THE SHARPSHOOTER

FORT HILL RIFLE & PISTOL CLUB NEWSLETTER

NUMBER 9 ______JULY, 2003

VOLUNTEERS HELP WITH MORNINGSIDE DRIVE RANGE MAINTENANCE

The Morningside Drive rifle and pistol ranges were closed on Saturday, May 24, 2003, for maintenance. The FHRPC would like to thank Wayne Belloff, Chris Bennett, Jon Eastham, Ken Fuller, Dennis Hightower, Joe Lechliter, Gary Riggleman, Jim Schmidt, Frank Snyder and Terry Wilson for volunteering to support this event. These guys made a big difference in the appearance and operation of our club facilities. Their help is appreciated.

MORNINGSIDE DRIVE RANGES CLOSED FOR MAINTENANCE

The May work party was so successful that we decided to schedule another.

The Morningside Drive rifle and pistol ranges will be closed on Saturday, September 6, 2003, for maintenance. A number of items need attention, including target frame maintenance, painting, trash clean up, brush removal and grass trimming.

If you can spare a few hours, please come and support your club. Your help is appreciated. We have tremendous facilities built and maintained with 59 years of volunteer help. Keep the tradition alive! Lunch and drinks will be provided.

LIVE ROUNDS IN TRASH CANS POSE DANGER TO MEMBERS

We found numerous live rounds in the trash cans on the May 24 maintenance day. Some rounds made it into the burn barrel, much to the surprise of our volunteer help. After they popped, a close inspection of the suspect trash barrel revealed about a dozen additional misfired 22 long rifle cartridges.

Please dispose of unwanted or misfired cartridges properly. When you have a misfire, wait for five minutes before you open the action and remove the cartridge. Take the misfired cartridge home with you, pull the bullet, separate the components and render the primer inert by soaking the case in light machine oil. Do not dispose of your unwanted or misfired cartridges in the trash containers at the range.

CLUB OFFICERS

FHRPC officers for the year 2003 are (1) President, Wayne Belloff, 301-722-6859, (2) Vice-President, Bill Lewis, 301-777-8180, (3) Treasurer, John Dowell, 301-724-5866, (4) Executive Officer, Frank Snyder, 301-777-1298, (5) Executive Officer, Dave Thompson, 304-788-1346, and (6) Secretary, Marty Harsh, 301-759-2877.

The club officers welcome your feedback. If you have any suggestions, comments or concerns please feel free to contact any of your club officers.


THANKS -- FROM MEMBER STATIONED IN IRAQ

Secretary’s Note: Tom Detrick is a Major in the United States Army. His current duty station is somewhere inside Iraq. The FHRPC recently sent a care package to Tom. Tom’s thank-you note follows. Tom’s note included a picture of him astride a relatively large, captured Iraqi missile. I couldn’t get the picture to scan well so I will post the picture along with Tom’s original note in the Morningside Drive clubhouse. Those of you who are movie watchers might recall the segment in Doctor Strangelove when Slim Pickens drops out of the bomb bay astride a nuclear bomb, slapping the bomb with his cowboy hat and hollerin’ “eeeeeeeehaaaaaaaaaaaa”.

Thank you so very much for your care package, it was extremely thoughtful. You hit the nail on the head with your selections.

The support from home means so very much to all of us over here. No matter what the press says or if we find any WMD…we did the right thing. The scenes of oppression and sheer deprivation are hard to describe. If you took away the paved roads you would find yourself in biblical times, adobe huts, donkey carts full of firewood and children begging food at every turn. Even in downtown Baghdad people are riding carts pulled by donkeys and wearing rags.

We are all trying to settle into a routine and get by. We have no idea about coming home -- now it seems sometime between September and next March.

Found this rocket just lying around here on post…had to do the Dr. Strangelove scene. Thank you again for taking the time to send a package.

Sincerely,

Tom Detrick

SURPLUS LAWN MOWER FOR SALE

The FHRPC has a surplus mower for sale. The Gravely mower and several attachments were purchased from the Allegany County Board of Education several years ago. Our asking price is $300. Please call Marty Harsh at 301-759-2877 if you are interested.

The mower will be sold on an “as-is” basis to the first interested buyer.

BY LAWS INCLUDED AT END OF NEWSLETTER

The FHRPC membership in attendance at the 2003 annual meeting voted unanimously to adopt new By Laws. The newly adopted By Laws are included at the end of this newsletter.

