Shilo's Battle of the Bulge

stencollector

stencollector

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shilo MB, the armpit of Canada
No, it's not a diet plan, but a milsurp shooting match we hold in Shilo every year on the first or second weekend of December. We had 7 teams brave the cold this year, and all had a good time. It was -21 in the morning, and "warmed" up to -13 by afternoon, although with a brisk wind, thankfully to our backs.
There is a thread in the events section on the match, but I thought I would post some photos here.
Firearms used in the match must be of a type which made it into the field during WW2 We had a good cross of guns, from Ross rifles to 1919s.
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The match required that each team have at least one bolt action rifle, at least one carbine, and a handgun for the final stop pin. You could have more than one gun per person, but whatever you started with you had to finish with.
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While the Sterling (Patchett) was still in trials during 44/45, it was reported as being issued for Arnhem, so that qualified it for this match.

The match ran the whole day, and was followed up by Chili and Beer at the WO's and Sgts mess.
And to think, the Liberals want to take all this away from us.
 
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Damn you Stencollector!!!! It isn't bad enough that I am addicted to buying milsurp rifles, now you are tempting me with old uniforms and shooting competitions too. You bastard!!!:D
 
Wainwright Does Same Match

Hi Rob
We did the same match here in Wainwright on the 11th only call ours Pearl Harbour. It was our 3rd annual and had 8 x2man teams. Our club is still new and that was a good turn out for us. When it gets cold here all our good infantry men jam out, so we can only hold warm weather shoots...This year was a balmy +3 so we did have a good shoot. Any body interested in shooting falling plate rifle matches in alberta come check out our club in wainwright. Garands are still the king.
 
Polished forestocks, no snow, chairs, firing rests, and even colour photos. Damn you Albertans like to do things in style.
I'll post some more photos of ours later, including a few of previous years matches.
Claven: What Russ said. Because my sterling was never a F/A, and did not make the Guns and ammo digest in some particular year, this sterling does not have the propensity to hurt anyone. It is one of my favorite guns to shoot.
Deano: I suggest you unsubscribe to this thread. Bad enough collecting milsurps, but if you start these kind of matches, and buying uniforms which fit normal people from this era, it will cost you a lot of money, and likely a few failed relationships as well. But in reality, why own it if you don't shoot it? Sure, gunroom queens look pretty, but they look even better on the range.
 
Here are a couple more. Some are of this years shoot, and some of years previous.
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Here, team James takes (some level) of aim. Ed's team has always had great uniforms, but lousy aim.
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Here is a photo of Ed. Almost all the photos shown by me or Russ are Ed's undertaking. He hates digital cameras, won't use computers, and prefers black and white for these era shots. He even developes his own photos.
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From a few years back. My team decided to show up in something a little less economical on fuel than most. It worked out to about a 7 mile trip through the training area to get to the range.
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When the Enfields weren't doing their job, I started using some of the alternate weapons. The 1" flare gun really is useless against ground targets, but the .55 Boyes (in foreground) would actually flip the 50 pound steel targets through the air.
 
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Come on Stencollector, show me that 6 pounder being towed behind the Universal Carrier. Having your own private army is always fun.
 
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Come on Stencollector, show me that 6 pounder being towed behind the Universal Carrier. Having your own private army is always fun.
Click to expand...
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How did you know I had a 6 pdr? Here is a photo from MG 98, held at Wolverines range in Virden. Much warmer than the battle of the Bulge. The carrier is a mkII which I had to borrow from a friend cause the mk1 doesn't have a tow hook.
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Aother year I took my (Cdn) ferret to the Battle of the Bulge. Very cold on the neck at 30 mph and -10 degrees. Here team James poses next to the ferret. Once again, they had great uniforms, but extremely poor shooting skills. My team was a little better in the shooting end, and with the right vehicle, could sometimes beat Ed in the Best uniform department.
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This year was a complete surprise, when my team actually won 2 awards. By some fluke, we came in second in the A division, and Dirk won the Blood and Guts award for a skinned knuckle.
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He was very careful that day to not wipe off the blood from his knuckle, so he must have really needed the traditional first aid kit we give for the prize in that class.
 
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Well, it's that time of the year again, so I'm reviving this thread to get all those Manitoba heater pigs away from their fireplaces and television sets, and out to Shilo on the 3rd of December for the 15th annual Battle of the Bulge. Seems like every year we hear a bunch of guys saying how they wanted to do this match AFTER the match is over, so I'm giving lots of notice.
This year promises to have some different weapons. We are going to have a demonstration in the afternoon with a .50 cal Boyes (mine), a .55 cal Boyes (Derk's) and a PTRD (Craig's).
It's not a money match...anyone with a simple SKS can compete in this match. There will be plaques awarded for top teams, as well as best uniforms, blood and guts, and some significant door prizes to be announced next week.

And as always, the motto of this shoot is: Minor frostbite is not life threatening.
 
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