Well we showed up at the parking lot of Range 116 to check-in in a slight rain. Conditions were alternating between a light and no rain, visibility was poor. But the Doppler radar indicated that things should clear …..shortly. So off we went to set up the range, and move all of the gear.

After the Safety Brief we assigned targets and had half the guys head to the pits just as the visibility completely closed in. We made the decision based on Mark Roth’s suggestion to try and speed up the match due to the weather conditions and shoot 2 strings of 30 rounds. Since we weren’t reporting scores to the NRA, and barrel overheating was not going to be an issue, commence fire!

After the first round of shooting the visibility improved. Conditions were pretty reasonable for R117.

• First Place for the day: Mark Roth with a 588
• Second: Walter Lange shooting a 578
• Third Overall: Gary Atkinson with 574

Unfortunately Mark did not want to give a speech for his win, and Gary while willing, was late returning from the pits.

I want to thank Van Texas for coming out in the rain as Medic, Dylan Rokos GySgt USMC for serving as our RSO and Rich Elliott for being the OIC and chief fire-former on my new 284. Without their service and support we can’t shoot.

I would like to welcome to the following new faces to the Long Range challenge: Kamran Sadaghiani, SSgt, USMCR, Shamus Flynn, GySgt USMC, John Crockett, Kerry Stottlemyer, Ronald Tirado, and Tom Brady. I hope to see you all out there in June.

For the future…. we had a new definition provided to us for use of Range 117. We will only have two vehicles allowed onto the range! Those vehicles will be the Emergency Vehicle provided for the Medic, and the people/gear/bomb cart hauler. This is all that is allowed by the range regulations that we must follow in order to continue to use the Range. Anything we may have been able to do previously no longer matters. To ensure we don’t have any problems with the range inspectors, we will continue to meet and check in at Range 116 parking lot and depart from there with all gear, guys and guns on the bomb carts. To prevent any problems, please do not park or get off Basilone Road at the R117 entrance other than those 2 vehicles.

Thanks to all of you for coming out in sketchy weather.

Mike Jones
Long Range Director,
Santa Margarita Gun Club

Hello Fellow SMGC Shooters:

WORK PARTY SCHEDULED FOR APRIL 30 (SATURDAY).

WHO: Ladies and Gentlemen, Participants of SMGC Events, may hands are needed!!!

WHAT: Work Party, April 30, 2016

WHERE: We will all assemble at Range 116A (Parking Lot) and go from there.

WHEN: 0700-1800 hours

HOW: Bring your Work Gloves, shovels, Brooms and any other tools you might think of.

GOAL:  We will divide up the personnel assembled to work on these various areas which need to be addressed.

1. Get ALL of the Club Targets FIXED, Full Faced and Scoring Disks placed onto Targets
2. Get the Impact Area on R117A cleared so bullet impacts can be seen.
3. Get the Conex Boxes (116A & 103) Cleaned Out and Targetry/Supplies Inventoried.
4. Get Range Cans Cleaned out and reorganized with appropriate supplies placed inside of them.
5. Get Pistol Supplies (Targets, Repair Centers, etc.) Organized and in order

We will break down into teams to get this accomplished.

Team 1:  Will work on All Targets and Remain on R116A Pits to Reface All targets.

Team 2: Will clean out the (2) Conex Boxes on R116A and Inventory Supplies then they will assist Team 1 in Target Repairs.

Team 3: Will work on R117A to Clear Impact Area, Clear Number Board Holes and repaint the Target Point Markers

Team 4: Will work at Wilcox Range (103): They will clear out the Conex Box and Inventory Supplies.  Part of the team will move remove the Targets from R103’s Conex Box and bring those Targets from to R116A for repair.  They will return those repaired Targets back to R103.

The SMGC fielded at team at the 2016 Arizona State Mid-Range Regional Championship that took place from April 8th through April 10th. The SMGC team won the F-Class Team Match with team scores of 782-25x and 781-28x in two (2) 600 yard 4-person team matches.

The SMGC team consisted of:

• Michael Jones
• Walter Lange
• Lou Murdica
• Mark Roth
• Duane Fitzgerald – Team Captain

Early this year at a Wilcox Mid-Range match, Duane Fitzgerald, Walter Lange, Mark Roth and I (Mike Jones) decided to put a SMGC F-Open team together and compete in the team matches at the Berger SW Nationals in early February. The team captained by Duane Fitzgerald finished 16th in our first event at a match with over 400 shooters and teams from eight countries.

 

The pictures here are from this past weekend. We represented SMGC in the AZ State Mid-Range Championship in Phoenix on a blustery and rainy weekend. We competed against some of the best shooters in the country including a women’s team that set a Women’s National Record at the match. We took the honors with a first place in F-Open. Shooters were Walter Lange, Mark Roth, Lou Murdica, and me, with Duane Fitzgerald as Captain.

 

We plan on continued efforts at local regional and national matches.

 

-Mike Jones

L to R: Lou Murdica, Walter Lange, Duane Fitzgerald (Team Captain), Mark Roth, Mike Jones, and Janusz Dabrowski