Letter from High Power Director – 2012-12-15

Hello Fellow High Power Rifle Shooters!

I just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and a Safe & Happy New Year! 2013 will be a great year for shooting at the Santa Margarita Gun Club. Although we haven’t had a rifle match since September, I hope everyone reading this is looking forward to breaking out your shooting gear and rifles and getting started again. The Club Officers and I have locked down the 2013 Schedule of Events. Please check the web site for the exact dates and types of competitions. We have scheduled the Long Range Matches to occur primarily on the 1st weekend of the Month and the Mid-Range Matches and the XTC (Across the Course) Matches will occur on the LAST Weekend of the Month.

I want to build on the things we have started on to improve the club. This building process will start with the very first Matches of the year. You will notice when you look at the Match Programs for the Mid-Range and XTC matches, that the match programs are already done for most of the year.
I also wanted to do a couple of things different in 2013.

First, it is my intention to stream line the process of checking-in, so that we can start our matches at the times we say they are supposed to start. I like shooting as much as the next guy, but it doesn’t require we take ALL DAY TO DO IT. In order for this to be accomplished, I will require all of you to do the following things:

1. Ensure you PRE-Register for Matches you intend to shoot in AND show up to shoot those Matches. I have worked at ensuring competitors fire against others with the same abilities (aka: same classification) and that can be done thru pre-squadding.
2. Make sure you give us accurate information on yourself. It is my goal to have you:
   1. Show up to the match,
   2. Pay your match fee,
   3. Get your score cards and
   4. Move down to your firing point and get ready for the start of the match.
3. By Pre-Registering and/or having your entry forms (in hand) and already completed when you arrive to the range, this will reduce the amount of “Admin Time” prior to the match.
4. The competitors who are assigned on the relay who are going to the pits first – will do exactly that. They will drop off their gear off at the appropriate yard line and move directly to the Pits and place their targets in the target carriers.
5. The Mandatory Environmental Safety Brief will be read in the Pits and on the firing line concurrently, versus having everyone on the firing line hear it and then move down to the Pits or Firing line. These simple steps should allow us to get the matches started “ON TIME.”

Secondly, the next “New thing” is a new category to our shooting in the XTC (Across the Course) Matches. This category is called “Any Rifle/Tactical”. If you want a challenging event you might want to try this one out. It will require you to have a Scoped rifle or have a rifle with optics (such as ACOG or RCO). The rifle needs to be capable of shooting XTC, i.e. magazine fed vs. single loading.
Shooting in this category will be done in the same manner as if you were using Service Rifle or Match Rifle with iron sights, except you now get to see the targets clearly.

You will find out, it may not be as easy as it sounds. Shooting XTC with a “20X” Power scope on the rifle will show you 20 times the movement in your positions, especially in Standing. A shooter, who said they can’t shoot XTC anymore because they have problems with their eye sight, now has “NO EXCUSE” not to come out and shoot a match with us. 😉

The targets in which this category will shoot on are the same ones as everyone shooting XTC, except, the major differences with these types of rifles will be in the pits.

The “Any Rifle/Tactical” Category shooter can and will normally blow out the spindles used to mark their shot holes at the shorter ranges (200 & 300 yards). So with that in mind, SAFETY for the target pullers becomes paramount. Those who are pulling targets for these competitors will do “something different.” Instead of placing a 3” shot spotter in the target to show the shooter’s shot placement. Targets will be scored in the same manner as usual; however, instead of using a 3” shot spotter to mark the shot hole of “the shot just fired”, that bullet hole will be covered by a single paster with a contrasting color to the target. It will be up to the target puller to ensure if a shot is close enough to be challenged, they do not run the target back up into the air until the shot value is confirmed. This will eliminate any challenges at all.

Example: If the shooter fires a shot in the black of the target, “A WHITE PASTER” will cover that shot hole and the 6” scoring disk will be used to mark the value of that shot. If a shot is in the white portion of the target, “A BLACK PASTER” will cover that shot hole and the 6” scoring disc will be used to mark the value of that shot. This will only be used in Slow-Fire and Sighters at the 200 & 300 yard lines.

On the next following shot, it will be Marked and Scored in the same fashion; however the OLD SHOT will then be covered up using a same color paster to cover the previously marked shot. Example: A “10” in the Black portion of the target had “A WHITE PASTER” to show that shot placement. On the next shot, the New Shot will be marked and the “OLD SHOT” would be covered up with a black paster.

Other News:

The SGMC will also be conducting (2) Regional Matches in 2013, one in May and the other will be our Annual “Camp Pendleton Open” in September. The club will also have (4) Four New Trophies to recognize our exceptional folks. These Trophies are as follows:

1. The San Luis Rey Mission Trophy – This perpetual Trophy will recognize the Overall Winner of the Annual “Camp Pendleton Open”.
2. The .30 Caliber Long Range Trophy – This perpetual Trophy will recognize the shooter who has accumulated the most points during the Long Range & Mid-Range Shooting Events for the entire shooting season (Jan-Oct).
3. The Camp Pendleton Trophy – This perpetual Trophy will recognize the shooter who has accumulated the most points during the Across the Course Events for the entire shooting season (Jan-Oct).
4. The President’s Trophy – This is a Service Award which will be given to the individual person, (who is a Non-Board Member) in recognition for their dedicated Service to the Club in the amount of personal time and service given in the course of All of the events held by the club throughout the year. (Jan-Dec).

SGMC Pin Awards:
We will continue to award the SGMC Pin Awards. They have been a huge success in recognizing individual efforts. When you look at the results, please be sure to point out to the Match Director or Stat Officer if you shot well enough to receive one of these awards. I take personal pride to award it to the individual “At the Match”. I hate sending them out via U.S. Mail.

Final Thoughts:
I just wanted to ask all of you who take the time to read this, to please step up whenever you see a need for something to get done at the range. There are many moving parts to running a match and it cannot be done by just one person alone. If you get to the range early please give us a helping hand at the target conex box. Helping load up targets onto the range cart (to be brought down range), ensure all of the target “cans” get place onto the range cart or ensuring the “correct repair centers” are taken to the pits helps all of us out. Last but certainly not least, please stick around after the matches are concluded to receive the scores and especially to recognize the Winners. We know you don’t do this sport for the money because you could make more $$ in golfing or something else. Getting recognized for your hard work is NOT A CRIME. It actually is inspirational to someone who is not at your level “yet”. Being known as a Good Shooter is something we all strive for. So please show your support to our fellow Gun Club Members who did well enough to be recognized. Thank you and I look forward to seeing you at our events.

Semper Fidelis and Good Shooting,
Harry D. Harrison