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| IR 50/50
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2010 July Match "Perfect" 250/250 Targets
Again this month on July 17th, two shooters fired perfect 250 scores in the IR50/50 match. Lou Wickstrom from WI actually fired 250’s back to back. Not to be outdone, Dean Bircher, our resident octogenarian, showed what years of practice and competition can do by shooting a beauty of his own. Congratulations to both Lou and Dean! The next match at Gopher will be the annual MN State Championships on July 31st and August 1st. Shooting starts at noon on Saturday and 10:00 am on Sunday. 2010 June Match "Perfect" 250/250 Targets
A very unusual and beautiful sunny day burst forth on Saturday May 15th after over two weeks of unseasonably cold and rainy weather. As a result, the scores at our May 15th match were outstanding. The very light wind from the SE created no problem for some of the shooters while we enjoyed the second match of our 2010 season. Pictured here are the three class winners; from L to R are Dean Bircher, Fred Wickstrom and Dave Weier. Both Dean, our most mature shooter at 80+, and Fred scored perfect 250 point targets in the 10.5# and 13.5# classes. Dave was only slightly behind that with a very nice 248 in the very difficult Sporter class. To lend some perspective to the level of competition at our matches, of the 11 shooters that came on Saturday, six of the eleven were ranked in the top 50 shooters in the entire USA for the 2009 season. In fact, Fred Wickstrom was the TOP shooter in the country last year. And, even though Fred won the 13.5# class with a perfect score, there were also three other shooters during that match who shot 249 targets. As Agent Maxwell Smart would have said, Missed it by that much! We will square off again on June 12 shooting a double match, one starting at 10:00 am and the second one starting around 2:00 pm. Grab your .22 rifle and come join us! Ray Wight, Match Director Ray Wight Web administrator
Gopher Campfire hosted the 2010 inaugural IR50/50 match on Saturday 4/17/10 in cool, but delightful weather conditions. (A direct contrast to those conditions of 2008 when we had to cancel the match due to snow and wind.) We had a light turnout with only seven shooters, but two of those were first time attendees at our monthly matches. We welcomed both Tony Larson who is new to the rimfire Benchrest game and Rod Gilsrud who has been absent from our matches for several years. Rangemaster, Ray Wight, won the Sporter class match with a 246-10x score; Dave Weier scored 248-13x to take the 10.5 pound class and our octogenarian, Dean Bircher missed a perfect 250 score by a cat’s whisker to win the 13.5 pound class with a very respectable 249-15x score. The combined three gun contest winner was Ron Gilsrud, one of our regulars. We talked smart, enjoyed the weather, had an opportunity to “limber-up” our hardware for the season and had a great time. Come join us for the next match on May 15th!” Ray Wight
For the coming 2010 IR 50/50 season we have selected the following dates to be posted on the national calendar for Gopher Campfire Club, Hutchinson, MN. April 17, 2010 May15, 2010 June 12, 2010 July 17, 2010 July 31 & August 1 – MN State Championship 2010 August 21, 2010 September 18, 2010
Again this year, Gopher hosted six regular season IR50/50 (USRA) matches. However, due to some attendance issues in June, we actually had seven matches. In June, due to a conflict with the North Central Regional match in Pontiac, IL, only three shooters came. That number did not meet the USRA minimum number of shooters, so we held a make-up match in September. In addition, Gopher Campfire hosted the 2009 MN State Championship. We were able to hold that important match, taking it from the Minnetonka Game & Fish Club range near Elk River, MN, because of the 2008 investment in our new 50 yard range. There were 19 shooters in attendance from MN, WI and IL. During the State championship matches, we shoot 50 yards on Saturday and 50 meters on Sunday. The 2009 MN State Champions were: YARDS: Sporter Class Ron Gilsrud; 10.5# Class Mitch Johnson; 13.5# Class Bill Zaborowski; 3 Gun Fred Wickstrom. In METERS: Sporter Class Sporter Class Herb Smith; 10.5# Class Fred Wickstrom; 13.5# Class Louise Wickstrom; 3 Gun Louise Wickstrom. Congratulations to all. During the regular season, we vie for a coveted award; Shooter of the Year for our range. This season, Ron Gilsrud walked away with all but one of the awards. Herb Smith prevented the sweep by winning the Sporter Class trophy. Our new 50 yard range provided a very challenging place to shoot with difficult winds swirling over the berms. Within our shooting community, it has developed a reputation as the toughest range in the upper Midwest. We want to thank those who were actively involved in creating the new range and those who run our monthly matches. Have a great winter! Ray Wight Rimfire
