Good Luck to all the Cdn's in Raton in Sept

Hey Bulldog

There is only one that i am aware of and the equipment is not up to the range. the 223 is a little too light against the bigger heavier bullets in 308.

Trevor
 
bulldog284 said:
trevor

how many 223 shooters out their and how are they holding up to the 308s???
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3 that I know of - 2x Cdn, 1x USA - not holding up well, but it's a mixed bag with lots of company. Many 308's falling apart in the wind and mirage ... and F-O whiz-bangs have their own pains as well.

This is a tough range - 6800' ASL, matches starting by 8:30am in 5-6C and ending in 28-32C around 3-4pm, strong sun, assorted scattered clouds, all at the point where the native grass prairies meet the mountains. Drive past elk, deer and other assorted critters (2x cougers spotted) to the range. Shooting over pronghorns and wild turkeys, with your muzzle blast kicking up coal slag grit in your face and into your action (this is not the gentle grassland of Connaught). Surrounded by 200+ great shooters from 10+ countries. Damn ... this is fun! The F-Class World Championships will be held here next year in August - expect 300+ shooters from around the world for that one.
 
Way to go Canadians!!! Nice to see the representation.

I would love to see an equipment/load list from our competitiors. Raton is a tough range and I only wish we had a couple of Canadian Shooting centers where regular big matches, and regular access allowed for some serious world class training. It would defiitely separate the shooters from those that talk/post more than they really shoot. Our Raton Lads have nothing to prove... well done
 
paperslayer said:
I only wish we had a couple of Canadian Shooting centers where regular big matches, and regular access allowed for some serious world class training. It would defiitely separate the shooters from those that talk/post more than they really shoot. Our Raton Lads have nothing to prove... well done
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It sure would be nice to get more coming out to the Eastern, Western, and National Championships in order to prepare for these types of competitons. I can't speak for Westerns but we'd have room for lots more folks out to Easterns at Connaught next year, especially if they have any desire to compete at Worlds next year in Raton.

Thanks for all the updates Trevor!
 
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Thanks Brian. We had a good showing number wise with 8 FOpen and 9 FTR shooters. Range flags were light poly type and topped out around 10 mph. A 4 mph winds reads like our cotton ones at 7 to 10 mph. Tail and head winds made the flags point at each other due to the valleys running at 45's up the mountain. The slope of the range induced verticals too since the left side (low end) and the right side (high end) had some larger sloped berms in front of you. To do well, you have to read both flags and mirage. They have 100 frames there and some 183 shooters there from around the world. I changed my load from 53g to 52g of H4831sc during the 2nd day of the SOA since the latter popped a few primers. First two days were out of 450 (15x3) and the last day was out of 400 (20x2) and all of these were string fire, which are new to most of us Cdn's. Total possible was 1300-130x

Here are the final agg scores... from the Cdns
FOpen
KEITH SKJERDAL 432 8 439 17 397 21 1268 46
MARC THIBAULT 426 12 436 12 393 19 1255 43
ERIC BISSON 442 17 418 10 390 10 1250 37
SCOTT GAALAAS 435 12 428 9 384 10 1247 31
RICHARD DREGER 427 7 427 8 391 17 1245 32
TOM MCCREA 412 7 430 14 373 9 1215 30
BRUCE CONDIE 414 6 414 3 382 5 1210 14
GLEN TAYLOR 429 10 419 13 0 0 848 23

FTR
WILLIAM WATTS 435 14 431 10 386 8 1252 32
GERRY WIENS 431 10 426 9 385 9 1242 28
DARCY SPENST 419 12 426 12 384 20 1229 44
JIM WILDERMAN 431 8 420 5 374 7 1225 20
TREVOR MCMACKEN 421 10 422 12 374 6 1217 28
BRUCE MACDONALD 421 5 411 4 380 14 1212 23
BILL FLINTOFT 413 6 416 6 367 7 1196 19
JERRY TEO 396 7 393 5 367 6 1156 18
DAVID HARRY 429 12 419 7 331 9 1179 28

Winners of both are, in Fopen...
DAVID BAILEY 444 24 441 20 398 15 1283 59 NATL CHAMPION

and in FTR was
JAMES CROFTS 446 17 438 17 388 13 1272 47 NATL CHAMPION

Wise we could have had 15 to 20 more points back eh Billy.

Down side of this range, as Bill stated, the coal berms. Broke an extractor 2nd day of the SOA due to coal in the chamber and me forcing it. Thanks to a few good friends, John Brewer who lent me his spare extractor and Speedy Gonzales who shortened it up so it would extract cases that evening at Speedy's shop, I was back in action.
 
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95 in FO and 18th in that list, regardless of classifications.

