SEMNO High Masters Shooting Team

Okay, we did do it.  Maybe not terribly successfully, but we did do it.

I guess that I should have been suspicious when I ran into the “white out” in Flint in I-75 while driving to the range.  Maybe when it happened again on US 10 driving towards Midland.  I think I should have taken the hint.  Mother Nature doesn’t like me, or the Winter Mid-Range, or the Midland County Sportsman’s Club.

However, we didn’t take the hint.

Didn’t have a lot of shooters (they must have read the weather report better than I did).  But we shot 2 F-classers, and 2 sling shooters.  Neither of the F-classers did enough shots to report a score, but Jake Bondy nailed a 199 with sling, and I did a 148 for 15 shots with sling.

We ultimately had only one target operational.  We are coming to the conclusion that we are doing something wrong.  Moreover, we had a tough time trying theories due to several “white-outs”, where we could not see the targets.

For your chuckles I have some pictures below:

On Good Friday, March 25, 2016, we installed our five Silver Mountain Targets at the Midland County Sportsman’s Club.

For any of you southern boys looking at our pictures, the white stuff is snow. Midland had been graced with a late season snow fall the day before we had scheduled to install the Targets.

We are planning to “Go Live” (as they would say in SAP land) with the targets for a league match on April 2, 2016, providing Mother Nature cooperates.

We thank all those who helped with the process!

The league for 2016 is complete except for the Shoot-Off.  Please review the scores for the individual matches and report any issues.

2016 SC Match 1 – Irons

2016 SC Match 2 – Irons

2016 SC Match 3 – Irons

2016 SC Match 4 – Any

2016 SC Match 5 – Any

2016 SC Match 6 – Any

The Shoot-Off will be held on April 9, 2016 at the Jackson County Sportsman’s Club (See Events for directions and maps).  We will start at 9:00 AM, but will try to have the range open at 8:00 AM.

Shoot-Off qualifiers are: Nevius, Altman, Duda, Cebula, Potter, Pardini, Gorby, Piatek, Remsnyder, and Root.

*F-Class

The 2015 Match Schedule for the Midland County Sportsman’s Club is now posted. Click on the “Events” tab and the matches are arranged by date.  Included are the Winter League (mentioned in a previous note), the Suburban Mid-Range League (summer), the Michigan Fullbore Championship, the Michigan Mid-Range Prone Championship, the Halloween BSA Charity Match, and the Annual Foul Weather.

We believe the majority of these matches will be held using Silver Mountain Targets. We ask that you bring devices that can be used to access the computer system to use during the match.  Both the shooter and the score keeper will require devices.

From our past experience most (almost all) Smart Phones (iPhone, Androids, etc.) can be used, as well as iPads, and other tablets.  By the time the majority of these matches are held we hope to be able to support the “Paper White Kindles”.  Those have the advantage of being more visible in bright light.

We believe we have a good program for matches this year.  Moreover, with the addition of the electronic targets we believe we will be able to run matches quickly and accurately.

Hope to see you on the line!

Tentative dates for the 2016 Winter Mid-Range Prone League are:

March 5, 2016; March 19, 2016; April 2, 2016; April 23, 2016; April 30, 2016

The program is available here:  2016 Winter Mid-Range Prone League Program

Remember these dates are tentative until you see on this site a notice that the match will be run.  Those postings are normally made on the Friday morning prior to the match on Saturday.  The decisions to shoot or not are based upon the weather forecast.  

Hopefully, Mother Nature will be kind to us this year!

Just like Christmas, this comes but once a year.  We are once again scheduling a New Year’s Eve shoot.

And once again, we are cancelling.  Per Weather.com the temperature at 10:00 AM will be 29 degrees F, and the wind chill will drop it to about 21 degrees F.  Those temperatures are below our minimums, so we are cancelling.

I will admit some of our most spectacular New Year’s Eve matches have fallen on days where we decided to ignore the minimums, but given our track record this year, I suspect we might see weather even colder than advertised.

Watch this spot, we’ll be scheduling the winter league matches starting in March.

Have a Happy New Year!

 

“Weather shows over 30 degrees F at 10:00 AM and only minor windchill.  So, load up some ammo, grab your gear, say good-bye to the in-laws, and come on out!  Be sure to dress warmly!”

The weatherman was a liar.  I suspect it got over 30 by the time we finished, but before that it was just plain cold.  Like damn cold.

However, we had seven (7) shooters, four (4) F-Class, and three (3) Sling.  It may be a sign of the apocalypse, but John Pierce shot this match with a Palma Rifle. Yeah, really with a sling and everything.  He didn’t get the sling on his arm correctly at first, but finally caught on.  I suspect this will be like my trips to Grayling.  You have to go every 3-5 years just to remember why you don’t go.

Had a couple of good scores during the match, Doug Boyer, firing a .223 F-TR Rifle fired a 400-18X.  Chris Whitney fired a 395-19X with a couple of any rifles (sling).  Given the frozen fingers, both scores were outstanding.  With the lack of cleans with F-TR, Doug’s score is doubly impressive.

2015 Annual Foul Weather Rifle Match Results

On a closing note, hopefully everyone noticed that MSU beat PSU 55-16 to win the East Division of the Big Ten in football.  Off to the Big Ten Championship next weekend.  The other Michigan team lost (I was politically correct here, and didn’t refer to them as the AA from Ann Arbor).  Go Green!

The Board of Directors at the Midland County Sportsman’s Club approved the purchase of five (5) Silver Mountain Targets during their November meeting.  As a result the club is providing a deposit to Stallings Machine (the Right Sight people and importers of the Silver Mountain Targets).

We would expect delivery and deployment in time for the summer league in 2016. Perhaps before.

Watch for more details here…..

The 2015 BSA Halloween Charity Match was conducted on November 7, 2015 at the Midland County Sportsman’s Club in Midland, Michigan.  The normal Halloween date was postponed due to the F-Class Nationals, which just completed.

It was a cold, windy day, top temperature was in the high forties, but a good deal of gusty wind chilled the competitors.  Several shooters had weird shots appear a good distance off call for a shot or two, and then end up back in the “X” without a change.  Just an odd day.  However, it was still better than working….

The F-TR winner was Doug Boyer with a 590-12X, with John Luitink winning the Any Rifle category with a 593-29X.

With the contributions of Solomon Diving, the Midland County Sportsman’s Club, and the Michigan Rifle and Pistol Association more than $600 was contributed to the Venture Crew.

2015 Halloween BSA Charity Match Final

Okay, it was the 17th of October.  It felt like the 17th of December.  We started in the mid-thirties, and ended in the low forties.  However, with the wind it was at times biting.  With everyone and their uncle on the way to Phoenix for the F-Class Nationals, attendance was light.

Four sling shooters, and 1.33 F-classers.  Just enough for an equal number of shooters and pit pullers.

Jake Bondy continues to drill ’em with his .223, a nice 598-35X to lead the sling shooters.  Tony Perry was the high of the 1.33 F-classers with a 540-4X.  Ray Gross was the 1/3 shooter, he only fired one twenty shot string.

2015 SMRP Match 5

Did I mention the near snow (ice crystals) that was falling when we finished?  Frankly, I was pleased to get back into my warm Mustang, and wasn’t tempted at all to put the top down.

Next match is the Halloween BSA Charity Match on November 7, 2015.  Come on out, and bring your friends.  We will get pit service, and the Explorer Crew from Midland should make some money to assist in their activities for 2015-2016.