Saturday Activities at Dalton Range (Bois d’Arc MO) and Aim-Rite Range (Miller MO)
| Date | Time | Range | Activity |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feb. 16 | 8:00 am | Dalton Range | Fun Shoot |
| Mar. 1 | 9:00 am | Aim-Rite Range | Work Day |
| Mar. 8 | 8:00 am | Dalton Range | Beginners Clinic |
| Mar. 9 | 1:00 pm | Aim-Rite Range | 30 Round Match |
| Mar. 15 | 8:00 am | Dalton Range | Beginners 30 Round Match |
| Apr. 12 | 8:00 am | Dalton Range | Any Rifle Match |
| Apr. 19 | 1:00 pm | Aim-Rite Range | 30 Round Match |
| May. 10 | 8:00 am | Dalton Range | JCG Match $$$ |
| May. 24 | 8:00 am | Dalton Range | Springfield Match $$$ |
| Jun. 7 | 8:00 am | Dalton Range | Vintage Springfield Match $$$ |
| Jun. 28 | 10:00 am | Aim-Rite Range | 30 Round Match and Club Picnic |
| Jul. 19 | 8:00 am | Dalton Range | Carbine Match $$$ |
| Aug. 16 | 8:00 am | Dalton Range | Rimfire Sporter Match |
| Sep. 13 | 8:00 am | Dalton Range | Any Rifle Match |
| Oct. 18 | 8:00 am | Dalton Range | JCG Match $$$ |
Saturday March 1 we have a work day at the Aim-Rite range in Miller. We have to build and rebuild target frames using scrap lumber. If you can make it, show up at 9 am, bring a hammer, screw gun, and anything else you think will help. This doesn’t look like a real big job, since maybe 3-5 of the frames need rebuilding, so if you have other plans, please don’t feel too guilty.
The next weekend is even busier. On March 8, Saturday, we have our annual Highpower Position Shooting Clinic. We will go over the basics of competition, from A to Z. Personally, I like to talk about the fine points of competition and fine tuning positions, whereas other folks may be more interested in how to just get started. So be sure to bring whatever questions you have to this meeting to get them answered. If you have any questions at all about the process of competition shooting, this is the place to ask them We will do our best to illustrate each position (standing, sitting, prone) and talk about different ways of achieving excellence in shooting. As you know, Steve Milholland is Missouri’s Service Rifle Prone champion as well as a world-renowned manufacturer of JLK Bullets, so his comments on the prone position are worth the price of admission. Steve has some excellent ideas on using cost-effective slings such as the web sling for the M1, and everyone will get a chance to rig up a sling. Besides all that we’ll talk about why you must know the zeroes on your rifle, how important it is to keep records, and how the easy way of remembering things might be the hardest way in the end. We will illustrate this all using the M1 Garand, and then we’ll go over the differences encountered when using the current highpower favorite, the AR-15.
The day after the clinic, Sunday, March 9, we have a match scheduled at the Aim Rite range in Miller. It is a 10 AM start time. Be there by 9:30 if you want to shoot. We’re hoping that folks who came to the clinic on Saturday can come to the match on Sunday and practice some of the items from the clinic. We fully expect that each person attending will need some coaching, and we will take all the time necessary at this match to make sure that folks are comfortable in their positions when firing. Experienced shooters will be expected to help coach less-experienced shooters, and absolutely anyone may ask for some help and coaching—we’ll get you some free advice if you ask for it. What if you don’t want advice, you don’t want coaching, and you just want to shoot because it’s been a long winter dammit and by golly it’s time to shoot? Well, just be sure to be there for the first relay, because we’ll run a first relay of experienced shooters to illustrate the match protocols. And then, of course, hope you’ll stay around to help coach. Cash awards will be given in two classes (G-S-M and NRA) to the winners ($10) and $5 each to every 5th person aftward (6th, 11th, 16th etc). Finally, because we have to pay for the range, we will charge a $5 entry fee to shoot.
On Saturday, March 15 we’ll re-run the same thing, only this time at the Dalton Range in Bois D’Arc, except there won’t be an entry fee.
What if you’ve never shot before, can’t make the clinic but want to shoot in one or both of the matches? No problem, just let me know about it and then show up at the match. We’ll find someone to coach you, and it should work out. It’s a game, the point is to have fun, and we all appreciate that.
Get to Hwy 96 west of Springfield (either take Chestnut to Halltown or take I-44 to the Hwy 96 exit at Halltown). Go west on 96 approximately 8 miles to Lawrence County road 1155. This is the road immediately on the east side of the very large petroleum storage facility (tank farm) about a mile or two east of the junction with Hwy 39. Go north on 1155 approximately 2.5 miles to the sign for the Aim Rite Range. The shooting range is on the back side of the property, down a steep hill.
The Fun Shoot on February 16 was a rousing success. That’s what the 20 people said who showed up and shot. Of course, the folks that stayed home probably think that staying warm and sleeping was a more worthwhile activity. But the 20 shooters who opened the 2008 shooting season at the Dalton Range took home a total of $115 in prize money, and nobody ever got cold enough to need a halftime break or cup of hot chocolate. All in all it was a most pleasant day on the range.
