We held our —
delayed — Turkey Shoot on December 15th. under cool and windy conditions and enjoyed a good turnout despite the weather and competing with the Patriots. All-in-all we netted $1300 for the day.
Everyone had a fun time, even the littluns. More photos can be viewed here.
Sunday, December 22 saw two events at our club, the first was the annual Maggies Drawers Skeet shoot, which was won by John Hatherly followed in the evening by our Christmas Party. The party was attended by 48 members who dined on steak, swordfish, mac & cheese plus a great salad followed by desserts. The highlight of the evening was the presentation of Maggies Drawers to John Hatherly who proudly wore them for the remainder of the evening.
News Around The Club
Tree Limb Down
The unseasonably warm, windy weather during the night of January 11/12 caused a large limb to fall from a tree close to our driveway and carry away the power and phone line to the club.
Skeet was closed for the day and the Range Orientation Class had to be rescheduled. Three desperados plus Ron Rice who turned-up for a cowboy shoot cleared away the debris sufficient to get vehicles past after first ascertaining the cable feeding power to the club been cut earlier by a line crew. By late afternoon power had been restored.
Pistol News
The support structure for the steel plate targets has been well and truly shot up with jacketed ammo despite signage on the range and multiple notifications in our newsletter that this type of ammunition is not allowed.
Our Pistol Chairman, Paul Figueredo is in the process of repairing the targets plus reinforcing and shielding them with help from Mike Guidicci. A big word of thanks goes out to John Hatherly and Scott Herzog for donating steel for this project that will allow us to resume Steel Plate shoots.
Another kind word of thanks also goes out to Dave Campbell, who bought hangers for the target frames.
The Club’s policy continues to be that jacketed ammunition should not be used for shooting steel plates due to increased risk of injury from spent bullets, or parts thereof, bouncing back. Jacketed ammunition will not be allowed for Steel Plate shoots. Members or guests shooting jacketed ammunition at steel plates do so at their own risk.
Cowboy News
The return of the Brass Monkey Cowboy Shoot was scuppered by the downed tree limb and power line. As the range had been setup for the shoot the day before, Ron Rice and the three cowboys who did show up used the opportunity for some practice.
Skeet/Trap News
The Old Colony club (OCSA) in Pembroke has graciously extended an invitation to SRGC members to shoot their 5 Stand Course at the OCSA member rate of $6.00. They shoot on Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday from 10am to about 12:30pm. There is a flyer on the skeet/trap notice board.
Thanks go to our Minister of Mirth, Jim Della Volpe, for arranging this. By the way Jim, it’s about time for another of your hilarious jokes. Hint, hint.
Sea Scouts
We hosted hosted 25 US Navy Sea Scouts for firearms safety training and qualifications on Sunday, January 5th.
Following safety training conducted by Drew Thompson the cadets divided into squads of five and with an instructor for each cadet and proceeded to shoot 15 rounds with a .22RF pistol followed by 15 rounds with a 9mm pistol. After the practice the cadets shot a USN qualification course with 9mm pistols. The club was presented with a Certificate of Appreciation.
Thanks go out to Drew Thompson, Phil Lennon, Richard Martin and Andrew Thompson for helping.
New Members
Welcome Aboard to new members Peter DeLorey, Christopher Lessard, Dennis Newman, George McCravy.
Ducks Unlimited Game Feed
On Saturday, February 1st, one of the best outdoors events of the year happens — the annual KC’s Game Feed staged by the local chapter of Ducks Unlimited. $20/person at the gate, under 21 free.
This event is a fund raiser for the Wetlands and Wildlife conservation efforts of Ducks Unlimited so there are bucket raffles, auction items and special gun raffles. In addition, this year there will be Axe Throwing and a Chain Saw Carving demonstration, the result of which will be auctioned.
The MA compliant guns available are displayed on a large banner all you need do is pick the one you want. As the guns are sourced from a distributor, there is virtually an unlimited supply of each gun.
There are events and activities for the kids plus free hot dogs and soda!
This event ALWAYS sells out and there is no advance ticketing, so plan on being at the club no later than 11:00 as entry to the event is closed when there is no more parking available.
Additional details are given on the event flyer posted in the clubhouse. Photos of last year’s Game Feed can be viewed here.
The .22 Rimfire – The Gateway Caliber
This article was published on the Numrich Gun Parts Corporation website on July 30, 2018.
For many of us, our first experience with a firearm was probably pretty much the same. It likely involved a small .22 caliber rifle and a few rusty tin cans, or maybe even a dusty old bottle or two. The absence of any felt recoil and only the slightest crack of the round being fired from the breech, made it the perfect introductory firearm. Whether we were shooting a single shot Cricket or the semi-automatic Ruger 10-22, the .22 rimfire created an enjoyable experience that planted the seed for a lifetime of passion around the sport of shooting.
For generations shooting a little .22 has been sort of a right of passage for many young people. These firearms have made it easy for new shooters to learn, by helping to avoid any anxiety or flinching, that can often be developed by larger caliber firearms.
There is no doubt that a lot of people enjoy these small rimfires. It’s obvious because of the .22’s tremendous popularity. For those of us that grew up around guns, the .22’s have just kind of always been around. As kids we plinked our way through Sunday morning target practices, or toted them out into the woods for small game hunts, which helped hone our skills. For many of us this is how we learned to shoot. Sure not everyone’s story is exactly the same, but that small caliber probably was used more often than not.
But one can’t help but wonder when did this love for the .22 begin? We would almost bet that most folks don’t realize just how long that .22 caliber has actually been around, and may be surprised to know that it predates every other popular caliber stocked on store shelves today. In fact, it holds the distinction of being the first American metallic cartridge ever developed. It has stood the test of time as the top ammunition, while many other early calibers simply faded into obscurity. Read complete article
