We made it thru another season at Topstraps Rimfire Challenge, been an excellent year with great participation and hopefully made it fun and challenging for everyone. With the great ammo chase/search on and the high cost of the top shelf stuff I hope it's not discouraging for everyone, I'll still have three (3) classes based on ammo costs and give a free emtry for each class winner each month to encourage everyone to come participate and have fun and know they can still win something at any level. I also want to thank everyone that helps at each match to spot, score and paint targets. It's really appreciated and makes it a lot easier for this Old One Man Show, I think I enjoy watching others shoot and hit targets more than doing it my self. One thing that was pretty cool was there more chipmunks and squirrels this weekend than I've ever seen before running back and forth across the range (usually right behind each target rack) carrying nuts and stuff. I bet there were at least 20 to 25 chipmunks and 10 or more squirrels steadily scurring back and forth causing a distraction. At any given time there were at least 10 of the little buggers running back and forth, maybe there were gathering for winter or maybe just playing a dodge the bullet game. None were hit but many times just as a competitor would shoot one would blast past the target to keep you wondering. One lone deer casually nibbled her way across the range without a care in the World. Great Fun.
This last match of the year was the World Famous Timed Event, 100 rounds in a bowl with one empty magazine with no more than 10 rounds in it. At the buzzer you loaded your mag and started out thru the target racks hitting each target to progress. You had 20 minutes or all targets hit or ran out of ammo to finish. Sounds like a long time but harder than you think. There is a standing $100 bounty/prize that will be awarded to whoever beats the Record and wins the match but it was safe for another year but shooters are getting this game figured out and getting closer to claiming the prize. Chris could not equal his last years new Record score shooting 45 seconds slower and missing one more target, I will try to get the video posted. It looks slow watching it but try it some time, harder than it appears.
Will try to include some highlights which made this match so much fun to run/watch. One competitor was having a good run out thru the racks and as he was getting to the last few racks the time was nearly out, I gave the two minute warning and he's frantically shoving shells in the mag and sending rounds downrange, hit, hit, hit, miss, miss, miss, hit then had to reload due to not knowing how many were in the mag, timers running down, load a few, hit, hit, miss, miss, hit, hit, timers running down even faster it seems, jams the last few rounds out of his bowl in the mag, hit, hit, hit, timers under 5 seconds, hit, hit, hit, miss, hit, three seconds, drops down to the gong which is the last target to hit, two seconds, one second, CLICk BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP. Dang, he used up his last round in the bowl, emptied his mag and realized during the frantic shooting/reloading he dropped one round on the floor and forgot to grab it. So close and yet so far. That ClICK will haunt him forever. He'll be forever known as Darrell "CLICK" Smith from now on. Great fun to watch it unravel. Others got so close and frantically were jamming bullets in the mag and trying to finish. Based on what ammo was being used the Lapua/SK stull was like trying to drag buggers or slimy worms out of the bowl and trying to smash them down in the mag. A couple other competitors ran out of time or ammo just as they went to hit the gong to stop the clock. Some had sweat rolling down their cheeks, others were breathing heavy. No one collapsed but the rush for some was noticeable as they turned and looked wiped out. Others just shot their match at their pace and just enjoyed the day, kinda like a Sunday Drive while others were running in the Gran Prix. I Loved every minute or it.
