The sixth annual Northern Rockies Tournament concluded this weekend. The NRA Long Range (sling) and F-Class regional was fired over two weekends, with the sling shooters going at it two weekends ago, and the F-classers squaring off this weekend. We had some terrific shooting among the 89 competitors who participated in the tournament. The range had great weather for most of both weekends and there were TWO new pending NRA national records set.
David Gosnell (as noted in the other thread) fired a 200-17X at the 1000yd line. David was reportedly complete with his record rounds in about 4 1/2 minutes. One of the Montana junior shooters was his pit puller and Zach really worked hard to give good, fast pit service.
LTC Donald Erpenbach broke his previous Service record for the Palma format match in F-TR, with a 442-23X. Interestingly, Don also had the high 800 yard stage of that match, besting all the F-TR AND F-Open shooters with his .308 Borden rifle.
During the sling portion of the tournament, Allen Spiker fired a perfect Palma score and a 1095-62X (1100 point long range regional agg.). There were numerous personal bests over both weekends including some other scores that came within 1 point of other national records. There has now been 14 national records (including 2 pending) fired in the last six years at this tournament.
Great work by all shooters and we will get some additional info up in the next couple days.
Tournament Conditions
Both weekends had generally good conditions, with both having periods of time when conditions were excellent. This year, like several of the last few years, we had our fair share of forest fire smoke; bad enough to warrant a "Hazardous" conditions rating by the MT DEQ. Yet, the with the range's location in the mountains, it was relatively free of the severe smoke effecting the region. The Service Rifle competitors had the hardest time with visibility, yet they still pulled off High Master scores!
Team Matches
A total of 14 teams participated in the tournament with 5 sling teams, 3 FTR teams, 4 F-Open teams and 2 ARNG teams shooting their M2010 and M110 rifles. The USTacticalSupply.com team of Spiker, Hering, Powell and Andersson took the win in the sling division. The F-TR team of Christopherson, Milanuk, Oakes and Ague shot a great score and were only one point off a national record. F-Open team honors went to Team Wyoming Armory consisting of Ford, Frye, Evans and Van Galder. The ARNG Tactical division was won by the sniper instructors and combat team competitors out of Little Rock, AR.
Long Range Prone Regional (sling)
The prone regional had a light turnout this year with many of the regulars MIA this year. There were a total of 34 shooters with Palma rifles and Service rifles making up the majority of the competitors. US Rifle team members Allen Spiker and Steven Powell took the Gold and Silver respectively and Steffen Bunde earning the Bronze as Powell barely out X'ed him 1084-46X to 1084-43X. Spiker's overall score took the win and was just 2 points of the national record in the open category. The Service rifle division was very hotly contested this year with 11 shooters competing for top service rifle award. Cody Shields, a previous Porter trophy winner at Camp Perry, ended on top of the heap. Any Rifle division was won by Dennis Carroll of Augusta, MT who is also the 2015 MT State Champion.
F-Class Regional
The F-Classers got started this past weekend with 55 shooters; 22 F-Open and the remainder F-TR.
F-TR
Donald Erpenbach took the Gold in F-TR, as well as the Montana State champion title with a 1023-35X and Niklas Montin and junior Andrew McLain rounded out the top three. McLain has been shooting great since he started shooting and has been extensively coached in shooting and reloading by Erpenbach.
A number of the F-TR shooters will be receiving new classification cards from the NRA, as they shot enough rounds above their classification this weekend to get re-classified.
This year, the All National Guard Team and the Montana ARNG requested that they be able to participate using their newly acquired M2010 sniper rifle systems in addition to their M110's. We formed up a separate division for them to participate in a director's match. It was interesting to note that nearly all the M2010 shooters finished within a few points of each other. We are proud to note that the top M2010 shooter was a Montana ARNG member and local ranch hand, Jake Tyrrell of Helena, MT. Their rifles were shot suppressed and all the competitors were truely impressed by the new M2010's. Some of the soldiers shot over 220 rounds of 300 Win Mag over the course of 4 days and it was easier to handle the recoil because of the terrific recoil mitigation the suppressors afforded. While the suppressors helped the shooters handle the recoil well, they presented other issues the shooters had to overcome. Namely, the strong mirage the cans created as they heated up from the high volume of fire. Major David Stapp of the NG MTU was the overall high ARNG shooter. In his first long range match he used a combo of borrowed rifles including a .223 Savage and a M2010. In spite of the variety of rifles used, Stapp was the division winner in 5 of the 8 matches/stages.
F-Open
The big news is in the F-Open division is the huge score that David Gosnell shot in a 1000yd match with a 200-17X. Unknown to Gosnell was how well Jeff Reed, a first time F-Class shooter (established benchrest shooter), was firing. Reed was on the same relay as Gosnell, but firing at a slower pace. Reed was clean thru shot 14 and really high on the X count at that point. Gosnell was well finished with his string and the suspense was certainly building. It was shaping up like it could have went to either shooter, but then Reed had a few dropped points, and the win and national record remained safe with Gosnell.
Overall, Gosnell captured the Gold in F-Open Fellow Wyoming Armory teammates Chris Ford and Tracy Frye earned the Silver and Bronze. The Montana State F-Open Champion is Shawn Williams. As with the F-TR division, many of the F-Open shooters will also be advancing their classifications.
Congrats to all prone and F-Class shooters and see you in 2016.
2015 Northern Rockies Tournament Sponsors
We would like to thank all our generous sponsors that donated their quality products for prizes.
Nightforce Optics
X-Caliber Barrels
Lilja barrels
Brux Barrels
McGowen Barrels
Shilen Barrels
Defiance Actions
Elisio - Competition Machine
USTacticalSupply.com
BigBrass.com
Decot Shooting Glasses
Stallings Machine - Right Sight
Berger Bullets
Sierra Bullets
Creedmoor Sports
Western Powders
Dillon Precision
Sportsmans Warehouse
Holland Gunsmithing and Shooters Supply
And a special thanks to the All National Guard Team and the Montana ARNG.
JW
