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Osage Orange
Sharpshooters
News - April 2002
-----Upcoming
Activities
April 17, 5:00 PM - - SBC, Summer League Matches
May 4, 8:00 AM - - Dalton Range: League Matches
May 15, 5:00 PM - - SBC, Summer League Matches
June 15, 8:00 AM - - Dalton Range: League Matches
----Summer
League Matches
Our summer league starts Wednesday, April 17. There is a formal
announcement tacked onto this newsletter. Basically, these matches
are a chance to shoot in competition at a very low cost in a
very low-key environment. You supply (or buy from us) your own
ammunition. Targets cost fifty cents each. Pasters are free.
Use as many or as few targets as you want. There is no entry
fee at Bois D'Arc, but we may have to charge a small fee at Springfield
Benchrest Club. We'll have both small bore sporter and a Garand
matches at each meeting. Of course, there will always be a bit
of extra time if you want to sight-in your deer rifle.
-----Other
Matches
Joplin Rifle and Pistol Club has their monthly high power match
on April 21 at 1:30 PM. Be there about 1 PM to register. We often
have a few Osage Orange members attending, so ride-sharing is
possible.
The St. Louis Benchrest
Club has a 200, 300, 600 yard match on May 18, as well as the
Missouri Service Rifle Championship on June 22 and 23. Pre-register.
The Bucksnort Shooting
Club in Marshall, MO hosts the Missouri Regional High Power Championship
on May 4 and 5. Pre-register.
In Tulsa, the Red Castle
Gun Club is holding a 90 shot "Commonwealth Meeting",
with is a prone match at 300, 500, and 600 yards on April 20.
This is an excellent chance to try shooting at the longer distances
without any pressure on you. Be there by 8:30 to register.
I'll be going to all the
high power events listed above, so if you want to link up, let
me know.
-----Safety
We have our "open bolt indicators" (OBI), a yellow
plastic flag that goes into the breech of your rifle to demonstrate
that it is safe. Each club member gets one free. Unfortunately,
we ran out at the Garand match. Make sure to get one when you
attend a meeting. Additional OBIs cost $1.00.
-----Patches
and Decals
We have sew-on and iron-on patches with the Osage Orange logo,
as seen on our web page. Each member gets one the first time
he or she joins the club. New members probably didn't know that,
and I have neglected to inform you We generally bring a few to
the matches, so check with Mike Thorn or Bill Corcoran at the
next match you attend to get yours. Additional patches cost $2.00
(I think).
Les Welch has proposed
that we purchase some decals of the logo. He has a friend that
can manufacture these for around $2.00 each. We'll have Les report
back on minimum order size and final cost, then we'll vote on
it.
-----Training
Videos
The club now owns the 3-video marksmanship set available from
the CMP. These 3 videos cover just about everything there is
to cover in competitive shooting. The Army Marksmanship shooters
go through the positions, one by one, demonstrating all the fine
points of shooting.
We will loan these out
to club members. To begin with, let's just say that they'll be
housed at Bill Corcoran's house (804 S. Pickwick, Springfield,
862-8618, call anytime). I recommend borrowing one video at a
time. They are exhaustive and exhausting to watch. Whoever borrows
a video should bring it with him to the meetings so that they
can be passed around.
-----Ammunition
and Targets
My response to a couple of members about purchasing ammunition
and targets may have been unclear, so let me take a moment of
your time to bring all new members (and some old) up to speed
on how we handle sales. We keep several thousand rounds of ammunition
(.30-06, .30 Carbine, and some .308) and some clips on inventory
as a service to members. We want to sell you this ammo, and we
want to encourage you to shoot by selling it at no markup over
CMP prices. We do this so that people can come to our meetings
and purchase their ammunition as they need it. Also, there is
very little commercially loaded ammunition appropriate for use
in the M1. Sometimes a member wants to purchase significantly
more than the 55 or 60 rounds we shoot in a match, and he might
find I'm not real cooperative. The reason is that if a member
can afford to do this, he probably would be happier purchasing
his own bulk lot of ammo from the CMP. It's kind of a trade off.
We want you to buy the ammo (else my basement will never get
cleaned out, and the club won't get its money back), but we also
want to be able to provide the opportunity for match shooting
every month. We don't want to be a bulk ammo supplier. My fondest
hope is that we would sell about 20 people ammo at every meeting.
Our prices this year will be $15 per bag of 56 loose cartridges,
$5.50 per box of 20, and $16 for 3 boxes. These prices are below
what the CMP is currently charging. By the way, the CMP expects
to sell out its .30-06 surplus this year. After that it will
sell commercial (Federal American Eagle 150 grain, at $0.43 per
round).
