Newsletter

Ramrod Herald

Dedicated to the Preservation of Historical Firearms and the Perpetuation of the Marksmanship that Made America Free.

February 2010

San Diego County Muzzleloaders

Club Officers

President

R.J. Wingo 619-461-9066

Vice President

Steve Van Wormer 619-426-5109

Secretary

Matthew Lowrie 619-231-4883

lowrie1@cox.net

Treasurer

Tony Jeske 619-224-6594

apjeske@att.net

Chief Range Officer

Doug Ruff 619-462-3041

Club meeting 4^th Monday of the Month:

Jack Simmons’ shop 426 E. 30^th St.

National City @ 7:00 P.M.

(Bring your own chair)

Range Officer Duty Roster 2010

January---Chuck Yetter

619-421-5900

February---Glenn Harris

619-469-3538

March---Ken Yenter

619-462-8033

April---Joe Woof

619-463-8043

May---Joe Jelinek

760-639-6335

June---Carl Costantino

619-562-6499

July---Rick Lopian

619-464-5454

August---Matt Lowrie

619-440-4357

September---Rob Brandt

619-283-6659

October---Tony Jeske

619-224-6594

November---OPEN

858-454-5728

December---Doug Ruff

619-462-3041

Alternates

Don Densford---619-390-0614

Ed Horgan---619-479-4355

Website

www.sandiegocountymuzzleloaders.org

Don’t let anyone tell you that the black powder shooters of the SDCML have to go to Canada to win Gold Medals. We had fellow club members go over to Winter Nationals in Phoenix, Arizona for the black powder shoot this February. I will have our club secretary, Matt Lowrie tell the complete story in this issue.

When you mix water balloons, briquettes, clay pigeons, and hanging steel together, what do you have? Answer-another great black powder shoot put on by Doug Ruff at Project 2000. A little praise goes to the diehards who didn’t let a little damp weather stop them from showing up and putting some balls down range. In the January newsletter, our club secretary put in the new membership application. Now that we have it, let’s all reach out and find new club members and give them the application. Let’s get them to come to the club meetings and the black powder shoots. If there are any questions, have them call me or Matt.

Laguna Mountain Shooting Club will be having a match on Saturday, March 13. Come up Friday evening and shoot all day Saturday. It will be held at the Laguna Rendezvous site. Cost to shoot is $10.00. Further information can be had from Don Densford @ 619-390-0614.

P.S. The club has all sizes of T-shirts for sale. Pick one up for yourself or a friend.

Western Nationals took place from February 10-15, 2010. It is located in Phoenix, Arizona at the Ben Avery Shooting Range. Primitive matches are held Friday thru Sunday starting at 9:00 A.M. Primitive matches require that you be dressed in period attire from 1642 to 1840. Rob needs help running the Primitive matches. With more people, the range officer duties become easier for everyone. It gives more opportunities

to shoot the matches. One does not have to be a member of the NMLRA to be a range officer, but you do if you wish to compete in the matches. Cost of each match is $3.75 with a re-entry fee of $2.75. Introductory membership is available and will cost you $20.00. This will allow you to shoot and win matches.

Rob Brandt has submitted a small article of his time spent at Western Nationals.

The 2010 Western Nationals of the National Muzzle Loading Rifle Association.

The weather was perfect upon arrival and stayed that way while we were there. Club members Doug Ruff, Steve Van Wormer, J. Alexander, and Carl Costantino were there. Don Newell and Jim Booth, Manzanita Club members were there to help also. They all worked at setting up the Primitive range and then working as range officers. They were there Sunday evening to help tear everything down. It amazed me that Doug, Steve, J, and Carl also had time to gather a handful of Medals with their shooting and Hawk throwing.

A very nice campground with water and electric and showers is a short walking distance to most shooting ranges. Rates are $25.00 per night or $15.00 without utilities. Primitive camping in the brush still has showers and toilets close by.

Range: Pistol *** Event Times: 1st Sunday Rifle Competition 9:00 am

Range: Shotgun *** Event Times: 3rd Saturday Shotgun 8:00 am and 5th Sunday Shotgun 8:00 am

Fifteen shooters competed in our third Sunday shoot at Project 2000. Doug Ruff was our range officer. He set up some challenging targets. They were the groundhog silhouette, swinging charcoal briquettes, clay pigeons, and water filled balloons.

R.J. Wingo spent some time getting his rifle sighted in. It definitely shows with a score of 18. Good Shooting R.J.!

As you all know, black powder is highly flammable. If you want to smoke, please move behind the loading area, near the parked cars. Keep some distance between black powder and flame. Protect yourself as well as everyone else.

Out of fifteen shooters, ten brave souls competed in our Drop the Flag competition. All teams are selected by random. Rob uses the magic of dice and shooting numbers to select teams.

January’s score to beat was a 76 from team 1. This month team 3 achieved that goal with a 77. The red dots must have helped a little, as a couple of flags dropped during the match. Remember, both flags have to go down together to get the 20 points.

Team-1 ended up with eleven shots on paper. So one high point had to be dropped to make it ten shots on paper. Be sure your team mates count their shots or round balls. One extra shot can cost you the match.

Lemon Grove Rod and Gun Club held it's Black Powder Rifle Shoot on Sunday, February 21st. Only five shooters braved the rain and fog in order to participate.

Targets were metal plates set at 25 yards, ram silhouettes set at 50 yards and Bowling Pins hanging at 50 yards. Trent Alford won the event, with Chuck Yetter second and Ron Major third.

Club seminar started at 7:00 P.M. and finished at 7:40 P.M. on 2/22/10. Club meeting followed.

Future location for the club meetings was discussed. We have about 2-3 more meetings at Jack’s place. Our new location may be at:

If you have another place for the club meeting, please submit it at the next club meeting.

There was discussion on advertising to get more club members. A motion was made to put an ad in the South Bay Rod & Gun Club newsletter advertising about SDCML for one month. A vote was taken. The motion carried. There was more discussion about Project 2000 promoting us as a different shooting venue. We need some way to get the attention of other shooters.

There was talk of raising the price of dues to $20.00. This is a hotly debated subject and not to be put to rest right away. More on that later.

Pistol Get-Together

In February 2010 ten shooters got together. Below are scores in order of achievement. Paper targets were posted at 15, 25 and 50 yards. The 25-yard and 50-yard competition targets each had a possible of 100 points (ten shots each). The Aggregate is the combined 25 and 50 yard scores. This month’s novelty was the 18th Century Bottle Target (two shots at each of the six bottles) for a possible of 120 points (placed at 15 yards). Pistols shot included three .44 Le Page, one .45 Le Page, two .38 Mang, a .35 Caplock and a .50 Lyman Plains. The revolvers were a .44 1863 and a .45 Old Army Ruger.