SEPTEMBER 23, 2018 - MINTO - RNBRA RIMFIRE BR CHAMPIONSHIP - RESULTS

The Sunday of the Rimfire Championship was finally here and started out as a typical late September day - quite cool with temperatures dipping to -1C in some places. At the range it was 0C at about 8:30am. 
Many shooters were already gathered for the start time of 9:00am and match director John McC. was busy solving last minute glitches. No matter how carefully an event is planned, there are always those last minute glitches -
darn! A nice warm fire was blazing in the stove and small groups of shooters were scattered here and there renewing old acquaintances. Shooters had come from as far north as Florenceville all the way down to Saint John - a good representation of benchrest shooters from the southern parts of the province.
The president of the Minto Gun Club, David C., had removed a window from the shooting building so that Sporter Class shooters could shoot from
benches outside of the building under the watchful eyes of ROs Bruce B., Norbert S. and David C. This arrangement allowed for all Sporter class shooters to shoot under the same conditions and also allowed for fewer relays in total so that we would not be shooting until after the supper hour. 
This also allowed for a stop in the shooting so that all present could enjoy the magnificent lunch.When all the first relays were completed, we did stop for lunch. A special thanks is due to the many volunteer cooks and bakers who brought their wonderful creations to the shoot. David C. had made his famous chili and brown bread and cooked up some terrific hot-dogs; Wayne K. had made his equally famous baked beans; John McC. brought Dorothy's lovely banana muffins, and Barb J. brought a variey of wonderful breads and sweets. There was an overflowing cornucopia of delicious things to chose from and no-one started the second relay hungry.
The temperature, during the match, increased gradually to reach 19C by the end. Jackets were shed and the breeze became welcome. The wind out on the range, however, was something else. It blew
hard with gusts well over 40km/hr. with different effect in one part of the range and hardly any in other parts. It was predominantly from 9:00 o'clock to 12:00 o'clock although it did switch around completely from time to time. Difficult to read and tricky! A failure to read it correctly, or a sudden change when you were peering through the scope, did cost quite a few shooters a point or two (or three or more).
This match was organized by match director John McC. Don M. and Wayne K. were the scorers who, with 30 shooters, had very little time to relax. As a testament to their careful scoring, there was not one challenge! The targets were set and changed by Wayne K., Ben F., Shawn R., Cecil H., Guy H., John McC. and Mike C. Thanks to all who helped out.


After the match was completed, we all went to the club-house for the award presentations. Congrats to Volker T. who shot a 400/21X; Cecil H. who shot a 400/20X and Bruce B. who shot a 400/19X (this was Bruce's first 400 in Minto) - some very good shooting given the wind conditions today. Volker T. took first place in both Open and Sporter events with Cecil H. coming in second in the Open class and Bert deV. coming in second in the Sporter shoot. David C. presented the Minto Gun Club awards and Conrad L. presented the RNBRA medals and plaque.
Following the awards presentations, we held a draw for prizes donated by Peter Dobson of Hirsch Precision. Peter had donated a box of 220 Russian cases and a brick of Lapua Midas Plus. Bert deV.was the winner of the former while Ben F. won the latter prize. Many thanks to Peter and all the ticket purchasers who helped to defray the expenses of this match.


RESULTS - OPEN CLASS RIMFIRE BR:
Volker T. - 400/21X
Cecil H. - 400/20X
Bruce B. - 400/19X
David C. - 399/17X
Darryl K. - 399/14X
Mike C. - 398/15X
Ash P. - 397/16X
Gerard D. - 395/18X
John Mo. - 395/14X
Guy H. - 395/11X
Greg S. - 394/14X
Norbert S. - 393/14X
Bert deV. - 393/12X
Matt McA. - 393/9X
George M. - 392/14X
John McC. - 390/14X
Barb J. - 390/13X
Conrad L. - 390/11X
Don M. - 388/10X
Mac McD. - 362/3X

RESULTS - SPORTER CLASS RIMFIRE BR:
Volker T. - 389/10X
Bert deV. - 389/8X
Guy H. - 388/12X
Bruce B. - 388/9X
Shawn R. - 384/9X
Conrad L. - 378/7X
John McC. - 371/6X
Ben F. - 364/4X
Ted S. - 364/3X
Wayne K. - 336/3X

SEPTEMBER 23, 2018 - MINTO - RNBRA BR RIMFIRE CHAMPIONSHIP - THANKS TO HIRSCH PRECISION

The winners: Ben F. and Bert deV.

Our thanks go to Peter Dobson at Hirsch Precision who donated a brick of Midas Plus and also a box of 220 Russian cases to be raffled at the Championship shoot.
Thanks also to the all the shooters who bought tickets in this raffle and supported the Minto Gun Club which hosted this event.

SEPTEMBER 23, 2018 - RNBRA RIMFIRE BR CHAMPIONSHIP - THANKS TO ALL VOLUNTEERS

This post is dedicated to all the volunteers and contributors who made the RNBRA Rimfire Benchrest Championship possible and a great success. 

MANY THANKS TO ALL OF YOU FROM ALL OF US

Match Director & Muffin Man:
John McC.

Scorers: Don M. and Wayne K.
Wayne cooks a mean bean

Chief RO: Bruce B.

RO: Norbert S.

RNBRA Rep: Conrad L.

