The 2011 New Year's Eve Match was held at the Midland County Sportsman's Club in Midland, Michigan.  We had seven (7) competitors, four (4) F-TR, one (1) F-Open, and two (2) sling shooters.  The day for a New Year's Eve in Michigan was outstanding.  Temperatures were in the mid-thirties, and we had no precipitation.  The ground was damp or snow covered.  Come to think of it, it was damp and snow covered.  However, importantly it was warm enough to shoot without a glove on your trigger hand.  If the sun had been exposed a little longer, I would have considered working on my tan. 

The 600 yard firing points were still soft from the remodeling that was done earlier this year, so we fired the match at 500 yards.

We had a couple of notables:  1)  Our perennial F-Class winner Bret Solomon continued to perform, albeit a little lower than normal with a 395-14X, however, Ray Gross shooting F-TR shot a 394-18X almost catching Bret;  2)  Brad Sauve, firing F-TR, fired a 200-18X, good enough for a National Record; except this wasn't a registered match.  Good score though.  He followed that up with a 0-0X, 'cause he didn't have sufficient ammo to shoot the second match.  We had a momentary stir when John Pierce thought he had enough spare ammo for Brad to shoot, but John's ammo wouldn't chamber in Brad's rifle.  Like they like to say "plan ahead".

Less notable were the two sling weenies:  Leo Cebula, and Mike Quillinan.  After putting the first twenty rounds through a new barrel on the first Match (a carefully handled break-in, followed by twenty more rounds), Leo managed a 199-12X on the second, and a 395-17X for the high sling score for the day.

The 600 yard firing line	John Pierce and Al Walewski	Brad Sauve and John Pierce in the pits
Another shot in the pits	John Pierce shooting, Brad Sauver kneeling	Shot down the range from the 500 yard mound
John Pierce	Ray Gross (L) and John Pierce	The Boys of Winter: Mike Quilinan, Bret Solomon, Brad Sauve, Al Walewski, Ray Gross, John Pierce. Not pictured: Leo Cebula (cameraman)