His view of Ridgway by Conard Bernhardt

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BlackestBart
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His view of Ridgway by Conard Bernhardt

Post by BlackestBart »

The year is 1986. How much more would he love it if he came this year, 2019.
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acorneau
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Re: His view of Ridgway by Conard Bernhardt

Post by acorneau »

Thanks for posting those articles/clippings. It's like they were posted just for me!

Let me explain...

In February I'll be starting my fifth year shooting silhouette and I decided this is the year I will start to travel more than just a day's drive to go to some of the big matches. First, I just sent in my registration for the Conard Bernhardt Cup in Pe Ell, and then the second will be going to my first smallbore nationals at Ridgeway, PA.

I know I've missed the heydays of silhouette but I can appreciate those that have come before and helped make the sport what it is today.

Thanks again.
Allen Corneau
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Re: His view of Ridgway by Conard Bernhardt

Post by 44 mag »

Allen, Glad to hear you are making the trip to Ridgway. If there is anything i can do to assist you dont be afraid to ask. Mike Haynes MD
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Re: His view of Ridgway by Conard Bernhardt

Post by acorneau »

44 mag wrote: Wed Jan 16, 2019 4:37 am Allen, Glad to hear you are making the trip to Ridgway. If there is anything i can do to assist you dont be afraid to ask. Mike Haynes MD
I'm sure I'll have questions so thanks for the offer.
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Re: His view of Ridgway by Conard Bernhardt

Post by ppkny »

Allen,
A lot of the shooters stay at the Royal Inn on Rt# 209, reasonable mom and pop and very convenient to the range. It's not to soon to make your reservations. Also there's a club match on the Saturday before the start of the SB Nationals you might want to consider.
Royal Inn
Rt# 209 Boot Jack Hill
Ridgway, PA
http://royalinnpa.com/
814-773-3153
There's other motels in St Marys, PA but the Royal is the least expensive.
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Re: His view of Ridgway by Conard Bernhardt

Post by atomicbrh »

Allen, you replied that you missed the heyday of silhouette. I do not think so. We are living in the heyday of silhouette and should enjoy it. Just look at that one newspaper picture of Conard. Wood stock probably with holes drilled to make weight. Skim bedded not pillar bedded to save weight. Probably a steel El Paso Weaver scope in heavy off the shelf rings and bases. A piece of wood taped to the comb to achieve correct cheek pressure. Factory trigger guard. Look at the spotting scope. Crude compared to the spotting scopes we use today. Cloth vest with no real padding and a single buttoned strap across the front. We live in some good times when you think about all the good equipment we have now.
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Re: His view of Ridgway by Conard Bernhardt

Post by atomicbrh »

Also notice the towel around the spotters neck and continuing inside the vest and under the recoil pad probably done because the sun had burned his neck and the heavy recoiling rifle of the time was beating the tar out of his shoulder. Could other people post up some more stories and articles about Conard?
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Re: His view of Ridgway by Conard Bernhardt

Post by Snake »

I was there in 1986 just not in the top 10 although Louis Black, one of our companions ended up 1st in A. The towel was for sweat...it was warm and humid. Most of us shot 308s but 7-08s were appearing and 7 br's and 7 TCU's. Conard proved the principle that good scores come from the shooter not his or her caliber rifle.
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Re: His view of Ridgway by Conard Bernhardt

Post by atomicbrh »

According to the history article on the Ridgway website, 1986 was the first year the Silhouette Nationals were held there.
Not disagreeing about the heat in 1986; we were not there, but why in the pictures are they both wearing sweatshirts?
We are curious if we will be able to function in Pennsylvania heat and humidity. Could it be worse than August in Central Mississippi?
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Re: His view of Ridgway by Conard Bernhardt

Post by Another Dang 9 »

I'm sure the sweaters are a hold over from XTC shooting. Its for soaking up the buckets of sweat you lose when shooting. The humidity is about the same in PA as it is in Ol' Miss. 100%...
Its a dog eat dog world and I'm wearing milk bone underwear.
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Re: His view of Ridgway by Conard Bernhardt

Post by Snake »

Conard and his spotter are both wearing Canadian shooting sweaters, a then popular xtc item (still used there) . Its cotton and we wore them under our trap/skeet vests which have a shoulder pad. They are used to provide some sweat absorption but mainly the padding of the sweater was used to reduce pulse impulses...In the inset photo Conard is wearing his sweaty t-shirt which was underneath that sweater. The leather vest displaced these items in popularity. I still have my sweater and it gets very hot under an xtc jacket...whew! I'm thinking the old stuff probably works better and I may resurrect all that old stuff....just a pain to dress and undress repeatedly during a match #:-s
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Re: His view of Ridgway by Conard Bernhardt

Post by atomicbrh »

I wonder if the early use of XTC undergarments prompted the first sentence
"clothing normally suitable for existing climatic temperatures" in Section 3.12 of the current rulebook.

3.12 Clothing - Commercial type trap and skeet vests (sleeveless) and
shotgun shooting shirts are permitted as well as clothing normally suitable for
existing climatic temperatures. Shooting coats, unnecessarily heavy clothing,
or anything on the person that would provide artificial support such as clothing
having excess padding or stiffening material or which restricts or supports the
body in the shooting position may not be worn.

If everybody at a match is sweating in short sleeves with no vest on, then climatic conditions would not allow sweatshirts.
Maybe this is why the sweatshirts under thin vests disappeared and the sturdier vests became the norm. I can understand the modern long sleeved sun-blocker fishing shirts that prevent sunburn and prevent mosquito bites but provide no support. The underarmour heat gear shirts do not work in Mississippi summers but the old school cotton shirts that we have been wearing for 200 years still seem to be the best in the heat and humidity.

The key words are "just a pain to dress and undress repeatedly during a match". If a person is not comfortable during the times they are not shooting then the clothes are not suited for the climatic conditions.
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Re: His view of Ridgway by Conard Bernhardt

Post by atomicbrh »

Dang 9, Ole Miss is in the Northern part of our state. It is much "colder" there. The high temp. will probably be as low as 55 degrees there today.
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Re: His view of Ridgway by Conard Bernhardt

Post by Another Dang 9 »

Clothing for existing climactic conditions...so shooting in the nude is ok...? =))

atomicbrh its going to be just one of those digits here Monday. 8-x
Can't wait to retire and get out of the NE area.
Its a dog eat dog world and I'm wearing milk bone underwear.
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Re: His view of Ridgway by Conard Bernhardt

Post by atomicbrh »

60 degrees 98 % humidity as I type this. Frogs are croaking. That means snakes are active. The swamp behind our property feeds into the big swamp known as Richland swamp. The county newspaper yesterday featured hog hunters with pictures of two huge rattlers from the big swamp. Then there are insects that bite so bad that blood will run down your leg or arm. Funny thing is the owner of that swamp behind us wants $18,000 per acre and you cannot live on it.
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