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tricrown
Guest
Just a heads up on where Shippensburg Groundhog Shooting is at right now. Please do pass it on to others that you think may be interested.
Since Bob Chamberlin asked me to take over the Ship Shoots we have been able to recruit 7 current Shippensburg Fish and Game Club members that have committed to helping at the matches and make up our “Groundhog Committee”. Hopefully this'll be enough help so that we should not be needing to beg for other help at the shoots. So please consider this an invite to come to the shoots and feel free to hob-nob with our fellow nimrods as we try and run things. I'd like to personally thank Bob, Diane, and Danny Reever for carrying the shoots through some troubled times.
While we are locked into the 2011 schedule and its conflicts with other shoots at other clubs we have tried to address some concerns and shake things up in hopes of bringing in more shooters while still keeping the old loyal base that stuck with the club over the last 5 or so years. As has been tradition from the start we will be locking in as many 4th Saturdays from April through September in 2012 as we can get, along with an early Saturday in October. All Shippensburg 2012 spring and summer shoots will be on the fourth Saturday only so as not to conflict with Mifflin, St. Thomas, or any Mayberry's shoots. Even if it means we have to skip a month. Here's hoping the other clubs show us the same consideration.
The more significant changes are:
Payouts:
In case of larger turnouts we've changed the payout from 60% for first, 40% for second and a sticker for third to a progressive payout like the other shoots have that is dependent on the amount of shooters in each class.
Match Payout: Fifty percent of the registration fees are paid out in prize money the day
of the match and are distributed to paying shooters based on the number of paying shooters in a class as follows:
7.1 1-3 shooters pays one place (100% of purse)
7.2 4-6 shooters pays two places (60% and 40%)
7.3 7-35 shooters pays three places (50%, 30% and 20%)
7.4 36-44 shooters pays four places (40%, 30%, 20% and 10%)
7.5 45 or more shooters pays five places (30%, 25%, 20%, 15% and 10%)
We'll still be handing out stickers for first to third no matter how many shooters are in a class.
Registration:
The registration fee will be $15 per gun or $60 per gun in advance for any 5 shoots in the same season. This will give our regulars a reward for their loyalty. Any register must designate bench, class, & dates at the time of paying. Registration may be done at any time for any shoot of the current season. Just get me the money. Shooters will have until equipment is called to the line for the last relay to register for that shoot. A shooter may also register with payment any other shooters they wish. There are no refunds on registration fees.
Targets:
We're in the process of changing the 200 target to the same target St Tom uses. We will be using the old Ship target at 300. Xs will be scored using the worst edge scoring on 200 and 300 yard targets. (Same as St Tom does now.) All other scoring on all targets will be done by best edge. We are in the middle of having the Mifflin 500 yard target printed for our use at 500 meters and hope to have them for the Thursday May 26 fun shoot or at least the May 28 shoot. We've moved the sighter to the top and taken the red out of the 10 ring. For those not familiar with the Mifflin 500 yd target it has an X ring that we'll use for best edge scoring. So at 500 you'll still have the swingers, but now you can sight in on the bank above your target, drop down to your sighter, and then right down to the hog. The target will have a line to divide the sighter section from the scoring section. Since this has worked at Mifflin for years there's no reason it shouldn't work at Ship with our nice big bank. And no more of the hated black hog with a black 6 ring to lose your bullets in. That was the most universal dislike we came across.
Classes:
I've done a comparison of the limited and unlimited winning gun scores at St Tom Saturdays in 2009, 2010, and 2011, Mifflin in 2010 and 2011, and Ship for 2009 and 2011 because those are the latest records I have on hand. The limited gun outscored the supposedly heavier unlimited gun 21 out of 29 times with 4 ties. And I know at least 4 of the unlimited gun wins were with a gun that weighed under 17 lbs that was being shot in the unlimited class anyway. For sure most of the time when the heavy gun outscored the light gun it was with a light gun being shot as heavy. Attendance wise, while the unlimited class just did manage to get as many shooters as each of the factory classes at our nearest neighbor's Saturday shoots. It was the worst by far attended class at St Tom's Tuesday shoots and had no entries last Ship shoot. All of this is not to imply that a heavier gun is less accurate than a light gun. Just that the difference between a 17 lb gun and a 20 lb gun, especially in our type of competition, is far less significant than the difference between a 10 lb gun and a 13.5 lb gun or a 17 lb gun and a 50lb rail gun when shot against each other in competitive conditions.
