JANUARY 31, 2017 - IN REMEMBRANCE OF TERRY McNEILL

To all friends and fellow shooters

It is with great sadness that I inform you of the passing of the Vice-President and Shooting Officer of the Minto Gun Club, 
Terry F. McNeill. 

Terry passed away Monday, January 30 after a long and courageous
struggle with cancer.


Our hearts go out to Terry's friends and family.

May he  Rest In Peace.






Visitation will take place at York Funeral Home, 302 Brookside Drive on Thursday, February 2, 2017 from 2-4 pm and 7-9 pm. The Funeral Service will take place at Greenwood Drive Baptist Church on Friday, February 3, 2017 at 2 pm with Rev. Gordon Cook officiating. Interment will take place in Douglas Rural Cemetery at a later date. In lieu of flowers, remembrances may be made to Fredericton Hospice. Personal condolences may be offered through www.yorkfh.com

JANUARY 29, 2017 - MINTO CENTERFIRE SHOOT - RESULTS

As is typical of New Brunswick weather in January, the day started out quite cold and warmed up to be a pretty nice and a bit cloudy day. The wind also co-operated with 10 to 20 km/hr winds coming from 9:00 o'clock for most of the match. There were the occasional
gusts and wind changes and this did catch a few shooters off guard. The scores were decent for the day and congrats go to John McC. who shot a perfect 300/23X, matching the Open Class record for Minto.

Today, John McC. was the
Match Director. He had his hands full trying to match shooters with the correct targets. This was the first match in which we were using graduated targets - a larger 10 ring and X dot for smaller calibers to even out the competitive advantage of the 30 caliber. It did not help much that one of the shooters had some mechanical problems and withdrew but then fixed the problem and was back on again.

Don M. was the scorer with Wayne K. providing the verification and stats. Targets were changed by Dave C., George M., John McC. and Bruce B. Many thanks George M. for changing targets and rescuing the wind flags that a couple of befuddled old guys forgot on the range when they left. 

The Range Officers were Bert deV., Bruce B., Bill H. and Dave C. Bill H. brought clementines and Dave C. brought banana bread - no shooter was hungry.



RESULTS - OPEN CLASS:
John McC. - 300/23X
Bert deV. - 297/17X
Bill H. - 296/9X
Norbert S. - 295/15X
Don M. - 289/6X
Bruce B. - 284/4X
Dave C. - 279/4X
Dan G. - 282/4X

RESULTS - SPORTER CLASS:
Bert deV. - 144/4X
Bill H. - 134/1X
Wayne K. - 116/1X
John McC. - 111/0X
Dan G. - 78/1X

JANUARY 22, 2017 - PETITCODIAC CENTERFIRE SHOOT - RESULTS

This was the first Centerfire Benchrest shoot in 2017 at the Petitcodiac Sportman's Club and also the first time that a CF Sporter Class match was held there.
Unlike the previous weekend, the day was positively gorgeous. Imagine living in New Brunswick and wakening to a morning with the temperature at 0 and rising - in January no less! Good enough to make you feel like a million bucks. As the day progressed, it stayed warm for the first half of the match and then gradually became a bit colder.   
The sky remained overcast which helped to see the targets clearly, and we had an occasional snow flurry - but nothing to dampen our high spirits. The wind was predominantly up-range at about 15km/hr with quiet periods and with infrequent gusts from 9:00 to 3:00 0'clock.
The Match Director was Dan G. as Volker T. was on a cruise. Dan was also the head scorer while Darryl K. did the score verification. Just about everyone there pitched in to help with the chores of running a match. Tony L., Brian P., Bert deV., John McC., Matt A., Logan G., Shelly C. and Cecil H. all did a stint of setting and changing the targets. The Range Officers for the match were Darryl K., John McC., Tom N., Don M., Brian P. and Bert deV. We were again spoiled with very nice treats brought by Shelly and the traditional Timbits brought by Dan. Thanks to all for your help today.At the first shoot of the year, we are usually working out the kinks in our equipment which we had "tuned up" over the holiday season. Some of this was going on of course but despite this, some very good shooting was done with many targets scoring at 100. Congrats to Shelly C., John McC. and Bert deV. for shooting the high targets of 100/7X.