My Fiasco was just the opposite. I was going to shoot my old Vostok Single Shot and use really old Eley Ten-X with really dry waxy lube a buddy picked up at CMP dirt cheap. I was the last shooter on Sunday and ran down to paint the targets, they had my gun set up already since it was starting to get dark. I dumped the 100 rounds into the bowl and turned around to show everyone how it looked so funny, kinda like a pile or candy in a pyramid. I should have seen something didn't look right. At the buzzer away I went, man was I being smooth and fast I thought feeding them into the loading ramp and getting off shots that Annie Oakley would be proud of. Then I started to notice I had to kinda pay more attention to getting them onto the feed ramp and lined up. A few more shots and I had to lean up around and see what was happening and push them down and into the chamber more. Occasionally one would go too far and get stuck on the far side of the ramp and had to tip the gun over and actually hit the side to get it out. HMMMMMMMM, then I got an occasional one that would stick to my finger and come out when I pulled my finger back out. It kept getting a bit worse, then I noticed that when I'd grab one out of the bowl there might be another stuck to my finger. This kept getting worse still I had to slide my finger against the loading port to get the round off my finger and also at times I'd have 3 or 4 stuck to my finger pulling another round out of the bowl. If you've ever seen the movie "The Replacements" where the one receiver couldn't catch the football and they put that sticky slime on his hands and he was trying to shake everything off his hand that is a close idea what it was like with the ammo. That waxy lube was so think and just the right consistency it got crazy sticky as more got on my finger and the edges of the loading port. Then I was trying to hurry shots due to this and was missing. It would have made a great video and was so comical to see it happening. All I had to do was probably wipe off the excess lube and it would have helped a LOT. I bet I easily lost 3 minutes time but it's a match I'll remember for a long time. As for accuracy, the stuff shoots great, I'm not an ELEY fan but it's by far the best I've tried, just gotta clean it a bit I guess if I do a timed match again.
This without a doubt has to be the funnest match to shoot and watch, plenty of kidding and poking fun at everyone as they did their best to battle with the mag reloading, finding targets, adjusting scope or not and knowing the timer is quickly running down. Can't wait till next year. Chris did not beat his all time high score but did win the match again, must be getting old but he had a big crowd behind him watching so maybe a bit of pressure to not look bad made him be more cautious. That old Izhmash will easily shoot with any custom and still has the factory hammer forged barrel. We've tried a couple Anschutz Fortner action guns and not saying anything against them neither of us would trade our Izhmash even for a new Fortner. The Anschutz is top shelf quality and sure shoots but the crude little Izhmash will run right with them especially after we got a super nice aluminum chassis for them. I put a heavy Shilen Ratchet barrel on mine and not sure it's any improvement of Chris' factory barreled gun. Rob Jackson shot an Anschutz Single Shot and did very very well, goes to show you can shoot this match with anything and finish in time, do well and have a blast being different.
OK, bored everyone enough but wish I could share more of the high fun points of the match. Guess you'll just have to come next year and be part of it, maybe others will share some thoughts on what they thought of it. Some slower shooters missed very few but the time hurt them, others shot fast with more misses. I'll post a picture of a score sheet so anyone can figure out how the scores were calculated. I'll also give free entries this month for next April based on ammo classes. Class winners are A: Chris Kirkpatrick, B: Austin Andrella, C: Cuda Gatten
Place Score Class Time Used Name Targets Hit Rounds Left(in bowl) Targets Left Time Left On Timer Gun Scope Ammo
