SEMNO High Masters Shooting Team

The program for the 2017 Winter Mid-Range Prone League is available:   2017 Winter Mid-Range Prone League Program.

The league will operate on Saturday mornings in March and April of 2017 depending on the weather.  If the temperature is greater than 30 degrees F, and the wind-chill shows a felt temperature of greater than 25 degrees F, and it is not raining (snow is okay!), then the match will run.  In order to give every one an opportunity to attend, we will make the call to run or not on the Friday preceding the match by 9:00 AM, where possible.

This league opens the potential to get out and check out new equipment, or to just shake the cobwebs out of your gear.

Although the weather tends to be somewhat variable during the months of March and April, we generally find at least three (3) dates to shoot, often more.

Well, it happened.  Favorable weather occurred for the New Year’s Eve Match. Unfortunately, I was under the weather and couldn’t attend.

However, we had five shooters, four of which reported scores.

2016 New Years Eve Match Final Results

Some surprisingly good scores for cold weather.

Lastly, we now have the technology to show scores as fired in the 600 Yard Range club house (which is heated….).

The Annual Foul Weather Rifle Match was held at the Midland County Sportsman’s Club on November 26, ,2016.  The day started out cool, but sunny.  Unfortunately, as the day progressed it became overcast, and the temperature began to drop.

Five shooters in total competed, Three F-TR and two sling any rifle shooters.  The high F-TR shooter was Scott Burr with a 396-17X.  High sling shooter was Jake Bondy with a 398-17X.

Results:

2016-foul-weather-rifle-match

On a late October day that could best be described as a one in thousand, we were dry, and almost 70, we had ten (10) shooters, and five (5) Explorers. We used four (4) Silver Mountain Targets and the five explorers as score keepers. Basically, we had a good time, and our targets worked flawlessly.

The high F-TR shooter was Doug Boyer, with a 588-15. The high any rifle (Sling) shooter was Jake Bondy, with a 598-29.

2016-halloween-bsa-charity-match

Based upon a generous contribution from Solomon Diving, and the proceeds of the match, a total of $400 was presented to the members of the Midland Explorer Crew by Ray Gross.

 

Due to the unavailability of personnel to run the match on the 8th of October, we have postponed the final league match for 2016 one week to October 15, 2016.

 

On Saturday, September 3, 2016 we had a spectacular day for a shoot.  Gentle winds, sunny, nice temperature in the 70’s, and the biggest turn out in over a decade (last one this big was a Charity match that ended up being only 15 shots due to the worst weather we’ve ever shot in).

We experienced a lot of issues with our targets.  There appeared to be issues with WIFI connectivity at the 300 yard line, and two targets that would not record hits.  After multiple reboots, and some temporary resquadding, we managed to muddle through only two yard lines.  All competitors have our apologies for the problems.  We will continue to work with the manufacturer to resolve our issues.

Nonetheless, some very good scores were fired.  In the F-TR category, John Roethlisberg out Xed Tom Hagle with a 398-23X over a 398-15X. John becomes the 2016 Michigan Mid-Range Prone F-TR Champion.  Tailing those two was Bob Lorenz with a 394-22X.

In the Any Rifle category, Gary Duda out paced the crowd with a 397-22X besting second place Jake Bondy by one “X”.  Gary becomes the 2016 Michigan Mid-Range Prone Any Rifle Champion.  It is notable that Gary is in his 60’s, and winning his first State Championship.  Watch out for those old guys….

2016-mid-range-prone-championship-final-results

John Roethlisber and Tom Hagle shaking hands after the match.  John won the State F-TR Mid Range Prone Championship on X’s.

Gary Duda being congratulated by Leo Cebula from MCSC on winning the State Any Rifle Mid-Range Prone Championship.

Jake Bondy being congratulated by Leo on second place in the State Any Rifle Mid-Range Prone Championship.

This month we had our share of excitement.  First we had targets that wouldn’t run (something about a humid day, or maybe it was sun spots??).  At any rate we managed to finish with 3 of the 5 operational.  Still made for a quick competition (relatively speaking), and no one needed to pull targets.

In the F-Class arena, two 200-19X strings were posted.  John Roethlisberger, and Robert Lorenz were able to nail the nineteen “X” clean.  For John it was just a part of a “hall of fame” day by posting a 600-45X.  I do not even remember an F-Open shooting posting a 600 at Midland previously (if there was one, contact me, and I will retract this).

It is notable that John Pierce finally sold John Roethlisberger the rifle that he had been using.  So, John can beat John using his own rifle, instead of using John’s rifle to beat John.  Who’s on first?

In the Any Rifle Land, Peter Church and Jake Bondy both nailed a 599-34X.  In reviewing the rules for breaking ties, this one appears to be settled with rule: 15.4(c)4, the value of the shots in inverse order.  With this Peter wins with a X on his third to last shot, vice Jake’s 10.

SMRP Match 3

For those of you attending Mid-Range Prone, or Long-Range at Camp Perry, best of luck.  For those going to Canada for the F-Class or Fullbore Championships, best of luck, too!

Our next match is the Michigan Mid-Range Prone Championship on September 3, 2016 (Day after MSU opens against Furman – who the hell is Furman?).  Program for the match is available here.

Dan Altman, one of our members, made the cut-off for the 2016 United States Dewar Team during the iron sight phase of the 2016 U.S. National Smallbore Rifle Prone Championship.

Dan, shown below firing the match, was coached by another SEMNO Member, Ken Potter.

We have rescheduled the July 16, 2016 Mid-Range Prone League Match to July 30, 2016.

This action is being taken to avoid a conflict with the Dale Sunderman Memorial Match at MTC.