During the July 11-14 shooting, a German style offhand match was held at Beeson. The target type was a variation of a European target called a King target. In that contest everyone shoots at the same target and the single shot closest to the center of the bullseye determines the winner. In our contest, everyone shot the same German Schuetzen .22 rifle (Made by Emil Kerner and his son between 1890 and 1913 in Suhl, Germany, with a Krupp steel barrel.) at a reproduction of a vintage Germanic target, offhand, at 50 yards. Each shooter first paid $5 for three shots and then shot them. After that, additional shots could be purchased for $1 each. Once they were done others did the same thing. Entrants were allowed to continue to purchase shots to try to improve their standing until no one was left that wanted to purchase another shot. At that point, first, second, and third places were determined by their distances from the bull’s center and prizes were awarded. The photo of the three shooters (left to right) includes Roger Henderson, from Spencerville, OH, whose best shot placed third, Geoff Crowe, from Hopkins, MI, whose best shot was closest to the center for first place, and Fred Anderson, from Mentone, IN, who placed second with his best shot. The animal target shows the shots from all the entrants that hit the paper. (Thirteen hearty souls participated.) The photo of the rifle and closeups of engraving from 3 different German rifles are included to show how pretty the Schuetzen rifles can be.
If you are interested in target rifle shooting, beautiful rifles, firearms history, and friendly people to interact with, please consider attending one of this season’s remaining matches at Beeson. On weekdays and Saturdays, ten 45-minute relays are shot with posting and pulling targets between relays. Shooting those days starts promptly at 8 am and usually goes until about 5 pm. On Sundays, shooting typically goes from 8 am until 11or 12. The one Centerfire Match remaining on the schedule is August 29, 30, 31 and Sept 1. Two more rimfire matches will be held this season: August 23, 24, & 25 and October 4, 5, and 6. Come and check us out! 

The winners.

Typical engraving quality!

This one looks like me!