Osage Orange Sharpshooters
Newsletter
May, 2009
Schedule online at: www.osageorangesharpshooters.com
Next Match – Saturday May 23, 2009
This will be another ‘JCG/Any Rifle’ match, meaning that if you shoot a John C. Garand Match type rifle, (M1, 1903, Carbine, M1917, Krag, or even foreign bolt gun) you will be in the JCG category and eligible for JCG achievement medals. Scorecards will go into the CMP for you folks. ‘Any Rifle’ shooters (primarily but not limited to the AR-15 folks) will compete for one or two $5 cash awards, and their score cards will not go to the CMP.
Speaking of Score Cards, Again
Thanks to all shooters for doing a better job on filling out the score cards. If you are a ‘veteran’ shooter and still can’t remember your CMP number, I have a few of the previous match bulletins in my portable office and can give one to you to find your number. And if you just want a paper copy of the match bulletin, you can have it as I usually have a couple. If you go the CMP’s web site and look at the ‘Competition Tracker’ you can find the results from all our registered matches, and your CMP number will be listed there also.
John C. Garand Match Results
Mike Hawkins continues to tear up the course of fire, whether it be with a bolt gun, an AR-15 or a Garand. He shot a 471 to win the May 9 John C. Garand Match and earn the only gold achievement medal of the day. Your humble Presidente and Dictator For Life achieved a silver medal with a score of 452, and Mike Thorn, Pat Worley, Ed Bowles, Jerry Patten, Jim Laatsch, Steve Kemm, and Chris Parrot all walked off with Bronze medals. By the way, the following Saturday Chris Parrott drove over to Joplin and took the gold medal in their JCG match.
Missouri Sport Shooting Association
The Missouri Sport Shooting Association (MSSA) is the state umbrella shooting organization. They are a CMP affiliate (so holding their membership card entitles one to purchase from the CMP) as well as an NRA affiliate. MSSA sponsors the Highpower Championship (first weekend in June at the Bucksnort range near Marshall) as well as the Mid-Range Championship (first weekend in October, same range). If you want to shoot in these championships, you must be an MSSA member. Also, if you shoot in the championships in Kansas sponsored by the KSSA, your MSSA membership allows you in the match. It goes without saying that you should be an MSSA member.
We also take a membership for our club as a way of supporting the state-wide mission. MSSA provides free rifles and reloading components to junior shooters engaged in regular competition, and some of the young people from southwest Missouri have benefited from that program. To support the junior mission of the MSSA, our membership voted a $100 contribution. Thanks guys.
Places to Shoot and Our Future
One of the continuing problems we face is finding a place to practice, not to mention hold matches. Of course, the Andy Dalton Range has been a gracious host of our matches, but as our participation increases, we sometimes find ourselves a little cramped, not to mention pressed for time. I really like the Dalton Range because of the amenities, and I think our recent transition to shooting in the booths is a step in the right direction. The range rules are a bit of an aggravation, but then, as a match director, I really appreciate things that make the burden of range safety a little lighter. And believe me, the rules do make my job easier.
Overall I hope we can continue our program as it has been going for the past few years at the Dalton Range. Holding our matches there provides many, many good things for us, both tangible and intangible. Furthermore, I do enjoy the staff at the Dalton Range. I consider them friends, and they have been very helpful to me on a number of occasions. And they include some awfully good hunters and shooters in their number, so it’s always fun to share stories with them.
Negatives to shooting at Dalton all derive from being a guest at somebody else’s range, including being pressed for time and having to schedule around their activities both for dates and for times. Wouldn’t it be nice to have an afternoon match sometime? Also, I live in fear that one day they will tell us that prone and sitting positions are unsafe, or that rapid fire is forbidden. A couple years ago the Department of Conservation was considering outlawing ‘full metal jacket’ ammunition (their terminology, not mine). Since all GI surplus and target ammunition fits this description, our program would have been dead if that rule had been adopted. Fortunately it died, in part because the range personnel from Dalton pointed out to the higher-ups that it was a foolish, non-functional description of ammunition they were using. So our local Dalton personnel are on our side, but just the thought that someone in charge of shooting in Missouri would even formally consider such a rule worries me. It worries me greatly. And the issue of not being able to practice position shooting during public hours is a real problem. Thus, even though we hold our matches there, I never consider it ‘home.’