I keep hearing Dick Grosbier sarcasticly saying as we went to the line last year at St Tom.”Well its now time for me to shoot my 17 lb light gun.”
So we'll be changing the light and heavy custom classes into Assisted Custom and Unassisted Custom with a 25 lb limit. Guns over 25 lbs may shoot but will not be eligible for prize money. We don't want someone with a 50 lb rail gun coming in and rapid shooting while the rest of us are returning to battery and trying to read conditions. The Assisted Class will allow anyone that wants to shoot with the help of someone spotting &/or coaching for them to shoot as they always have at Ship and some of the other less attended shoots. While others that want or have to shoot without help will have their own class just like at the big shoots.
Factory Varmint Class will remain the same with a clarification that the bolt on type sleds are legal. This way the same front rest can be used or shared by anyone shooting a custom 3” gun. And besides people were using them at Ship already.
There's talk about adding a Sporter Class next year if things work out.
Agg:
Unlike past years where shooters paid extra to be counted in the season long best 5 scores, we will not be running any agg this year. This is mostly because of all the scheduling conflicts that have many people obligated to other shoots. If anyone wants to run an extra fee agg, please feel free to do so. We plan to have a best 4 agg next year that will be paid out of the registration fee and are working a point system. Something like was suggested to me by Rod Morton 2 years back. It'll be based on something other than just going by high scores alone. Probably with some kind of handicap system for the lowest scoring 2 shoots. But not so heavy that it punishes a guy for only being able to make the high scoring shoots. This way a guy that wins 4 matches in bad to average conditions isn't as likely to lose to a guy that shoots mediocre scores on all but 1 or 2 blue bird days.
Hope you all find more to like than dislike in these changes and will give them a chance. We hope to have the official rules done and off to Diane for posting on the site in the next couple of days. As you who have shot Ship know we have the nicest, most even handed, level course around. And while our benches may not be the best, they can be easily aligned when necessary so that you can actually shoot with the gun in your shoulder at all distances. I know Ship has always been my favorite range to shoot.
Hope to see you at the range,
Bill Slattery Jr.
Since Bob Chamberlin asked me to take over the Ship Shoots we have been able to recruit 7 current Shippensburg Fish and Game Club members that have committed to helping at the matches and make up our “Groundhog Committee”. Hopefully this'll be enough help so that we should not be needing to beg for other help at the shoots. So please consider this an invite to come to the shoots and feel free to hob-nob with our fellow nimrods as we try and run things. I'd like to personally thank Bob, Diane, and Danny Reever for carrying the shoots through some troubled times.
While we are locked into the 2011 schedule and its conflicts with other shoots at other clubs we have tried to address some concerns and shake things up in hopes of bringing in more shooters while still keeping the old loyal base that stuck with the club over the last 5 or so years. As has been tradition from the start we will be locking in as many 4th Saturdays from April through September in 2012 as we can get, along with an early Saturday in October. All Shippensburg 2012 spring and summer shoots will be on the fourth Saturday only so as not to conflict with Mifflin, St. Thomas, or any Mayberry's shoots. Even if it means we have to skip a month. Here's hoping the other clubs show us the same consideration.
The more significant changes are:
Payouts:
In case of larger turnouts we've changed the payout from 60% for first, 40% for second and a sticker for third to a progressive payout like the other shoots have that is dependent on the amount of shooters in each class.
Match Payout: Fifty percent of the registration fees are paid out in prize money the day
of the match and are distributed to paying shooters based on the number of paying shooters in a class as follows:
7.1 1-3 shooters pays one place (100% of purse)
7.2 4-6 shooters pays two places (60% and 40%)
7.3 7-35 shooters pays three places (50%, 30% and 20%)
7.4 36-44 shooters pays four places (40%, 30%, 20% and 10%)
7.5 45 or more shooters pays five places (30%, 25%, 20%, 15% and 10%)
We'll still be handing out stickers for first to third no matter how many shooters are in a class.
Registration:
The registration fee will be $15 per gun or $60 per gun in advance for any 5 shoots in the same season. This will give our regulars a reward for their loyalty. Any register must designate bench, class, & dates at the time of paying. Registration may be done at any time for any shoot of the current season. Just get me the money. Shooters will have until equipment is called to the line for the last relay to register for that shoot. A shooter may also register with payment any other shooters they wish. There are no refunds on registration fees.
