Colorado Rifle Club

NEWSLETTER

August 2003

SCHEDULE CHANGE

The Black Powder Schuetzen match scheduled for September 20 has been rescheduled to September 27, one week later. This match is intended to give all you charcoal burners an introduction to Schuetzen. Most of you have the equipment for it, all you need to do is come on down! Call Jack Odor at 720-867-8655.

JERRY DAVIDSON’S PHONE NUMBER

We have managed to get Jerry Davidson’s phone number wrong in a number of places on the club calendar, much to the chagrin of some nice woman who has been getting a lot of his calls. PLEASE NOTE: Jerry’s correct phone number is 303 986-5740.

SELF DEFENSE PISTOL COURSE

The club has an opportunity to host two or three day self defense pistol courses by a nationally recognized pistol instructor. Club members would be able to participate at reduced rates and there would be some special one-day courses especially for women. Members that might like to attend pistol courses should contact Dennis Reul at 303 238-5696 to express interest.

WORK BOND

The year is officially half over, and for all of you who made New Year resolutions way back in January to stop procrastinating – now’s the time to keep that vow! There are a lot of CRC members who need to stop procrastinating and start doing the work bond! Sure – you could wait till November when the only jobs left are cleaning out the toilets or stringing frozen barbed wire in a prairie winter wind. But why wait? Now, you could spend a sunny summer day outside, helping run targets at a match, grilling some food for grateful competitors, or contributing to safe hunting by helping set a potential target site at a hunter safety course. Or even better, you can fill your work bond in the comfort of your air-conditioned living room by folding and stuffing envelopes with the club newsletter. You have your pick of jobs now, so get out of the house and help keep your club running smooth! Check the clipboard hanging by the door in the Stat Office on the Smallbore range for a list of jobs that need you, or call Denny Reul at (303) 238-5696 or Marty Everit at (303) 425-4450.

If you’d like a work bond opportunity with some glitz – CRC is hosting the High Power 1000 Yard Bench Rest NBRSA National Championships this year, September 26, 27, and 28. You can watch the best in the country compete, talk shop, help make the match a success, and avoid the $100 charge for not filling your yearly work bond, all in one day! Call Jim Brummerstedt at (303) 772-5145 to help at this event!

Hunters Safety Class Information

Once again CRC is pleased to be holding Hunter Safety Classes. Whether you’re new to hunting and need to learn safety and basic skills, or you’re an old hand, but want to improve you techniques, this class is for you! Leonard Avery, A Master Instructor for the Colorado Division of Wildlife will be teaching these weekend class sessions.

August 23-24 From 8:00am to 5:30pm Saturday and 8:00am to 5:00pm on Sunday.

October 11-12 From 8:00am to 5:30pm Saturday and 8:00am to 5:00pm on Sunday.

Bring a pencil, paper, backpack, and lunch. The class will be outside all day, so also bring sunscreen, plenty of water, and appropriate clothing should be worn, including sturdy hiking shoes. Hearing protection will be provided. BRING NO GUNS OR AMMUNTION!

Most of the day will be a spent on a three-mile hike of a Safety Course, facing Shoot/Don’t Shoot” target scenarios. The group will be taken to the woods on the tractor drawn hayrack. If you’d like to stay overnight, camping sites and trailer hookups are provided on CRC. Tent camping is free, and trailer hook ups are $5 per night. Instructor Leonard Avery will be at the Range for the whole weekend, so there will be an adult in charge in the evenings. The class will do live fire with shotguns and .22 bolt action rifles on the Sporting Clays range.

At the end of each class the students will take a test. If they have no safety violations or scores below 75% on the written test, they will receive their hunter safety card.

FOR SALE

* A [call Jim Coker] new condition with only about 20 rounds ever fired, with a 6-18 variable Redfield Scope and about 200 rounds of ammo. Call Jim Coker at (303) 399-3485.

* [call Jim Coker]. Very good to excellent condition. $350 OBO Extra complete bolt for above. $35 OBO

* Bayonet for 1917 (long style approximately 16 and 7/8 inches) with steel scabbard. $150 OBO.

