October 2025 – Monthly Meet – Fancy Paper and Swinging Steel
by John White
October 25, 2025
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We had 18 shooters this time—8 bench and 10 offhand—with two new faces in the mix. The morning kicked off at a brisk 39 degrees, so we lit up the fire ring to chase away that overnight chill that always sneaks in this time of year. Along with the shooters, we had three spouses, several guests, and four administrators who didn’t shoot (keeping their distance from this rogue band of malodorous miscreants). Our trusty trader, Deercreek Gun Shop, was on hand as usual, and one of our new shooters brought what seemed like half the county to cheer him on. He’s 14 years old, and—just to rub it in—proceeded to outshoot the lot of us with his Woodsrunner .50 caliber. Ah, youth and good eyesight: the most unfair advantage of all.
As always, remember: we shoot rain or shine unless it’s called off by Thursday before the shoot. So unless you melt in water, plan to be there.
On to the main event! We kicked things off with the safety brief at 8:45 a.m., followed by target setup and a hot range shortly thereafter. For the first time ever, we shot both paper and steel targets at 50 yards. Bench shooters went after a five-ring blue target, while the offhand crowd took on a mix of steel plates, bowling pins, and a new fox target with a swinging bullseye—because why make it easy? Surprisingly little grumbling was heard (mark the date), and after 10 shots, we swapped targets for another round of 10.
After the usual assortment of dry balls, flash-in-the-pans, hang fires, caps popping, and other “character-building” experiences, scores were tallied. Shooters recorded their own results—simple hit-or-miss scoring on the steel, with the fox worth 5 points for a hit and 10 for the bullseye. Missed it? You got a big fat 0.
Our shoot results are as follows:
Off Hand:
1st: Billy Townsend
2nd: Brad Thomas
3rd: Erik Rolle
4th: Bobbie Witherington
5th: Tony Corhan
Bench:
1st: David Armstrong
2nd: Charlie Russell
3rd: Mike Lamb
4th: Beaver Fisher
5th: Doug Crabtree
Meat prizes were awarded to the top shooters—pork tenderloins, pork chops, ham, sausage, and chicken. Ten prizes for 18 shooters meant more than half walked away with something tasty. Congrats to all our winners, and thanks to everyone who came out to support TRBPS, whether you shot or not. We hope you enjoyed the shooting, the camaraderie, and the fine art of talking a little friendly smack while engulfed in sulfurous clouds.
It was especially good to see several familiar faces we haven’t spotted in a while. A few visitors also stopped by to check out the Trade Table—and even added a few items of their own. With blue skies, barely a breeze, and just enough campfire smoke to blend with the shooters’ clouds, it was a picture-perfect day. Everyone packed up by noon and headed to the train depot for lunch, debriefing, and a bit more good-natured banter.
Now, about next month: our traditional November shoot usually lands on the third Saturday to avoid conflicts with the holiday season. This year, though, the Pickens County Sportsman’s Club (our parent club) will be holding their membership meeting and officer elections that day. To steer clear of scheduling chaos, we’re moving our shoot back a week to November 22, 2025. Gates open at 8:00 a.m., safety brief starts at 9:00, and this will be our last formal shoot of the year—so you can spend the rest of the season with your families, or pretending to listen to your in-laws.
We truly appreciate every one of you for helping make Talking Rock Black Powder Shooters the best charter club around. 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 remaining pics, and the video that follows:
Enjoy the video of the October 2025 monthly meet below:
TRBPS October 2025 video on Rumble
The Rumble video is unedited, whereas the Youtube video has to be edited for its strict guidelines. So, the Rumble video will have a little more content.
Below is the edited Youtube version: