Rapidfire Rimfire Pistol Match in North Alabama

[Danny Creasy]

It was overcast and cold at the Crooked Oak range this morning. But, it was dry.

Seven of us showed with our rimfire handguns to take on the steel from 12 yards.



The shooter engages one row of silhouettes at a time. The range officer starts a timer with the shooter's first shot and stops the timer when the last silhouette in the row is down. Rams first, then turkeys, then pigs, and finally the fierce little chickens. One's aggregate time is his/her score. A three second good-shooting reward is subtracted from a row if the shooter goes 6 for 6 (no misses).

Andrew - rams
http://vid47.photobucket.com/albums/f169/sheffieldshootr/IMG_0792_zpslwy8dqfo.mp4

Andrew - turkeys
http://vid47.photobucket.com/albums/f169/sheffieldshootr/IMG_0794_zpsvvyshzve.mp4

Andrew - pigs
http://vid47.photobucket.com/albums/f169/sheffieldshootr/IMG_0796_zpsmbaahogi.mp4

Andrew - chickens (I was a little late on this one - oops)
http://vid47.photobucket.com/albums/f169/sheffieldshootr/IMG_0797_zpsqosnhua2.mp4

His brother, John, engages the pigs
http://vid47.photobucket.com/albums/f169/sheffieldshootr/IMG_0795_zpsluszn95k.mp4

 

[9mmepiphany]

Can you shoot through the row and come back to pickup misses or do you have to wait for each animal to fall before moving on to the next one?

 

[Danny Creasy]

Any firing order in a specific row is allowed. The shooter can shoot right to left or left to right or skip a critter he/she is struggling with and come back to pick it up. Andrew had the best overall time today. Most folks are nowhere near this efficient. Several had to reload during mid string - which is allowed. If a shooter is struggling on a given row of silos, the RO calls time at 45 seconds to simply keep the game moving along.

 

[9mmepiphany]

I'll have to try it the next time I'm on the Rimfire side of the range, the problem is they set the steel at 25 yards for the kids using rifles.

Maybe they're just too small to shoot through and come back, but it just seems slow to wait for them to fall rather then moving on to the next taregt

 

[Danny Creasy]

I'm a bit obtuse - so my wife tells me. Thus, I may have misunderstood your quandary.

No, the competitor does not have to wait for a silo to fall before moving to the next one.

It may look this way from the video, but one must realize that these are not big plates or pepper poppers. They are 1/5th scale NRA silhouettes. The chicken is only about 1.5" by 2.5" in size for example. If the shooter does not hesitate for at least a fraction of a second to get a sight picture, he will more than likely miss the relatively small targets from 12 yards. And, "You can't miss fast enough to win."

I did not get a video of him shooting, but one of the Optical Sight Class shooters, often found himself sweeping the row, only to realize that he left one up. He would then have to go back and hammer it down. It cost him dearly.

Y'all may find this range report form our Rimfire Match Director helpful:

http://dwightpilkilton.proboards.co...e-pistol-results-january?page=1&scrollTo=4842

 

[Drail]

We used to use those itty bitty chickens at our club's steel matches - as an option target. You were not required to engage it but if you cleared all of the other plates (including the "stop" plate which stopped the clock) and you took it down - 3 seconds would be subtracted from your total time. Not many guys would go for it. But if you took that little sucker down - you were "the Man". That is a very nice plate rack setup.

 

[Danny Creasy]

Thanks.

 

[Danny Creasy]

Sorry, videos didn't take.

 

[Danny Creasy]

March 14, 2015

Moe, Larry, and Curly were all that showed up under dark clouds this morning. The rain stopped just before we arrived and held off for both matches. The three of us had a great time, unlimbering plenty of iron and putting well over 400 rounds downrange. We kept it simple - only setting up two silo racks. The temp was in the low 60s, and there was almost no wind.

25/25 PISTOL SILHOUETTE MATCH

Revolver Class

1st 5X5, Andrew Butler, S&W K22, Eley Sport
2nd 7X7, John Butler, S&W 17-6, Winchester 333
3rd 13X6, Danny Creasy, S&W 617, CCI SV

Andrew (left) and John (right) battle it out with wheel guns in a very close and interesting duel (link to video below):
http://vid47.photobucket.com/albums/f169/sheffieldshootr/IMG_0884_zps68ktlb3h.mp4

The results. Good shooting gentlemen.