* An "[call John Ashcraft]". Has approximately 1,500 rounds through it, match 1/4" sights, free floated handgard and shoots 3/4" groups. 1 in 8.5 twist barrel WILL stabilize 80 grain bullets. $450 OBO. Interested parties please call John Ashcraft @ 720-261-7125

THE WINNERS CIRCLE

Bullseye Pistol Report By Douglas Maxwell

As of this writing, CRC has hosted four bullseye pistol events in 2003. We started with a pistol shooting clinic on May 17, followed by the Kaser Memorial Silver Trophy match on May 18. The Colorado Eastern Regional 2700 pistol Championships were held on June 7 and 8; and the Camp Perry Consolation Match on July 12.

This year’s Bullseye Pistol Clinic differed dramatically from previous clinics. The clinic presenter/instructor was Eric Buljung, currently USA Shooting National Pistol Team coach. Eric normally works at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. He is also an Olympic medallist and has won the 2700 Pistol National Championships at Camp Perry. This clinic was, to a small extent, a follow up to a two-day indoor clinic Eric conducted in January at the OTC. Both clinics were sponsored by the CSSA and managed by Steve Locatelli

One feature of the clinic was that we had more shooters on the pistol range at one time than for any other event. Wayne Harris and I were scrambling a bit to make final adjustments to accommodate the changes due to our new turning target bases. This clinic focused on bullseye shooting technique. Everyone had a good time and learned a bit, as well as having a good lunch, cooked by Wayne.

George Kaser was a founder of the Arvada Rifle and Pistol Club and happened to be in the trophy business. He started holding the Kaser’s Silver Trophy match many years ago at the AR&PC outdoor range, that was in his back yard. A major feature of the match was that every class winner, for each fired match, received a plaque, regardless of number of entries. The overall match winner’s name was also engraved on the large silver trophy that gave the match its name. After Mr. Kaser passed away the match was held as a memorial to him.

Since the Arvada club no longer has an outdoor range, the Kaser Silver Trophy match has been held at CRC for more than 10 years. This year, Brad Lightner, a Cherry Creek Gun Club Member from Bailey, won the match with a score of 2627 out of 2700. Dwight Thyarks from Cheyenne was first in the combined Expert/Sharpshooter class. A total of nine competitors shot the match, none of who were in the Marksman class. One new shooter, Paul Figlia (AR&PC club member) of Bailey shot .22 only as one of the three Master class competitors. He shot a Master class score of 859 out of 900 as well.

The June Bullseye pistol event was the Colorado Eastern Regional Championships. We call this match the Eastern regional, because there is a Western” regional in Gunnison two weeks later. Turnout for the regional was a bit better than the Kaser with 14 shooters competing. Brad Lightner again led the 3 member Master class with a repeat score of 2627 to win the regional Gold medal. Steve Locatelli of Conifer won the Silver medal with a score of 2576. Dwight Thyarks won the Bronze medal and first Expert with a 2526. Paul Blecha, another Cherry Creek shooter, but from Aurora, won the combined Sharpshooter/Marksman class with an Expert level score of 2431.

Watch future newsletters for Doug’s report of the Bullseye Pistol Camp Perry Consolation Match held July 12. The next UIT Pistol event is the UIT Pistol Outdoor State Championship, on Saturday, August 23. Contact Douglas Maxwell at (303) 431-1420 for more information.

HIGHPOWER

The Colorado State Long Range Highpower Rifle Championship was held June 13-15 at CRC.

If you thought shooting was a male dominated sport you haven’t been High Power shooting in a while. Nancy Tompkins-Gallagher and daughters Michelle and Sherri have competed all over the world, and the number of tournaments they’ve won and records they hold between them cannot easily be counted. In 1998 Nancy was the first woman in history to win the National High Power Rifle Championships in Camp Perry, Ohio. Michelle won High Power Long Range the following year, and mother and daughter traded long range victories back and forth until last year. Sherri and Michelle, who have both been shooting since they were young, are the only sisters in the 105 year history of the British National Matches to reach the Queen’s Finals. Also at our State match was Robin Maly, who was last years Woman and Junior High Power Rifle National Champion. If the media gave the same kind of attention to these “women playing a man’s game” as they did golfer Annika Sorenstam, we’d have been reading about one of these great shooters just about every month since the mid 90’s! Their success is unparalleled, and to top it off, they are all really nice people!

