Osage Orange Sharpshooters

All activities start at 8AM at Bois D’Arc
(Andy Dalton Shooting Range)

1. Summer League Shoots:
Saturday, Sept. 8

2. John C. Garand Match
Saturday, October 13

3. Great Outdoors Day
Saturday, September 22

What a great turnout for our August meeting!! Again, thanks to Owen Young for all his work and investment on the patches. They look great.

Patches

All members are entitled to one "free" patch the first time they join the club. Additional patches may be purchased for $2.00 each. Some have an iron-on backing, and some are sew-on, your choice. The patch is a facsimile of the logo Steve Milholland put on the web page:

www.swampworks.com/OsageOrange.html.

We will have them for sale at every meeting.

Ammunition

For monthly league shoots we have 5 boxes (100 rounds) of 30-06, plus about 100 rounds in Ziploc bags of 55. We also have 3 cans (280 rounds each) of .30-06 on clips. M1 Carbine ammunition is down to 4 bandoleers (120 rounds each), and I will reserve 3 of these for the JCG match in October. Finally, we have 7 cans (280 rounds each) of .30-06 on clips which were our allocation (along with the carbine ammo) for the JCG match. That’s enough for about 35-40 participants. So we should be in good shape for September and October, but we will need to stock up for next year. I have enough cash in the envelopes from your purchases of ammo and targets ($425) that I will order a can of carbine ammo (1080 rounds, $150). For .30-06 I propose that we purchase from the CMP at 25 cents per round, delivered. Surplus Hungarian or Yugoslavian ammo is available (Taiwanese is corrosive) at about 21 cents a round delivered. I propose purchasing 2000 rounds from the CMP ($500).

You may also purchase your own ammo .CMP has M2 Ball in boxes, 400 rounds per can for $84.00 plus $15.50 shipping. That’s enough for 7 matches at 55 rounds each. Each member may purchase up to 4,000 rounds per year. The only reason we buy as a club is to have some on hand as a convenience for members and prospective members. See the Ammo Shopping Cart on the CMP web page for details.

Training Aids

The Army Marksmanship Unit has produced some videos on rifle and pistol shooting which CMP is selling. Total cost is $34.95. That gets you 3 videos on pistol shooting and 3 videos on rifle shooting. This sounds like something we might purchase as a club and then show at a clinic, as well as loan out to members.

The AMU and CMP have also produced 3 booklets (pistol, rifle, trap and skeet) on international shooting sports. Each goes for $3.95. I’ll try to get some to bring to a meeting. Perhaps this is another item we could give away with club membership.

Great Outdoors Day

We will be staffing booths for both the M1 Garand and the CMP .22 caliber rifles. I will bring an M1 and my H&R M-12 .22. Does anyone want to bring a carbine? I understand that last year we staffed about 4 or 5 booths.

I will circulate a sign-up sheet at the Sept. 8 meeting.

John C. Garand Match

We should have a large turnout for the JCG Match in October, so be sure to register early. We will use 2 relays, and the first relay will complete the entire match before the second relay begins. It would be a great help if the more-experienced shooters helped out the less-experienced, especially in scoring targets.

Perhaps a club member or acquaintance would take charge of putting up a scoreboard? We could use a piece or two of the white cardboard used for target backers; put everyone’s name on the board, then record the scores of the first relay. Having this posted down on the firing line might add a little excitement for the second relay.

At this point, it looks like prizes will consist of cash. Do you have any suggestions for good prizes? Anything you wish to donate? We have given prizes for first, second, and third place, as well as a random place or two (like eighth or twelfth), just to keep it interesting.

Information

You should now be able to find old copies of the newsletter as well as up-to-date scores from all our shoots on the web page.

Steve suggests that we also add an "Announcements" page. This would allow club members to post items of interest, for example, if you have a couple of things you want to sell or trade, or if you’re looking for other folks to go with you to a match. Whatever. Stay tuned.

