PPRA Match Northstar Ranges

[HPBT]

.........Congrates to Kodiak99317 on a great shoot this weekend winning the Alberta Agg, Manitaoba Agg, & Sask Grand Agg (F/O Class) way to go shooting partner. That 6mm sure does Rock, guess we both need some time with those up the arse fishtailing winds coming over the bald arse prairie's.
..........Congrates to Island on his Green Horn shoot taking 2nd Place in the Alberta Agg. Once you and the Mrs. get your loads and brass sorted out, you'll be showing up in the winners circle again. Had a blast with you both this weekend. Study the books, memorize the info and we'll see you in the spring. This time I'll bring 100 rds in small box's and not dump them out on the ground . It was tuff staying with you guys as I played "what load is this one" on Sat. Thank you for Sierra 300gr MK , without them I think you would have had the Manitoba and Sask Grand Agg. as well on Sunday.
Tell the Mrs. that the only cure for that sore shoulder is more ammo, lots more ammo.
...........Congrates to all the shooters who won in all the class's, it was a good turn out and lots of fun. Calmest day all year, I forgot how to read such slow casual 12mph winds, first shoot this year that we didn't have to nail ourselves down on the firing line. That'll be our excuse, we couldn't read the slow winds we had. See you all again come spring.
It's hunting time for me now.

 

[maple_leaf_eh]

Good to hear the winds calmed to less than the speed of a man running. Is there a club house there yet, or was Gordie's bus the 'command post'?

 

[HPBT]

...Hell ya there's a club house, and a storage/cleaning/bunkhouse.
The club house has A/C, Heat, running water complete with a single stall shower and real porcelan not a honey hut/ but there is one of those as well at the club house. There are two comfortable couches that fold out into beds, table chairs, fridge, stove, and a couple cots for those who don't want to stay at the Nakomis Hotel, their tent or trailer.
We have camping spots of which 5 have power for RV's, four BBQ's, a couple picnic tables and about a 100 or so head of cattle(can't shoot those ones)

We have ranges from 300m to 1200 yrds +(almost to a mile) but out to 1200 in conventional shooting mounds.

We have a handgun range and we are in the process of putting in a 2/3? pad skeet range. We have a field full of gophers for when it's been a $hitty shoot should you want some after match practise.

We have a portable bench on skids that you can move around if you have a truck/SUV and we have static benches at 300m, 600 & 1000yrd

We have facilities for Nature calls at every second/third yardage.

Some of you shooters should come try our windy range, don't be afraid , it blows us around as well as it will you. A Great day is a 10mph wind, a good day is between 10-15mph, an average day is about 15-20, and a challenging day is 20+

 

[Kodiak99317]

Thanks HPBT, and yes, I do need more "time with those up the arse fishtailing winds coming over the bald arse prairie's." but only at the 900 & 1000 yd mark. This year my scores averaged... in the four matches I did make it to....

300M 99%
400M 98%
500 Yd 91%
500M 97%
600 Yd 96%
600M 95%
800 Yd 98%
900 Yd 86%
1000 Yd 84%

I think this last match cured me of my own head game I play on myself at 500 yds with my 50-9v at that yardage last go at it.

kds

 

[maple_leaf_eh]

Very impressive. When I was there last, we just had a vacant quarter with a pond and bluffs.

As I have said in the past, that range exists because the SPRA decided to spend the money it had saved so carefully, and because I signed the cheque to buy that piece of land. I am very pleased to see the progress and interest.

 

[HPBT]

Very impressive. When I was there last, we just had a vacant quarter with a pond and bluffs.

....Well it's alot more than that now. And interest is picking up by the day. When I started shooting there three years ago, they had maybe 10-15 members who where showing up for shoots, and only one of them was an F Class shooter, all the others where TR shooters. Now we have between 20-25 shooters coming out every shoot, and there has been a new shooter every shoot this year. F Class shooters are growing by the day and we field almost as many F Class now as we do TR. We have regulars coming every shoot from Manitoba, Alberta, B.C, and once or twice a year some of our American friends show up. I have heard that we even have shooters from England show up, but none since I've been shooting out there.
.....We have an RCMP Officer who is trying to get shooters for a Military Rifle section, but it's not going to well, bolt action target style rifles don't work to well in that type of shoot, and with the 5rd. Mag law we have, not to many shooters have enough mags for their rifles, and the younger shooters who come out for a look, get all worked up about the exercise portion of the shoot(running isn't an enjoyable exercise anymore I guess, most just want a place to shoot s**t up(cans, bottles, etc. but we do not cater to that type of fun,) responsible mature shooters is what we are looking for.)
.... The Club House has been set up, so that should your Wives/husbands(yes husbands, we have a couple ladies who shoot, and shoot very well) wish to show up to watch, they can see the full range from the front windows as they recline in the big comfy chairs.