Pistol Class

1st 7X6, Danny Creasy, S&W 41, CCI SV
2nd 10X6, Andrew Butler, Browning Buckmark, CCI SV
3rd 19X7, John Butler, Ruger Mk III, Winchester 333

Scoped Handgun Class (any action type)

1st 8X6, Danny Creasy, Ruger Stainless Single Six, Leupold M8 2X, Remington Target
2nd 15X7, John Butler, Taurus 4", AimPoint dot, Winchester 333
3rd 15X7, Andrew Butler, Shot Danny's rig, CCI SV

Andrew is still contemplating what kind of scoped handgun to acquire. I urged him to try my Single Six/Leupold combo:

He braved the slow lock time and afterwards commented, "Well, it sure teaches you the importance of follow through."

RAPIDFIRE RIMFIRE MATCH

Scoped Rifle Class

29.65 seconds, Danny Creasy, CZ 452 American, Simmons Deerfield 4-12X40, Remington Target

A bolt action is very unforgiving when used in the RFRF Match in spite of the handicapping. One must shoot nigh on perfectly to have an overall time in the teens or low twenties. My score sheet from today:

After the last chicken of the top row was down, I ejected the fired case and laughingly showed Andrew and John my empty 10 shot CZ magazine. It could have been worse - a reload is exponentially detrimental to ones time.

56 seconds, Andrew Butler, Ruger 10/22, Bushnell Sportview 3-9, CCI SV
98.80 Seconds, Ruger 10/22, Simmons 8-Point 3-9, Federal American Eagle

Open Sight Class

45 seconds, Danny Creasy, CZ 452 UltraLux, Remington Target - first in a field of one.

Opposite this time - slow start and fast finish:


I always tell first time Rapidfire Rimfire Match shooters, "You can't miss fast enough to win." For descriptions of and rules for of all of our local rimfire matches - link:
http://dwightpilkilton.proboards.com/thread/97/rimfire-run

I wish more of our shooting friends had been there. It was a great morning of shooting followed by lunch at the Pie Factory. We met my family there and they had secured a table for eight.

We sauntered in 30 minutes late, mud splattered, and grinning like possums. They had been waiting for a table anyway and were just being seated. However, a look from my spouse said it all. After 31 years, a couple doesn't really have to speak to communicate. I said, "What? We were finished with the match at 12:45, but John has a new/old rifle. We just had to put a few rounds through it. It is one of those cool ol' Ruger .44 Magnums with a tubular magazine ..." I let my diatribe drift to silence as the wife's, mother-in-law's, sister-in-law's, and daughter's eyes glazed over. My daughter's boyfriend has some guns (he's not a "gun guy" but he has an inquisitive nature and prior to his dad's tragic and disabling accident, they shot together frequently - enough said) and seemed interested, so down at the guys' end of the table, after ordering an Old Faithful pizza and quenching our thirst with sodas and iced-tea, the young man listened attentively as the three of us extolled about the history, feeding, care, virtues, and flaws of Bill Ruger's 1960 masterpiece. "And did I mention, on the lone shot I took with the little brute, I center punched a Mountain Dew can offhand from 35 yards open sighted with one of its 240 grain soft points?"

"Uh, yeah you did, Danny."

"What Sweetie? Y'all ready to go already?" Oh, I looked around our party, the pizzas were devoured or boxed and the handbags and jackets were coming off the back's of chairs. Did you ever have one of those days that should last forever? Man, we were just getting started. Enjoy the rifle, John -

 

[Walkalong]

Very cool, looks like fun.

 

[Jim Watson]

I am in the same club as Danny - only live about a mile from him - but my interests differ a bit.
I had a BAD case of Cabin Fever, so I trusted the weather reports and left home in the rain to shoot IDPA in Birmingham. Sure enough, I drove out of the rain about 20 miles from home and got to shoot under cloudy skies.
The sun is shining now, I am going shooting today, too.

 

[Danny Creasy]

Was it a light crowd as well, Jim?

 

[Jim Watson]

No, turnout was excellent, 65 shooters.
We had 18 or so at Crooked Oak IDPA today even though shooting the Classifier which a lot of people consider dull and boring.

 

[Danny Creasy]

That's obviously where it's at these days. Our rimfire matches have waned. I applaud the growth of participation in the action shooting games. As long as people are shooting and safely having fun, it's a good thing.

 

[ford8nr]

Our club runs a weekly NRA Smallbore rifle league in the summer with the targets on resettable racks at 40, 60, 80 and 100M. They also run a monthly fun shoot at 25, 50, 75 and 100yds. The NRA league is all offhand. The fun matches are either Hunter - offhand or Parairie Dog (PD) which is 5 targets at each distance shot straight through for a score and time. They also offer Double Dog which is 20 targets out, a reload, and 20 targets back. Wife and I both shot it the last Sunday. It was a little windy and the first shoot of the year, her best PD was 17, mine 19. I managed a tough 15 offhand and finished with a 40 Double Dog in 77 seconds which beat the club record set by me last year by 2 seconds. Last years winning time for PD was 28 seconds, another record set by me. Great fun especially if you get a rifle running good.