The Last of the Tennessee State Champions!
For those who haven't looked closely at the stats from Unaka, there was some pretty impressive shooting that started with a race to the finish line for the 5 shot Unlimited between Ralph Stewart, Don Hardeman and Tim Singleton. Ralph pulled out the win by .001 shooting .1610 over "Don The Beast Hardeman's agg of .1611. Not to take anything away from these two fine aggs, but Tim shot a .1628 with a bag gun for third place. Very impressive shooting to say the least!
Here is a picture of The Tennessee State 200 yard Unlimited Champion Ralph Stewart! Ralph has been absent from competition for about a year now. With a newly replaced and healed shoulder, Ralph has returned! It's good to have you back!
Tim Singleton is our Tennessee State Heavy 200 yard Champion. Tim started the afternoon the same way he did in the morning's Unlimited agg and that's shooting lights out! I battled him as best I could but he was far to powerful for me to handle! When the dust cleared Tim was victorious by his agg of .2126 to my .2168
Here is a pic of Tim our Tennessee State 200 yard Heavy Varmint Champion and his lovely wife Jan! Great shooting Tim!
The Light Varmint 200 yard started out as a dream agg for myself. The day before I shot V133 and switched to LT 32 on Sunday morning following Don "The Beast's" lead. My gun was on fire starting match one with a .199, match two .372, match three .281, match four .310! After four targets I was running a .1452 agg. Alas, it was not meant to be. An unfortunate "double" turned what would have been around a .280 into a .672. The final agg was an .1834 and still good enough for the win, but " Oh what could have been". Terry Leonard the maker of some of the "worlds finest stocks" followed with a .2018.
Evidence!!!!
After lunch the running aggregate was posted. It was clear by the stats, it was now pretty much a foot race between Don and myself for the 4 Gun. Going into the final agg it was myself with a .1969, The Beast with a .1993 followed Tim " Young Gun" Singleton with a .2211. I had text Andy Shifflet the results up to that point. He was kind enough to tell me before the match started, "If Don beats you by .072 thousands he kicks your a$$, Just Sayin'"
Standing going into the final aggregate.
Some back ground information needs to be added here. Don and I are reloading shoulder to shoulder in Strangler's (aka Gary Sullivan's) trailer. We are also shooting side by side on benches 6 and 7. So it's a pure head to head competition.
The Sporter began by myself gaining a few thousandths on Don (.458 verses a .397) However on the second group Don took all of that back and then some by shooting a .433 to my .591. At this point we are pretty much dead even. The third group I managed to get a few thousandths back but not much.
The forth and fifth matches were certainly the defining moments of not just the match, but of Don's ability as a shooter to not only "take a punch" but to "give one back!" Going into match 4 Don caught his condition first and rifled off a nice .352. I watched him shoot the group and thought it was around a .280. I looked at Don when he finished and gave him a "thumbs up and nice group!" At this point I'm thinking I'm screwed! But my gun my shot like a laser and I lucked into a .161. Don shook his head and laughed! Strangler is in the spotting scope yelling "Only F-ing Bart would do that!" I was so tickled I couldn't stop laughing either. At that point I figured it was a wrap! But not so fast! On the final group, I started in a pretty good push that was blowing right to left. The group was in the mothball but was taking up quite a bit of real estate. I figured it was a big 5! Don starts his group in some pretty nasty left to right conditions. Disaster lurked with each shot, but he managed to pull out a knot! I thought it was no bigger than a .240. I figured mine was a .570. I looked at Don and said "Great job! I think you just won it!" Truly a spectacular finish under pressure. I'd say this bodes well for things to come for Mr Hardeman. He took the yardage with a .2122 to my 2178 for his first win and to become the Tennessee State 200 Yard Sporter Champion! The 4 Gun was too close to call! When the final targets were hung Don's was a little larger then I though (.271) and mine was a bit smaller (.493). As I looked at the targets Matthew Keller the match director and statistician came up! I said "who won?" He said "the yardage?" No no! I think Don pretty much stomped us for the yardage! The 4 Gun! He said "well I had to peak and see myself, but I can tell you the difference was .0004 ten-thousandths." I said ,Matthew are you going to make me suffer?" So he took pity and told me I had won. I really thought Don had it! Matthew did a great job measuring targets but that was close enough no one will ever know who really won!
Here is Don "The Beast" Hardeman the Sporter Tennessee 200 yard Champion.
The reason for the title " The Last of the Tennessee State Champions" is this is the final match to be held at Unaka Gun club. Sadly waning club support and the burden of putting on the match by a handful of talented young folks is just to much. So this is the last shoot to be held there.
On the bright side of things it was an incredible match for many reasons! Old friends have their health back and have returned to shooting! New shooters like Tim Singleton, Don Hardeman and Gary Sullivan are coming on strong. The head to head competition was great. That type of situation comes along rarely! (Only once when I stomped Andy Shifflet for the win at the Nationals have I had so much fun!)
But the greatest thing about the whole shoot was learning that a very talented young man whose life was out control, lost, and no hope has found Jesus! That young man is Matthew Keller and I'm very proud of him. Just like he told me when I asked, if he had found Jesus. He said "Yes I have! and It's amazing the wonderful things that are happening in my life now!" For the Christians that are reading this they know exactly what I'm talking about! For those that don't! I hope someday you do!
Many thanks to the "Unaka Fabulous 5" for putting on such great matches over the years! Your effort are much appreciated and will not be forgotten!
