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Osage Orange
Sharpshooters Notes for
Schedule 2. The symbols '$$' indicate an entry fee will be charged and ammunition will be issued to all competitors. 3. All matches shoot the CMP Garand-Springfield-Military Bolt Rifle (G-S-M) 'B' course of fire (5 sighters and 50 rounds for record), except March 15, July 19, and August 16. 4. The JCG matches in May and October may fill to capacity. Pre-registration is advised (see web page for form). All other matches are same-day registration. 5. The activities on Jan 19 and March 8 are classroom activities only. Osage Orange member wishing to shoot may use the range during these times after checking with the Conservation Dept. range personnel. 6. Ammunition available at cost to all members for personal use at the matches. GI .30-06 ($0.25 per round), .22 Aguila Super Extra ($2.00/50; $17/500). A limited supply of .223 Black Hills/68gr. Hornaday ($0.35 per round) is also available. 7. Juniors (aged 19 or under) may shoot for free, including ammunition.
Welcome-And
Look at the Matches!! We are all creatures of our personal history, and the history of the Osage Orange Sharpshooters is that we only dipped our toes into competitive shooting a little bit at a time. Our first matches (in 1998) were just club affairs, sometimes attended by only 5 or 6 people. It was a couple of years before we even thought about sending in registration papers to the CMP. Club tradition began with the idea of charging little or nothing to shoot in a match. Nobody was interested in winning prizes, and we all just wanted to see how well we could shoot. It's called 'friendly competition.' In the early years, we only gave prizes at the end of the year based on accumulated scores. After a couple of years we added the Spring and Fall John C. Garand Matches, which required a more formal registration and awards schedule. In the past few years, the CMP has initiated the Springfield, Rimfire Sporter, Military Vintage Bolt Rifle, and Carbine matches, all of which are of interest to Osage Orange members, so it is only natural that we should have some of these too. So now we have a full plate of matches to report to the CMP, and of course we always registered our Beginner's Clinic and Match. As long as we do all that, I have also registered our April and September matches. Now, you wonder, why all this emphasis on registering matches? Don't we just want 'friendly competition?' Well, sure, but economics always intervenes. As you probably have noticed, the CMP has raised ammunition prices. But clubs get a discount on ammunition, and when we register a match we get an additional allocation of ammunition at more deeply discounted price. So we will be able to continue to sell ammunition to club members for personal use at $0.25 per round for the foreseeable future. (For reference, CMP member prices are about $0.265 per round and club prices are about $0.23 per round. (Finally, as long as we're on the subject of ammunition prices, let me repeat a long-standing offer: if you want a case or more of ammunition, we will be happy to order it for you at club price-it takes a bit more planning and paperwork, but it's a good way to do it if you're planning on laying in a supply of ammo.) So even though the schedule looks to be mostly the same as in past years, from a match-director's point of view it is quite different. Every formal match will be listed on the CMP's web site, and it will require that we report our scores to the CMP. Of course, those wonderful score cards will be used for all these matches, and that will give us the opportunity, once again, to learn how to fill out paperwork completely.
Web Site I have a number of still rather vague ideas on our situation with the web. If you have some concepts or energy you can contribute, please speak up. You will not be given the task of doing the work (a favorite bureaucratic ploy), but I'd certainly like to hear your ideas. Note from Swampy.... Guys, I have thoroughly enjoyed maintaining the OOS website over the years and still do... unfortunately, with the way my life is now since taking over the JLK Bullets and then becoming a single parent at the ripe old age of 52 I just don't have time to maintain it like I used to do. The website is a great addition for our club and I think it should be kept up better than I've been able to do over the last 2 years. The issue of the scores in particular is sticky one. While I don't mind taking a few minutes a half dozen times a year to post Bill's newsletter to the group the old table that I used to post scores on is very slow and cumbersome to update. Don't have time..... Earlier in '07 Bill and I tried NUMEROUS different formats and tables that would allow me to do a straight "cut & paste" to an html page, but nothing worked. They all had some rather severe formatting and display issues when I posted them to the website. After a while I just gave up. Now may be the time for the club to discuss having somebody else run the site. This might bring in some new blood and new software that might work a lot better than mine, and probably spiff up the looks fo the site as well. Best, Hats, Decals,
Patches, and Membership If you joined the Sharpshooters in the past couple of years and did not receive a patch and a decal/sticker as part of your first membership, please let me know at one of our events so we can make good on the promise. Many of us have OOS-logo shirts and hats purchased when some members put together a deal with businesses they knew. At this point in time, there are no planned purchases of hats or shirts. The original suppliers of these are out of business. If anyone has some connections or experience in this area, I believe there is some interest in getting hats, T-shirts, other shirts manufactured. Please bring any ideas you have to the meeting on January 5. The New Year Also please think about attending the other NRA highpower matches in our neighborhood. In particular, the Bucksnort Shooting Club in Marshall, Missouri always hosts the Regional, the Championship, and the Mid-range Championship on the same weekends each year (first weekend in May, last weekend in May (or first weekend in June if Memorial Day intervenes), and the first weekend in October. We usually have a pretty good contingent of OOS members attend, and you are cordially invited. We'll try to get an email announcement out when the entry forms arrive in March or April. The Joplin Rifle and Pistol Club hosts highpower matches the 3rd Sunday of every month at 9am, and many of us shoot there (starting in March). Joplin will also host 3 John C. Garand Matches (April 26, July 12, October 11) and 4 smallbore prone matches this year, so that's a lot of opportunity to shoot an still sleep in your own bed at night. Les Welch runs all these matches, and it's all pretty low key. Please come. Smallbore
Prone Matches Basically it's the same as highpower prone shooting except more civilized. You shoot from a covered shooting structure, on concrete (so be sure to bring an extra pad or rug for your elbow). Targets are shot at 50 or 100 yards and 50 meters. The target scoring rings are quite challenging, with the 100 yard target being the easiest, except that wind and mirage can play hob with the bullet on the way to the target. You shoot 20-shot strings with unlimited sighting shots; you may return to shooting sighters anytime you want (you have a separate sighting target). All that limits you is time. All the equipment you have may be used. A good smallbore prone rifle costs about as much as a good used car, so most of us won't have one, but the CMP rifles such as the H&R M-12, the Remington 40x, and even the Kimber 82 will work just fine. With some experimentation on ammunition, you should be able to make the Mossberg M44 competitive. You will want your rifle to group into the size of a nickel at 50 yards. At 100 yards, the MR-31 target we use in NRA highpower is very similar to the smallbore target. Take a look at the MR-31 at one of our matches for some ideas. Even try this: at 100 yards, your .22 should be able to hold the X-ring on the SR-1 target that we shoot with Garands and Springfields. If you have a rifle that will do that, you are ready to win the matches in Joplin. Do you have such a rifle? I have an H&R M12 along with a 40x, so one of those is available to loan out. The club owns 3 Mossberg M44s, so that's 3 more rifles that can be borrowed. See? There's no reason not to participate. Watch for more announcements on the Joplin smallbore prone matches. Course of fire: Any questions?? Contact... |