April Smithmoor BPCR

[Cody Smith]

Fellow Shooters,

We were blessed with a very nice day to shoot on Saturday, April 23 at the Smithmoor Range in Carpenter, Wyoming. Although comfortably warm, most of the morning was partially overcast and made target visibility a little tough with iron sights. We had a light breeze that switched around a bit. It was just enough to keep your spotter on his toes. We had seven riflemen make it out to shoot and one spectator, Roger. Roger seems quite interested and we will continue to work to get him shooting. The ladies of Smithmoor (Momma Lorraine and Coralee) brought out a nice cold cut lunch with chips, beans, cabbage salad, and several kinds of desert bread. We took a short break from shooting to enjoy the results of their work. Thank you ladies!

We had several events of interest yesterday. The first shot of his day, Greg Bybee had a case separate in his 40-82. It was stuck and none of our usual tricks would bring the broken piece out. We were about to give up when JD Farmer saved the day. He had a really neat, simple process that quickly and safely popped the broken piece right out. You will have to ask him about it next time you see him. Thanks JD! Greg shot ok at the beginning of the match, and then started to have bullets go all over. At the end of the match, we discovered his rear sight base had come loose. Drat! Also, Dad (Gary) had the screws in the paralax adjustment on his scope fall out half way through the match. Thankfully, he has another identical MVA scope and he was able to retrieve and install it pretty quickly. With seven shooters, we had three relays. One relay had two open spots, so we were able to work Greg and Gary into the shooting to make up their missed relay without having add extra time to the match.

Dick Farmer shot really well yesterday, and we were all proud and excited for him. Several of us were gathered watching him shoot his turkeys. He handily worked his way down the line, knocking each one over. The pressure built as he lined up on Number 10. His spotter, JD, gave him the nod on wind settings. Dick squeezed the trigger, and we watched as the bullet sailed over the top of the turkey's back by a mere inch! Dang it!! I am pretty sure ole Number 10 was sticking his tongue out at Dick. Oh well, you will get him next time, Dick. I will save that 10 Turkey Row pin for you. I wanted to tell the Farmers how much I admire the great relationship Dick and JD have. It makes me remember all of the great memories I have shooting with my brother and wished we lived closer. Jack Odor has a new top secret weapon for use in his war against silhouettes. He was acquiring sight settings and getting the general feel of his new super shooter yesterday. No doubt, when he gets the kinks worked out of it, there will be hell to pay. Until then, the rest of us are enjoying getting to win! I was quite pleased with my score yesterday. For the last few months, I have been working with different rifles and loads, trying to find one I liked. I think I have found both the rifle and load and gained a lot of confidence in the setup yesterday. Now to keep working on the nut behind the butt...

The Money Gong, well....back to the drawing board. It was almost impossible to see and too hard to hit. I think the odds were greater lighting would have struck it than one of our bullets. Needless to say, I couldn't convince anyone to risk a dollar! I will revise it and we will try something else next month. Stay tuned!

Thanks to all that come and shoot and support our range. We hope to see everyone at Watkins on the 7th of May and back here at Smithmoor on the 21st of May.
Hold Center,
Cody Smith

Shooter Chicken Pig Turkey Ram Total

Jack Odor 2 9 6 5 22
Kevin Finney 4 4 4 5 21
Cody Smith 7 10 8 7 32 MW
Gary Smith 0 8 4 4 16
JD Farmer 3 10 2 7 22
Dick Farmer 2 8 9 8 27 High 2nd Half
Greg Bybee 0 7 3 4 14

[Don McDowell]

Money gong?

[Mike]

Cody, You sure have your chickens well trained. Did you get all seven of them with headshots? Shoot sharp, Mike

[Cody Smith]

Don, we are always trying to think up something fun to do at the matches. Coralee and I dreamed up the money gong. The rules were that it cost one dollar per shot to shoot at it, with a maximum of five per day. The money would go into a can and whoever finally hits the gong would receive half of the money in the can. The other half would go toward range improvements. We threw a 50 in the can to start with. I think it will be fun after we get the details figured out. At the moment, it is too hard....

Hey Mike, I have to be honest, I was aiming for the beak on each one, but I did get a few shots that strayed into the head and neck area. I will try to do better next time!
take care, Cody

[Mike]

Don, we are always trying to think up something fun to do at the matches. Coralee and I dreamed up the money gong. The rules were that it cost one dollar per shot to shoot at it, with a maximum of five per day. The money would go into a can and whoever finally hits the gong would receive half of the money in the can. The other half would go toward range improvements. We threw a 50 in the can to start with. I think it will be fun after we get the details figured out. At the moment, it is too hard....

Hey Mike, I have to be honest, I was aiming for the beak on each one, but I did get a few shots that strayed into the head and neck area. I will try to do better next time!
take care, Cody

Hey Cody, My hat's off to you!! The most chickens I've ever gotten (while standing on my hind legs) is 4. We had one fun shoot where the chickens (and some quail) were shot from x-sticks and I got 6 that time. Of course, that didn't go into the score book. I just hope I can get 4 of them again! So, you did some good shooting, for sure. Shoot sharp, Mike

[Don McDowell]

Keep that "money" target hard to hit
I was envisioning a money bullet shaped target...

[Cody Smith]

The money gong is actually the shape of a spade, like in a deck of cards. I thought it would kind of add a casino atmosphere. Sometime we will just have to mess around shooting at it so we can figure out where to set it.
Thank you guys for the kind comments,
take care, Cody

[Don McDowell]

That spade sounds like a challenge sure enough. Where did you have it set at?

[Cody Smith]

I put it half way between the turkeys and rams. It was really deceptive as you couldn't tell that it was from the firing line. When you shot, the bullets hit the ram backstop. Even though it looked like you were barely missing the target, the bullet was actually flying several feet over the top. I think it may be fine to just put it at the ram line. I think having a berm to see your hits would be easier than having it closer out in the middle of nowhere and having no idea where your shots were going. I don't know, we will just have to play with it.

[Don McDowell]

Sounds like fun. When is the next one?