Second Annual Fraser Valley VFS Championship; July 6, 2014- by Jim Latham
Well it was almost a full house in the end. We had two cancellations so there were 22 shooters; 24 are all we can have for a one day event. It was an almost perfect day weather and wind wise (except for a brief but significant time later in the day). But the sheer number of “characters” was more than sufficient and they came from far and wide, all across southern BC from Campbell River to Grand Forks and from South of the Border. Two special guest sponsors joined us as well, barrel, action and reamer supplier Gary Eakin of Bighorn Sales in Huston (BC not Texas!) thereamerguy@yahoo.ca and gunsmith Terry L’Heureux of Black Arts Rifle Co. from Naramata BC http://blackartrifle.com. We were delighted to have them join us to meet everyone and for us to thank them for their generous gifts. Other gifts came from Italian Sporting Goods, Sinclair International, Berger Bullets, Bill Gammon, Dan Opel, Rick Graham, Ron Hoehn and Joe Mendham. Our sincere thank to all who helped make this special.
Many of the shooters have been in the game for a very long time as you will see from the results below and the pictures as well. A couple need special mention: BR50 Guru Bob Goehring, his good friend Greg Yeoman, and his buddy and renowned gunsmith Nobby Uno. The Campbell River contingent also included Larry Dougan, Dennis Tipper, and Don Ells.
The Okanagan, Grand Forks and Wenatchee shooters included solo traveller Aubrey White and group organizer/driver Dale Nylander who really crosses the line- he was born in the US and is now a Canadian- and who brought three others with him, George King, Lawrence Tkatch, and American Daniel Zaccanti, Jr., who is best known as the maker of the “Flying Pig” bullets. If you look at the results below you will see that this region, aided by the other American who joined us again this year, Richard Nicol, basically gave most of us a bit of a spanking. Thank goodness the Campbell River gang had a couple of fine results, led by Nobby. He still shoots great as well as builds great. Nobby had to move out of his shop recently due to a sale of the property and Greg is kindly setting him up for the future. F Class locals who are also part of the same Bob Goehring fan club Len Grinnell and Bill Crosby also shot with us, at least Len did before his gun packed it in...
Our core group of monthly shooter/helpers was led by Match Director Joe Mendham who did a superb job of keeping the whole show on time and solving the many little problems that always come up. Art Harder who led the Target team of Michael Boyce, John de Best, Sue and Sam Parrotta and others who chipped in as needed did yeoman work of the toughest job. Bob Goehring, Mel McIntosh and Sue Parrotta helped me with the scoring (I really had to keep an eye on both of them- Bob is such a hard a... and Mel such a softie) Paul shot all these great photos of this “Historic Event”.
The results below show just how close this match was at every distance. A three way tie of the three factory rifle shooters at 100 cannot be replicated too often I think. Michael Boyce won via the tie breaker. He also won at 200 but Paul Koivukoski won at 300, with Michael pulling off the Aggregate win.
And of course in the Benchrest rifle group it was again remarkably close at every range with several tie breakers required. While Nobby Uno did win 100 with a superb score of 215, five shooters were 210 or above. Daniel Zaccanti Jr. Led the 200 yard with 206 and was hotly pursued by several. At 300 we had a significant condition change (raining like hell and vastly decreased visibility, especially for the first relay) which made everything challenging from shooting to scoring. Here Richard Nicol who has lots of 300 yard experience showed the way with an excellent 205 with his .308. In the end Daniel Zaccanti Jr. won the Grand Aggregate by the smallest of margins.
We enjoyed a great lunch together and good times. Old friends were reacquainted and new friends made. Sounds pretty close to ideal to me. We hope to see you all next year!
Joe Mendham: Match Director and Jim Latham: Organizer
Mission VFS 2014 Championship ResultsMission VFS 2014 Championship Equipment List
Daniel Zaccanti is crowned the King!
Art Harder
Aubrey and Len
Bill Crosby
Bob Goehring
Chris Klumpp
Dale Nylander
Daniel Zaccanti
Don Ells
George King
Greg Yeoman
Jim Latham - Organizer
Joe Mendham - Match Director
John De Best
Larry Dougan
Larry and Daniel
Lawrence Tkatch
Lowell Boyd
Michael Boyce Factory Winner
Nobby and Bob
Paul Koivuoksi
Firing Line
Richard Nicol 300 Yard Winner
Sam Parotta
Wally McDonald
Topic: Mission VFS Championship - July 2014 (Read 4901 times)