1. 200.00 A 8:05 Chris Kirkpatrick 75 22 0 11:55 Izhmash Arken Lapua SLR
2. 162.95 A 9:43 Mark Hall (2) 75 20 0 10:17 Vudoo Razor Eley Match
3. 154.84 A 10:20 Kurt Yoder(1) 75 21 0 9:40 Sako Quad SWFA Eley Match
4. 148.84 B 10:45 Austin Andrella 75 21 0 9:15 CZ 457 Arken SK Match
5. 134.62 A 11:16 Mark Hall (1) 75 16 0 8:44 Vudoo Razor Eley Match
6. 131.96 A 11:22 David Choma 75 15 0 8:38 Rim-X Burris Eley Match
7. 129.80 A 12:35 Bill Winland 75 23 0 7:25 Vudoo NF Lapua LR
8. 126.96 B 11:41 Bill (Martini) Moran(2) 75 14 0 8:19 10-22 Arken Fiochi
9. 123.70 B 12:48 Kenneth Triplett 75 20 0 9:12 CZ 457 Vortex Venom SK LR
10. 123.34 B 12:42 Bill Moran(1) 75 19 0 7:18 Anschutz Fortner Arken R-50
Place Score Class Time Used Name Targets Hit Rounds Left(in bowl) Targets Left Time Left On Timer Gun Scope Ammo
11. 119.89 A 11:49 Kurt Yoder(2) 75 10 0 8:11 Sako Quad SWFA Eley Pistol Match
12. 116.71 B 11:34 Bill Nesbitt 75 6 0 8:26 Ruger 10-22 Arken Eley SABR
13. 116.40 B 12:36 Cody Art 75 12 0 7:24 CZ 457 Arken SK Rifle Match
14. 111.24 A 14:41 Joe Bender 75 23 0 5:19 CZ 457 Vortex Center-X
15. 106.59 B 13:55 Jacob Cain 75 14 0 6:05 CZ 457 Vortex SK LR
16. 94.91 C 16:41 Cuda Gatten 75 20 0 3:19 Savage MK II Arken Federal
17. 92.72 B 17:37 Rob Jackson 75 23 0 2:23 Anschutz 1903 Single Shot Athlon SK RM
18. 91.10 A 16:06 Travis Art 75 13 0 3:54 CZ 457 Vortex SE Eley Ultra
19. 90.54 B 16:34 Tom Triplett 75 15 0 3:26 Bergara Trijicon SK LRM
20. 89.72 A 15:14 Bill Moran(3) 75 7 0 4:46 10-22 Arken Lapua SLR
Place Score Class Time Used Name Targets Hit Rounds Left(in bowl) Targets Left Time Left On Timer Gun Scope Ammo
21. 88.06 A 16:28 Dennis Kirkpatrick 75 12 0 3:32 Vostok Single Shot SWFA Old CMP ELey 10-X
22. 86.16 A 19:09 Mark Roberts 75 24 0 0.51 CZ 457 Zeiss Lapua
23. 86.11 A 17:02 Dan Auman(1) 75 13 0 2:58 CZ 457 Vortex SE Center-X
24. 85.77 A 17:06 Tim Humphrey 75 13 0 2:54 Bergara NF Old CMP Eley 10-X
25. 83:10 A 17:51 Dan Auman(2) 75 14 0 2:09 Rim-X Vortex Eley Match
26. 82.90 A 19:06 Dave Keiser 75 20 0 0:54 Vudoo Razor Eley Match
27. 79:01 B 18:21 Dave Callipare 75 12 0 1:39 Vudoo NF SK Biathlon
28. 78.35 C 18:56 Eric Tice 75 14 1:04 0 CZ 457 Arken Sellior & Belliot
29. 75.83 B 20.00 Charles Faires 74 18 1 0:00 CZ 457 Arken Eley SABR
30. 75.00 A 20:00 Carey Emory 68 29 7 0:00 Vudoo NF Lapua SLR
Place Score Class Time Used Name Targets Hit Rounds Left(in bowl) Targets Left Time Left On Timer Gun Scope Ammo
31. 72.50 B 20:00 Mike Art 66 29 8 0:00 CZ 457 Burris SK LR
32. 71.19 A 19:40 Dave Zander 75 9 0 0:20 Bergara Kahles Lapua SLR
33. 70.83 A 20:00 Jacob Slyder 72 15 3 0:00 CZ 457 Bushnell Lapua Biathlon
34. 70.22 A 18:45 Darrell "CLICK" Smith(2) 75 4 0 1:15 Tikka Arken Lapua SLR
35. 70.00 A 20:00 Bob Brown 64 31 11 0:00 Bergara Athlon Lapua SLR
36. 69.17 A 20:00 Karen Marsh 72 15 4 0:00 CZ Ultra Lux Vortex R-50
37. 64.17 B 20:00 Tom Rayner 66 20 9 0:00 Ruger 77 Arken SK LR
38. 61.67 A 20:00 Darrell "CLICK" Smith(1) 74 1 1 0:00 Tikka Arken Lapua SLR
39. 60.80 B 20:00 Todd Rhoads 64 20 11 0:00 Bergara Arken SK Match
40. 55.00 C 20:00 Dewayne Duffield 50 41 25 CZ 457 Arken Norma
Place Score Class Time Used Name Targets Hit Rounds Left(in bowl) Targets Left Time Left On Timer Gun Scope Ammo
41. 45.33 A 20:00 Jim Lochary 40 50 35 0:00 10-22 Arken Center-X
42. 36.64 B 18:39 Boone Rayner 58 0 17 1:21 Ruger 10-22 Leupold SK LR
This last match of the year was the World Famous Timed Event, 100 rounds in a bowl with one empty magazine with no more than 10 rounds in it. At the buzzer you loaded your mag and started out thru the target racks hitting each target to progress. You had 20 minutes or all targets hit or ran out of ammo to finish. Sounds like a long time but harder than you think. There is a standing $100 bounty/prize that will be awarded to whoever beats the Record and wins the match but it was safe for another year but shooters are getting this game figured out and getting closer to claiming the prize. Chris could not equal his last years new Record score shooting 45 seconds slower and missing one more target, I will try to get the video posted. It looks slow watching it but try it some time, harder than it appears.
