that is the fact that the match is not won with great shots, but it is won with a lack of bad ones. I didn't shoot a single 25, but I didn't throw any off the target either. Consistent, even shots will most often win the match. Harry Pope wrote a letter describing his offhand shooting and in it he says that you cannot break every shot perfect. If you try, you will wear yourself out and do poorly. Instead try for good shots each time. The more you shoot and the more you practice, the better these good shots will become. Harry's letter can be found here http://www.issa-schuetzen.org/off-hand- ... oting.html
Thank you everyone for all of the support and for coming to shoot. Everyone seemed to enjoy the day, I know I sure did.
Cody
Shooter T1 T2 T3 T4 T5 Total Place
Division1
Jack Odor 197 183 201 223 183 987 High Single Target (223)
Cody Smith 199 206 208 214 201 1028 MW
Jim Rodebaugh 181 173 189 175 164 876
Division 2
Ed Himelhoch 117 171 194 173 190 845
Dick Hennebry DNF
Greg Bybee 141 120 130 141 196 728 High Target Div 2 (196)
Bill Acklin 166 169 185 154 185 859
Gary Smith 125 186 139 143 157 750
Steve Anderson 185 161 155 176 193 870 1st Div 2
We had a practice match/trial run for our February Offhand Championship yesterday at Smithmoor East and I thoroughly enjoyed it. We ended up with 9 rifleman making it out with several of them having never shot this style of match before. I was very pleased and proud of the scores these guys shot. We truly have some fantastic rifleman at Smithmoor Range!
We shot the 100 yard 3 ring German Ring WSU Target at 100 yards offhand. All of our superior quality targets are acquired from our sponsor Larry Baker at SPG Sales (www.blackpowderspg.com) I built some 12" steel gongs that we used for sighter targets and I wanted to see how that would work out. I think they worked pretty well. Wyoming Schuetzen Union Rules are always used here at Smithmoor, which means that you cannot return to the sighter after you begin your record shots and only 10 shots are allowed to be fired at each target.
The weather was beautiful for January with only slight breezes. It was chilly with temps in the 30's, but we all stayed quite comfortable shooting from the shed with the fire burning hot in the stove. Dad has been up to his handy work lately and built us a nice grate to go on top of the stove so we can heat things on it. A camp coffee pot was dug out of the hunting stuff and genuine cowboy coffee was enjoyed throughout the day. That angel of donuts, Dick Hennebry, also blessed us with a couple of boxes of the delectable delights to go with our coffee. Thank you Dick!
Coralee picked a recipe from her German cookbook and built us a delicious lunch. Real German Goulash is quite different from the macaroni American version we are all used to, but it was quite good. Along with some super special homemade bread from Coralee and brownies by Grace, we all enjoyed the good food.
I am attempting to define some kind of division among the skills of the shooters. We are calling the more experienced shooters that routinely land some high scores Division 1 and the newer shooters Division 2. In February, we will use the Day 1 scores as a qualifier for who is in which division. I am thinking the line will be drawn in the 850-900 range. Hopefully there will be a clear division among the scores and it will be an easy decision….lol.
In yesterday's Division 2 match, Steve Anderson shot a very respectable 870 total score to be 1st Place. This was Steve's first offhand target match and 870 is a super score for a first match. The single high target of Division 2 was shot by Greg Bybee with a 196. This was also Greg's first match and he had a couple of stumblings that set him back, but no doubt he will be a tough competitor after he gets a few matches under his belt and the jitters out of his system. I also wanted to brag on Ed Himelhoch for a moment. Ed shot an excellent 845, but the impressive part is watching his improvement. He has been a regular face at our Thursday evening matches and has been working hard at improving and it shows. Good Job Ed!
We had 3 rifleman in Division 1. Jack Odor has been a top schuetzen shooter for many years and is my resident schuetzen expert. It is so nice to have someone to ask "Hey Jack, what do we do about this??" Thank you Jack for all the support over the years. Jack shot the single high overall target with a super 223 out of 250. If he gets the cobwebs out of the system by next month, he will be almost unbeatable. Jim Rodebaugh whined a little about being put into Division 1, but he is a Grand Master 22 BPCR shooter and I know his potential. After he gets into his groove, he will be darned hard to beat as well. I think my shooting illustrated an important concept of offhand paper target matches and that is the fact that the match is not won with great shots, but it is won with a lack of bad ones. I didn't shoot a single 25, but I didn't throw any off the target either. Consistent, even shots will most often win the match. Harry Pope wrote a letter describing his offhand shooting and in it he says that you cannot break every shot perfect. If you try, you will wear yourself out and do poorly. Instead try for good shots each time. The more you shoot and the more you practice, the better these good shots will become. Harry's letter can be found here http://www.issa-schuetzen.org/off-hand- ... oting.html
Thank you everyone for all of the support and for coming to shoot. Everyone seemed to enjoy the day, I know I sure did.
Cody
Shooter T1 T2 T3 T4 T5 Total Place
Division1
Jack Odor 197 183 201 223 183 987 High Single Target (223)
Cody Smith 199 206 208 214 201 1028 MW
Jim Rodebaugh 181 173 189 175 164 876
Division 2
Ed Himelhoch 117 171 194 173 190 845
Dick Hennebry DNF
Greg Bybee 141 120 130 141 196 728 High Target Div 2 (196)
Bill Acklin 166 169 185 154 185 859
Gary Smith 125 186 139 143 157 750
Steve Anderson 185 161 155 176 193 870 1st Div 2