Targets cost us about $0.47
each. We charge fifty cents per target at matches. We have sold
them to members for practice at $1.00 each, as long as our inventory
is sufficient. Right now our inventory is very low. It should
get better in a couple of weeks.
-----Small
Bore Sporter Matches
There is a new match being promoted by the CMP see:
http://www.odcmp.com/Services/Competitions/CMPGamesOfficialProgram.PDF
This is the small bore match we will be shooting at each of the
summer league shoots. It is limited to non-target .22 caliber
rifles. You may use iron or telescopic sights but scopes must
be 6X or less (variables must be focused to 6X or lower). No
adjustable or thumb hole stocks are allowed, and rifle weight
with sights and sling must not exceed 7.5 lbs. The trigger must
lift at least 3 lbs. No heavy shooting coats The course of fire
is:
1) 5 sighters,
2) 10 rounds slow prone
3) 10 rounds rapid prone (shot in 2 separate 5 round
strings
4) 10 rounds slow sitting or kneeling
5) 10 rounds rapid sitting or kneeling (shot in 2 separate 5
round strings)
6) 10 rounds slow standing
7) 10 rounds rapid standing (!!!) (shot in 2 separate 5
round strings).
All strings of fire use
the International 50 meter pistol target (B-19) at 50 yards,
except that the target is moved to 25 yards for both stages of
the standing position. In rapid fire, the shooter starts standing.
Semi-auto rifles get 25 seconds per string, and manually operated
rifles get 35 seconds per string. This game sounds like a hoot.
April 17 will be the first time we try it (concurrently with
the high power match).
-----Small
Bore Rifles
We ordered 3 Mossberg 44 .22 caliber rifles ($75 each plus maybe
another $130 total for magazines, slings, and trigger guards).
These rifles will be available for use by Juniors wishing to
shoot with us but lacking their own rifles. By the way, .22 caliber
ammunition is free to Juniors competing in our matches.
A note from Swampy.... The Mossberg model US-44
.22 rifles are really neat and accurate rimfire rifles. You sure
can't beat the price of $75 each. I have several of them and
they are all more accurate than my M1's.
If you want one or more of these, time is running short. CMP
has announced that the Mossbergs will all be sold by the middle
of the Summer. Better get your order in now. See the CMP website
for full details..... or call me at 869-0025 and ask me about
mine. |
-----Small
Bore Training Resources
The Missouri Sport Shooting Association hosts a small bore training
camp for junior shooters each summer. This year's camp is June
13, 14, 15, and 16 at the Bucksnort Rifle Range near Marshall
MO. Contact Bill Corcoran or call John Leinberger (573-943-6632)
if you have a youngster interested in competitive shooting.
The CMP sponsors a whole
host of small bore and air rifle stuff for Juniors. The club
president gets a quarterly newsletter on Junior shooting which
is quite informative. I'd be glad to give it to anyone with children.
-----John
C. Garand Match
The April 6 JCG match was the biggest yet. We had 28 shooters,
including 3 juniors. Wouldn't it be nice to have 40 in October?
The results are attached to this newsletter. Jack Johannes took
first place with a 457-6X, while our own Steve Milholland was
right behind with a 453-8X. Joe Gleason took 3rd with a 443,
and Eugene Spears was the 4th place cash prize winner with a
428. Additional prizes of ammunition were given to the 8th, 13th
and 20th places (George Corder, David Fuller, and Paul Kemm respectively).
Reviewing the scores, it looks like Doug Vandevoir tied with
David Fuller for 13th place, so we owe Doug a prize also. The
junior shooters got Osage Orange patches for their participation.
We missed the Mead brothers (they have the scoreboard), and I
forgot to bring our banner to post over the range. However, cool
statistical work from Kent Ward, and a general attitude of congeniality
by all competitors helped make this a fun time for all, especially
the match director.
The CMP will be sending
certificates for all competitors who fired in the match. You
may/must use this certificate in purchasing a rifle from the
CMP.
-----Notary
Services
Our long-suffering Secretary/Treasurer, Mike Thorn, has recently
been enabled as a Notary Public. So if you need to get a CMP
affidavit notarized, or if you need notary services on a rifle
purchase form for CMP, you can get the paperwork done at our
meetings. Mike usually makes most of the meetings, but he frequently
works away from home, so it might not be a bad idea to e-mail
him a few days or a week ahead of time if you will need his services
at the meeting : bunkhouselow@earthlink.net
Reminder
If you are getting this by U.S. Mail, we don't have an e-mail address for you. If that's the way you want it,
fine, but if you do have e-mail, it would save time, money, and
effort if we could get you the newsletter that way.
Bill Corcoran (417) 862-8618
wtc928f@smsu.edu
http://www.swampworks.com/OsageOrange.html |