Baking Treats & Photographer:
Barb J.

RO, Chili & Bread
& dog cook: David C.

Photographer: Darryl K.

SEPTEMBER 16, 2018 - PETITCODIAC CENTERFIRE BR - RESULTS

The day started out beautifully on our drive down to Petitcodiac. It was cool, the sun was out and it looked like there was no wind. We were in high spirits - looking forward to a good shoot with good friends.

When we arrived the conditions had not changed much with the exception of a pretty good layer of clouds that threatened rain. Thankfully, this did not happen until our drive back home. The temperature gradually warmed up to the mid 20s C. Despite the lack of sun and no real mirage, shooters noticed that their sight pictures were blurry and it was a bit difficult to focus. The very light wind either remained from 9:00 o'clock to 12:00 o'clock or was not noticeable throughout the match.


Some good shooting was done today although "X" counts were a bit lower than expected. Congratulations are due to our friend Don M. who shot the only 300 match with a score of 300/13X.

Today, Dan G. was the match
director and head scorer. Shelly C. was the score verifier. The target changers were Shelly C., Dan G., Brian P., and Malcolm McA. while Tony L. did a general maintenace of the targets.  Range Officer duties were shared by Shelly C. and Bert deV. Shelly and Dan also brought the treats today. Many thanks to all who helped out.


RESULTS - CENTERFIRE BR - OPEN CLASS:
Don M. - 300/14X
Bert deV. - 299/12X
Dan G. - 299/10X
Shelly C. - 297/14X
Malcolm McA. - 297/12X
Brian P. - 296/10X
Tony L. - 293/7X
Tom N. - 289/11X
John C. - DNC

SEPTEMBER 15, 2018 - FLORENCEVILLE CENTERFIRE MTR AT 200m - RESULTS

After the Rimfire Benchrest match and the wonderful lunch was completed, several shooters went to the upper range to shoot a 200 meter MTR match off the bench. This match allowed for the use of front sandbags but no rear support other than our hand. We shot a match of 3 target bulls with 10 counting shots after having shot a sighter target at the beginning of the match.
The day had become quite warm with a temperature of 31C. The wind was cooperative, with very light head winds or quiet periods - at least where the wind flag was located. Further down the range we did not know what the wind was doing other than by using tree tops as a reference. There was a constant sun which resulted in a bit of sun-burn for the shooters and hot barrels for the rifles. Despite the hot sun, sighting was pretty good as the mirage was not as bad as we had experienced in previous matches.
During this match, Greg S. was the match director, head target changer (we used his truck to go to the targets) and head scorer (although truth be told, we all contributed to the scoring and calculations equally). 

RESULTS - CENTERFIRE MTR AT 200m:
Bert deV. - 96.3 + 100.5 + 97.3 = 293/11X
Michael C. - 88.1 + 96.2 + 95.2 = 279/5X
Greg S. - 85.3 + 91.1 + 89.1 = 265/5X
Ted S. - 84.0 + 63.0 + 77.0 = 224/0X

SEPTEMBER 15, 2018 - FLORENCEVILLE - RIMFIRE BR - RESULTS

It was a lovely day for a rifle match in Florenceville. The temperature in the morning, while we were driving up the beautiful Saint John river valley, was a bit cool but the sun was out and, even though
it was early, it was blazing in the rear-view mirror and sending it's warmth into the vehicle. We arrived at the range in good time, having made no wrong turns, and were able to greet friends before the match began.
During the rimfire match, ( 3
targets of 25 bulls), the day warmed up substantially with the sun rising behind the covered firing point. Winds were very mild and almost totally calm during the first relay. It picked up as the day progressed and, as is usual for Florenceville, it became tricky and much less predictable. The scores recorded during the second relay showed this and were quite a bit lower than in the first relay. The third relay was similar but by now we had learned from our early experiences and scores were a bit improved.

The Match Director for the Rimfire Benchrest match was Jean S. She also scored the targets along with Ash P. The Range Officer for the first few relays was Alan C. while Greg S. took over these duties later on when Alan had to leave. All shooters went forward to change their own targets.

After the Rimfire match was over, the scores were tallied and medals presented. Then, thanks to Jean S., we enjoyed a lunch of potato salad, caesar salad and hot-dogs bar-b-qued to perfection by Ted S. This was much appreciated not only because of Jean's super culinary skills but also because after shooting all morning we were famished!.

RESULTS - RIMFIRE BR - OPEN/UNLIMITED CLASS:
Bert deV. - 239.3 + 229.4 + 231.1 = 699/8X
Greg S. - 234.6 + 225.0 + 231.2 = 690/13X
Ash P. - 228.3 + 231.3 + 228.1 = 687/7X
Michael C. - 226.3 + 224.3 + 223.2 = 673/8X
Cole P. - 219.3 + 231.3 + 220.1 = 670/7X
Jean S. - 220.2 + 221.1 + 228.3 = 669/6X

RESULTS - RIMFIRE BR - SPORTER CLASS:
Greg S. - 199.16 + 200.12 + 200.13 = 599/41X
Alden H. - 198.9 + 193.5 + 195.7 = 586/21X
Greg R. - 199.5 + 199.9 + 187.4 = 583/18X
Ted S. - 193.5 + 194.5 + 194.7 = 581/17X
Raymond G. - 192.3 + 190.2 + 190.3 = 572/8X