THE SHARPSHOOTER

FORT HILL RIFLE & PISTOL CLUB NEWSLETTER

NUMBER 25 ___ November , 2007

Another Successful Year for Great Guns Raffle

The brisk October morning air did not stop ticket holders from coming out to the range early this year. Just as in years past, the club sponsored a 20 gun raffle, and had 2 matches, one for rifles and one for muzzleloaders. The raffle was just like years past, using ping pong balls to select numbers, and the muzzleloader was like previous years, shooting at paper targets offhand. But the rifle match was much different.

Five years ago, the rifle match was shot at 300 yards from supported prone position. Last year rifles were shot from the offhand position at paper targets from 100 yards. But this year, the match combined elements from both previous matches, offhand shooting and extended range. Railroad steel tie plates were set and shooters was given 3 minutes to knock over 3 steel plates using only 3 rounds. Many shooters were able to connect with 2 plates, but only 7 shooters able to knock over the 3 plates and move on to the finals. At the end of the day Terry Mulligan proved to be the top shooter using his .22-250.

Special thanks and appreciation goes out to those who help make the Raffle and matches a success. Deny Steward sorted and organized the raffle ticket stubs, and was assisted by Shannon Peterson and Mark Vantine. Executive Officer Dave Thompson spent the entire day resetting the steel plates. President Bill Lewis provided score boards to keep track of the 450 plus rounds fired. My wife, Julie Musselwhite was the record keeper all of those rounds and squading officer. V.P. Chris Bennett and Treasurer John Dowell kept the operations, refreshments, and activities running smoothly. Executive Officer Jim Soulsby and Danny Webster made sure target frames were ready for the big day. Clayton Blume volunteered his Camper as raffle day headquarters. I am sure there were many others helping and my apologies goes out to you. Most important thanks goes out to the members who requested and sold tickets. Because of your help we were able to add somewhere around $5,000 to our coffers.

Club Officers

FHRPC officers for the year 2007 are (1) President, Bill Lewis, 301-777-8180, (2) Vice-President, Chris Bennett, (3) Treasurer, John Dowell, 301-724-5866, (4) Executive Officer, Dave Thompson, 304-788-1346, (5) Executive Officer, Jim Soulsby, 301-724-0724, and (6) Secretary, Roy Musselwhite, 301-697-4963

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

WINNERS!!

Below is the list of winners, the guns they won, and the ticket numbers that made them winners.

Rem 700 SPS TAC .308 Richard Doggett 095

Rem 700 Varmit .223 Will Keaton 610

Rem. BDL 7MAG Tom Dunlop 936

Rem CDL 7-08 Connie Bowman 310

Rem Muzzleloader .50 cal Art Holland 735

T/C Omega .50 cal Rick Snider 021

Ruger M-77 .270 Bob Volk 640

Browning Citori OU 12 ga John Bakaj 659

Browning Trap 12 ga John Yarnall 693

Browning A-bolt .243 John Dowell 178

Savage 12 FV 22-250 Jason Paulucci 091

Savage 12 FV .223 Randy Rowe 412

Tika T-3 hunter .308 Steve Wilson 360

Benelli Nova 12 ga Steve Michael 612

Savage Mol. 40 .22 hornet Kevin Zuzak 539

Weatherby Van. .22-250 Jerry Washington 598

Howa 1500 .243 Alan Paxton 467

CZ-452 Amer. .22 LR Robert Wotring 157

CZ-452 Amer .17HMR Jay Cochrane 930

CZ-canvasback OU 20 ga John Sagal Sr. 796

Annual Meeting date to be Determined

An annual meeting notice will be mailed out to all members as well as posted on the club website www.fhrpc.org in the near future. Topics planned to be discussed include; election of officers, fundraising, i.e. Great Guns raffle, changing the date the membership dues must be paid from June to sometime in the winter to avoid clashing with the shooting season, and NRA Grants through being a NRA GOLD MEMBER CLUB. To be a Gold Member Club we must meet the following requirements: 1) be open to the public, such as sight in days and our many leagues. 2) Have a junior program. 3) Have a quarterly newsletter. 4) Have 100 % NRA membership by all club members. We need to have as many members as possible attend the annual meeting to guide the direction and future of the club.

World Class Shooter

Club Member Chet Amick is a world class shooter indeed. Over the last shooting season, Chet shot a perfect BR-50 score, 250 points with 25 X. In fact, he not only was able to achieve this remarkable act once, but four times, with several rifles. Chet’s target can be seen at the Morningside range and on the club website.

