TSRA MID-RANGE CHAMPIONSHIP A HUGE SUCCESS
ByThe Texas State Rifle Association held its first Mid-Range Championship at Camp Swift on 15-16 March. Ric Crawford, David Wilson and Ken Gaby, the TSRA High Power Rifle Directors, were not sure of the participation they would get on this relatively new type of match, and they were surprised when 90 folks from across Texas, Louisiana and Oklahoma showed up.
Ten of those were members of the STMTC including, Dan Harper, Jon Ussery, Wayne Nunn, Philip Beekley, Jack Leather, Bob Tapia, Bill Huddleston, and your scribe, John Gaines. George Becquet was there to coach and mentor a junior Jason Laa who won the big door prize, a shooting mat from Creedmore Sports. Jack Leather was high man in the F Class category the first day, and your scribe was high man in the Master class in the aggregate. (Might have done better if I had not shot an X on my neighbors target…dang!)
Mid-Range shooting is all prone slow-fire at 300, 500, and 600 yards. Twenty shots were fired at each distance on each of two days. This sport appeals to the “across-the-course” shooters, tactical shooters, F Class, Palma and even smallbore shooters. It was a resounding success and the TSRA vowed to have another championship next year. You can watch a video of the match at www.youtube.com and search for TSRA Mid-Range Championship 2008. My shooting partner was the photographer so my image shows up in a couple of shots. Look for the oldest man there.
Many thanks to the TSRA directors for putting this match on, and to LTC Don Tryce the OIC of the range at Camp Swift for making the range available.
SMALLBORE
Our March match was a 1600 point affair attended by seven prone shooters. To nobodies surprise Leonard Trevino was top shooter with 1580-80X followed by Wayne Nunn ant 1564-58X, and John Ruckman with 1559-68X. The young folks shooting three-position outnumbered the prone shooters with eight shooters. High man was Samuel Muegge with 927-16X followed by Brittany Hess with 900-21X and Nicole Makrakis with 900-15X. Our next match will be April 12 and will consist of 60 shots for score. Wayne is opening the competition to anyone with any kind of .22 LR rifle with any kind of sight and you can shoot over sandbags or with a rest…in other words, Rimfire-F Class. You will shoot the same course of fire and the same targets. The only stipulation is that between relays when people are down-range you must have a plastic weed-eater line inserted into the barrel so that it hangs out both ends (we will provide the line). If you have never shot a smallbore match before, plan on shooting this one and bring your wife and kids. You will find it interesting, challenging and FUN!
PISTOL
Four stalwart and steely-eyed pistoleros braved the gusty winds at Blackhawk range on the ides of March to puncture the paper at 25 yards. Two shot .22 cal. And two shot .45 cal. Leonard Trevino was first with 752-5X with the .22 followed by Rene Gonzalez with 751-9X. Robert Weissman fired a 730-7X for first .45 honors followed by Frank Dillingham with 617-7X. Jim Ford called the match. We’ll shoot again April 19th at 11:00 for another shoot. We need some more folks out there to enjoy our new target stands. I’ll bet that if you came out with your favorite plinking handgun and a bag of bullets they would let you shoot even if you wanted to use two hands! It’s all designed for fun, so come on out.
HIGH POWER RIFLE
Ten Garand shooters reported to the firing line for the March 16th J.C.Garand Match at the CTSA Range. The winds picked up during the match due to the passage of a cool front, and with all that walnut and steel waving around, the breeze presented a challenge for good standing scores. Winner of the match was Todd Roper with 240-2x. Second was Bruce Finley with 238-5X and third was Dan Harper with 238-0X. The winner of the “Shoot-From-A-Bench” category was Jim Ford with 251-4X.