The schedule called for three matches for score and then three matches of shooting at money, but in light of the considerable chance for inclement weather, the shooters voted to begin the day with the money matches in lieu of the score matches, and was that a good decision or what? Shooters started out by shooting 3 shots in the standing position at a normal SR-1 target with a dollar bill stapled in the middle. A hit on the dollar allowed the shooter to keep the money, and additional hits earned additional dollars. The second game involved shooting from the prone position at a $5 bill stapled to a target that had been turned to show only the white with the money stapled in the middle of the field of white. Hit the bill and keep the money. Finally, shooters stapled up another target, again reversed to show only white, and the range-master stapled a $10 bill behind the target, in one of the corners, parallel to one of the sides of the target. The shooter had 8 shots from the prone position to attempt to perforate the unseen $10 bill. Since the $10 bill was not visible, the shooter had to try to put shots near the corners of the target, hoping to perforate the bill behind it. Some actually did hit the money, and they earned the right to keep it.
Finally, we shot one target for score from the standing position at 50 yards. Only this time the lowest score won (misses were worth 10 points), and the ranking of shooters determined the order in which they could choose a prize from the prize table Les Welch took honors here, and he was allowed first trip to the prize table.
Each shooter brought something to give away as a prize, and all the prizes were arrayed on a table, whereupon shooters were called up in order of their finish in the reverse-scored standing match.
Les Welch contributed to the prize table some hand-made cedar boxes for .22 match use, and nobody checked to see what he home with him, but it’s clear he contributed more than he took.
Other hand-made items included a bunch of cleaning racks and a beautiful pellet trap from Steve and Paul Kemm. If you haven’t attended the fun shoot, you don’t know the quality of expert woodworking the Kemm boys contribute. Again, here are two guys who contributed much more than they took home.
We also had lots of ammunition (of various types and sizes), scope bases and rings, a NASCAR collectible model car, clips, bandoleers, and a few other things my poor brain can’t remember. It was a prize table worth viewing, that’s for sure. But you had to be there to see it.
At the reloading clinic I illustrated how I use the progressive press to process brass during the season. I have a decapping die, an RCBS X-die without the expander ball, and an Lyman M-die to flare the case mouth in the tool head. Resizing brass is as simple as putting the case in the press and pulling the handle. Each piece progressively transfers through all the processes, being decapped (deprimed), re-sized, and then having the case mouth correctly sized and also flared a bit to take care of any burrs that might form on the inside of the case mouth. The whole process is extremely fast and efficient with a progressive press. Of course, powder-charging and bullet-seating are done using other tools and a single-stage press. The progressive press is a modern marvel, and many people use it from start to finish to load all their ammo at every step of the way. The reason I use my Lee progressive only for the brass is because it doesn’t work very well at anything else—in fact it makes life harder when used for anything other than resizing brass. Other manufacturers such as Hornady, RCBS and Dillon produce progressive presses which are of much better design than my Lee, and these presses may be used from start to finish on rifle ammunition.
I would also like to add a few additional comments on brass preparation. These comments are not meant to illustrate or indicate right or wrong, merely what I do and why. In particular, all my .223 caliber 600 yard loads are loaded on the single-stage press, from start to finish. I shoot only three different loads in .223: and one is a 100 yard practice load using the 52 grain Sierra Matchking bullet. Another is a match load for 200 and 300 yards using the Sierra 77 Matchking bullet, and the final one is a load with the 90 grain JLK bullet for shooting at 600 yards and beyond. The most important point to make is that I shoot a very hot load at the 600 yard line, and over the years I’ve had some primers puncture or blow out of the case. (The loads for the other yard lines are mild, are taken right out of the Sierra manual, and have never given me any trouble.)
I have solved my problems at 600 yard with three changes: first, (obviously) I decreased the powder charge (duh!); Second, I went to moly-coated bullets (debatable importance if you read Rifle Accuracy Facts by Harold Vaughan). Third, I never re-use a piece of brass at 600 yards. Apparently the loads I shoot are hot enough to stretch the primer pockets, and further use with the same load can cause primer pocket failure. On the other hand, these same pieces of brass work just fine for three or five additional firings with mild loads such as my 200/300 yard loading.
I shoot once-fired surplus brass, and the first thing I do (after cleaning) is run it through my Hornady re-sizing die; then I trim it, process the primer pocket, and lightly deburr the flash hole. For the 2000 pieces of brass I bought in November, that takes about a month working after dinner, but what else can you do in December and January? Then, during the shooting season, I will use a case only once for my long-line loads. After that it goes in a can to be reloaded for the 100, 200 or 300 yard line. From this point on it will probably be reloaded another 4 or 5 times, then I will discard it, usually because of the neck splitting or cracking.
Maybe the main point of the reloading clinic should be that if you do things by the book, everything will be fine, but if you insist on hotrodding or pushing the limits a bit, you should be prepared to also alter your techniques to re-introduce safety as the first ingredient.
Any questions?? Contact… Bill Corcoran (417) 862-861 or send me an email