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Marksmanship Contest
In Celebration of the
END OF THE EVIL EMPIRE
October 20, 2012
At The
Association of New Jersey Rifle and Pistol Clubs
Cherry Ridge 100 Yard Range
10:00am - 3:00pm
LUNCH WAS INCLUDED WITH ALL PAID ENTRIES
In celebration of the End of the Evil Empire, the fall of the Soviet Union, the Arms Collectors Club conducted our annual shoot featuring weapons prevalent during the period of Soviet Influence. Arms of the period range from the bolt action Mosin-Nagants of 1891, 1930, 1944 and others to modern Kalishnikov type semi-auto riflesThe New Jersey Arms Collectors Club held its traditional End of the Evil Empire Shoot at the ANJRPC Cherry Ridge Range again this year. Once again, we wish to thank the ANJRPC and their staff at the Cherry Ridge Range for such a great venue and a great job at our shoot.
Realizing that turn of the century Mosin Nagant rifles and recently imported Rumanian SAR and the common SKS were not competitive against Match grade ARs and M1A's the club sponsors matches with equal firearms.
Many people collect firearms from the former communist bloc and buy modern variations of current issue infantry rifles and sniper rifles. Since the New Jersey Arms Collectors Club is organized for collectors and shooters it has offered competition with period firearms. Since shooters compete with similar firearms, the competition does not go to the more expensive equipment. It also gives collectors and bargain gun hunters an opportunity to fire vintage firearms. (Or give you another reason for buying Jersey legal AK look alikes).
Several events were scheduled that featured the arms of specific eras in Soviet History. The guns were limited to curios and relics of the period with original iron sights. Each contest was a two minute timed fire event requiring ten shots at 50 yards except for the the sniper match, which required a military issue sniper rifle and scope and was limited to a single shot at 100 yards.
Two events went unfilled this year- YOUNG PIONEER (Top Junior Shooter)and LYUDMILA PAVLICHENKO - Top Female Shooter. We did however, have a YOUNG PIONEER INSTRUCTOR entrant.
A new match was added this year: "SECRET POLICE" featuring Soviet Bloc Handguns. However, due to a conflict with a pistol range match, we had to cancel our handgun match.
The old silohuette targets were used again this year. The targets have no "X" ring and were scored 2-5. Several targets were close, but we had no ties or perfect scores this year.
We used our "Official NJACC Sniper Target" with the 3/8" X Ring for the Sniper Match.
The Shoot
Rain and more rain on Friday throughout the day and over night, but the morning air was cool and clear - a perfect day for our match at Cherry Ridge. By 10:00 am, we had about 10 shooters registered for the match. Stan Gurski controlled the matches, while the range officer controlled the line. Lunch was prepared by NJACC President, Chuck Collins, and Tom Plante did the scoring. When we broke for lunch around noon, Chuck had prepared a lunch of Hotdogs, Kielbasa, kraut, and pierogies. (Rumor has it that he set off the smoke alarm). Due to a conflicting pistol competition on the pistol range, our pistol matches that were to be held after lunch, were canceled.It was also a great day for a number of Cherry Ridge Members who showed up to shoot, but not in our matches. Even though we had reserved the range for our matches, Stan Gurski, our shoot chairman graciously allowed the non-competitors to use the left side of the range, as we had a small turnout for our matches.
The numerous non-competitors led to a conflict with the range officer in control of the line. Normally, the range officer would control the line and target changes would be made on the hour and half-hour. In our matches, however, our Shoot Chairman normally conducts four two-minute sessions separated by 1-2 minutes and then shuts down the line to change targets approx every 15 minutes. This caused a conflict with the range officer. After it was made clear to the range officers that the NJACC had reserved the whole range for the day, and what our procedures were, the shoot went smoothly. Stan Gurski controlled the matches, but ceded control of the line to the range officer. We were finished competing by 2:00pm, and trophies were handed out by 2:45.
Prior to our knowing who our range officer was, we had a problem on the line with Tom Plante's M44 Mosin-Nagant. A spent round was jammed in the rifle and the bolt would not move to eject the cartridge case, and the bolt was left closed, but in the up position. When the call was made to change targets, Tom went downrange to change his targets, however, his rifle was still not cleared. The range officer took exception to this condition and chided Tom for his error and made sure that everyone knew that she was in control of the line. Following this incident, the match proceeded without further problems.
Perennial champion competitors once again were at the top of the leader board. We had 10 matches, and all were entered except for the Best Female Shooter and Best Junior Shooter. Top scores were turned in by Russ P., Paul M. Andy G, and Jeff A. Paul M. took three trophies including: Mosin-Nagant Rifle (91/30), Simonov (SVT-40), and ComBloc Carbine; Russ P won Bolschevic Rifle, and Tokarev Rifle; Andy G narrowly took the Kalishnikov match and of course won the Sniper Match. Jeff A won the Junior Trainer Instructor match.
All the winning targets have been scanned in and are posted with the scores shot. A link to a .pdf file with all the scores submitted is at the end of the report.