.....As I have said before, check our website for shoot details and come join us, you can shoot any caliber you would like up to the .338

 

[jkajfes]

Very nice setup you've got out there. The target pulling mechanisms look neat... bet they're easier to pull up and down than ours. And it looks like you've got a lot of room for expansion... great setup folks! Congrats to the winners!

 

[HPBT]

Very nice setup you've got out there. The target pulling mechanisms look neat... bet they're easier to pull up and down than ours. And it looks like you've got a lot of room for expansion... great setup folks! Congrats to the winners!

....It's an awesome setup we have here, and thanks for noticing. Our RV park will actually hold more RV's than most camp sites I've Visited in the last few years not really, but I'll bet we could park in the area of 100-150 RV's, plus all the tents you could ever imagine, but right now, only 5 would get power.
....The range made me think of my military time as a grunt on the range, target shack looks like Wainwrights use to, the targets go up and down like Wainwrights do, even the Butts are the same Then I saw the hook up for the old field phones and my brain went click Then I started talking to some of the old shooters out there and discovered that it was at one time an Air Force rifle range from around WW2. The Club purchased it in the early 90's and we have been doing work every year since. What we need now is to find ourselves a Rich Sugar Daddy and Ottawa will be a thing of the past with the Nationals happening out here That would suck, the Ontario boys having to travel out here
.....Our doors are always open to any and all shooters, the only requirement is that you have a rifle(club has a couple spare TR class rigs and ammo that we let people borrow on their first shoot if anyone is interested in trying that) and that you enjoy lots of hot sun, hard blowing wind and generally having a great time. We don't have a bar for in the evening hours, but the town of Nakomis is only a 10 minute drive away with it's Hotel, Bar, Resturants, grocery store, and gas bar. I may even be convinced to let some of you brave boys try out the Donkey. (I would have said Big Boys, but then i'd have to stay out of it cause I'm so short, I could walk upright under a Rattler)

 

[maple_leaf_eh]

PPRA matches

....The range made me think of my military time as a grunt on the range, target shack looks like Wainwrights use to, the targets go up and down like Wainwrights do, even the Butts are the same.

The range was built using a mix of NRA design manuals, military manuals, review of pre-WWII range construction blueprints (!) and the breadth of experience of the membership.

I thought the target shed was one of Doug Potter's old grain bins.

Then I saw the hook up for the old field phones and my brain went Click. Then I started talking to some of the old shooters out there and discovered that it was at one time an Air Force rifle range from around WW2. The Club purchased it in the early 90's and we have been doing work every year since.

The range is brand new after 1998. The land had been used as a range prior to WWII during a phase of civilian rifle shooting competition. Their "butts" were a very rudimentary set of pits with the targets mounted on a tall post. The marker would crouch in the hole looking up, then pointed the hits with a stick, and patched after the match. The bullet catches were sunken into the turf, but any lead was well corroded into the soil.

I made a very special effort to announce the inaugural match in Sep 98 before the Fed's Firearms Act tripped past one grandfather date or another. We shot on the old layout and firing points, but not with the same targetry. We had TR, TR(O), F Class, Service Rifle A and Service Rifle B, but not Black Powder, as I recall.

What we need now is to find ourselves a Rich Sugar Daddy and Ottawa will be a thing of the past with the Nationals happening out here. That would suck, the Ontario boys having to travel out here.

The idea of moving the National out of Connaught would be as likely as --- well, you insert your favourite hopelessness euphemism. But keep up the pressure.

.....Our doors are always open to any and all shooters ... and that you enjoy lots of hot sun, hard blowing wind and generally having a great time.

The wind seems to be a very distinctive part of Nokomis. And I thought St Charles in Winnipeg was tougher.

We don't have a bar for in the evening hours, but the town of Nakomis is only a 10 minute drive away with it's Hotel, Bar, Resturants, grocery store, and gas bar.

The range is on the grid road out of Nokomis, and everyone knows Prairie trucks are preprogramed to drive the gravel road home after dark !!

 

[island]

We should have another go at getting a service conditions match together for next season. I can't run very far or fast, but it would give me an excuse to dust off the M1A and my wife's AR-15

After all, it's shooting, so it's gotta be fun, even if you have to work for it a bit!

 

[HPBT]

I thought the target shed was one of Doug Potter's old grain bins.


The idea of moving the National out of Connaught would be as likely as --- well, you insert your favourite hopelessness euphemism. But keep up the pressure.



The wind seems to be a very distinctive part of Nokomis. And I thought St Charles in Winnipeg was tougher. !!

