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Osage Orange
Sharpshooters 2003 Updated Schedule - Online at www.swampworks.com/OsageOrange.html Osage Orange
Sharpshooters Events Events at
Springfield Benchrest Club Other Matches
You Should Consider NEW and IMPROVED
Club Matches The Carbine Rattle Battle was interesting, to say the least. The Carbine has never been considered a "match rifle," and it's lack of accuracy kept a few people screaming at all times. We had 4 teams of 5 shooters each…what a great turnout. Enough people brought extra Carbines, and we shot in 2 relays, so that there was no problem with everyone having a rifle. Everybody got to sight in the Carbine he or she was using, and then it was off to the races. It is possible to shoot very fast with the Carbine, since it has almost no recoil. Unfortunately, it is hard to hit anything with it. Actually, for its intended purpose (replacing a pistol) the Carbine is quite accurate. But we were using it on targets reduced to give the impression of an enemy at 500, 300, and 200 yards. Nonetheless, some people even hit the target. Next year we will institute a completely new game: the Osage Orange Carbine Rattle Battle. In the spirit of the John C. Garand Match, the Carbine Rattle Battle will all be shot on the 200 yard 'F' target. We'll shoot prone, sitting, and standing, and award 3 points for a standing hit, 2 points for a sitting hit, and 1 point for a prone hit. In fact, since the balloon shoot was so roundly despised last year, maybe we'll do the Carbine match for the "Fun Shoot" in February. Camp Perry
Report First, on Tuesday, was the Presidents Match, 30 rounds (200, 300, 600 yards, standing, rapid prone, slow prone), no sighters, 1300 competitors. Bill Corcoran finished 215th, and if he could stand on his hind legs and shoot could have made the coveted Presidents 100. But then, if a frog had wings, it wouldn't bump its…. Les Welch finished 706th, Jerry Patten 784th, Jeff Patten 906th, and Thomas Reemes, firing a rifle that was new to him, finished 992nd, a notable accomplishment. James Thorn and Eugene Spears both had trouble getting their rifles on paper at these distances. On Wednesday we had the National Trophy Individual, or Leg match, 50 shots,(200, 300, 600, standing, sitting, rapid prone, slow prone). Les Welch finished with a 475 out of 500, placing 309th out of 1280 competitors. More importantly, he was 104th out of 965 Non-distinguished competitors, shooters who have not achieved the Distinguished Rifleman's badge. The top 10 percent of non-distinguished shooters earn 10 points towards the badge (it takes 30 to achieve), and once the CMP finishes sorting out the folks who earned their Distinguished badges this summer, Les will probably earn 10 points. The rest of us had mild disasters in this match, and there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth in the hut that night. Except for Les. Friday, Les didn't shoot the Springfield/Bolt Rifle match, as he and Thomas Reemes shot with the Kansas Team in a match held concurrently with the Bolt Rifle match. Bill Corcoran cranked the old 03A3 to finish 29th out of 540 competitors. Mike Thorn finished 109th, and Jerry Patten finished 178th for other good finishes. The CMP gives honorary medals depending on score, not finishing place, and Mike and Bill earned gold medals. I believe Jerry got a silver. Jeff Patten finished 35th out of 74 shooters with foreign bolt rifles in this match. Jeff shot a straight-pull Swiss rifle, nicknamed the "Swiss miss." Eugene finished 47th in this match, I believe with a Mauser. Saturday was the big day for the OOS, the Rattle Battle followed by the John C. Garand match. We had our troubles in the Rattle Battle. Some of us didn't have good zeroes on our sights at these distances. Some of us used 30 round magazines that gave some trouble, and some of us hadn't shot at unfamiliar distances, positions, and targets. However, the shooting team of Les Welch, Thomas Reemes, Eugene Spears, Jeff Patten, Mike Thorn, and Jerry Patten scored 653 points to finish 40th out of 62 teams. The wind call by the coach is critical in this match, as the coach has to yell at the shooters how much windage to put on the sights immediately before they start shooting. Fortunately, we were the last relay of the morning, so we got to watch everybody else shoot first. By then, with lots of consultation, we all pretty much agreed on the wind call. And to top it off, Mike Borkon, one of the better Kansas shooters, stopped by to help us out as an assistant coach. Mike is an excellent wind reader and his expertise helped. Our score was modest, and we had a number of targets with no hits on them (ouch!), but we beat every one of the 5 teams entered by the Garand Collecters Association, including Team Culver. Other teams we beat included the Navy Blue, Navy Gold, and the Oklahoma Rifle Association. Finally, they also served who stood and watched: James Thorn was in the pits scoring our targets, and he got to see his father miss the target in real time. We would all like to thank the Osage Orange Sharpshooters for letting us represent you as a team at the National Matches. We hope this tradition will continue. There is no reason the OOS couldn't finish in the top half of the Rattle Battle, and that will be next year's goal. I hope that everyone reading this will consider attending. I also hope next year we have a club flag to grace our presence. The final event for most of us (Thomas and Monica left early) was the John C. Garand match. Les once again covered himself in glory, finishing 94th out of 1230 competitors. Bill Corcoran finished 121st, and both got gold medals. Jerry Patten finished 375th and also got a medal while beating Jeff who finished 485th. Eugene Spears had his best performance of the week, shooting a 251 out of 300 and finishing 667th. The match was delayed so the Golden Knights Parachute Team could jump on to the range for the100th year celebration, and we didn't get off the range until 8:30pm after a long, hot, tiring day. Great Outdoors
Day John C. Garand
Match We will have an awards ceremony after the event, so if you end up on the first relay, please stay around and help score targets and put the range away so you can be ready to receive your award. I hope to have cash prizes for the winners and random drawings for shooting paraphernalia for all match competitors. If you have any strong ideas about the kind of prizes you'd like to see, let me know. Next Year's
Schedule Smallbore
Matches in Billings Bill Corcoran wtc928f@smsu.edu
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