Twenty-eight shooters enjoyed some great weather and challenging COF’s during Echo Valley Pistol League’s first match of the season. The Day match consisted of the “Classifier” broken down into five separate COF’s. This was done in order to help clean up our unclassified shooters list as it is recommended that you have a least one “Classifier” match each season. We’ve all shot these stages numerous times but they are still quite humbling and reinforced the fact that shooting is a perishable skill and must be practiced to be retained.

Two side matches were set up a 2x4 shoot and a long range rifle event. The 2x4 shoot consisted of a 20” 2x4 with a line drawn across it 12” down from the top placed at 15 yards. A two man team then tried to shoot the 2x4 completely in two above the line with the fastest time winning. The team of Ron Riley/Vern Swick won first place and $20 with a time of 48.03 seconds followed closely by the father/son team of Vern and Eric Swick with a time of 49.43 seconds. The long range rifle match consisted of 2-13”steel plates and 2-9” steel plates placed at 300 yards. The shooters had six rounds to hit four targets from any position without using any supports or rests. Quite a battle developed between Phil Cooper and Dennis Young with Phil taking the lead with a 59.47 then Dennis with a 50.70 and then Phil finally winning with a 46.24.Phil did this with a bolt action rifle in 7mm-08 and was also 5 for 7 from a standing position. Great shooting guy’s!!!

Nineteen shooters stayed for a supper from Head Country BBQ and the night match which had three stages. Kirk Hammond’s “Car Stage” proved to be especially difficult as the lower targets seemed to disappear when you dropped down to shoot under the car. We were able to finish the match and have the stages down by 9:30 PM thanks to a great group of SO’s/Scorekeepers and volunteers. I would also like to thank Paula Radcliff for driving to Ponca City for the food and to Linda Riley for her pineapple desert.

Our next match will be Saturday April 16,2005 with the shooters meeting at 12:00 noon and the match at 12:30 PM. I hope to see you all there.

Gerard Hansen
Match Director
EVPL