If I want to practice I have to go someplace else. The Marshfield club is a good place to practice: http://www.marshfieldshootingclub.com/ranges.html
but it is too small to host our matches.
The Aim Rite range in Miller (what I call ‘Leroy’s place’, no web page) is also a good place to practice but a bit small for our club to hold regular matches.
After many years of shooting in matches at the Joplin Rifle Pistol Club, I finally joined, simply because they are the biggest and best facility in southwest Missouri www.joplingunclub.com
It’s a one and a half hour drive to go there, but I often will spend the extra time simply because I can shoot to my heart’s content out to 300 yards without being interrupted. There are two separate rifle ranges with approximately 50 firing points, plus a ‘plinking berm’ which is actually an enclosed pistol range. Joplin holds a full slate of matches, including indoor events during the winter.
I often say that the reason there are so few good rifle ranges around here is that for years anybody could walk out into his back 40 and shoot a few rounds, so nobody thought it was worth setting up a formal range. Well, rampant urban sprawl has quickly eaten up the land near Springfield, and if you want to shoot, it’s going to cost you money or time.
Now, just to finish providing information on places to shoot, the only other club in our area is the Springfield Benchrest Rifle Club (no web page), with their range near Billings. This, too, is a very nice facility, and they, too, are feeling the effects of urban sprawl. Because of encroaching development they have greatly increased their dues and are considering fairly expensive options in order to continue the club’s existence. If you get a chance to join them, I highly recommend it. I know they would be tickled if some of our members would help a bit on work days. Steve Milholland, our original webmaster and director of membership/recruitment, runs a few matches there, and the firing line we use needs some repairs. Since we are the only shooters to use that firing platform, improvements are not high on the list of priorities for the other club members. We might consider going out there as a club next year on their spring work day—couldn’t hurt to build some bridges as well as a firing line.
Besides providing some information to folks unaware of the clubs in our area, my purpose in this note is to draw your attention to the fact that places to shoot in southwest Missouri are precious. At least the combination of necessary things such as safety, size, amenities, and reasonable cost (measured in dollars, time, or distance) is so rare, that I think we have a problem. If we were ever to lose our privileges at the Dalton Range, our program would be dead, because there is no other place that could host us. This scares me greatly.
Because of these issues, I think we should begin seriously investigating what it would take to develop an independent range. It is important to be very careful and clear in stating (and understanding) what I think is appropriate. Like a good bureaucrat, I think it is time to “begin investigating” what it would take. The “investigating” part might take years, or it might take days depending on your viewpoint. It could take only days if the membership looked at various financial scenarios and decided that the cost is prohibitive. It could take days if the membership decided that the Dalton Range is the optimal place for housing our club.
On the other hand, it might take us years to look at all the options, talk to all the stakeholders, and develop a financial plan for a transition to someplace else. I can think of at least two situations we might explore that are so speculative they don’t need to be put down in print, but negotiating the financial and access terms might take a very long time.
Thus, I say we should “begin investigating,” not vote yea or nay on doing something, but just start looking around and talking to people, develop an idea of what kind of cost would be involved in various associations, and keep our minds open. A number of folks volunteered at our last meeting to survey some of the options. I hope we can continue the discussion at each of our meetings.
Cost of Shooting and Politics
Yesterday I saw on the web that Jeff Bartlett (www.gibrass.com) had .223 once-fired brass for sale for 10 cents a case. Last year I paid about a nickel a case, and three years ago it was 2.5 cents. Do you see a trend? The current political regime has shooters so scared of the future that any firearm, ammunition, or reloading component put up for sale seems to last only nanoseconds before it is purchased. I heard one story where small rifle primers are going for 6 cents a piece (last year it was 2 cents).
I wonder if shooting will become a sport only for the rich. You’ve probably all been treated to a depression-era story about how your grandfather could buy 1903 rifles for $10, or the DCM sold Carbines for $30, and you just dream of those old gravy days. But, of course, the story you hear always includes the punch line, “but I didn’t have $30 to spend.” Is that where we’re headed?
This is crazy. If the history of markets and bubbles is any guide (e.g., the real estate bubble, the tech bubble, the assault weapons ban), right now would be a good time to sell. What’s the old adage, buy low, sell high? But just like the Civil War officer firing his revolver at one soldier while he offered his sword in surrender to another, I am buying too.
Bill Corcoran
WilliamCorcoran@missouristate.edu