On April 21-22 we held a regional match at Camp Butner, NC. There were nice trophies for the class winners and plenty of prizes to go around for everyone. A raffle was held for a pair of electronic muffs donated by Dillon Precision (won by Cecil Rhodes), and a very nice pistol Springfield Arms again provided which to my great delight (but not necessarily anyone else) I won for the second year in a row. My wife is telling me I need to buy some lottery tickets! With the somewhat lighter than normal attendance everyone got to pick a prize off the table and some prizes were saved for the NC State Championship match to be held there September 29th and 30th. Mark it on your schedule and come join us at a great facility.

While getting ready for the match to start I noticed some guys in army fatigues getting out of a car but didn't recognize them right away. I heard Cecil comment that "Well, I guess we don't need to worry about who will finish first........... or second............. or third" when he saw them. The US Army Pistol Team led by current National Champion Jim Henderson had arrived for the match. The picture above is of Sgt Jim Henderson receiving the award as overall match winner, presented by match director Steve Huff.

Click here to see the first video which shows the Army team during a timed fire string from behind. The second video shows them from the side and the last one shows a close up of Henderson firing a timed fire string. In the last video note the time before he gets off the first shot, the consistent cadence once he does start shooting, and the follow through back to firing position after the last shot.

During the awards ceremony after the match the Army team seemed enthusiastic about coming back to shoot in September for the NC State Championship match and said they might be able to bring more team members. Make plans to come shoot with us along side current National Champion Sgt Jim Henderson (and the rest of the Army team) and current 45 cal National Champion Cecil Rhodes. You can reach the North State Shooting Club site here for more information (though the pistol page link seems to be down right now).

Clark

I have pictures from a couple of local matches and some videos taken at the North Carolina Regional match held April 21-22, 2007. The picture here is of Dave Salyer calling a match at the Charlotte Rifle and Pistol club on March 10th while getting a little help from his grandson! Other pictures are available on my picture site here . Look in the Matches 2007 folder for the ones taken this year.

The first video shows four shooters at the regional match in a timed fire string. From left are Mike Halsey, Cecil Rhodes, Clark Hardesty, and Norman Horne. It can be viewed here. Another video showing the same shooters from behind is available at this link. I should point out that Cecil Rhodes is the current 45 cal National Champion, which is a very unique accomplishment for a completely self trained civilian shooter.

Clark

Colors are sounded each morning at Camp Perry at 0725, starting with the firing of a cannon right behind range 4. Recently they have been better about giving 2 minute and 1 minute warnings before hand, but in the past they have not always been so careful. If you are assigned range 4 and have the first relay that day, I would suggest being aware of the timing of it all. The first year I was assigned that range, lets just say it came as quite a surprise when the cannon went off. If you listen closely you can hear the count down from 5.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=9178369169374066236


Clark

Here are a few more videos taken on the firing line, the first showing Grayson and Cecil during the team CF timed fire match. Both are HM shooters, with Cecil winning the 45 championship this year.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7227599175171674759


The next video shows Clark and Gregg during a slow fire string during the team matches. It is the only one I have showing slow fire, and it also includes a look down the line showing other shooters to our left.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7071736452576697369


What is it like to be shooting timed fire on the line all by yourself? Most of us will never really know, but Jeff did a timed fire refire string with the 22 after the shooter to his left put 5 shots on his target. The CRO on range 4 gave me special permission to stay behind and get this video for Jeff.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2726881089530553241

Clark

The Tower Talker is one of those things we hear all the time but most of us know little about. As part of my access to range 4, I was able to get up into the tower and get a video to show their view of things, and a little of how they do it. You will see a book in the center that has the entire script for everything that needs to be said, and they keep moving markers on it to be sure they don't loose their place during the very repetitive commands they are giving. There is a panel in front of the talker with, among other things, a button he pushes to start the 3 second delay before targets turn. Also note the wind moving things around a little.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7119189599128636153

Clark

With the help of Stephen Hogan, the Chief Range Officer on Range 4, I was able to get full access to the firing line during the first relay (experts) on 45 day. I was able to take a number of photographs which are posted at http://photos.yahoo.com/clark2245 , along with these videos.