Top 35 regardless of classifcation..
DAVID BAILEY 1283 59
BOB SEBOLD 1282 59
JIM MURPHY 1282 50
MARK WALKER 1280 47
KENNETH PADILLA 1279 49
SHIRAZ BALOLIA 1277 46
SHAWN AHRENS 1276 47
STEVEN BLAIR 1276 45
MICHELLE GALLAGHER 1274 51
PETER WHITE 1274 40
DANNY BIGGS 1273 46
KENNY ADAMS 1272 52
FREDDY HALTOM 1271 56
DON NAGEL 1271 48
GARY CHILDS 1270 47
RICK JENSEN 1269 46
JOHN BREWER 1268 47
KEITH SKJERDAL 1268 46
MIKE JAKUBCZAK 1267 36
BRYAN CHATWELL 1266 49
KEN DICKERMAN 1266 46
DAVID GOSNELL 1265 49
JOHN MYERS 1265 42
STEVEN RAEDER 1265 40
ANDY AMBER 1264 45
LARRY TAITE 1264 39
LARRY BARTHOLOME 1264 38
CHARLES BALLARD 1263 47
STEVEN ZOCK 1263 45
HERBERT EDWARDS 1263 41
MATTHEW DAVIS 1262 41
ROD DAVIES 1262 35
GARY EVANS 1261 41
DAVID MANN 1261 36
JEFF COCHRAN 1261 35

A good buddy Steve Zock shot a 200-15x the 1st match of the last day, tying a Nat record... Congrats to Steve Z! I could only squeak out a 198-10x at that one.
 
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bulldog284 said:
trevor

how many 223 shooters out their and how are they holding up to the 308s???
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Despite my best efforts, small bullet in big air isn't a receipe for success.

When you get the call right, no problem. This is a very accurate combo.

Get it wrong, and you pay far more then a 308/heavy. Being new to Raton and the very demanding winds, I got many lessons in the switches, twitches, and gusts.

Comparing how the 308's shot beside me, you could see that we all moved, but I moved more. Their 9, was my 8, etc

Can a shooter figure it out.... YES but you have to be an exceptional wind caller

For me, the 223/90 will become a mid range combo and I will move to have a 308 built asap.

As a side note, I chatted with several TOP US FTR shooters and they too used the 223 for shorter distances. One well known shoot just shrugged saying the 223 was arguably more accurate to 600yds.

There was a buffalo at around 725yds. Most plinked at it for fouling as it was just down the road from our dorm. Dropping bullets onto the 2 to 3" craters wasn't a big deal with calmish air.

however, at 1000yds in the "gentle" swirls of Raton, not surprising to hit a few 10's and x's in a row then blow an 9,8 or even 7 when a change happened.

Not saying, the 308's were immune. Far from it, but they were far less affected.

Jerry
 
Congratulations to Bill Watts on finishing 7th in FTR, and Gerry Wiens finishing 15th in FTR at the US FCNC. They should be proud of their accomplishment. This was a dress rehearsal for the world championship in 2013, and they performed well.
 
Yes congrats guys! 4 in the top 35!
top 35 in FTR... regardless of classifications

JAMES CROFTS 1272 47
JEFF RORER 1266 36
DANIEL POHLABEL 1264 42
TRUDIE FAY 1259 45
BRAD SAUVE 1255 38
JOHANN FABER 1252 41
WILLIAM WATTS 1252 32
JOHN CHILTON 1250 37
DARYL BARLOW 1250 27
PHIL KELLEY 1249 44
LAURA PERRY 1248 36
LIGE HARRIS 1247 27
NIKOLAS TAYLOR 1246 34
MICHAEL SMITH 1243 25
GERRY WIENS 1242 28
IVAN LAMPRECHT 1241 33
AARON DUVALL 1241 28
BRUCE GODFREY 1238 31
MAKSYN SEMONOVYKH 1238 29
RADOSLAW CZUPRYNA 1237 38
BILLY VANROOYEN 1236 25
RICKY HUNT 1233 35
RONALD RALSTON 1233 26
JASON MAYERS 1232 27
STEPHEN SIRACUSA 1231 34
WARREN DEAN 1231 31
PAUL PHILLIPS 1231 30
JOHN WEIL 1231 29
DARCY SPENST 1229 44
WADE FILLINGAME 1229 29
DAVID KYNOCH 1229 27
BILL LITZ 1227 29
RAYMOND GROSS 1227 29
JIM WILDERMAN 1225 20
JOSEPH CONLEY 1224 40
 
Rifle Scale

Trevor,
I'm sorry if your rifle was weighed incorrectly. More training next year for the scale man! The scale has a number of settings and must have been set on pounds and oz. Should have been pounds and decimals or kg. For the Worlds we will use KG only. Certified weighs were on the table for both 10 kg and 8.25 kg. Any problems next year look me up and I'll get it straightened out.

I would like to thank all the Canadians who made the trip down/uphill to Raton. I hope you will return next year for the FCN and the World. I promise you will see more of the Raton winds you have heard about in the past. We just wanted to break you in easy:)

Larry Bartholome
 
Thanks for the clarification Larry. no worries about the weigh in, it took my mind off of first day match jeeters. We do appreciate you clarifying the scale operation and that your understanding of the weight is the same as ours. You can give the wind to the other guys as the 3rd relay each day beat me up pretty good.

Trevor

P.S.

Thanks for taking the time and effort in running a top notch match. A big thank you goes out to all those organizing and volunteering to run the FCN.
 
LarryBartholome said:
I would like to thank all the Canadians who made the trip down/uphill to Raton. I hope you will return next year for the FCN and the World. I promise you will see more of the Raton winds you have heard about in the past. We just wanted to break you in easy:)

Larry Bartholome
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Not too many folk came downhill, f'sure, but the drive south was darn well worth it. Always an interesting range and lessons to be learned.

Had a great time in Raton once again - looking forward to next year! Please have the rain hold off until the SoA ... and like Trevor said - thanks for holding a great match - the 2 weeks of shooting were tiring, but well organized for the F-Cats that we tend to be. See you soon.

Bill W
 
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