......You are right, the target shed in the butts is an old shed of Dougs. It's been awhile since I was last in Wainwright, but it looked like an old shed to, same a Dundurn's, Shilo's and most of the others I shot on. I'll have to have a closer look at the butts next time I'm out there and see what it was I thought looked like the old field phone connections.(The Shooters here don't get into the butts very often, we hire kids from Nakomis to run the targets for us)


......That's a fact. We'd need at least 50 firing points put in. The Nakomis Hotel would never be able to handle it. We'd need to accomadate a couple people , Pave the road, (because if we get a good rain, most would be stuck there, or in the ditch) . Build up the shooting mounds and grass them to look like golf greens , move the cattle, kill all the weeds (they're so high we have to take the weed wacker to them every time we shoot so we can see the targets)
.....But h3ll, we can always hope out here in the West, that those who think their Canada will take notice that we are to......

.....maple_leaf_eh.....If you happen to have any pictures of the place when it was first purchased I wouldn't mind seeing some of them. The target/butt system sounds alittle hairy.(Kind of like learning battle drills when I first joined in the very early seventies, The Thin Red Line with everyone firing a volley on the whistle blast, I was sure that had stoped with Napolean. )

.... Yup I think you are right. I shot on St. Charles range many times in the Military and it can be difficult. But in looking at my record books here for the last two years, I have only had one shoot with winds less than 10mph(and that lasted about half way through the first relay), and most of the time it's from the rear fishtailing like crazy from about 4-8 O'clock. (I haven't been to all the shoots, the guys said I did miss one last year that was a great weekend. 0-5mph all weekend



.....It's a great little range and has a ton of potential. Doug and some of the senior shooters planted trees around the Club house last year. This is going to be the future of shooting, because no matter how hard we wish, the gun laws are going to get worse, and unless we shooter's get our acts together and build, manage, police and look after ourselves, we will be needing protection from who ever it is that protects endangered spieces. No matter how hard we wish, this will happen. It's happening all over the world. And the people with the firearms that scare everyone are laughing, because the laws don't bother them.

 

[Bob Pastor]

Match Schedule and Location

Do you guys have a website with match dates? Is there a way to get on a mailing list for future competitions?




Bob Pastor,
Gobles, Michigan

 

[Kodiak99317]

The SPRA web site is at http://www.saskrifle.ca/

Currently lists the 2006 match dates, usually updated Feb or Mar by Peter J.

 

[Bob Pastor]

Thanks Kodiak

Thanks for the information.

 

[HPBT]

We should have another go at getting a service conditions match together for next season. I can't run very far or fast, but it would give me an excuse to dust off the M1A and my wife's AR-15

After all, it's shooting, so it's gotta be fun, even if you have to work for it a bit!

...Island......Don't worry about being able to run fast, these matches are moved along no faster than the slowest man on the range.(Lots of "get up on the right, slow down on the left" commands being heard in these matches) so you want to be the shooter in the middle, because then you can walk and set the pace.

...I can't see them happening out there though, remember, we have a big pond to navigate around, a handgun range to move through (it's between the 300m mound and the cattle fence.) And then there is the issue of the cattle fence that goes across the front of the targets at about 110yrds. That would be a tricky thing for 6 shooters to get over with loaded rifles. Maybe in the future, with alittle work being done, we'll see them happening.

...I know they have dug up the rules and purchased targets for these matchs, maybe we'll see them sooner than we think.

 

[cycbb486]

I am lost here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

How does the scoring work that Keith won all three? You have to be one hell of a man to be in all three places over a couple of days.

Or is it that he shot in Sask but his score bettered in Manitoba and Alberta as well to give him the victory?

I know squat (however you spell it) about F Class.


Calvin

 

[Kodiak99317]

The PPRA aggs are the Alberta agg was Sat (300M,500yd,600yd,900yd), Man agg was Sunday(500yd,600yd,900yd,1000yd) and the Sask agg is for the two days combined, all shoot at Nokomis NorthStar range.

There can be more than one agg for a weekend in the long range game. At the Annual match, you shoot 7 or 8 yardages in 3 days and there is 5 aggs I think. The JRI Palma Agg, The Kirk agg, the P&E SR agg, the Hulbert LR agg, and the Reibin agg, plus an over-all!! I did pretty good at this one too, three 1st and two 2nds.

It is confusing at times, mostly for the guy doing the scores!

I just shot it.

For even more confusion, check out the DCRA site for scores from the 124th CANADIAN FULLBORE RIFLE CHAMPIONSHIPS... down in Ottawa this year (had to work) ....click RESULTS, then the above match, 11 days of shooting and 120 AGGREGATE PRIZELISTS and 139 INDIVIDUAL RANGE SCORES !!

http://www.dcra.ca/welcome.htm