Matthew Ring leader Match Director and Statistician
Chrystal Range Officer
Sean Target Crew
Chris Target Crew
Dalton Target Crew
Bart Sauter The Last Tennessee State 4 Gun Champion
For those who haven't looked closely at the stats from Unaka, there was some pretty impressive shooting that started with a race to the finish line for the 5 shot Unlimited between Ralph Stewart, Don Hardeman and Tim Singleton. Ralph pulled out the win by .001 shooting .1610 over "Don The Beast Hardeman's agg of .1611. Not to take anything away from these two fine aggs, but Tim shot a .1628 with a bag gun for third place. Very impressive shooting to say the least!
Here is a picture of The Tennessee State 200 yard Unlimited Champion Ralph Stewart! Ralph has been absent from competition for about a year now. With a newly replaced and healed shoulder, Ralph has returned! It's good to have you back!
Tim Singleton is our Tennessee State Heavy 200 yard Champion. Tim started the afternoon the same way he did in the morning's Unlimited agg and that's shooting lights out! I battled him as best I could but he was far to powerful for me to handle! When the dust cleared Tim was victorious by his agg of .2126 to my .2168
Here is a pic of Tim our Tennessee State 200 yard Heavy Varmint Champion and his lovely wife Jan! Great shooting Tim!
The Light Varmint 200 yard started out as a dream agg for myself. The day before I shot V133 and switched to LT 32 on Sunday morning following Don "The Beast's" lead. My gun was on fire starting match one with a .199, match two .372, match three .281, match four .310! After four targets I was running a .1452 agg. Alas, it was not meant to be. An unfortunate "double" turned what would have been around a .280 into a .672. The final agg was an .1834 and still good enough for the win, but " Oh what could have been". Terry Leonard the maker of some of the "worlds finest stocks" followed with a .2018.
Evidence!!!!
After lunch the running aggregate was posted. It was clear by the stats, it was now pretty much a foot race between Don and myself for the 4 Gun. Going into the final agg it was myself with a .1969, The Beast with a .1993 followed Tim " Young Gun" Singleton with a .2211. I had text Andy Shifflet the results up to that point. He was kind enough to tell me before the match started, "If Don beats you by .072 thousands he kicks your a$$, Just Sayin'"
Standing going into the final aggregate.
Some back ground information needs to be added here. Don and I are reloading shoulder to shoulder in Strangler's (aka Gary Sullivan's) trailer. We are also shooting side by side on benches 6 and 7. So it's a pure head to head competition.
The Sporter began by myself gaining a few thousandths on Don (.458 verses a .397) However on the second group Don took all of that back and then some by shooting a .433 to my .591. At this point we are pretty much dead even. The third group I managed to get a few thousandths back but not much.
The forth and fifth matches were certainly the defining moments of not just the match, but of Don's ability as a shooter to not only "take a punch" but to "give one back!" Going into match 4 Don caught his condition first and rifled off a nice .352. I watched him shoot the group and thought it was around a .280. I looked at Don when he finished and gave him a "thumbs up and nice group!" At this point I'm thinking I'm screwed! But my gun my shot like a laser and I lucked into a .161. Don shook his head and laughed! Strangler is in the spotting scope yelling "Only F-ing Bart would do that!" I was so tickled I couldn't stop laughing either. At that point I figured it was a wrap! But not so fast! On the final group, I started in a pretty good push that was blowing right to left. The group was in the mothball but was taking up quite a bit of real estate. I figured it was a big 5! Don starts his group in some pretty nasty left to right conditions. Disaster lurked with each shot, but he managed to pull out a knot! I thought it was no bigger than a .240. I figured mine was a .570. I looked at Don and said "Great job! I think you just won it!" Truly a spectacular finish under pressure. I'd say this bodes well for things to come for Mr Hardeman. He took the yardage with a .2122 to my 2178 for his first win and to become the Tennessee State 200 Yard Sporter Champion! The 4 Gun was too close to call! When the final targets were hung Don's was a little larger then I though (.271) and mine was a bit smaller (.493). As I looked at the targets Matthew Keller the match director and statistician came up! I said "who won?" He said "the yardage?" No no! I think Don pretty much stomped us for the yardage! The 4 Gun! He said "well I had to peak and see myself, but I can tell you the difference was .0004 ten-thousandths." I said ,Matthew are you going to make me suffer?" So he took pity and told me I had won. I really thought Don had it! Matthew did a great job measuring targets but that was close enough no one will ever know who really won!
Here is Don "The Beast" Hardeman the Sporter Tennessee 200 yard Champion.
The reason for the title " The Last of the Tennessee State Champions" is this is the final match to be held at Unaka Gun club. Sadly waning club support and the burden of putting on the match by a handful of talented young folks is just to much. So this is the last shoot to be held there.
On the bright side of things it was an incredible match for many reasons! Old friends have their health back and have returned to shooting! New shooters like Tim Singleton, Don Hardeman and Gary Sullivan are coming on strong. The head to head competition was great. That type of situation comes along rarely! (Only once when I stomped Andy Shifflet for the win at the Nationals have I had so much fun!)
But the greatest thing about the whole shoot was learning that a very talented young man whose life was out control, lost, and no hope has found Jesus! That young man is Matthew Keller and I'm very proud of him. Just like he told me when I asked, if he had found Jesus. He said "Yes I have! and It's amazing the wonderful things that are happening in my life now!" For the Christians that are reading this they know exactly what I'm talking about! For those that don't! I hope someday you do!
Many thanks to the "Unaka Fabulous 5" for putting on such great matches over the years! Your effort are much appreciated and will not be forgotten!
Matthew Ring leader Match Director and Statistician
Chrystal Range Officer
Sean Target Crew
Chris Target Crew
Dalton Target Crew
Bart Sauter The Last Tennessee State 4 Gun Champion
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