Well it was no different when they competed in Colorado. This year, daughter bested mother as Sherri Gallagher pulled a trifecta (so to speak) taking Match Winner, High Woman, and High Junior honors with a score of 1341-74x. Mom Nancy wasn’t far behind, and came in second place overall and was the 1st Place High Master, with a 1336-78x. The men were redeemed by Jon Rhynard and Bob Jones, who took second and third place High Master with scores of 1333-66X and 1332-54X respectively. Michelle Gallagher rounded out the match with a 4th place HM finish, scoring 1326-68x. First place Master was Paul Radamaker with a 1295-42x, followed by Shawn McKenna for a close second of 1292-45x. First Expert/Sharpshooter was Norm Butterfield with a 1293-38x and First Place F class winner was Jon Cowee. High Senior honors went to Bill Tabor. The top three junior shooters were all women as well, with Sherri and Michelle bringing in 1st and 2nd, and Robin Maly earning 3rd.

The Team Palma portion of the match was won by team Bald Eagles Tompkins. Shooting at distances of 800, 900 and 1000 yards, Team members Jon Rhynard, Robert Horn, Peter Church and Robert Mead scored a 1766-74x. A very close Second place went to team Bald Eagle Jones, whose team members Charles Clark, Nancy Tompkins-Gallagher David Karcher and Johnie Franklin scored 1765-71x. Third place went to team Young Eagles U-25. (all but one of the teams had “ Eagles” somewhere in the team title – points for originality of team name should have gone to David Jennings, Norm Butterfield, Victor Oleksijew and Truman Burch, - members of Team Dave’s Gang!)

CRC Thanks Match Director, Stat Officer, Pit Officer, Line Officer and wearer-of-many-hat’s Bob Zamora, for hosting this match. Also thanks to Pit Officer Joseph Rasmussen, Line Officers James Monserud and Carol Zamora, and Match Volunteers Tony Stahl, David Jennings, Bill Tabor, Al Clark, Jim Adell, Truman Burch, Norm Butterfield, Lucas Johnson, Earl Perry and Robert Crawford.

So Ladies if you’re inspired by the success of current women high power shooters - and are already bored with beating your husband in golf why not join us out at CRC! There’s a clinic for new high power shooters on Saturday, August 9th. Enjoy!

There was a new shooter Highpower rifle match on June 29th, and 18 shooters turned out to give High Power a try. This is a four stage course of fire match, starting with 200 yards slow fire, then 200 yard rapid fire, 300 yard rapid fire and ending with a 600 yards slow fire match. There were nine Marksman classified shooters, six unclassified shooters and three coaches that helped the newer shooters. The coaches can compete for NRA records, but are not eligible for awards. The match winner was Shon Parker with a 662-2x. Second place went to Broden Skinner with 643-1x, and third was Mike Leake with 641-3x. Thanks to the coaches, Richard Tauche, Anthony Jordan and Jeffrey Andre. Also thanks to those who helped out with the match; Paul Bash, Tom Kelly, Darel Billings and Match Director Jerry Davidson.

SMALLBORE

And speaking of non-traditional winners , the 53rd Annual Watt Redfield Match, held July 12th and 13th had a great turn out, including nine yes that’s NINE Junior Shooters, even one or two first timers! But what was non-traditional was that the match was won not by a Master or even Expert classified shooter. No – the Watt Redfield Memorial trophy went to a SHARPSHOOTER, Peter Reul! He may be classified sharpshooter, but he shoots like a Master! As has been the pattern with smallbore matches lately, we had one day of pretty tough, windy conditions, and one day of pretty good shooting conditions. It gave everybody an opportunity to be competitive, and out of the 29 participants, most got an award for one match or another. A special thanks to all the spouses, mom’s, and brothers and sisters who came to this match to help out. Also big thanks to Nick Obee, Rob Livo, Claudia Hartman and others who patiently nursed the new computer in the Stat Office through it’s paces and managed to coax it into giving us computer tallied scores. Technology may feel like a “one-step-forward two-steps-back process at times, but bear with it the kinks will be worked out eventually! Thanks to Francis and Esther Redington for organizing another fun match weekend!

A Quick Peek At Perry

One sure benefit of technology is the internet, and the chance to follow the scores of our team mates as they compete at the National Matches in Camp Perry. Shooting goes on as this is written, but I have great news for the fans of the Junior shooters from the Arvada Rifle & Pistol Club. Yes, once again Keith Roberts and Norm Austen have taken a group of junior shooters to compete in the national matches. Team day reports are in, and Juniors Michael Awalt, Kurt Livo, Harry Gauathier, and Taylor Beard have won First Place in the Marksman class, Local Junior Club Team match. Their combined team score was 2018-37x, outpacing the next closest team by 61 points! Great shooting guys! Coach Keith Roberts is shooting pretty hot too. Go to www.nrahq.org for the latest match results in all the disciplines. Hopefully more details to come!

And by the way if anybody out there has additional reports from Camp Perry just let me know and we’ll share their glory!

BLACK POWDER

18 competitors turned out for the Black Powder match held June 21 at CRC. This was a 45 shot match, with a possible high score of 450. Fine conditions made for a good day of shooting, and Bob Hooper of Montrose, a shooter new to CRC benefited, by having the highest score at any distance: a 138 2x at 800 yards.

Overall Match Winner was Hugh Wilson with a total score of 385-5x. First Master was Brad Rice, First Expert way Bob Hoopers, and First Sharpshooter was Larry Johnston – who once again made the trip out from Goodland, Kansas to join us on the range!

Thanks to Bob Zamora and Bill Tabor for helping out with the match. If you’d like to find out more about black power shooting – and fill your work bond, Les Dillman could ALWAYS use a pit officer. If you’re interested please call him at (303) 751-1116, or just show up and he’ll put you to work somehow! The next black powder match is Sunday, September 7th.

A Bit of History

It’s a happy coincidence that CRC UIT Pistol Coordinator Douglas Maxwell, and former Secretary/Treasurer Lowell Higgins are both thinking about the club’s past this month. Many newer members may not be aware of the long history of CRC. Lowell has written several articles about this in past newsletters, and now Doug has gone even farther back to research the prehistory of CRC. It should be a special source of pride that our club has not only stood the test of time, but honors it’s past so well. Enjoy – and if you have a bit of club history or old photo’s you’d like to share, please do!

Lowell & Alice’s Corner

The original CRC Range in Denver, at Morrison Road and South Kipling, had little documentation of the history of the range property, the building of the ranges, it’s members, etc. There were only a few pictures in the files when I became Secretary/Treasurer in 1959. After inquiring around from some of the old time members I luckily received a few pictures from Fred Bogue, Ray Steele, Glenn Farnsworth and a few others.

When the Byers Range was designed and construction began, I asked Alice to take pictures to put in an album, so the members could see what took place in constructing the new range and she took roll after roll after roll!

For those of you not aware, there are a dozen or so albums in the Ranch House. If you ever have an opportunity to get up there and have a little time to spend, I think you would enjoy looking at them.

Pictures were taken for the first 10 years on the Byers range by Alice (after that she said it was up to someone else). These included construction of all the ranges and the first 10 years of many of the tournament held. The first tournament fired on the new ranges was a pistol match in May 1991, (when we received our Certificate of Occupancy from Adams County).

An album was made up on CRC from 1925 to 1986 of pictures and articles of some of the older and younger members. Other than the minutes of the Board of Directors Meetings and the Annual Meetings, these pictures are all we have on the history of the original CRC range.

Last but not least, there is also an album on the Byers range property itself, the people who homesteaded it, the other owners along with adjoining neighbors. An interesting note: One of the current members, Jim Currier, is the grandson of the properties original owner, Asa Currier. He owned the land east of our range (just east of the Leader Road), now the Bradbury Farm. Jim grew up over there and now resided in Byers

Hopefully some of you dedicated members will take the time someday to look at them and they will be kept for future reference.

