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IR 50/50 Match/End of Season Reports
END
OF SEASON REPORT - 2007 Now that the leaves are turning yellow and orange, and our final 2007 match is behind us, it is time to reflect on the results from our competions. We held six matches starting in late April and continuing through mid September. In general, we had maximum participation, nearly filling all the six benches on two relays. Between ten and a dozen shooters came each month from Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota. One match even reqired three relays to accommodate all the shooters. Gopher Campfire’s rifle range has a reputation among the competitive rimfire shooters as being a very tough range to figure out. Even though during our matches, there will be as many as 40 – 45 wind flags between the firing line and the targets, even the best shooters sometimes get fooled by our strange conditions. But, that makes it even more challenging. Our top shooters for 2007 were Herb Smith, winning three of our annual trophies including overall shooter of the year; and Elmer Laitala, Milaca, MN, who took home the 13.5# class plaque. Congratulations to both of them. They earned it! Our match dates for 2008 have been established. They are: 04/26/08, 05/17/08, 06/28/08, 07/19/08, 08/30/08, and 09/13/08. If you would like to try your hand at rimfire competition, we encourage you to come out to one of our matches, bring your .22LR rifle and “have a go”. Have a great winter. Ray Wight MATCH
REPORT – June 23, 2007 What a beautiful day for shooting, high 70’s and very light winds. And the competitors took full advantage, posting some of the best scores of the season. Elmer Laitala topped the other shooters in both of the heavy gun classes with a beautiful 249 (of 250) followed by a “perfect” 250. Needless to say, he took the Two-Gun honors. (Pictures of Elmer and his target are shown below.) He missed only ONE ten-ring (the ring measures only .25”) in 50 straight shots. Outstanding! Close on Elmer’s heels were Ron Gilsrud with a 498 and Herb Smith with a 497. This author lost five points in the two targets and didn’t even place. Tough competition! There were ten shooters for our second match of the season including a first timer, Phil Rickertsen, Mark’s dad,. Graciously, Mark even allowed his Dad to shoot his beautiful brand new maple-stocked heavy gun. It was obvious that Phil knew what he was doing as he scored in the 240+ range in each match. Good shooting, Phil. If you have never seen REALLY accurate .22 LR rifles in competition before, come on out next match and join us. Heck, bring your squirrel rifle and have a go at it! Couldn’t hurt! Ray Wight
MATCH
REPORT – April 28, 2007
In Sporter Class, our local shooter, Mark Rickertsen took first place honors followed closely by Elmer Laitala & Herb Smith. Mark shot a very respectable 248, quite high for the Sporter. 
The ten-and-a-half pound class was captured
by Herb Smith, one of our best area shooters. Hot on his heels
though were Ron Gilsrud and Mark Rickertsen. Also closely contested
was the 13.5# class in which Ron Gilsrud squeezed by Ray Wight.
These two were followed closely by Dave Weier & Mark Rickertsen,
who had one wonderful day of shooting with a first, a third place
and a fourth place finish! Congratulations Mark.
END
OF SEASON REPORT - 2006 The final match for 2006 was held on Saturday, September 2nd. Ten shooters sat down at our benches at 10:00 am to begin the competition. There was a light drizzle with very light, but erratic, wind with temps in the 60’s and 70’s. Mark Rickertsen continues to shoot his ULA Sporter very well, taking first in the Sporter Class along with 2nd in the 10.5#, 3rd in the 13.5# class, 2nd in the Two Gun and 2nd in the Three Gun. Good shooting Mark! Our other winners were Dean Bircher at 10.5# and Ron Gilsrud (by a whisker over Herb) in the 13.5# class. Ron and Herb tied in their score and their X count, so the deciding factor was the first missed ten-ring on their targets. Ron won that tie-breaker. We also crowned our Class Champions for 2006 in the post match ceremony. Here are the final standings: Sporter Class: First Place, Dave Weier – by only six X’s over Mark Rickertsen, both with 1200 scores. In third was Harley Baumeister with 1183 and fourth, Dale Ross with 1072 Ten & one-half pound class: First Place, Harley Baumeister (1207), by only five points over Mark Rickertsen (1202). In third was Dave Weier (1198) and Dale Ross was in fourth at 1169. Thirteen & one-half pound class: First Place, Dave Weier (1209), by a single point over Harley B. (1208). Third was Mark Rickertsen (1187). Fourth was Dale Ross (1176). Our Shooter of the Year was Herb Smith with a whopping 2943 score. That equates to 245.3 average for the 12 matches included in the SOTY scoring. In second place was Ron Gilsrud at 2925 (243.8 average). Close behind were Dave Weier at 2896 and Mark Rickertsen in fourth with a 2894. You can see by these numbers that every shot, every point and every X throughout the entire season is important. We will start our 2007 season in April next spring. Hopefully, there will be more shooters coming out to test their skills with a 22 LR rifle. Have a great winter. Ray Wight, MATCH
REPORT – AUGUST 26, 2006
Other winners were Herb Smith, in the 10.5# class with a near perfect 249-14x; and Ray Wight in the Sporter Class with a 247-13x.
