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WEEK THREE NEWSLETTER
WEEKS 3, Conditions get a lot better
After the first couple matches a lot of shooters didn't know if their guns shot well or not. Bad conditions don't give much information to the shooter other than to come back next week and try again. Well, those who decided to stop in for match 3 and give it another go sure had nicer conditions to do it in. Stop in to the results page and look at the groups and scores both days. The two days saw 29 groups and scores that were either a 99 or higher or a group in the 6's or better.
Newsletter Job is Open!
If anyone out there would like a very low paying job that's about as thankless as can be, let someone in the administration know and we'll get you started! Seriously though, the newsletter is to a point where it's not a huge job, it's now just a little time consuming on Sunday night and Monday. Requirements would be that you have to have broadband internet to do the work and test the files. Must have knowledge of how to do very minor photo work. The photos are basically ready to put in all except doing a rotation of 90 degrees on the ones that are shot portrait for the front page. From there, you have to understand FTP enough to drag and drop a few files and that's about it. There's a program which makes the newsletter from the data entered in the target room so there's very little typing involved. The Pay is $0.00, so if getting rich is your aim, you're applying for the wrong job. Especially in the summertime, I just don't have time to do all the clerical things that need done around the club and should move some of these things to other people and get more folks involved. I'm making a guess that 3 to 5 hours is plenty of time to do what needs done. If you can spare that much time on the monday following the match and would be willing to take over this responsibility, please step forward and give it a shot. This does require a computer with the capability to deal with various camera cards also.
Thanks in advance for considering this.
Week Three Articles from Joe and Frank
A Word From Joe:
We held general membership meetings before both the light gun and the heavy gun matches at match 3. At match 4 we will have voting on three issues which were discussed at the meetings. We'll vote on the creation of an assistant secretary position. This was discussed at both meetings and no-one had anything negative to say about it. Second will be a vote on whether to continue to have womens' awards at our banquet for year end aggregates. This was discussed at both meetings and at Saturday's meeting it was voted to eliminate woman's awards; at Sunday's meeting it was voted to keep the awards. So, we'll have a vote at next match to decide the issue. Third will be a vote on whether to apply "local rules" at the World Open. This means that if a shooter has a gun that is legal for use at an IBS match or at an NBRSA match, they can compete at the Williamsport World Open. This World Open issue has been discussed and argued about for several years. If we have a "World Open" it should be "open" to ALL 1000 yard shooters, not just Williamsport shooters. If the membership decides against allowing other 1000 yard shooters to attend our "World Open" then I think we should go back to calling it what it really is - a Williamsport Super Shoot. I've gone back and forth myself on this issue but have now thought it through, listened to arguments from both sides and I've made the personal decision that we should allow all shooters to attend. We want as many shooters as are interested in coming and it is our biggest fund raiser. Those who think these other shooters have some sort of big advantage over our guns are just wrong. I've seen our shooters compete at other ranges with our Williamsport legal guns and we are not at any disadvantage, look at the standings from these shoots if you think otherwise. So, the vote will be, do we want to allow IBS and NBRSA guns to compete for our prizes only. They can not break any Williamsport records, unless they use Williamsport legal guns. There is no compromise in our principals or our shooting rules, it's for one weekend only, so all 1000 yard guns can compete.
Another issue that we covered at our meetings was our newsletter. A couple of years ago, due to complaints that members weren't receiving their newsletters as quickly as they would like, we went to first class mail. That cost the club thousands of extra dollars to get the papers out. What we found was that we still had people who didn't get their papers as quickly as they would like, the extra money spent was not fixing the problem. This year the board discussed the newsletter expenses in depth at the winter board meeting (in 2006 the club spent $9,303.25 more than we took in on the newsletter). The board came up with a different format that saves a lot of money. The board also decided that since first rate postage was not solving our delivery problems we would go back to bulk rate. Members also have the option of printing off the newsletter from the internet and being able to get the paper within a couple of days after a match. We know not everyone has a computer and so we stayed with mailing them out but to spend an extra couple of hundred dollars per newsletter just doesn't make financial sense. If members feel strongly about this and insist we go back to first rate mail then we will have to raise membership fees and subscription rates by a substantial amount to cover the expense.
People have donated all the money to pay for the cost of the 15 new target frames. Thanks to all who were so generous. With 15 targets we need 15 benches. We will ask for donations to cover the cost of the 3 needed new benches. There are also plans to build a new pavilion to cover the benches. The pavilion we have is in need of repair and rather then spend money for repairs, it makes more sense to build a new one. The new pavilion will be bigger, so that it will cover more of the front of the benches, helping to prevent rain blowing in and falling on shooters and their equipment and it will be big enough to cover spotters standing behind shooters. This all cost money, a lot of money, and we're saving at every opportunity we find to build up our capital building fund. Any input from members out there who have ideas and knowledge to help on this project would be appreciated.
Joe Salt
From Frank Grappone:
Match 3 ReportThe weather calmed a bit for the weekend and the results showed. Three 100's were shot on Sunday by Phil Bower, his "brother Steve's brother" Mike and Scott Weber. Its great seeing Scott shooting again. It proves once again, that given the conditions, Pennsylvania shooters perform. That's why I think its silly to worry that another sanctioning body's rules gives them an advantage over our guns.
The second 600 yard match was held on Saturday after the light gun match. Some enhancements from the first match were incorporated which highlighted other areas that need improvement. This is the reason that this first year of shooting is strictly a fun match format to work out all the bugs. We've never worked targets from a burm, we've never scored and measured this many targets in such a short period of time, we've never run matches strictly from a voluntary group of members. We're kind of making it up on the fly. Sometimes the shooters are not aware, sometimes they are. When it impacts the shooters, we apologize and hope you will bear with us while we work out the kinks. I promise you that by the end of the year we'll be running like clock work.
Thanks to Phil Bower who came up with a very slick and very accurate measuring device for measuring these targets. We score and measure more targets with 30 shooters than the 1000 yard match does with 100 shooters. The groups are minute compared to 1000 yard targets and you want the results quickly. This one change will make a world of difference. Thanks Phil. Other members have come forward and volunteered and we appreciate all the help offered.
Speaking of minute groups! Bill Gennaro set a club record for group at 600 yards with a .734 . Yes folks that's a .734. That's less than 3/4" at 600 yards. He shot it with a 6PPC using 66 grn flat base bullets. As far as published records can be found, this is a world record. We are not sanctioned by any organization so it remains a club record. So drag out the rifle that's been sitting on the shelf and bring it on. Who knows.
Joe has news concerning the votes at the next meeting. All issues are important and require your considered vote. Discuss it with other members, come to your own conclusions and vote.
See you at the next match.
Oneflyer