Indeed, I read he missed the title by a cat's hair in a shootoff...  I do find one thing confusing though - I also read he was using a Hiwall??  And I thought he was Mr. RB?

Glenn has been using a hiwall for sil. and his Wesson #1 for 1000 yd. shooting. Speakingof which, I understand he came in fith in the nation in the 1000 yd. match even tho that isn't game.  Way to go Glenn !!   You do man !!    Ken

Gentlemens:

I am not sure I will ever recover from that ride. Such things build more than character...

In any event, as Mr. McGee stated I did pretty well, with the indispensable aid of my spotters, at the Nationals in Raton, NM. The role of the spotter is greatly under appreciated and largely unrewarded in these games, but the fact of the matter is that I would not have finished remotely as well as I did without the exceptional work of the folks I shot with.

And yes I have rifles other than the vaunted Rolling Block, and used them at Raton.

The first award we received was from the lever gun pistol cartridge silhouette match. My friends and companions Tony Pappalardo and Eron Ahmer and I entered that event as a lark because it happened to be at a convenient time and I had an old Marlin '89 in .38-40. Not being classified we had to enter as Masters and just for kicks we signed up for the team event. It all started well but the rifle broke irreparably right after the first of the eight relays we needed to shoot.  None the less, it turns out that due to a lack of team entries we took 1st Master with a team score of about 23 out of 240.  There was some wailing and gnashing of teeth but Team Mook received a nice marble trophy and three etched glass mugs, and undoubtedly made history as the first team to ever win the Master Class and immediately be reclassified to B class.  I'm a thinking  there will be more team entries next year....

The next was the Creedmoor match, with is a two day match consisting of ten shots for record at 800, 900 and 1000 each day.  Not having a partner for the event I was paired with Mr. Doug Filbrandt of Cincinnati, OH. I had a casual acquaintance with Doug before this but did not know him well and had never shot with him. It turns out that Doug was wonderful company and an excellent wind reader.  I was continually amazed at his ability to recognize a condition. With Mr. Filbrandt's help I finished 5th overall with a 497/ 600. Lige Harris  of Trinidad, CO won the match with a 509. 

The rifle was built on the Steve Earle Wesson #1 Long Range action with a Green Mountain barrel chambered in .45-90. This rifle has been pictured here in the past. It has a Parts Unknown Soule rear sight and a Distant Thunder front sight.  The load was a 530 grain bullet from a B&D mold on top of 88.0 grains of Swiss 1.5f powder in a Starline case lit with a Federal F150M primer.

After a day off the silhouette match started. Due to the number of competitors, in spite of the fact that the range has 64 shooting positions, the two day match is held over four days. Each day's match is a 60 shot event, 15 at each animal in three relays of 5.  A competitor is assigned a relay on either Monday and Wednesday or Tuesday and Thursday. I shot for the first time this year with my long time partner Eron Ahmer on Monday and Wednesday. We meshed immediately back into our old comfortable spotter/ shooter relationship. Eron did a simply marvelous job in the scope and when all the smoke cleared at the end I was tied for first place with David Barnes of TX with a 91/ 120. The subsequent shoot off took two banks of chickens, but Mr. Barnes prevailed and I came away as First Loser.  My congratulations to him and his spotter. They are fine gentlemen and competitors, and a credit to the game.

The silhouette match was, I confess, shot with another non Rolling Block. It is a original Winchester action with close coupled DSTs and a Green Mountain barrel chambered in .45-70. This rifle also sports a Parts Unknown rear and Distant Thunder front sight. The loads were a B&D 495 grain bullet on top of 72 grains of Swiss 3f in a Starline case lit with a Federal 150M primer, and a B&D 530 grain bullet on top of 62 grains of Swiss 1.5f.

Team Mook also entered the team silhouette event and this time actually earned the First Master trophy. 


Run concurrently with the Silhouette match was the Mid Range Position and Prone matches, which are shot at 200, 300 and 600 yards. This year's National Position Championship was won by Eron Ahmer, who set a new National Record in the process.  It was a truly exceptional showing for Mr. Ahmer.


So there you have the story of "What I Did on My Summer Vacation".  It was a grand time and I am already looking forward to next year.

Glenn

Congratulations Glenn!  Good shooting.   

Dave

Glenn;

Congratulations to a fine gentleman and an exceptional shooter. That's pretty high cotton your walkin in, sir!