Officer & board elections are complete. Mike Fowler will be taking over as club VP, Dave Baalman & Dwayne Locker are taking the open board positions, and all other officers will remain for another term. Thanks to all the incoming, outgoing and continuing officers & board members for your service, the club could not run without you!

We also had our special vote on the bylaw amendments. All amendments passed, with the exception of amendment #2, which was withdrawn by the board, so NRA membership will still be required for club membership.

The club calendar of events is complete, and available on the club website. We have tried very hard to keep lots of time open for general shooting, and we have also made every effort to make sure that the calendar shows when general shooting is allowed and when it is not (by color coding). We have listed an estimated end time for each sanctioned event, but please remember that these are an estimate only, events can run over due to weather, number of attendees, and other unforeseen circumstances, but they should give you an idea of when events are ending so that you can plan your range use accordingly.

We have a new match discipline for 2012, it’s called NRA Highpower Sporting Rifle. It’s fired from standing, sitting, and prone positions, and is open to any centerfire rifle, and scopes are allowed. We have 6 dates scheduled for the year, including some weeknights during the summer, so come on out and join us (our first match is February 12). More information is available on the club website for this discipline and all the others we hold at our range, so check it out if you are interested.

It’s renewal time! The gate combination will change on April 1st, so don’t forget to renew before then or you will be locked out until you do! You can mail your renewal to the club address listed above, and we will mail your new membership card to you. Please include your proof of NRA membership, dues ($50, or $25 if you participated in a work party this year), and make sure we have your current address and phone number. If you prefer to renew at a meeting, please show up a little early so that we can get you taken care of before the meeting. If we wait until after the meeting to do renewals the membership committee can’t start new member orientation on time.

If you still need to get some work party credit, we will be having work parties on February 5, & March 4. If you can’t make those dates or are unable to perform physical labor, please call an officer or speak to one at a meeting, we will be happy to accommodate you by assigning you some work that fits your schedule or your physical abilities.

We are noticing a lot of clay pigeons on the berms. Please remember that rule #40 forbids the use of clay pigeons as targets on the rifle & pistol areas of the range. We waive this rule for organized events like hunter ed, hunter sight in, and women & youth shoot, but these are special cases that are agreed upon by the officers. The general reason for this rule is that the clay pigeons become a bit of an eyesore. We waive the rule only on days when we have lots of help to clean up the mess.

Hunter ed classes start again this month. To sign up for a hunter ed class, inquire at Griggs, Hole in the Wall, or Wholesale Sports. We also have a couple of NRA certified instructors using our range this year. If you are interested in taking classes from an NRA instructor, you can find one through the NRA website.

Hunter Bench: (Match Director Wally Ruff 967-5087)
Upcoming matches: Jan 28 (100yd club) Feb 25 (200yd club) March 31 (registered) {all 10 am start}

November results: HBR Glenn Sampson (249-15x) Paul Gylling (248-15x); VFS Matt Muhlbier (245-5x), Rick DeGroat (238-4x), Marlee Parks (237-1x) December results: HBR Dick Holstadt (241-5x), Glenn Sampson (239-2x), Paul Gylling (229-0x); VFS Jim McConnell (245-4x), Dave Baalman (245-3x), Tom Halecki (244-4x)

There are still a couple of club matches left before we start registered matches for the year, so if you are interested in trying out the sport now is a perfect time to get a few matches under your belt without the pressure of a registered match.

Highpower: (Match Director Gaylord Baker 628-9044)
Upcoming matches: February 4 & March 3 (8:30 set-up, start shooting at 9:00)

December results: Gaylord Baker (765-16x) Dave Baalman (716-10x), Rich Gilbert (713-7x), Marlee Parks (713-6x); January results: Gaylord Baker (760-13x) , Dave Baalman (735-10x), Rich Gilbert (725-13x) Cozy Baker (724-7x)
Please note our new later start time for the winter months of 9am, we are hoping to get a little bit better lighting conditions, not to mention a little warmer weather. We also have an M-1 Garand match on March 3 starting at noon, so if you have an old M-1, dust it off and bring it out, they are a lot of fun to shoot!

Three Gun: (Match Director Mark Perkins 509-301-9407)
Upcoming matches: March 17 (9am start)

Three gun is back for a third year at our club. Bring your rifle, shotgun, and handgun and come on out and join us! If you don’t have one of these types of guns, the Touchet Gun Club has them to loan out. Special thanks to the Touchet Gun Club for co-sponsoring these events.

NRA Highpower Sporting Rifle: (Match Director Dave Baalman 783-4141)
Upcoming matches: February 12 & March 18 (9am start)

This is a new discipline at our club, so come join us, you might be one of the first winners!

At TCMSA, we conduct competitions in several different disciplines. This is a brief description of each discipline, so that anyone who may be interested in competing can get an idea of what each entails. Also please note that competitors do NOT have to be a member of the club to compete at our events, they can shoot as a guest as long as they agree to follow the safety rules. This is an excellent way for potential new members to get a look at the range and decide if they would like to join our association.

