TRBPS Event – Windmill Moving Target

by John White

Talk about a great day to shoot. 16 folks, 11 shooters, 2 watchers and 3 gabbers! Two first time new shooters with us and a visitor from dawsonville to see what all the commotion was about.  Attendance was more than expected with the holiday weekend.  Thank you for coming and supporting our program.  Breeze picked up the second half so gave the unsupported folks moving targets as practice as they blew in the breeze for the ferris wheel target.  Not warm with a very nice gentle breeze.  Great weather and fellowship.  One of our best for sure making new friends and meeting new shooters.

We had our two shooting categories, five “unsupported” shooters and six “supported” to compete in classifications for fairness.  We shoot two relays, 10 shots each, patch and roundball, any caliber in these two shooting classifications supported and unsupported.  

First Relay:
10 shots at 50 yards, cut in half bowling pins, steel swingers, simple hit or miss for points but must be hit in order left to right.  The steel target plates were 8″, 6″, and 4″ round.  So a shot at each type of target at 50 yards twice and they had be hit in order.  The bowling pin top sandwiched between the 8″ and 4″ steel was for me literally impossible to see.  Just throw a little ole roundball down between em and get lucky.  Make ya feel like your making the proverbial 7-10 split with the invisible headpin.

Second Relay:
10 shots at 25 yards, small target for points.  NMLRA double bullseye target and scored as such.

Both relays were added together for placement within your appropriate shooting category unsupported (off hand) or supported (benchrest, shooting sticks etc).  First shot determined your scoring category. So pick either supported or unsupported and our top shooters were:

Unsupported:
1st: Billy Townsend
2nd: Erik Rolle
3rd: Jon Burgess

Supported:
1st: Charlie Russell
2nd: Doug Burgess
3rd: Chris Woodall

Third Relay for fun, testing and experience:

We had a unique first ever target used at a shoot with TRBPS.  A ferris wheel with four clay pigeons as a moving target.  At this point we are still trying to determine first if it will work, two hold up to our shooters and third design a match using this unique equipment.  So we test em, use em, shoot with dirty guns, flashes in the pan, misses when they go off, raz ’em when they miss and holler when they got a hit and there were a few.  We got some pics and videos of the target in action that will be available later this week.

We had at least two dry-balls, one broke ramrod, lots of flashes in the pan where we got to holler bang, use a pick, pulled locks, one beautiful bench 45 cal rifle with bench and accessories for sale.  We also had the saying, “man my sights are off.  I am shooting 8″ to the right every time.  How come?”  Kinda a normal shoot.  Ha!

Thank you all for taking time away from your family for this opportunity to shoot.  Enjoy and be thankful for the company of your family and friends this weekend and remember those that could not be with us.  We were done, cleaned up, prizes awarded by 11:30 today to avoid the heat of the day and allow everyone to be with friends and family.  Also thank you to all the helpers that made this shoot and others possible.  From pics, to scoring, to building, to moving, talking, spreading the word, just helping do whatever needs to be done.  Thank you, you all make it what it is to shoot with the Talking Rock BPShooters – a wonderful experience.

So we look forward to everyone coming and shooting with us Saturday, June 18th at 8:30 AM.  We moved our shoot up from a conflict with a PCSC membership meeting.  Make sure you note your calendar with this one time change.  So keep your eyes peeled for further details and other new relays and equipment.

IN SINCERE APPRECIATION:
We all with the Talking Rock BPShooters would like to thank Joe Collins for his years of service and leadership as we created and grown this charter club over the last two years.  Thank you Joe for all you have done and pushed us to accomplish.

If you have any questions please holler as i am sure we all have em.