MEMBERSHIP APPLICATIONS

Membership applications are available at the Morningside Drive rifle range clubhouse. An envelope, containing membership applications, is stapled to the bulletin board on the east wall.

We now have 53 names on the membership waiting list. Folks now applying for membership should plan for two years on the waiting list.

The FHRPC has 376 members. The membership includes 54 life members, 22 uniformed police officers and regular military personnel, and 300 regular members. The FHRPC membership is limited to 300 regular members.

LONGVIEW SCHEDULES ACTION PISTOL MATCHES

(by Tom Langley)

The Longview Pistol Range and Sportsmen’s Club has scheduled NRA action pistol matches for this summer. The match dates are July 20, August 31, September 21 and October 26.

NRA action pistol teaches basic marksmanship skills, gun handling skills and pistol craft. Becoming skilled in action pistol will make you a better and safer shooter. It will build confidence in your ability to handle a firearm in any situation. It will help you be competitive in any of the many pistol disciplines.

The required equipment is readily available and relatively inexpensive. The competitor will need (1) a scoped or iron sighted, center fire, semi-automatic pistol or revolver, (2) a holster that will cover the trigger guard and (3) eye and ear protection. Eight clips are recommended but not mandatory.

NRA has many standardized courses of fire. Four courses of fire make up the National Championship and will be used in the Longview competition. Brief descriptions of the four courses follow.

(1)  The Falling Plate Event. Six eight-inch diameter plates at ranges of 10, 15, 20 and 25 yards, in a time limit of 6, 7, 8 and 9 seconds, respectively.

(2)  The Barricade Event. Six shots each on paper targets at ranges of 10, 15, 25 and 35 yards, in a time limit of 5, 6, 7 and 8 seconds, respectively. Fired from both sides of the barricade.

(3)  The Moving Target Event. Three or six shots each on paper targets at ranges of 10, 15, 20 and 25 yards as the target moves 60 feet in 6 seconds. The 10- and 15-yard targets are shot in 6-round strings. The 20- and 25-yard targets are shot in 3-round strings.

(4)  The Practical Event. Two to six shots on paper targets at ranges of 10, 15, 25 and 50 yards, in a time limit ranging from 3 to 18 seconds.

All courses are challenging and very fun. There is no movement. Running, walking, or reloading on the move is not required. Age and disability are not a serious advantage.

All matches are fired at the Longview Pistol Range on Jackson Mountain near Lonaconing. Matches begin at 10 AM. The match fee is $15. Contact Tom Langley at 301-689-6869 or John Dowell at 301-724-5866 for more information.

SCHEDULES FOR AGENCY USE OF RANGES

The Federal Correction Institution (FCI) Special Operation Response Team (SORT) will be using the Warrior Mountain range for monthly training. Their schedule is shown in the following table.

AGENCY / DATE / TIME
FCI
SORT / Friday, July 11 / 0800-1300
Thursday, August 7
Thursday, September 4

SILHOUETTE LEAGUE REACHES HALFWAY POINT

The smallbore silhouette league has reached the mid-season point with 19 competitors participating in the matches. The first half of the season has been wet and soggy, but the league has managed to continue without missing a single match due to rain.

Ron Deter and Bill Lewis continue to be the men to beat with mid-season scores of 32.00 and 23.14, respectively. The contention for third place is close, with John Dowell, Joe Lechliter, Steve Isner and Wayne Belloff posting scores of 18.00, 16.50, 15.00 and 14.00, respectively. Mid-season scores are shown in the following table.

Half of the scheduled matches remain to be fired. The league invites all potential competitors to come and give silhouette a try. Your first match is free. Juniors, 18 years of age or younger, shoot for free. And, the rifle raffle for new competitors is scheduled for the last match.

