August 2026 – Monthly Meet – Going Bowling
by John White
August 22, 2026
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We had 23 shooters – two brand spanking new-to-us shooters; seven admin/visitors and we got our shoot rolling right at 9:00am, It was a bright sunny day with little to no breeze and started at a nice temperature but at the end in the sun was definitely very warm. The shooters were 11 off hand and 12 bench, and we were missing many a regular shooter for many reasons. We missed you all, get healthy and get back here shooting please, we miss you.
The first shots got popped off after our safety brief and announcement that all proceeds of the shoot were going to be donated to the Gilmer County Food Pantry in honor of JoAnn Schmidt, wife of founding member Dennis Schmidt. The food pantry was selected as JoAnn and Dennis were dedicated volunteers for several years and that was their request. Our shooters and guests were very generous and TRBPS will be matching the funds donated to make a serious and memorable donation in their name.
As our shoot progressed many a folk noticed due to the lack of a breeze first thing the fog was getting very heavy but had that lovely aroma of burning charcoal. Many of the shooters just paused to soak in the smell as an energy boost. Our course of fire was 10 shots on the NMLRA five bull buffalo target at 50 yards and as normal with our humidity and such we had several shooters with fail-to-fire problems creating stuck round balls that needed to be pulled.
Now for the day I think we only had one true dry ball so that was a great part of the day. We moved on to our bowling tournament target. A ten-pin target with some unique scoring and there was some serious grumbling on that target. A picture is attached for all to see and judge. All the Program Manager can say is – boy, was he happy about the grumbling. The shooters bore down and focused to make good scores with challenging targets. Well, one shooter was so focused he shot his ramrod and it stuck in the target at 25 yards. We let it hang there the remainder of the relay and most asked the shooter what kind of load was he shooting that his arrow could not even go all the way through the cardboard?
We added the two relays together with a total of 20 scored shots and the results are as follows:
Off Hand
1st – Brad T.
2nd – Billy T.
3rd – Scott Y.
4th – Tracy D.
5th – Jim W.
Bench/Supported
1st – Charlie R.
2nd – Steve B.
3rd – David A,
4th – Tim L.
5th – Beaver F.
There was a lot of shocked shooters at their placement as they felt they shot very badly. Well, most everyone had low scores as everyone shot the same target and that is one key to fairness. It was a tough target!
Before the prizes were awarded a lengthy discussion presentation was done giving many of the new shooters more insight as to the creation of TRBPS, who founded the group, when, philosophy of the gathering and additional details on the Schmidts contribution and we announced that we had lost an additional founding member, Mr. Bruce Kendall who had not shot with us for several years but was very active with our youth program and creating TRBPS. He was our first treasurer.
LOOKING AHEAD:
We also announced an additional shoot in September. Our normal fourth weekend shoot is still happening on the 26th start time 9:00am but we have added another shoot on the 19th with the same start time and overall same format. There is one additional format experiment on the 19th shoot and that is an added relay for pistols. This will not affect the rifle portion, and it will still be a stand-alone, but we are adding a pistol course of fire to determine interest in shooting those classic firearms. If enough have interest there will be two categories, single shot and cap and ball. All shots will be done off-hand with one hand, and at a distance and target to be determined on the 19th. So, if you have a handgun you would like to try, bring it. You will shoot it in addition to your rifle right after the rifle relays are concluded and the targets are getting scored.
To all, stay healthy, cool and safe till we meet up again on the 19th of September when the gates open at 8:00am for our shoot. Bring your rifle and pistol and let’s have a great day in hopefully a bit cooler weather.
Optional Pistol Shoot: Saturday, September 19, 2026
Next Regular Shoot: Saturday, September 26, 2026
Logistics: Gates open 8:00 AM | Safety Briefing & Shooting starts 9:00 AM
Till then thank you to for making the Talking Rock Black Powder Shooters club grow and be the best there is.
As always keep your eyes on this, our website, for updates on our shoots with write-ups, pics, videos, links to two websites with different videos on the trbps.com events tab. Check out our Rumble page for full, unedited videos.
If you’ve got questions, comments, or brilliant ideas (or just want to hand out compliments), don’t be shy – reach out anytime to talkingrockbpshooters@gmail.com, or you can always leave comments down below.
Enjoy the video of the August 2026 monthly meet below: