Osage Orange Sharpshooters
News May '03

2003 Updated Schedule - Online at www.swampworks.com/OsageOrange.html

Osage Orange Sharpshooters Events
May 31 Sat 8 AM Dalton Range - Club Match
Jun 28 Sat 8 AM Dalton Range - Club Match
Jul 26 Sat 8 AM Dalton Range - Club Match
Aug 23 Sat 8 AM Dalton Range - Club Match
Sep 13 Sat 8 AM Dalton Range - Club Match
Oct 4 Sat 8 AM Dalton Range - JCG Match

Events at Springfield Bench Rest Rifle Club
Jun 11 Wed 5 PM Springfield BR - HP Match
Jul 8 Tue 5 PM Springfield BR - HP Match
Jul 31 Thur 5 PM springfield BR - HP Match
Aug 17 Sun  1 PM Springfield BR - Smallbore Sporter
Aug 28 Thu 5 PM Springfield BR - HP Match
Sep 7 Sun 1 PM Springfield BR - Smallbore Sporter
Sep 17 Wed 5 PM Springfield BR - HP Match
Oct 8 Wed  5 PM Springfield BR - HP Match

Other Matches You Should Consider
De Soto Kansas (between KC and Lawrence) has the Kansas High Power Championship Match Saturday, May 31. Les Welch will be there. The Missouri Regional is the same day in Marshall. Either one would be a good place to shoot. De Soto is a real user-friendly range and has extremely well-run matches.

On June 1, Sunday, both De Soto and Marshall have Leg matches, 50 rounds, no sighters, along with team matches. The team matches are especially good ways to start shooting the full course matches. You might want to watch the Leg match and shoot in the team match. Both Les and I will be at the Kansas matches on Sunday. Come on up and make up a team.

June 21/22 is the Missouri Service Rifle Championship in St. Louis. Sunday is a team match

June 28/29 is the Kansas Regional in De Soto. Sunday is a team match.

Ammunition Purchase
We have a bunch of Danish .30-06 on Garand clips in bandoleers. This is Berdan primed, so it is not reloadable. The Danish ammo is reputed to be some of the most accurate around. Club members may purchase it at the following prices: $3.00 per clip (8 rounds) or $15 per bandoleer (6 clips of ammo).

We have a good supply of GI .30 Carbine also. Price is $0.15 per round, $8 per box (of 50) or $15 for 2 boxes.

NEW and IMPROVED Club Matches
In the search for variety, I think we will try a couple of new events in our Saturday programs.

Those of us going to the National Trophy Matches at Camp Perry this summer are planning on shooting in the National Trophy Infantry Team (NTIT) match, also called the "rattle battle" because it is all rapid fire. We will try a modified version of the rattle battle at the July 26 club meeting. I've attached the rules (created by yours truly), and we will take great care to explain the rules as we go along. To put it in a nutshell, you shoot at a silhouette target simulating 600, 300, and 200 yards. 600 yards is shot prone, 300 is sitting, and 200 is standing. Of course, we will used reduced-size targets to give the same effect as the longer yardages. Everything is rapid fire, and you start in position with the gun loaded and ready to fire. The idea is get as many hits on target as possible in the time allotted. Hits from 600 yards count much more than hits from 200 yards, so you want to expend your ammo on the long line and have nothing left for the standing position. We will have the targets available for a "test drive" at the May 31 meeting.

The other thing I think we ought to do is hold a "Carbine Match" solely for the M1 Carbine. This would be a 30 shot John C. Garand "A" course of fire. Most of our members don't have Carbines, but I think we can gather enough together to have enough loaners for a match. I expect that most people would be shooting a loaner rifle. A number of club members have Carbines, and a bunch of these were bought as "club rifles". I would like all Carbine owners to volunteer to bring their rifles and loan them out. I have 3. Who else will help? I know we have at least 13 Carbines in the club, 9 of which were bought as club rifles. Please email me if you can help out.

Please note that I've scheduled the Rattle Battle for July 26, and the Carbine Match for August 23. At both of these matches we will first hold a 30 round John C. Garand Match (10 rounds each standing, rapid prone, and slow prone) for any rifles. So even if you don't want to participate in the special matches, you will get to shoot. We should have plenty of time to hold a 30 round match followed by the Carbine or rattle battle match.

We will give prizes for both of these new matches

Bill Corcoran wtc928f@smsu.edu


Rules for the Osage Orange Rattle Battle

1. 4 person teams, plus a captain to handle and allocate ammunition.

2. The 4 shooters engage 6 targets total. The middle 2 shooters engage one target each, while the leftmost and rightmost "swing" shooters engage 2 targets each.

3. At the command "Load and be ready" shooters will assume the position, load, and be fully ready to shoot. The next command will be "Fire!"

4. Course of fire:
a. Stage 1: Prone, E-Silhouette, 600 yards, reduced to 100 yards.
b. Stage 2: Sitting, F-Silhouette, 300 yards reduced to 100 yards
c. Stage 3: Standing, F-Silhouette, 200 yards reduced to 100 yards.
d. Between stages, shooters will make the line safe while another team retrieves the targets and hangs new ones. The following stage will begin immediately after the targets are retrieved.

5. Scoring: only hits are scored
a. Stage 1: 4 points per hit
b. Stage 2: 2 points per hit
c. Stage 3: 1 point per hit
d. At each stage, the number of targets with 6 or more hits is squared, and the result is added to the score.

6. 128 rounds of ammunition per team (16 clips)
a. The captain will allocate ammunition among shooters. Ammunition may be re-allocated between stages to take into account shooters' abilities.

b. Special rule for M1 Garands: After stages 1 and 2, the captain will consolidate any loose rounds into the smallest number of clips possible. Extra cartridges may be added to create a full clip if there are 1-7 loose rounds remaining, but only 128 rounds may be fired. (It is suggested that extra cartridges be ejected once the rifle is loaded.) The captain must keep track of extra rounds supplied. Each extra round fired will cause a reduction in score of 1 hit on the 600 yard target with most remaining hits.

Bill Corcoran (417) 862-8618 wtc928f@smsu.edu


RETURN to the Newsletter
and Other Info Page