RESULTS - CF OPEN CLASS:
Bert deV. - 300/14X
John McC. - 299/15X
Cecil H. - 297/14X
Dan G. - 297/3X
George C. - 296/10X
Matt A. - 296/10X
Shelly C. - 294/14X
Logan G. - 293/8X
Tom N. - 293/8X
Tony L. - 293/4X
Brian P. - 291/11X
John Mo. - 289/6X
John C. - 278/3X
Don M. - 277/5X
Darryl K. - 273/1X

RESULTS - CF SPORTER CLASS:
Bert deV. - 139/4X
Dan G. - 136/3X
John McC. - 134/2X
Tom N. - 119/1X

JANUARY 15, 2017 - MINTO - FIRST 22BR MATCH - RESULTS

Hello fellow Benchrest enthusiasts. This was the first event of 2017 to be held at the Minto Gun Club range. It was a very much anticipated event as was evident when the match director arrived one hour prior to start time to find a pile of shooting fee dollars on the desk and shooters asking what bench they where on so they could place their wind flags!  


We had very hardy shooters today - 13 in Open class plus 6 in the Sporter class. It was the first day with the new sporter rules and everything went really well. Most shooters found out that without a rear bag it is a little harder to shoot high scores. But even saying this, there was a noticeable improvement on the second targets. Thanks for the support here!

The day was extremely cold, to the point of being uncomfortable on the shooting bench. A very strange wind was moving in all directions with most of the wind flags lying about the conditions right at the target stand. As seen by the scores there were a lot of moans and groans when a well aimed shot ended up out in the orange rings, (everyone had at least one or two, well OK 3 or 4, maybe even 5). ☺

We were all warm and comfortable in the new club house between relays and had a lot of great treats to nibble on. Even Don Mu. was full and that’s a first!! All the following people made the day another success. Thank you all!
John McC. – match director

Don Mu. – scorer

John McC., Matt McA. and Dave C. – score verifiers

Bruce B., Barb J., Dan G., Bill H. and Dave C. – RO duties

Barb J., Dave C., Guy H., Don Me. – wonderful edible treats

George M., Cecil H. and Dave C. – target changers
A special thanks to Wayne K. for showing up early and sanding the ice to the target stands.
Reporting by John McC.

Photos by Barb J.

RESULTS - OPEN CLASS 22BR:

Cecil H. - 391/13X

Dave C. - 389/10X

Dan G. - 385/8X

Volker T. 382/8X

John McC. - 375/7X

Don Mu. - 374/4X

Bill H. - 373/4X

George M. - 372/3X

Matt McA. - 370/7X

Barb J. - 370/5X

Norbert S. - 370/5X

Guy H. - 365/0X

Bruce B. - DNC

RESULTS - SPORTER CLASS 22BR:

Bill H. - 380/6X

John McC. - 365/2X

Dan G. - 347/3X

Volker T. - 343/4X

Don Me. - 329/2X

Wayne K. - 298/1X

JANUARY 14, 2017 - FIRST PETITCODIAC 22BR SHOOT - RESULTS

Today's match was the first of the season for Petitcodiac Sportsman's Club and boy-oh-boy was it brutal. The weather was cold (about -17C), windy (mostly down range at 30-40km/hr and gusts far exceeding that) and so bright and sunny we had to put up
some sunshade shields on the overhanging eaves of the building. Even so, the glare from the sun on the ice made it very very hard to see the targets for the first few relays. Later, when the sun had moved to the right a bit, it did get a little better. But, it remained cold and nasty and most of us had trouble feeling the trigger on our finger or grasping the ammo to load the rifle.
The only saving grace was the wood stove which was kept roaring from start to finish. It filled the shooting building with the aroma of burning soft wood and from-time-to-time wafted thick smoke down range towards the targets.
Volker T.was the Match Director and chief scorer with Dan G. and John McC. serving as score verifiers. The target setters and changers included John McC., Tony L., Barb J. and Dan G. Range Officers for the day were Darryl K., John McC., Bert deV. and Don M.

After the Open Class shooters were finished the match, five Sporter Class shooters participated in the first ever Sporter Match in Petitcodiac. It was great to be able to shoot both disciplines today, although, by the end of it we were definitely ready for some warmth. It was too bad that the Open Class shooters did not stay for the completion of this match at least to participate in the medal presentations. But then again, it was so cold that driving home in a warm vehicle was very appealing.

RESULTS - OPEN CLASS 22BR:

John McC. - 498/20X
Bert deV. - 491/19X
Cecil H. - 490/16X
Dave C. - 490/15X
Matt McA. - 490/12X
Dan G. - 488/9X
Darryl K. - 485/12X
Tom N. - 485/10X
John C. - 482/10X
Chris S. - 482/8X
George M. - 480/7X
Brian P. - 477/12X
Barb J. - 474/12X
Bruce B. - 470/9X
Don M. - 438/8X

RESULTS - SPORTER CLASS 22BR:
Dan G. - 375/5X
John McC. - 373/6X
Bert deV. - 373/4X 
Tony L. - 358/1X
                                                     Volker T. - DNC