Will try to include some highlights which made this match so much fun to run/watch. One competitor was having a good run out thru the racks and as he was getting to the last few racks the time was nearly out, I gave the two minute warning and he's frantically shoving shells in the mag and sending rounds downrange, hit, hit, hit, miss, miss, miss, hit then had to reload due to not knowing how many were in the mag, timers running down, load a few, hit, hit, miss, miss, hit, hit, timers running down even faster it seems, jams the last few rounds out of his bowl in the mag, hit, hit, hit, timers under 5 seconds, hit, hit, hit, miss, hit, three seconds, drops down to the gong which is the last target to hit, two seconds, one second, CLICk BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP. Dang, he used up his last round in the bowl, emptied his mag and realized during the frantic shooting/reloading he dropped one round on the floor and forgot to grab it. So close and yet so far. That ClICK will haunt him forever. He'll be forever known as Darrell "CLICK" Smith from now on. Great fun to watch it unravel. Others got so close and frantically were jamming bullets in the mag and trying to finish. Based on what ammo was being used the Lapua/SK stull was like trying to drag buggers or slimy worms out of the bowl and trying to smash them down in the mag. A couple other competitors ran out of time or ammo just as they went to hit the gong to stop the clock. Some had sweat rolling down their cheeks, others were breathing heavy. No one collapsed but the rush for some was noticeable as they turned and looked wiped out. Others just shot their match at their pace and just enjoyed the day, kinda like a Sunday Drive while others were running in the Gran Prix. I Loved every minute or it.
My Fiasco was just the opposite. I was going to shoot my old Vostok Single Shot and use really old Eley Ten-X with really dry waxy lube a buddy picked up at CMP dirt cheap. I was the last shooter on Sunday and ran down to paint the targets, they had my gun set up already since it was starting to get dark. I dumped the 100 rounds into the bowl and turned around to show everyone how it looked so funny, kinda like a pile or candy in a pyramid. I should have seen something didn't look right. At the buzzer away I went, man was I being smooth and fast I thought feeding them into the loading ramp and getting off shots that Annie Oakley would be proud of. Then I started to notice I had to kinda pay more attention to getting them onto the feed ramp and lined up. A few more shots and I had to lean up around and see what was happening and push them down and into the chamber more. Occasionally one would go too far and get stuck on the far side of the ramp and had to tip the gun over and actually hit the side to get it out. HMMMMMMMM, then I got an occasional one that would stick to my finger and come out when I pulled my finger back out. It kept getting a bit worse, then I noticed that when I'd grab one out of the bowl there might be another stuck to my finger. This kept getting worse still I had to slide my finger against the loading port to get the round off my finger and also at times I'd have 3 or 4 stuck to my finger pulling another round out of the bowl. If you've ever seen the movie "The Replacements" where the one receiver couldn't catch the football and they put that sticky slime on his hands and he was trying to shake everything off his hand that is a close idea what it was like with the ammo. That waxy lube was so think and just the right consistency it got crazy sticky as more got on my finger and the edges of the loading port. Then I was trying to hurry shots due to this and was missing. It would have made a great video and was so comical to see it happening. All I had to do was probably wipe off the excess lube and it would have helped a LOT. I bet I easily lost 3 minutes time but it's a match I'll remember for a long time. As for accuracy, the stuff shoots great, I'm not an ELEY fan but it's by far the best I've tried, just gotta clean it a bit I guess if I do a timed match again.