NAME / CHICKENS / PIGS / TURKEYS / RAMS / OVERALL
DETER, RON / 8.33 / 7.67 / 7.67 / 8.33 / 32.00
LEWIS, BILL / 6.14 / 7.43 / 4.00 / 5.57 / 23.14
DOWELL, JOHN / 5.67 / 5.33 / 4.00 / 3.00 / 18.00
LECHLITER, JOE / 5.17 / 4.83 / 2.67 / 3.83 / 16.50
ISNER, STEVE / 4.00 / 5.00 / 3.00 / 3.00 / 15.00
BELLOFF, WAYNE / 4.75 / 3.75 / 3.00 / 2.50 / 14.00
CARNEY, MIKE / 4.43 / 3.71 / 1.86 / 2.71 / 12.71
TRESSLER, TOM / 2.50 / 4.25 / 3.00 / 2.50 / 12.25
MILTENBERGER, XAN / 3.40 / 3.40 / 2.00 / 2.80 / 11.60
SNYDER, FRANK / 4.00 / 3.00 / 1.75 / 2.25 / 11.00
SNYDER, JACK / 2.50 / 3.00 / 2.17 / 1.67 / 9.33
KNIERIEM, JOHN / 3.33 / 2.00 / 1.33 / 2.67 / 9.33
McCREARY, CHARLES / 1.00 / 3.00 / 2.00 / 3.00 / 9.00
GIFT, JIM / 1.00 / 3.00 / 3.00 / 1.00 / 8.00
SCHLOSSER, DOUG / 5.00 / 1.00 / 0.75 / 0.75 / 7.50
LAURIE, CHUCK / 2.67 / 1.33 / 0.67 / 2.67 / 7.33
GAGLIO, ED / 2.25 / 2.50 / 0.50 / 1.00 / 6.25
ALDERMAN, TOM / 0.00 / 1.00 / 2.00 / 3.00 / 6.00
GAGLIO, MELISSA / 0.00 / 0.00 / 0.75 / 0.75 / 1.50

WHY JOHNNY CAN’T SHOOT ANYMORE

Secretary’s Note: R. J. Thomas, a contributing editor of Defense Watch, wrote the following article. The article is dated January 8, 2003. It is reprinted here with the permission of the author. You may or may not agree with Thomas’ statements about the ability of our soldiers to shoot. What is important here is the environmental impact of shooting ranges. Your Secretary, and a small but significant number of the FHRPC membership, work for a company named ATK. ATK is one of the ten largest defense contractors in the United States and operates ABL. ATK also operates Lake City Army Ammunition Plant (LCAAP) in Missouri. LCAAP makes all of the small caliber ammunition (from 9MM to 50CAL) used by the United States military. LCAAP is required by the United States government to manufacture green, or lead free, ammunition for their entire product line by 2007. Please take five minutes to read Thomas’ article.

Up until the Vietnam War, Americans had been known as a nation of marksmen. From the French and Indian wars through the Korean conflict, those who opposed us on the battlefield suffered the consequences of our rifleman heritage.

Then about the time of the Vietnam War, our troops suddenly seemed unable to shoot any better than anyone else, and often, not as well. The reasons for the decline in our shooting capabilities, as reflected by the reported performance of our ground troops in Afghanistan, are multi-faceted, but definable and correctable.

From the 1600s continuing through the present, the population of the United States has been on a steady migration from rural to urban living. The mentality of rural or wilderness dwellers always focused on the necessity of good marksmanship. Whether for subsistence or defense, good shooters could keep their family fed or defend them from marauders if necessary.

Great rifles were built for these early marksmen, first by early German settlers, who set up shops around the Pennsylvania iron ore deposits. Later, these Pennsylvania rifles gained fame for their accuracy and killing power in the Kentucky Territory and across the Great Plains.

Gun makers such as Ballard, Sharps, Remington and Winchester carried on the traditions of the early German gunsmiths and built superbly accurate, powerful single-shot hunting rifles. These makers also built long-range competition rifles that were accurate beyond 1,000 yards. Meanwhile, Springfield Arsenal was building single-shot rifles for the U.S. military, chambered for the powerful 45-70 Government cartridge, which remained the primary service round from 1873-1889, when it was replaced by the smokeless 30 U.S. Army (30-40 Krag).

As the balance of the population began to shift from rural to urban settings in the early 1900s, so did the emphasis on great marksmanship. City folk continued to hunt under controlled seasons and bag limits, but mostly for sport. City dwellers also continued European-style competitions (Schutzen Matches) to keep their marksmanship skills sharp and display their shooting prowess against the rest of the world in open competition

Meanwhile, the country folk were still subsistence hunting and controlling predators, sometimes within the law, sometimes not. Great competitive marksmen also came from rural communities (particularly the Rocky Mountain States and California), as well as the eastern population centers. Americans were recognized as the best shooters in the world and shot for cash prizes up to $25,000 (a lot of loot in those days), as well as for numerous merchandise prizes.

However, all was not well for American shooters: Movements to take guns away from the general population and ban hunting (a blood sport) were already starting to make themselves heard. These anti-gun/anti-hunting groups, considered fringe lunatics by early Americans, have now gained considerable influence over our government and its policy, as we shall see.