Anything from the Cowboy Nationals?

[Steelbanger]

Is anyone going to inform the awaiting masses of the top scores fired at Raton? Match results would be most appreciated.

Thank you.

[nomad]

Word I have is that Derek Greenaway took the CLR.
Zander and Pennington tied for 2nd.
Massey 4th.

I got a call before the finish of shootoffs and such so I don't have scores, but I'm told that 37/40 won yesterday.

Bears are out and about. I'm told that one apparently damaged Bowen Weems' vehicle overnight.

Also, one of the target setters collapsed with some sort of heart issue during the match and they were unable to get a pulse. Another setter with CPR training got her revived and kept her going until an ambulance arrived.
Keep her in your thoughts.

[Steelbanger]

Thanks for that news Nomad. Good to see Derek come through again.

Prayers up for the stricken target setter.

[mordecai]

We're here! Flew in today and banged away at the animals for tomorrow's match. Will report if heat stroke doesn't kick in. ;)

[Innocent]

Mike...drink lots and lots of water. Good luck and keep us informed.

Innocent

[PhxShooter]

From what I've been told by those at the match, the attendance is down significantly from last year for the CLA match. Last year 160 shooters. This year 126. Also, the first day of the match got started an hour and fifteen minutes late as a result of protests filed against Greg Connor as match director for disallowing fiber optic sights among other things. A protest committee met and in the end upheld the ban on the fiber optic sights and the cheek pieces for this match. No word on what, if anything, happened re: Greg C.

The Competitors Meeting was calmer than expected. Hugh Wilson (on the NRA Silhouette Committee) ran the meeting and admitted the Committee had made a mistake. It looks like the fiber optics will be back for next year but we'll have to wait for the official committee meeting in October and then the final say from the rules committee.

Apparently it's not just bears and competitors but also mountain lions that are causing disruption at the match. A small lion was shot and killed near the cabins on the Saturday before the match started.

Hopefully more info to come.

[nomad]

Just got a call from McClure -- TXCharlie.

Kampinski (SP?) -- Wheelchair shooter. Nice guy. -- won the agg today. A lot of people bunched close behind and all kinds of shootoffs. Apparently, the overall is still up for grabs.

[PhxShooter]

For the Pistol Caliber, Preston Gibson and Jim Luke tied for match winner with a score of 70. Luke won the shoot-off.

On another note, a petition was circulated to have Greg Connor removed from his position. Interesting times at the Nationals. No word yet on the number of competitors.

More to come

[mordecai]

Oh boy, after today, this is going to be a lu-lu...

[PhxShooter]

Well???? What happened today that's going to make it a lu-lu????? Details man, we need details!!!

[nomad]

I just got a call from Whittington and -- if the information is more correct than what I evidently had after PC lol -- Preston Gibson took high overall, 3 gun aggregate.
Since everyone in the background was celebrating and the noise level on the phone was deafening, I didn't get anything else.

[Tlee]

Big congrats to Preston Gibson. Well deserved victory for him!

We finally saw some of the more usual Raton/Whittington Center wind and showers during the afternoon smallbore match... Lotsa folks struggled with it, but some others still did well regardless of the conditions, resulting in some real surprises in the smallbore scores!

I didn't get nearly as many pics as last year, but I did manage to get shots of the scoresheets and some of the awards. Unfortunately, the cell phone internet service and bandwidth I have here at NRAWC is even worse than last year and I won't even attempt to upload the pics until I get back home, probably on Sunday.

On another note, I'm gonna go try to hit the Buffalo on the high power silhouette line this morning with my left over 30-30 CLA Ram loads... A couple days ago my son was able to hit it with the 336MX (30-30) using a LOT of "Kentucky windage" on his 13th attempt (standing/unsupported even!). His girlfriend then hit it on her 3rd shot! And the entire Taylor family managed to hit it at one point or another (also using a 30-30).

More later,

-Tim

[PhxShooter]

So I just got a report from the Smallbore Lever Championship and the only way to describe it is that it was a complete and total cluster. It ended with Tony Tello winning the Championship with a 69. The rest of the story is too lengthy to go into but part of it was that on the last bank of five animals on the last relay the range officer forgot what he was doing and forgot to call "fire" till he was 20 seconds into the 2 minute firing period. When he finally called "fire" some shooters yelled "No" and thought they'd re-start the time. However, some folks started firing and some didn't. There were protests filed, there were alibis given, there were score cards incorrectly erased by the score keepers, there were scores marked on the wrong lines, there were incorrect rulings made by Greg Connor and overturned by the protest jury and then it went down hill from there. I'm really happy I decided not to go this year!!

Regarding the attendance this year:

CLA 126 this year, 160 last year.
PC 131 this year, 164 last year
SB 134 this year, 170 last year

That's a 21% decrease in participation and the first significant decrease in the attendance in some time.

Maybe banning fiber optics wasn't the best idea.

Congratulations to Tony for surviving and flourishing under some pretty unique circumstances. As always, the cream does rise to the top.

[Byron]

I think that the down turn in attendance was more related to the economy than the sight issue. The farther away you live from the match the more it costs to attend. I bet you will see less shooters at PA this year and the sights aren't an issue.


Byron

[Tlee]

Here's the results I got from the score sheets:

2011 National Cowboy Silhouette Championship top 10 (actually 11):

National Champion - Preston Gibson with a 202 aggregate
2nd - Tony Tello also with 202
3rd - Derek Greenaway also with 202
Ties were broke in a shootoff.

These were followed by:
Lon Pennington with 198
Robert Massey with 197
Randy Ent with 196
Jim Luke and Brian Wakefield with 194
Glen Kapitzke with 193
James Goodnight and William Zander with 188

Concerning the smallbore 4th relay timing SNAFU and match alibi, it was an unfortunate situation but I believe the jury made the fairest decision possible.... The jury decided that all who elected to fire on their bank of targets at the time of the delayed fire command would be scored based on those shots because even though there was a delayed fire command, they WERE given an entire 2 minutes to actually fire that stage. Although Greg's original decision was to re-shoot the entire final stage, that decision was rescinded by the jury as allowing those shooter's scores to reflect their 2nd attempt at the last bank of 5 wouldn't be fair to anyone (basically it'd be a 45 shot match for those shooters). Also, Derek Greenaway elected to not shoot the stage based on the extended ready period and was the only shooter who raised his hand requesting an alibi. His scores from the 2nd attempt at firing the stage WERE counted as it in effect resulted in him receiving his requested range alibi (which was a valid request based on the extended ready command). Bottomline, everyone's 1st attempt at the last 5 shots were what counted towards their score... Most fired them in the 1st attempt at the stage, Derek fired his during the rescheduled leg.

FWIW, at least one of the jury members was a shooter on that 4th relay and felt that the jury's decision was the most fair way that it could be handled. I'm also not sure how else this could've been handled more fairly, based on the concept and rules that shooters are to only fire 40 shots in a 40 shot match. I'm just glad I was on an earlier relay!

On a personal note.... Surprisingly, I did manage to hit the 1123 yard Buffalo on the high power range this morning on my 9th or 10th attempt with a 170gr Round Nose bullet out of my 336MX in 30-30. It did take a good bit of Kentucky windage (actually elevation) to finally hit it as my tang in it's most extended position would only allow me to centerpunch the 500 meter Ram. I'd estimate that on the successful shot at the Buffalo, I aimed over the back of it by at least 4-5X the approximate height of the Buffalo. It was satisfying hearing that delayed "ding" though!


my .02,

-Tim