This without a doubt has to be the funnest match to shoot and watch, plenty of kidding and poking fun at everyone as they did their best to battle with the mag reloading, finding targets, adjusting scope or not and knowing the timer is quickly running down. Can't wait till next year. Chris did not beat his all time high score but did win the match again, must be getting old but he had a big crowd behind him watching so maybe a bit of pressure to not look bad made him be more cautious. That old Izhmash will easily shoot with any custom and still has the factory hammer forged barrel. We've tried a couple Anschutz Fortner action guns and not saying anything against them neither of us would trade our Izhmash even for a new Fortner. The Anschutz is top shelf quality and sure shoots but the crude little Izhmash will run right with them especially after we got a super nice aluminum chassis for them. I put a heavy Shilen Ratchet barrel on mine and not sure it's any improvement of Chris' factory barreled gun. Rob Jackson shot an Anschutz Single Shot and did very very well, goes to show you can shoot this match with anything and finish in time, do well and have a blast being different.
OK, bored everyone enough but wish I could share more of the high fun points of the match. Guess you'll just have to come next year and be part of it, maybe others will share some thoughts on what they thought of it. Some slower shooters missed very few but the time hurt them, others shot fast with more misses. I'll post a picture of a score sheet so anyone can figure out how the scores were calculated. I'll also give free entries this month for next April based on ammo classes. Class winners are A: Chris Kirkpatrick, B: Austin Andrella, C: Cuda Gatten
Place Score Class Time Used Name Targets Hit Rounds Left(in bowl) Targets Left Time Left On Timer Gun Scope Ammo
1. 200.00 A 8:05 Chris Kirkpatrick 75 22 0 11:55 Izhmash Arken Lapua SLR
2. 162.95 A 9:43 Mark Hall (2) 75 20 0 10:17 Vudoo Razor Eley Match
3. 154.84 A 10:20 Kurt Yoder(1) 75 21 0 9:40 Sako Quad SWFA Eley Match
4. 148.84 B 10:45 Austin Andrella 75 21 0 9:15 CZ 457 Arken SK Match
5. 134.62 A 11:16 Mark Hall (1) 75 16 0 8:44 Vudoo Razor Eley Match
6. 131.96 A 11:22 David Choma 75 15 0 8:38 Rim-X Burris Eley Match
7. 129.80 A 12:35 Bill Winland 75 23 0 7:25 Vudoo NF Lapua LR
8. 126.96 B 11:41 Bill (Martini) Moran(2) 75 14 0 8:19 10-22 Arken Fiochi
9. 123.70 B 12:48 Kenneth Triplett 75 20 0 9:12 CZ 457 Vortex Venom SK LR
10. 123.34 B 12:42 Bill Moran(1) 75 19 0 7:18 Anschutz Fortner Arken R-50
Place Score Class Time Used Name Targets Hit Rounds Left(in bowl) Targets Left Time Left On Timer Gun Scope Ammo
