Varmints novelty target

by John White
May, 2023

So we shot some varmints, took real good care of ’em from the looks of the tore up targets as they were out sunning on an absolutely beautiful day with a gentle breeze, blue skies and mid low 60’s temp. I mean the ground hogs took a bunch of hits knocking ’em down, spinning them around along with the crows, hogs and the bell got rung multiple times.

On the other hand them paper varmints were sneaking around trees, popping their heads up and little could be seen or hit so not many wanted their paper targets as they went into the trash can and yet they were a lot closer.

We started our safety brief and course of fire at 9:00am with long sleeve shirts on and our hats cinched on tight. 21 brave souls shot with us today. Our largest number of shooters ever, on a three day holiday weekend honoring our fallen friends. Amazing! By 10:00am we were down to t-shirts and short sleeves as we worked through the shoot program. We had three new-to-us shooters, eight memberships renewed or first time joining, seven observers as well.

The new loading benches were fantastic! We had plenty of room for all with spots for several more. We finished the shooting at 11:45am with several breaks to hydrate and repair some damaged varmints, gave out the awards, cleaned up the range as if we were never there, and gone at Noon. Perfect timing for a family weekend gathering including a serious discussion of all the faults, failures, and tall tales of the shoot at our train depot debrief.

We had our bench course of fire with 14 bench shooters and 7 off hand shooters. We also had our usual dry-ball challenges, dull flints, caps not popping, and a stubborn brown bess dry-ball that got shot out. Kinda fun watching that big ole ball bounce across the range floor and go about 40 yards, get picked up and reused! Towards the end of the course of fire, the hammers falling and caps not popping from the grime accumulating, occurred for few folks.

Our shoot results were:
Off Hand:
1st – Billy Townsend
2nd – Bob Wilson
3rd – Jon Burgess

Bench:
1st – Charlie Russell
2nd – Tim Coleman
3rd – David A

Our goals of friendship, fellowship, camaraderie with a little shooting practice was definitely achieved from the smiles, grins, “thank you’s”, and “this is great” we received. Our range is the talk of the southeast as over 100 women instructors and shooters from the all over the southeast used it last weekend.

They were ecstatic over the looks, the layout, arrangement, the size and the “thank you’s” were overwhelming with nary a negative word spoken about it. It was the gathering place for checkin, breakfast, lunch and dinner served. Everyone, this range has been built for shooters by shooters and it shows. Thank you all for your support and labor for all that has been done and yet still needs to be done.

Lost and Found!
One very nice Caldwell, fancy, big, shooting bench bag. I mean this is a beast to wrap your rifle up and keep it warm in the winter. Was located on the first bench as you came under the large cover.

So to all who came out today including the wives who wanted to see and hear what all the fuss was about, we thank you all for participating with us. Please enjoy your family time and remember what this weekend is about.

Our next shoot is June 24th so keep your eyes out for the course of fire announcement email. The shoot will be hosted and run by our intrepid scorekeeper, Mr. Mike.

Keep your eyes on our website as well, www.trbps.com/home/events/ as our video guy and fellow shooter Mr. Chris will be updating our website with pics, videos and additional write-ups of todays adventures.

To all thank you again for attending and supporting our merry band of dirty shooters. We keep on trying to make it fun and challenging but not at the expense of your fellowship and friendship. Till next month.

Enjoy the video of this event:

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