Some Thoughts on Rapid Fire

Rapid fire events are like shooting layups in basketball. You don’t think too hard about it, you just do it. Oh sure, you might take a stutter step to get your feet right going into the layup, and if there’s opposition, you might automatically lower your shoulder a little or raise your shooting hand higher on the shot, but you don’t really have a conscious notion that you ought to do it, and you don’t adjust your position based on a slowly reasoned thought process. You just do it.

We can all recite the important concepts in making a good shot: head position, breathing, sight alignment, focus, trigger squeeze, follow through, etc. Sometimes it seems like there are so many things to concentrate on and go wrong, that it’ s like trying to compress a water balloon: when you squeeze it in one direction, something else pops out on the other side. Allowing for the large number of things that can go wrong in rapid fire, it seems to me that the essence of a good rapid fire string is POSITION. There really is not enough time in rapid fire to go through the whole preparatory process to break a shot as in slow fire You just do it.

A good position is a tight position. The position must be tight enough to return you to the aiming black after the recoil. In a sense, the position is like a spring. Recoil compresses the spring, and then the spring returns to its former place.

First and foremost, the sling must be tight. The loop above your bicep must be tight enough not to slip during the entire string (2 strings if it’s an 80 round match), and the sling tension must require you to push the rifle forward with your trigger hand in order to get the butt into your shoulder pocket. An old saying , "if the sling doesn’t hurt, it’s not tight enough," may or may not be right. A shooting coat and a glove help keep it comfortable. But you only have to be comfortable for 60 or 70 seconds.

The position itself must resist recoil through bracing or firmly planting your elbows. In sitting, the best position is bone-on-bone support. Cross-legged is the tightest, if you can handle it. A classical position has the left elbow in front of the left knee, and the right elbow in front of the right knee. That’s a low position, folks! If you’re young and can lean way over, wonderful. Most of us older guys sit up a bit higher and find other ways to brace our elbows on our knees or thighs. Firm Grip spray can help. The lower you can go, the tighter the position. You may have to move the buttstock lower in your shoulder to move the front sight up high enough to see the target. This may require a change in zero (sights). If recoil moves your elbows, you’re in trouble, you’re too high. I consciously exert significant down pressure on my elbows and on my shooting hand with my head. To lessen pulse, make sure your calves/shins do not touch each other. (Also loosen your belt or pants.) In prone, you might actually be exerting forward pressure with your sling arm. Don’t aim the rifle, just let the sling arm feel like it is falling forward.

That does it. You’re wound up tighter than a clock, leaning forward with the sling tight as a violin string. And yet, your sling arm is relaxed. You need to make sure your natural point of aim (NPA) is on target. Your body is pointing the rifle, not your hand. Close your eyes, take a breath. Open them, and the front sight should be exactly where you want it. If it’s not, move your rear end around and re-try the eye-closing. In prone, adjust elevation by moving your right (trigger) knee forward or backward. Keep it up until you have a tight position with the sights on target. Now remember exactly what this feels like. Where is my head? Where are my elbows? Where are my feet relative to each other? Prone, where is my chest touching the mat?

"Shooters rise!" What do you do? Look and see exactly where your feet are (sitting), or elbows (prone). Sitting, some of us stand up cross-legged without moving our feet. When the command to begin is given, look down at your feet (elbows), and make sure they go back exactly where they were. Some people use chalk to mark the spots. Assume the position, then check your NPA…that’s right, take a breath, let it out, close your eyes, then open them; do it all and get the NPA. Not on? Adjust your body until it is. Once on target, all you do is squeeze the trigger slowly, allow the recoil to rock you, take a breath, let it out, and you should be back on target. A big mistake is to get in a hurry and yank the trigger. Just let the sights settle, mentally check to see that you are relaxed, focus on the front sight, and squeeze slowly. Work methodically, with a mechanical cadence: recoil, breathe, relax, focus, squeeze. If you feel your head or the rifle shift, you will have to correct on the fly, but in a tight position, this shouldn’t happen.

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