Rifle Competition IR50/50: Minnesota Direct your questions to Dale Ross (rossclan@hutchtel.net) or Ray Wight (rwight08@mchsi.com). At Gopher, once each month, usually the last Saturday, shooters from around the upper Midwest gather to compete with their highly accurate .22LR rimfire rifles. Gopher Campfire is one of four ranges in the MN/WI area to hold matches under the auspices of the USRA (United States Rimfire Association) otherwise referred to as IR50/50 which stands for International Rimfire 50 yards - 50 meters. Anyone can compete and we encourage new shooters at every match. Except for a weight restriction in the Sporter class (7.5#), most all hunting rimfire rifles will meet the USRA standards. These standards are listed on the below. We start shooting at 10:00 am and finish up around 1:00 or 2:00 pm. For
more information, contact Dale Ross (rossclan@hutchtel.net)
or Ray Wight (rwight08@mchsi.com). The
Game: Bench guns: There are two classes, alike except for the weight limitation. Basically, these are single shot, bolt action target rifles with flat 3” forends. Classes are 10.5# and 13.5#, scope is unlimited. When: Sundays at Minnetonka Game & Fish – April 6, May 4, June 29, July 27, August 24 and September 7, 2008. The State Championship will be held at Minnetonka Game & Fish on July 27, 2008. Where: IR50/50 State Championship Report - June 11th, 2005 Hi everyone,
Attached
are the scores on Excel spreadsheets: Ray Wight, Rangemaster Last Updated: 6-26-2010 |
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Maybe
we should rename this match, the Hip Wader Championship, considering
the ongoing rain that deluged the Hutchinson area for several
weeks before and even during the match on Saturday. There was
somewhere around 2” – 3” of standing water
covering most of the range making setting flags and hanging targets
a sloppy mess. It felt like we were shooting across a rice paddy!
We
had a great turnout for the 2005 State of Minnesota Championships,
despite the correctly forecasted downpour on Saturday. Twenty
shooters showed
up from several states to vie for the title. The class winners
for Yards were: Sporter – Herb Smith; 10.5# - Bill Zaborowski;
13.5# - Terry Collins. Dave Weier finished fourth in the Thirteen
and a half class, second in the Ten and a half class and fourth
in the Sporter to take home both the Two Gun and Three Gun trophies.
Considering the humbling conditions, Dave did a great job of
consistent shooting.
Sunday’s
sky turned out a beautiful azure blue with nary a cloud to spoil
it. Everyone was revving their engines expecting to need a near
perfect score with high X counts to win. Wrong! This range has
a finicky side that it loves to use to trick shooters. It used
every bit of its diabolical nature on Sunday. There was even
one former school superintendent who, having failed to add to
his Hall of Fame points, threatened to buy a Harley, get tattooed,
grow a ponytail and beard and give up rimfire benchrest forever!
Rising
from his self-appointed sabbatical of a couple of years, Rod
Gilsrud showed up on Sunday, found something telltale in his
flags and proceeded to “whup up on us” pretty good.
(I think he has been practicing!) Rod turned in the best Sporter
score, the only 240, held on for third in the 10.5# class and
scored a win in the heavy gun with a 245 -10. It was a foregone
conclusion when the trophies were passed out, that Rod would
carry out the Two Gun and Three Gun awards also. Winning the “If-Only-Bridesmaid” award
for the weekend was Kurt Westfall from SE Iowa. Kurt finished
second in the Two Gun and Three Gun on Saturday along with second
in the Two Gun and fourth in the Three Gun on Sunday. If there
was a Six Gun title at State matches, Kurt would definitely have
carried it home.
As
Range master, I would like to thank several special people who
helped make our 2005 Championships successful. Dale Ross, our
Gopher Campfire liaison and general second in command; Kirk Darrow
for running all the timer clock starting/stopping chores; Judy,
my bride of 40 years, for preparing and serving our delicious
lunches; Larry Fatheree for helping out with scoring duties while
I was shooting; Mike Krogman and Josh “Target Crew” Ross
for wading out to pull targets. Thanks, to all of you and the
others who pitched in!
If you have e-mail and want to be kept up on what’s happening at your Club, please send a note to Craig Schmeling at:
schmloil@hutchtel.net