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Club Roster Shrinking The lure of a more affordable life and escape from the onerous gun laws of California is prompting an exodus of proportions unseen since the Oklahoma land rush. The Gurule clan, long time supporters of Wheel Burners and ICORE, have packed up family and firearms and headed off to New Mexico. Hopefully they will start up a local revolver club and stay active in the sport. We look forward to seeing them at the IRC in 2007. Pete is in process of neatening up his house for selling, soon to be followed by a retirement and move to Albuquerque as well. And, Nelson is shedding his lifestyle and possessions, packing only firearms and computers as he plans to head cross country to his prior home in Pennsylvania. He plans to remote control the 2007 IRC, so we'll see him again in June. Best wishes to all from the Wheel Burners. Match Report In town for the Steel Challenge, former Aussie Mark Itzstein came to whip up on the locals just for fun. Oddly enough, we shot the 3rd installment of the Australian Postal Match. It must have agreed with Mark as he paced everyone to a runaway win. Mark is eventually going to end up in Louisville, KY (!?) where he will be able to be within striking distance of the east coast events. We'll see him again at the IRC as well. We also had some spectators and potential future participants come by to watch the match. Post match shooting with a variety of revolvers and 10/22 rifles seemed to capture their imagination. Hopefully we'll gain some new shooters. Two steel stages were thrown in for practice, rounding out the total stage count to 6. The stages: Stage 1; Match originator Paul Kennedy must have gotten a case of black paint on sale, so he designed this stage with only the A Zone exposed on 4 targets. 3 boxes and 4 stops. Start in right or left, shoot nearest target with 6, move to middle and each of center two targets with 3 rounds each, move to last box and shoot nearest target with 6, then back to the middle box and re-engage center two targets with 3 rounds each. It was shots limited to prevent makeups and that pretty much insured some ugly scores. Mark ripped through this one with no concern. Stage 2; Same targets as Stage 1, but shot in a different order. Start in an outside box. At signal, hose the nearest target with 6 rounds strong hand only, then hustle all the way to the far side and after reloading carefully, try to repeat with weak hand. Then, back to the center box and hammer each of the center targets with 6 rounds each. Mark got careless and put one shot in the hard cover, opening the door for Derek. Stage 3; This one was simple - 3 fully exposed targets, but the barricade in front of the shooting box was a standard target with the A Zone cut out. Start UNLOADED, then just shoot each target 2 times from right side, left side, through the port and then under the barricade. Mark went into kneeling to shoot under the barricade since he's a tall lad. It worked for him as he took this stage also. Stage 4; Same setup as Stage 3, but no barricade. Just a no-nonsense speed shoot. Start hands up, then hose each target 2 times, reload and repeat for 18 rounds of shots limited. Mark just ripped through this one, shooting it clean. The borrowed ammo he was using must agree with his gun as he made it look easy. Pendulum; A steel stage from the Challenge. Two plates on each side of a center stop. Plates arranged high and low to simulate the swing of a pendulum, hence the name. Steel expert Derek got the swing on this one to take the win. Accelerate; A new steel stage from the Challenge. Two target groups of round plate and big rectangle with a center round stop. Mark was warmed up by the time he got to this one and got the rhythm of the plates pretty quickly to set the pace. September Rimfire Match A holiday weekend won't discourage the hardcore shooters, so there will be a Rimfire steel on September 2. Shoot with .22 revolver or pistol, then repeat with an extra plate using rifle. Juniors pay only $5 so bring the youngsters. Newbies are $10 as usual; Regulars $15.September ICORE Match A trip down memory lane, recalling some favorite stages from past IRCs. Twilight Zone, Bowlarama, A Walk In The Park and Option One will be featured in this high round count event. Not a lot of movement, but lots of rounds. All shots unlimited so plan to do some hosing.More Shooting in the Southern Cal Area Hidden Valley Revolver Club Now shooting at the Lemon Grove Rod & Gun Club.Central Coast Wheel Gunners have monthly matches at the Hogue Action Pistol range in San Luis Obispo, the home of the IRC for 2007. On the third Saturday of the month. Team Lopez has 4th Saturday monthly ICORE matches in the northern Los Angeles area. The morning ICORE match is followed by an afternoon rimfire steel event. Double fun! |