2011 BPCR long range shoot

Thanks to Gregg Simon for the great writeup!

For the second year in a row Mother Nature raised havoc with this year’s match! In spite of the weather a record number of 33 shooters came from six states. Six new shooters who had never been to the Sage Brush Rifle and Pistol club’s annual event helped boost the numbers. Unfortunately, six shooters who had planned to shoot the Sunday portion of the event, were not able to shoot. The second day of the 2-day match had to be cancelled due to rain. Favorable weather conditions on Friday allowed early shooters an opportunity to practice and get sight settings on their rifles. Sustained northwest winds of 22 miles per hour with gusts in excess of 26 miles per hour made shooting challenging on Saturday. After watching the rainy weather for nearly two hours on Sunday morning, the majority of shooters agreed to cancel the second day of the match.

Even though Saturday’s conditions were very tough to shoot in, the cream of the crop rose to the top. Most notably on the 1,000 yard Circle, Bob Blattenbauer from Moorhead, MN, a new participant at the club’s event, demonstrated his skill by hitting the target 7 out of 7 shots. Don Wiechmann from Wagner, SD managed 5 hits out of 7 shots on the same target. Prior to the match, Mike Buchholz of Mike’s Shooter’s Shop of Hot Springs, SD, provided a special donation to be awarded to the shooter with the most hits on the Elk during the high wind conditions. Mike dubbed the award the “Elk in a Hurricane” award. At 732 yards, the Elk target is generally considered the most difficult target on the range. Mark Wiechmann of Armour, SD and Bob Blattenbauer both hit 5 out of 7 shots. This award went to Blattenbauer after breaking the tie with more hits on the 1,000 yard target than Wiechmann. At a distance of 589 yards, the Hostile target was a very tough target except for one of the first time attendees, Wade Wiechman of Sioux Falls, SD. Wade showed the rest of the shooters how to hit this target by hitting it 6 out of 7 shots. Ron Williams from Rosemont, MN and Gregg Simon of Mobridge, SD both managed to run the Coyote target at a distance of 326 yards 7 out of 7 shots. Ron also managed to have the highest number of hits on the bucket target at a distance of 238 yards from the standing offhand position with 3 out of 7 shots.

During this 2-Day event shooters take aim with iron sights and a few scoped rifles at six different shaped steel targets. Each day shooters fired 7 shots at each of the targets consisting of a bucket at 238 yards, a coyote at 326 yards, buffalo at 900 yards, a circle at 1000 yards, an elk at 732 yards and a hostile at 589 yards. The bucket shaped target which was inspired by the movie Quigley Down Under, is a common target at events of this type. The bucket was shot from the standing position while the rest of the targets were shot from seated cross sticks. Shooters usually use large caliber black powder type cartridge rifles similar to those used in the buffalo harvest of the 1870’s and early 1880’s and therefore a buffalo shaped target is also a common target for events of this type.
The format of this event provides for a cash payback of 70% of the total entry fees to the shooters. This payback is designed to reward shooters on a sliding scale based on the number of shooters. The scale allows the club to pay down farther into the field of shooters and reward more shooters for their efforts. The scale has a payback for each day and the aggregate 2-day score. Shooters are not required to shoot both days to participate in the payback. This feature of the event continues to be successful as 11 shooters out of 27 received cash awards from $65 to $10.

The 33 shooters from Minnesota, Wisconsin, Montana, Wyoming, North and South Dakota were Ross Christen – Germantown WI, Edwin Steffes – Sheboygan WI, Ron Williams – Rosemount MN, Bob Van Cleve – West St Paul MN, Don Wiechmann – Wagner SD, Gregg Simon - Mobridge SD, Mark Wiechmann – Armour SD, Tom Mace – Clearwater MN, Cecile & Doug Wiechmann – Worland WY, Bruce Anderson – Nicollet MN, Mike Buchholz – Hot Springs SD
Chunks & Rocky Fritz – Belfield ND, Nick Hoffman – Armour SD, Russel Denekamp – St Paul MN, Roger Buechler – Dell Rapids SD, Elwyn Brunner – Forsyth MT, Dwayne Wiechmann – Brandon SD, Wade Wiechmann – Sioux Falls SD, Don Hubbard – Wagner SD, Jack Sauter – Carson ND, Keith Erdman – St Anthony ND, Dan Clark – Carson ND, Ken Heier – Bismarck ND,
Bob Blattenbauer – Moorhead MN, Joe Barland – Hazen ND, Joe Blotske – Underwood ND, Don Granlie – Underwood ND, Craig Siem – Underwood ND, Jess Wilkinson – Brookings SD, Morry Egna – Isabel SD and Brad Kern – Isabel, SD
Match Awards went to:
High Overall: Bob Blattenbauer – 24/42
2nd Overall: Ron Williams - 22/42 (3 buckets)
3rd Overall: Wade Wiechmann – 22/42 (0 buckets)
1st Senior: Russell Denekamp – 17/42
2nd Senior: Mark Wiechmann – 15/42
1ST Scope: Bruce Anderson – 11/42
1st Lady: Chunks Fritz – 11/42
Elk In A Hurricane: Bob Blattenbauer – 5/7
Cash Awards went to:
Bob Blattenbauer, Ron Williams, Wade Wiechmann, Don Wiechmann, Russell Denekamp, Bob Van Cleve, Gregg Simon, Nick Hoffman, Mark Wiechmann, Elwyn Brunner and Ken Heier.
Awards and Door Prizes Donated for this match by:
Buffalo Arms, Brownell’s, Brooks Moulds, CH Tool & Die, SPG, C Sharps, Shiloh Sharps, Redding, Starline, Lee Precision, Midway USA, Montana Vintage Arms & John Walter’s Wads.