This video shows two shooters doing timed fire. The one on the right is John Hall.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6663670398305834015

This one is of two more shooters doing rapid fire with the 45. You can hear firing start up in the background on range 3.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3449315596868327557

This one has another view of a group of shooters doing timed fire on range 4.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6418658141443941093

When we go down to score targets, the adjacent ranges are sometimes firing, which has always been a little bit of an odd feeling for me. Especially when they are all the way back at the 50 yard line. This is a view from the practice line on range 2 of shooters on range 3 doing timed fire on 45 day.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4701598354780125


Clark

Larry Carter is well known to us as the one to go to for Ultra Dots, as well as Hammerli and a few other brands, and also as a top level BE shooter. However not everyone gets to meet him at Camp Perry each year when he moves his store and people there to support the shooters, so I asked him if he would do a short video as an introduction for the BE List. He very graciously agreed, and we got together during a quiet period and did this clip.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1872407934312964844

Clark

Getting good pictures and videos on the firing line at Camp Perry is not always the easiest thing to do, since you are either busy shooting, or at other times are not allowed on the line at all. As a result many of these videos were made during the team competitions, since I could make them myself when not shooting (one 'coach' is allowed on the line for each team), or have Lara, our team captain, make them when I was firing. I have a few others I was able to make when given a vest that gave me full access to Range 4 during a regular relay. More on that in a later post.

The first one shows Grayson Palmer and Cecil Rhodes doing team CF rapid fire. I put the camera on the 50 yard bench and zoomed in get a different view. In the full resolution version you can see the bullets hitting the targets. Both are HM shooters, and Cecil (on the right) won the 45 cal National Championship this year. And yes, Grayson is not very happy about one of his shots.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3999579584120985539


This one shows Grayson and Cecil during 22 teams, shooting a rapid fire string.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2795943141302885420


The next two links show myself and Gregg Kormanik (on the right) during team 45 timed fire. Note the wind blowing the brass screens and other things around, along with the smoke from the shots. Just a normal Perry afternoon.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7758935545670421733

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=599131126732326187

I hope these and others to follow will give a better idea of what shooting at Camp Perry really feels like.

Clark

Joan Gladwell has become well known for taking regular old huts at Camp Perry and turning them into something entirely different. I have seen her with a bucket of water and a brush scrubbing out the hut before she would even consider moving in, then with items mostly from Goodwill she turned it into a very comfortable looking place. You could almost forget it was still a hut.

Joan agreed to do a short video as an introduction to all the BE shooters she has not had the chance to meet at Perry, and to give a little background on why she expends so much effort on her huts. She is just a really nice person and a pleasure to visit with.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2767917038586360917

Clark

Sorry it took so long, but here are the first videos from Camp Perry 2006. I will start with Ed Masaki's new gun, which became known as the Dragon Gun after Dr Norman Wong saw it and described it as a Fire Breathing Dragon. Ed likes the description enough he plans to have a dragon logo on the side of new production guns. On several videos I have left in parts after the individual shot it for the first time so you can hear their immediate reaction, and in a couple of cases you can hear or see Ed talking about the gun in the background.

I met Ed on range 2 one afternoon, the function / practice range, and after a close call with range officials who were not so sure about the idea of allowing cameras on the line, was able to get these videos. They knew Ed, and if he wanted it to happen, they finally relented. The first video is of Mike McShay trying out the Dragon Gun.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=780244266399862144


The next shows Lara Rhodes taking a shot with the Dragon, and you can just hear her comment afterwards if you listen carefully.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1809758674566409104


This is a close up video of the gun in action. At the reduced resolutions required by the internet sites it becomes a little harder to make out some of the details. I do not recall who the shooter is.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8365215826438677723


Here Ed shoots his creation.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3859438864191298422

In this one I try out the gun. I left in the last part after I finished because Ed can be heard and then seen talking about it, and I thought there might be an interest for many of you in putting more of a face to the name.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8868390478733554187

In this one Grayson Palmer tries out the Dragon Gun. He is a High Master shooter and I thought his reactions while shooting would be of interest to many. He definitely seemed to like it.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7142123816196278704


I hope you enjoy these, and that they can answer some questions about the gun and how well it works.