CMP EXCELLENCE IN COMPETITION
Match Director: Gaylord Baker
Price: $5

Civilian Marksmanship Program matches are fired from 3 positions: standing, sitting, and prone, and are open to any military rifle, or their civilian equivalent, equipped with iron sights. That includes any rifle issued to any military in the world. We shoot club matches for fun, so we don’t enforce the rifle limitations. If shooters bring a scoped rifle or non-military rifle, we don’t worry about it as long as they follow the safety rules. The course of fire is 80 rounds for score, plus sighter shots fired only before the match begins (generally limited to 5 rounds, but we will allow more if you need them). The stages are: 20 rounds in 20 minutes standing, 20 rounds rapid fire sitting, (two groups of 10 rounds fired in 60 seconds with a mandatory reload), 20 rounds rapid fire prone, (two groups of 10 rounds fire in 70 seconds with a mandatory reload), and 20 rounds in 20 minutes prone. In a full yardage match the standing and sitting stages would be fired at 200 yards, the rapid prone stage would be fired at 300 yards, and the slow prone stage would be fired at 600 yards. Since we only have 200 yards available, we shoot all stages at 200 yards, with the prone stages fired on reduced size targets to simulate the longer yardages.

We also shoot some special matches throughout the year, such as M1 Garand matches and bolt action military rifle matches. These are fired on the 200 yard target, in the same positions as the normal match. The special matches are 50 rounds (20 rounds slow prone and 10 rounds from each of the other stages), plus sighter shots fired only before the match begins. We only charge $3 for these matches if you shoot the normal match that precedes it, or $5 if you shoot only the special match.
Links: CMP | Competition Rulebook

BENCHREST
Match Director: Wally Ruff
Price: $15 for club matches & $30 for registered matches

Benchrest, as the name implies, is a competition fired from the bench. We shoot club matches in the winter months from a single yardage (alternating between 100 and 200 yards monthly), and in the summer months we shoot registered matches at both yardages. Generally any rifle capable of good accuracy is eligible to compete in either the varmint for score class or the hunter bench class. Scopes are allowed, and bipods, sandbags, or other benchrest gear are also allowed. At each yardage, 25 rounds are fired for score, with unlimited sighter shots allowed before and during the match.
Links: International Benchrest Shooters | National Benchrest Shooters Association | US Bench Rest

THREE GUN
Match Director: Mark Perkins
Price: $10

In Three Gun, shooters compete against the clock using a rifle, a pistol, and a shotgun. We shoot at steel targets and aerial clay pigeons, and there is no set course of fire. We change it up for fun or for time constraints and depending on how many competitors show up. We generally do two stages, so each shooter gets a chance to run through the course twice. There is no set number of rounds, instead each target is fired at until it is hit, and there is a time penalty for any targets left un-touched. There are no restrictions on the types of firearms, with a few exceptions: no steel core or armor piercing bullets, no .220 Swift, no .22-250, and no other calibers that have enough energy to damage the targets. These matches are put on in conjunction with the Touchet Gun Club, who own all the targets and timing equipment. They also have a rifle, pistol and shotgun available for competitor’s use if they don’t have one of their own.
Links: 3 Gun Rules | 3 Gun Match | Area 1 Multi-Gun | Brian Enos Forums | Colorado Multi-Gun | MGM Ironman | Midwest 3 Gun | Ozark Three Gun | Rocky Mountain 3 Gun | USPSA

CAST BULLET
Match Director: George Damron
Price: $15

Cast bullet matches are fired from the bench, using hand cast alloy bullets, at both 100 and 200 yards. Scopes are allowed, as well as benchrest gear like sandbags. Most competitors cast their own bullets, and many use alloys that they have prepared themselves from raw materials acquired at the scrap yard or similar places.
Links: Cast Bullet Association | Competition Rulebook

NRA HIGHPOWER SPORTING RIFLE
Match Director: Dave Baalman
Price: $3

NRA Sporting Highpower is new at TCMSA for 2012. This discipline is fired from standing, sitting and prone positions similar to CMP, but there is no restriction on the firearm type or the sight style. The match is open to any centerfire rifle weighing less than 9.5 pounds, and scopes are allowed. Since we are just shooting club matches, we will not be weighing competitor’s rifles to make sure they meet the weight restriction. The course of fire is 32 rounds for score plus sighers fired only before the match begins. The stages are: 8 rounds in 8 minutes prone, 8 rounds in 8 minutes standing, 8 rounds rapid fire sitting (fired in two stages, 4 rounds each, 30 seconds each), and 8 rounds rapid fire prone (fired in two stages, 4 rounds each, 30 seconds each). There is no mandatory reload like in CMP, so any rifle capable of holding four rounds will do, and in fact some people shoot single shot rifles with no trouble in the rapid fire stages. No padded shooting coats are allowed, and no padded shooting gloves are allowed, so there is a bit less equipment investment than in CMP. The match can be shot at either 100 or 200 yards, we will be starting out at 100 yards on the SR1 reduced target, but if there is enough interest that we routinely have too many shooters for the ten 100 yard target positions, we will have to go to 200 yards so that we have 15 positions using the CMP targets.
Links: NRA Rulebook for High Power Sporting

Our Annual meeting is coming up this Thursday, January 5th at 7:00 PM at the Griggs Hunter Ed Classroom. We will still be accepting nominations for two board positions and all officer positions for the annual election, which will happen at the annual meeting immediately after nominations close. We also have some amendments to the by-laws that will be voted on at the annual meeting.

The schedule for the 2012 calendar year is complete, and is now posted on the website. We have worked very hard to accommodate all groups, including the general membership. We have also color coded the calendar this year so everyone can tell at a glance if general shooting is allowed during an event or not. We have also included start and end times for all events, so we hope everyone will be able to tell when the range is available more easily.

There is also a Work Party scheduled at the Kahlotus Range for Sunday, January 8th starting at 8:00 AM.

Hope to see you at the meeting!