11. 119.89 A 11:49 Kurt Yoder(2) 75 10 0 8:11 Sako Quad SWFA Eley Pistol Match
12. 116.71 B 11:34 Bill Nesbitt 75 6 0 8:26 Ruger 10-22 Arken Eley SABR
13. 116.40 B 12:36 Cody Art 75 12 0 7:24 CZ 457 Arken SK Rifle Match
14. 111.24 A 14:41 Joe Bender 75 23 0 5:19 CZ 457 Vortex Center-X
15. 106.59 B 13:55 Jacob Cain 75 14 0 6:05 CZ 457 Vortex SK LR
16. 94.91 C 16:41 Cuda Gatten 75 20 0 3:19 Savage MK II Arken Federal
17. 92.72 B 17:37 Rob Jackson 75 23 0 2:23 Anschutz 1903 Single Shot Athlon SK RM
18. 91.10 A 16:06 Travis Art 75 13 0 3:54 CZ 457 Vortex SE Eley Ultra
19. 90.54 B 16:34 Tom Triplett 75 15 0 3:26 Bergara Trijicon SK LRM
20. 89.72 A 15:14 Bill Moran(3) 75 7 0 4:46 10-22 Arken Lapua SLR
Place Score Class Time Used Name Targets Hit Rounds Left(in bowl) Targets Left Time Left On Timer Gun Scope Ammo
21. 88.06 A 16:28 Dennis Kirkpatrick 75 12 0 3:32 Vostok Single Shot SWFA Old CMP ELey 10-X
22. 86.16 A 19:09 Mark Roberts 75 24 0 0.51 CZ 457 Zeiss Lapua
23. 86.11 A 17:02 Dan Auman(1) 75 13 0 2:58 CZ 457 Vortex SE Center-X
24. 85.77 A 17:06 Tim Humphrey 75 13 0 2:54 Bergara NF Old CMP Eley 10-X
25. 83:10 A 17:51 Dan Auman(2) 75 14 0 2:09 Rim-X Vortex Eley Match
26. 82.90 A 19:06 Dave Keiser 75 20 0 0:54 Vudoo Razor Eley Match
27. 79:01 B 18:21 Dave Callipare 75 12 0 1:39 Vudoo NF SK Biathlon
28. 78.35 C 18:56 Eric Tice 75 14 1:04 0 CZ 457 Arken Sellior & Belliot
29. 75.83 B 20.00 Charles Faires 74 18 1 0:00 CZ 457 Arken Eley SABR
30. 75.00 A 20:00 Carey Emory 68 29 7 0:00 Vudoo NF Lapua SLR
Place Score Class Time Used Name Targets Hit Rounds Left(in bowl) Targets Left Time Left On Timer Gun Scope Ammo
31. 72.50 B 20:00 Mike Art 66 29 8 0:00 CZ 457 Burris SK LR
32. 71.19 A 19:40 Dave Zander 75 9 0 0:20 Bergara Kahles Lapua SLR
33. 70.83 A 20:00 Jacob Slyder 72 15 3 0:00 CZ 457 Bushnell Lapua Biathlon
34. 70.22 A 18:45 Darrell "CLICK" Smith(2) 75 4 0 1:15 Tikka Arken Lapua SLR
35. 70.00 A 20:00 Bob Brown 64 31 11 0:00 Bergara Athlon Lapua SLR
36. 69.17 A 20:00 Karen Marsh 72 15 4 0:00 CZ Ultra Lux Vortex R-50
37. 64.17 B 20:00 Tom Rayner 66 20 9 0:00 Ruger 77 Arken SK LR
38. 61.67 A 20:00 Darrell "CLICK" Smith(1) 74 1 1 0:00 Tikka Arken Lapua SLR
39. 60.80 B 20:00 Todd Rhoads 64 20 11 0:00 Bergara Arken SK Match
40. 55.00 C 20:00 Dewayne Duffield 50 41 25 CZ 457 Arken Norma
Place Score Class Time Used Name Targets Hit Rounds Left(in bowl) Targets Left Time Left On Timer Gun Scope Ammo
41. 45.33 A 20:00 Jim Lochary 40 50 35 0:00 10-22 Arken Center-X
42. 36.64 B 18:39 Boone Rayner 58 0 17 1:21 Ruger 10-22 Leupold SK LR
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