Targets:
We're in the process of changing the 200 target to the same target St Tom uses. We will be using the old Ship target at 300. Xs will be scored using the worst edge scoring on 200 and 300 yard targets. (Same as St Tom does now.) All other scoring on all targets will be done by best edge. We are in the middle of having the Mifflin 500 yard target printed for our use at 500 meters and hope to have them for the Thursday May 26 fun shoot or at least the May 28 shoot. We've moved the sighter to the top and taken the red out of the 10 ring. For those not familiar with the Mifflin 500 yd target it has an X ring that we'll use for best edge scoring. So at 500 you'll still have the swingers, but now you can sight in on the bank above your target, drop down to your sighter, and then right down to the hog. The target will have a line to divide the sighter section from the scoring section. Since this has worked at Mifflin for years there's no reason it shouldn't work at Ship with our nice big bank. And no more of the hated black hog with a black 6 ring to lose your bullets in. That was the most universal dislike we came across.
Classes:
I've done a comparison of the limited and unlimited winning gun scores at St Tom Saturdays in 2009, 2010, and 2011, Mifflin in 2010 and 2011, and Ship for 2009 and 2011 because those are the latest records I have on hand. The limited gun outscored the supposedly heavier unlimited gun 21 out of 29 times with 4 ties. And I know at least 4 of the unlimited gun wins were with a gun that weighed under 17 lbs that was being shot in the unlimited class anyway. For sure most of the time when the heavy gun outscored the light gun it was with a light gun being shot as heavy. Attendance wise, while the unlimited class just did manage to get as many shooters as each of the factory classes at our nearest neighbor's Saturday shoots. It was the worst by far attended class at St Tom's Tuesday shoots and had no entries last Ship shoot. All of this is not to imply that a heavier gun is less accurate than a light gun. Just that the difference between a 17 lb gun and a 20 lb gun, especially in our type of competition, is far less significant than the difference between a 10 lb gun and a 13.5 lb gun or a 17 lb gun and a 50lb rail gun when shot against each other in competitive conditions.
I keep hearing Dick Grosbier sarcasticly saying as we went to the line last year at St Tom.”Well its now time for me to shoot my 17 lb light gun.”
So we'll be changing the light and heavy custom classes into Assisted Custom and Unassisted Custom with a 25 lb limit. Guns over 25 lbs may shoot but will not be eligible for prize money. We don't want someone with a 50 lb rail gun coming in and rapid shooting while the rest of us are returning to battery and trying to read conditions. The Assisted Class will allow anyone that wants to shoot with the help of someone spotting &/or coaching for them to shoot as they always have at Ship and some of the other less attended shoots. While others that want or have to shoot without help will have their own class just like at the big shoots.
Factory Varmint Class will remain the same with a clarification that the bolt on type sleds are legal. This way the same front rest can be used or shared by anyone shooting a custom 3” gun. And besides people were using them at Ship already.
There's talk about adding a Sporter Class next year if things work out.
Agg:
Unlike past years where shooters paid extra to be counted in the season long best 5 scores, we will not be running any agg this year. This is mostly because of all the scheduling conflicts that have many people obligated to other shoots. If anyone wants to run an extra fee agg, please feel free to do so. We plan to have a best 4 agg next year that will be paid out of the registration fee and are working a point system. Something like was suggested to me by Rod Morton 2 years back. It'll be based on something other than just going by high scores alone. Probably with some kind of handicap system for the lowest scoring 2 shoots. But not so heavy that it punishes a guy for only being able to make the high scoring shoots. This way a guy that wins 4 matches in bad to average conditions isn't as likely to lose to a guy that shoots mediocre scores on all but 1 or 2 blue bird days.
Hope you all find more to like than dislike in these changes and will give them a chance. We hope to have the official rules done and off to Diane for posting on the site in the next couple of days. As you who have shot Ship know we have the nicest, most even handed, level course around. And while our benches may not be the best, they can be easily aligned when necessary so that you can actually shoot with the gun in your shoulder at all distances. I know Ship has always been my favorite range to shoot.
Hope to see you at the range,
Bill Slattery Jr.