Clark

Guess the picture of Chuck Larson mentioned in the previous post did now go through, so I will repost it here. May be a limit of one picture per post of something.

Clark

Hello from Camp Perry 2006. I arrived yesterday and got moved into my hut, and spent most of today taking care of a few things and getting at least the first part of my shopping tour done. I also had the chance to have Jerry Keefer take a look at my new Model 14-3, and touch up the trigger and a couple of internal parts so that it feels really nice now. I also talked with Ed Masaki a couple of times, and got a chance to get a good close look at his new gun, which Norman described as the "Fire Breathing Dragon." In fact Ed says he plans to have a dragon logo on it when it goes into production. The top picture is Ed showing the gun to Jerry Keefer (who is doing his shade tree mechanic thing again this year), but Ed asked me not to publish any pictures showing the gun until after Perry, so I chose one that does not show any details. I will be able to publish close up detailed ones later. I also hope to get a video of it being shot tomorrow.

The second picture shows Chuck Larson of RRA talking with customers. Like most of the shops here, he was busy as soon as he opened up today. I have some other pictures I will be posting to my yahoo site hopefull tomorrow, in a higher resolution than I can do here.

Gary has the wireless working inside the Springfield building, but will not have the outside antenna up until tomorrow, so there is little to no reception in the huts yet. That will sure help as the mosquitos are getting kind of bad now, even with the Off I put on.

Oh yes, there is a new high in outfitting a hut now. I saw a satellite dish out front and stuck my head in to find them watching a movie on TV. Somehow huts and satellite tv don't seem like a natural fit, but they seemed to be doing quite well in there.

More info later. Weather forecast shows high probability of thunderstorms tomorrow afternoon, so we will see how revolver day goes.

Clark

Here is one last pre-Perry posting with a picture of Cecil running the State Games match. Unfortunately he was unable to talk anyone else into doing it and letting him shoot. The red things hanging off the table on the left are the ribbons on the medals awarded. A gold, silver and bronze one for each class. Pretty nice.

Looks like I will need to limit the number of pictures with each post as they seem to float to the top and screw up the formatting.

Here is another video test, but a bit off topic for BE I guess. This is actually about a 15 meg file, but as been reduced to a fairly small easy to download size by the web site, and shows me in another shooting hobby, an IPSC match earlier this month. Still have a little ways to go with this. Two shots at each paper target and hopefully just one to knock down each steel target.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2408499429579873232

Clark

Ok folks, this is a quick test of posting a story, along with a picture and video. I need to find out how well this site works, so that I can be ready for Camp Perry, and able to quickly post information and pictures.

I have not received any more word as to progress with the wireless internet access system Gary is putting in for us this year. I will make a call to him next week if he has not called me by that time.

This is a picture looking over my shoulder during a match about 3 years ago, which does a good job of making the 50 yard line look a long way off. Acutally it is a long way off, so no trick photography required for that.

This video shows me during 45 Rapid Fire at the North Carolina State Games last weekend. It was a hot sweaty day, but things mostly went well so I felt better, at least when it was over. The site the videos are posted to reduces the resolution quite a bit, making them easier to download. That also keeps their bandwidth requirements down to a reasonable level. If the window comes up too large (anything other than fairly small) they may be grainy, so you can use the little down arrow sort of button in the bottom right of the window to select a different size.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3667212825219677776


Let me know if these come across ok, or what might need to be changed. I am very open to ideas on how to make this work better.

Clark