Ray
Wight, MATCH
REPORT – APRIL 2006 This first match of the 2006 season proved that exquisite weather conditions do not necessarily translate into low scores at the target. We had a very nice day with light jackets being sufficient for comfort. The swirly winds were light and variable and the sun was shining, for the most part. So ends the good news! Those light winds were deadly on our targets. Scores were generally 5 to 10 points lower than the nice conditions would have indicated to the casual observer. Most of the thirteen competitors never quite figured out the right combination of flag angles and wind velocity to shoot higher scores. The Sporter match and the 10.5# class were won by Herb Smith. Ron Gilsrud took the trophy for the 13.5# class. Following along closely behind the winners were John DeBoom from northwestern Iowa, Dean Bircher (our octogenarian shooter) and Ray Wight, from Hutchinson. Our next match is May 27th. Come join us! Ray Wight, MATCH
REPORT – SEPTEMBER 2005 Attached
are the results of the September
match at Gopher Campfire Club. MATCH REPORT – JUNE
4, 2005 
Despite the cloudbursts that soggified our target paper, making scoring a meticulous challenge, the conditions were very soft - at least from a historical perspective at this range. Herb Smith, who has been in a "groove" lately (just check with the guys at the IL Regionals), sent us all packing with three beauties. Herb began with a nearly perfect 249 - 14x target in Sporter, then backed off only slightly in the heavy guns with another near miss 249 -12x and a nice 248 - 15x. Now, I don't know about you, but, to me, to lose only four points through three targets while racking up 41 x's is SUPER shooting!!! Congratulations, Herb! After that kind of performance, all the rest of us could do was stand and watch in awe while our targets got scored in the mid-240's and lower. Today, Herb was in a different zone than the rest of the field. Well, maybe tomorrow at Minnetonka somebody will step up to take away his crown. Stay tuned.
MATCH REPORT – May
14, 2005
Ray Wight, Rangemaster APRIL
2005 GOPHER CAMPFIRE Through some very difficult wind conditions nine shooters competed in the inaugral 2005 IR50/50 matches at Gopher on 9th. There were representatives from both MN and IA, with the WI contingent down in Holmen, WI attending their first match of the year. Class winners were Herb Smith in Sporter Class with a 237 or a possible 250; John DeBoom (Iowa) in the 10.5# Class with a 241 (the only score of the day on the north side of 240 which tells how tough the wind conditions really were); and John also took the 13.5# Class with a 238 score. Therefore, to no one’s surprise, John went back to Iowa with the Two Gun title. Herb hung around the top closely enough to capture the Three Gun win. John is a relatively new shooter who only started IR50/50 last season. Over the winter, he built two new rimfire bench rest rifles, a sporter and a 10.5# rifle. He is obviously an excellent machinist (his day job) based on the way he shot here that day. Our next match will be held on May 14th starting at 9:00 am. Come join us. Ray Wight, Last Updated: 06-30-2007 |
For
the first match of the year at Gopher Campfire, thirteen competitors
arrived from all over MN, plus Iowa and WI. The weather, for
April, was accommodating with dry conditions and light to moderate
winds. The conditions were switchy enough to cause some shooters
to misread the effect on the bullets and scores were slightly
lower than normal. 
Under
some mild shooting conditions (unusual for Gopher Campfire),
ten competitors shot some excellent scores led by our almost-octogenarian
gunsmith, Dean Bircher, from Pine City, MN who fired a perfect
score of 250 in the thirteen and one half pound class. As near
as anyone remembers, Dean is the first shooter to have a repeat
250 at Gopher Campfire, having shot one here last season also.
There have only been five perfect scores reported in the eight
years of IR50/50 competition at this range. Dean now has two
of them. Dean almost made it a clean sweep in the heavy gun classes
by recording a very nice 248-14 for second place in the earlier
ten and one half pound class.
Next
week, September 2, will be our final match of the 2006 season.
Come out at 10:00 am and join us, or just watch and kibitz if
you would prefer!
Wow,
what a miserable day for shooting. But, on the bright side, it
was better to be shooting than say, cleaning gutters! Even though
I was wearing insulated undies, a hooded sweatshirt and down
jacket, I was glad to be off the line and in the clubhouse while
the 2nd relay shot their match. Low 40’s, rain and wind
did not create ideal conditions! Brrrrr!
The
individual winners were: Sporter class – Herb Smith; Ten
and non-half pound class – Ray Wight; Thirteen and one-half
pound class – Dale Ross.
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