More Later ~~

Some History of the Denver Rifle Club

By Douglas Maxwell
The official history of the Colorado Rifle Club starts with its founding in 1925, when it bought the “original” range, at what is now Kipling Parkway and Morrison Road, from the Denver Rifle Club. The history of the Denver Rifle Club is, therefore, part of the history of the Colorado Rifle Club. This article presents a partial outline of the history of the Denver Rifle Club.

I have pieced together this history of the Denver Rifle Club from three sources: the first is “The Breech Loading Single Shot Rifle” by Ned Roberts and Ken Waters, published by Wolfe Publishing of Phoenix, Arizona. It contains an article on the Denver Rifle Club in the chapter entitled “Noted Civilian Rifle Clubs”. This article even mentions the formation of the Colorado Rifle Club. The second source is an article Echoes from Volume X of ‘Shooting and Fishing’ by Roger Stowers from the September, 1999 issue of Precision Shooting magazine (published by Precision Shooting, Inc. of Manchester, Connecticut). The final source was an answer in the Wacky Question column of the Rocky Mountain News Lifestyles/Spotlight section for August 16, 2000.

According to Roberts and Waters the Denver Rifle Club was formed in September 1891. In Stowers’ article in Precision Shooting he notes that the Denver Rifle Club formed on September 15 apparently to start a new range. Stowers further states that “Shooting at the old range in Overland Park had become dangerous because of buildings in the vicinity (sounds familiar). Overland Park no longer officially exists by that name, but the City of Denver has an Overland Golf Course bounded by Santa Fe and Platte River Drives on the east and west, between Florida and Jewell Avenues north to south. My parents, who were long-time Denver residents, always referred to the Overland Park golf course when talking about that area and it is so marked in the Qwest Dex maps in the yellow pages. I think we can assume that the pre-1891range was in that neighborhood.

The Stowers article continues with a description of the new range as more than 1000 yards long” and “had a mountain for a backstop.” The location of this major facility was a bit of a mystery to me for a while. Roberts and Waters article states that the Denver Rifle Club range “adjoined the Colorado National Guard range”. The Wacky Question column solved the small mystery. That column describes the Colorado National Guard Range as part of Camp George West (in Pleasant View south of the South Table Mountain). Both Roberts and Waters and the Rocky Mountain News agree that the Denver Rifle Club sold its range to the State of Colorado to be included in the Colorado State Rifle Range.

Roberts and Waters give a date of 1920, while my memory is that the original News article gave a date of 1923. The Internet RMN archive I found lists the date as 1903, which does not reconcile well with the other references. I wonder if the Colorado State Rifle Range survived until World War II?

The Denver Rifle Club then apparently purchased the property near what is now the intersection of Kipling Parkway and Morrison Road. The Colorado Rifle Club was chartered in 1925 and purchased the range from the Denver Rifle Club, which then disappears from the records. Roberts and Waters say of these transactions “The club then purchased land and built a new rifle range which has since been known as the Colorado Rifle Club. The reason(s) the Colorado Rifle Club was chartered, and the Denver Rifle Club was allowed or made to disappear, are not in the articles I have found.

In summary, the Denver Rifle Club was created in 1891 to build and operate a rifle and pistol range, probably in the area now known as Pleasant View, south east of Golden, which it sold to the State of Colorado after approximately 30 years of use. It then bought property near what is now Kipling Parkway and Morrison Road, which the Colorado Rifle Club purchased in 1925 and operated for more than 50 years.

Other questions now arise about the name and operating life of the club that ran the Overland Park range. If the Denver Rifle Club was formed to “build” the range in Pleasant View, what club operated the Overland Park range and for how long? Was there a formal club at all? The information probably exists in someone’s memory or in additional back issues of such magazines as The Rifle which became Shooting and Fishing and eventually The American Rifleman. I only hope that if someone has more information to add to this story (or correct mistakes I have made) that they will come forward.

Newsletter coding by James Speed Hensinger