Smallbore Rifle Silhouette Match – 05/09/2021

My usual opening for silhouette matches is that it was a beautiful day to shoot a silhouette match, but in reality, I think it’s Always a beautiful day to shoot a match! My friend, Stoney Stoneham commented that anyway shooting was a better day than most any other day, so I think I’ll stick with that for this introduction to the May smallbore match.

We had a range filling crowd this match. Filled up all four relays. Most of our shooters this match were experienced match shooters, and a couple of them experienced at other types of matches. I think the scores were higher this time, on average, than any other matches this season, indicating to me that folks are practicing more, and concentrating on their skills in their practice. This is the best way to continue to shoot better.

This match had some outstanding shooting! Steve Engel shot down 15 chickens, in Hunting Rifle, then went on to knock down another 8 in a long-run attempt. At this time, the national long run record is not known. I’ll write the NRA and determine that. However, this IS a long-run record at Fairfax Rod & Gun Club. CONGRATULATIONS STEVE!! A fine display of shooting! With that kind of shooting, Steve went on to win Hunting rifle with a total of 45×60.

Not to be outdone by her Dad, Kelly Engel won Standard Rifle with a 51×60!! Other winnings were: Kelly also won AAA class with a 44 in Hunting Rifle, Joe Ryba won AA in Standard with a 37, B class was won with an 18 by Chris Moss.

There was an mistake made by the match director in A class. Match director did not see another score in A class of 29, and had already declared an A class winner with a 29. There should have been a shoot-off but because of my blindness, there was no actual winner. Therefore, next month, we will have at least one shoot-off for A class winner for May.

Our next smallbore match will be June 13th, Father’s Day. At the end of the match, we will have another silhouette class, beginning at 2p.m. Again, it is a free class, and the announcement should be out shortly. Similar to the last class, this one will be all outside, and held at the Lea/Valley range at the club. If you would like to sign up for the class please note the match director at his email. Bring your own rifle and some ammo. Plus, there will be some rifles there for borrowing then. I’ll look forward to everyone for the next match and/or class.

Roger