May 20/21, 2023 is in the books. Nine brave souls decided to battle it out this weekend. The weekend started out Friday with many coming in early to practice and for some of us load develop as well. Wind was twitchy as usual with the Alberta wildfire haze in the air. Some struggled and some felt okay going into the first match Saturday AM. Conditions for the day were high teens to low 20 with some switchy winds.
Saturday greeted us with cooler temps in the morning for the LV100. It warmed up to around 26deg by early afternoon. Winds were readable and very consistent. There was none of this quick, switchy wind direction changes. With the smoke and cloud cover mirage was basically non existant. Some shot slow and steady across the board whilst not shooting anything really small or anything really big. Phil Nick came out on top. Then there were those of us who struggled. As for me, if I was a better keeper of notes, things may go differently. Thus, I decided to switch rifles as I did have notes for a load that worked. Glad I did.
After a short lunch break it was into the HV100. Again conditions were mild and readable. This time Grant Schick had his heavy working for him as he was top dog in the HV100. For the mild conditions there were a lot of puzzled looks at various times. Was it load, was it me, is it the scope, did I miss something in the wind, is it my front bag or rear bag. Regardless, there was a lot of chuckles and heckling along the way.
Sunday morning greeted us with much cooler temperatures and the wind. Yes the ever changing switchy Selkirk winds. Today there was no such thing as consistent winds and flags. The mirage also decided to show up. You had better be on the ball. When the dust settled in the HV200, Tory Phinn was the only one who managed to not shoot a group over 1" and became the HV200 winner.
The afternoon brought us to the final leg and the LV200. The conditions never let up. Unfortunately for Selkirk's newest BR shooter Curtis Peyson, whom was recruited thru BR101, Target 1 was not so forgiving. He managed to get 2 shots before trouble insued. Missing primers in loaded cases. Unfortunately for Curtis this would have a hug impact. By the time the nearest shooter realized he was in some sort of trouble it was basically to late to lend a rifle to finish the group off. Thanks Tory for trying. Curtis ended up with a dreaded 6" penalty. If it not for this penalty on the first target he was well on his way to give us a beat down in the LV200. The eventual winner was myself, Cal Yanchycki
After the scoring was all tabulated, the HV Grand went to Grant Schick, the LV Grand to Ron McDaniel, and the overall 2 Gun to Grant Schick. Small group awards went to LV100 Tory Phinn, LV200 Cal Yanchycki, HV100 Grant Schick and HV200 Grant Schick.
The decision was also made to award the Everett Amundgard HV Grand Aggregate award along with the Jim Smola 2 Gun award. Both of these gentlemen were long time shooters in Selkirk during the early years. Grant told a little history about them. Grant was fortunate to win both of the awards. Grant last won these in 1993 and 1991 respectively. 1993 the Everett Amundgard and 1991 the Jim Smola. It was a long time come for him. Traditionally these are awarded in August after the Selkirk Provincial match. Due to hosting the BRSC Nationals the end of July, the decision was made to not have the August Provincial Match.
Regardless of everything that went on, good, bad, or ugly I am sure we all enjoyed the weekend of Heckles and chuckles. Thanks go out to Tory and Curtis for providing donuts and muffins. Chelsea Schick for running and scoring the match. Carmen McDaniel for helping Chelsea and learning how things run on Sunday. She may be our future scorer.
The next and final match of the year will be the BRSC Nationals July 29/30, 2023. Hope to see everyone from far and wide there. Currently we have 27 registered of a possible 28. Registrations run from NW Ontario all the way to Vancouver Island. Sure would be awesome if everyone could make it. It looks to be a great shoot. I will be touching base with all registrants in early July to confirm.
Final note, not mentioning any names, we currently have 4 prize donors that are worth the price of admission alone and waiting to hear from a few more.
Hope to talk and see y'all soon.
Cal Yanchycki