Featured League—BULLSEYE PISTOL

Perhaps one on the leagues that require the least amount of equipment to start is the Bullseye Pistol League. All that is needed to start is a .22LR pistol or revolver, a box of target ammo, and some form of ear protection. Arguably, one may not be competitive and as efficient without other equipment, such as a spotting scope, a red dot sight, brass catchers, and an equipment box, but will have tons of fun just the same.

The course of fire varies slightly, but basically the match will start at 50 yards at a slow fire target. The shooter gets one minute per shot. The next stage is fired at 25 yards and the pace picks up. There are two events at the 25 yard line, a timed fire—20 seconds per five shot string, and a rapid fire—10 seconds per five shot string. The magazine feed auto loader makes reloading between strings easier, but there is enough time for those shooting wheel guns to kick out empties and reload. Over the season, there are three type of firearms a pistol shooter would use. A .22LR, a .45, and a center fire of some sort. The shooter could shoot all the matches using just the .22LR, but a person owning a .45 ACP could not compete in the .22 matches. It is just too loud to blend in.

There are various levels of .22 a person could use to start. Browning Buckmarks’ are popular for beginners, and High Standards’ are a good choice for a little more money. Marvel makes a .45 to .22LR conversion kit for the 1911 series for a little cheaper than buying a new handgun. Some of the experienced shooters claim that Kimber’s conversion kit doesn’t function well with target loads.

For an individual deciding they want to get serious, a red dot scope is a must. There are several models and mounting systems, depending on style of gun and price range you may be interested in. Red dots are designed to eliminate sight alignment errors. All one has to do is put the red dot in the middle on the black bull, and squeeze the trigger. What could be simpler?

I recently went out to a Tuesday night 2-gun match (45 and .22LR). It has been many years since I have fired pistol in a match. I took my prize shooting .45, and became humbled very quickly. Shooting 50 yards with an open sighted .45 is about like shooting Pap’s 30-30 at 600 yards. I could not believe my score of 37 out of 100. Things got better at close range and I found myself with much higher scores. Word on the line is that trigger management is the name of the game. Who knew?

When we switched over to the rimfire match, things were a little better. The shooter to the right of me let me use his pistol with a red dot. Scores were a little better, but still not looking for Federal Ammunition to be sponsoring me next season.

This is a great way to spend a Tuesday afternoon, or morning if you prefer. In about an hour, I threw a fair amount of lead down range. If you do not have a pistol yet, come out on a Tuesday, and watch how the game is played. Odds are someone will be trying to put $1000 worth of hardware in your hand to get you to shoot. And trust me, take them up on it. The regulars will be welcoming, informative, and get you interested much easier than reading this article ever would.

Oh ya, did I mention that all of this shooting is done one handed. After all, “that’s a hand gun, not a hands gun!”

DON’T RENEW YOUR NRA MEMBERSHIP

Without doing it through the club!

You can renew your NRA membership through the FHRPC and save money. A $10 discount is given to renewals, and the NRA gives $5 to the club. Once a month, the club will mail in NRA membership dues. Make your checks payable to FHRPC and include your NRA membership application. Attached is a blank NRA application. Keep a copy for your records.

John Dowell

12920 Gramlich Road

LaVale, MD 21502

WANTED TO BUY, SELL OR TRADE

This section of the FHRPC newsletter is reserved for membership advertising. You can advertise your surplus sporting gear for sale (WTS, want to sell) or trade (WTT, want to trade). Likewise, if you are looking for something to buy (WTB, want to buy), you can advertise here. Sporting gear can be any type of shooting, archery, hunting, fishing, or camping equipment. Examples include firearms, ammo, reloading equipment and components, scopes, bows, boots, portable tree stands, and tents. Forward your advertisements to Roy Musselwhite 898 State Park Road, Swanton MD 21561.

UPDATED LIST

The FHRPC is not responsible for any sales, lack thereof, or compliance with any federal, ATF, state, or local regulations.

1.  WTS; Ruger Mini 30 SS, 2.5 wide range Leopold scope and ammo, only fired 15 rounds. Dan Moore 301-724-0151.

  1. WTS; About 100 pounds of Soft Lead, $20. Two 5 round AR-15 magazines, $8 each. Jim Gift 301-359-3639.

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