Tale of The IBS 600 Yard Nationals
Full Results here!
https://internationalbenchrest.com/app/ibs/files-module/local/documents/2018 600 Yard Nationals BRRC St Louis 1006.pdf
The 600 Yard Nationals was hosted by the St Louis Benchrest Rifle Club on 7 and 8 October 2018. The Match was put on by Steve Wilson and Co-Match director John Ross and Crew. The St Louis Rifle Range is one of the premier shooting facilities in the country. It is especially known by shooters for two things in particular. The first thing is its world class facilities. Everything from the firing line, reloading / cleaning area, to its club house are first class. The second thing that the BRRC is famous for is it's treacherous conditions, and this weekend was no exception. Within a 36 hour period, shooters got to experience everything from fairly calm to switchy 15mph winds; completely clear sight pictures to heavy running mirage; thunderstorms to clear skies, with fog that held up the match for 3 hours on Sunday.
THURSDAY (D-2)
Kim and I pulled into the Range on Thursday afternoon with our camper in tow! We were greeted with heavy rain and temps hovering in the mid 50s. Thursday appears to be the day of choice for most shooters to arrive at the Nationals. By the time we got there a significant pop-up canopy shanty town had already formed behind and on the firing line. The Range has a massive 60 Bench covered firing line; however only 20 benches go out to 600 yards. Many shooters opted to take over some of the unused benches (from 21 to 60) to hang out and clean rifles. I even saw one brave soul reloading off a bench.
Massive firing line! This picture was taken at bench 1. It looks like the benches go on to infinity.
FRIDAY (D-1)
By Friday the rain had moved out (for the time being) we had much nicer weather: lows in the 60s, highs near 85. By mid morning activity on the firing line picked up to a fevered pitch. Most of the shooters were making sure their rifles were zeroed in at 600 yards and could hit the steel sight-in plate. A few, such as Stephen Hall and myself, were still tuning trying to decide what loads we would choose for the following day. By Friday afternoon the firing line turned mostly into a focal point for hanging out and catching up with old friends. If you've never been to a 600 yard Nationals, you're missing out! It's basically a big family reunion. It's not just a chance to compete, but to sit and catch up with old friends and make new ones. It's a very friendly, relaxed atmosphere. Below is a video from Friday afternoon. You can see for yourself!
SATURDAY (D-Day) Light Gun
THE SHOOTERS
https://youtu.be/G6hKSq9LI7o
https://youtu.be/HoCFgKpoXsk
https://youtu.be/bNKhVTiZJ8M
https://youtu.be/8XXPV3urXbw
Saturday, the day we have all been waiting for!
This is what we woke up to!
By the time the first relay started to fire at 8 a.m, the Range was already bearing its teeth. An approaching thunderstorm from the West was driving the steadily increasing conditions. However, once the dust cleared from targets 1 & 2, Dan Hullinger was leading in LG Score (98pts) and LG overall while Gaylon Bryeans lead the field in LG group with a 1.892 Agg.
As the line prepared for matches 3 & 4, conditions were significantly picking up due to the impending thunderstorm. The leading edge of the storm arrived while relay 2 was getting ready to shoot and peaked durning relay 3. Both relays 2 and 3 got hammered, with relay 3 getting the worst of it. While relay 3 was shooting the conditions were rough enough that I thought it might tear the awning off my camper! After targets 3&4 were posted Darrell Dacus pulled into the lead for LG score with a 189, Johnny "Paw Paw" Powers was leading LG group with a 2.047, and Gaylon Bryeans pulled into the lead for LG overall.
By Targets 5 and 6 conditions had started to settle to what I'd call normal St Louis, which were switchy with 5 to 10 mph winds and plenty of mirage! Darrell Dacus continued to hold a 2 point lead on the Field with a LG score of 285, Carroll Lance and Richard "The King" Schatz were charging up the leader board with Carroll Lance in first place in LG group with a 2.037! Johnny "Paw Paw" Powers maintained the Top spot in LG overall with Carroll Lance closing in!
The final LG results saw Darrell Dacus shooting a score of 42 on his 7th match of the day. This opened the door for Mike McBride* to move into the top position for LG score with a 380 total. Carroll Lance (The reigning IBS 1000 yard 2 Gun Champion) won LG group with a 2.105. Johnny Powers maintained a vice like hold on LG overall with a score of 11. Congratulations to the new IBS 600 yard LG Champions. Mike McBride gets an asterisk* by his name for surviving relay 3 and getting the Win! Very impressive shooting to say the least.
The Prize Table!
The prize table was massive give away with thousands of dollars of merchandise! Robby Miles and Darrell Dacus with the help of Sophie Bryeans conducted the prize drawing. All of the competitors names were placed in a hat and Sophie drew the first name and there after each prize winner drew the next winners name. Special thanks to all of the sponsors and STAN TAYLOR for round this stuff up!
Sunday (D+1) Heavy Gun
Saturday night and early Sunday morning brought thunderstorms. Several times we were shaken awake by wind and rain buffeting the camper. Robby Miles arrived to find his pop-up canopy had collapsed from the weight of the heavy rain. Not a great way to start day two at the Nationals.
Match Time!
Conditions for Sundays match can be described by a few words...fog, fog, and more fog followed by a thunderstorm and another thunderstorm later that afternoon! That pretty much sums up it up. Shooters planned for a 8 a.m. start, but the fog lingered for about three hours. I checked my clock when I heard the first shot go down range and it was approximately 11 a.m.!
Relay 3 was up first and they started in nearly perfect conditions. Steve Wilson lit up the Range with a sub inch .968 and 1.431 inch group (1.209 Agg world record pace) with a prefect score of 100! This year Steve Wilson and l have been locked in an epic battle for 600 Yard Shooter of the Year. Going into the Nationals we were in a dead tie at 121 points each. It's been an extremely friendly rivalry, but a rivalry none the less. I cannot describe how depressing Wilson's HG start was to me. After targets 1&2 Steve Wilson was leading both group, score and Overall Heavy Gun! John Ross and Jason Walker were both lurking in HG score and group.
After targets 1 and 2
An Abbreviated Nationals
Due to the highly uncooperative weather the Nationals was cut short for the HG aggregate. Instead of 8 targets we were only able to get in 4. For HG I was on the last relay. As we began to shoot targets 3 & 4 the flood gates opened! I had difficulty seeing shots on my sighter plate for target 3 and could not see sighters for target 4. So with a three hour fog delay and thunderstorms on top of us it was impossible to finish with the standard 8 target aggregate or 6 targets for that matter. I know this was a very difficult decision for Steve Wilson to make, but I believe it was the right one.
HG Targets 3 and 4
Targets 3 and 4 caused a shake-up at the top of the leaderboard! Steve Wilson ran into difficulty after his lightning start by shooting a 2.938 and 4.195 inch group with 45pts and 46 pts respectively This dropped Steve to 15th in score and 19th in group 12th in the overall Heavy Gun. One thing is for certain when competing at 600 yards, it's not over until it's over, and anything can happen!
Jason Walker secured the top spot in HG Group with a 1.689. I can tell you that Jason winning the HG Group made a LOT of people happy (myself included). Jason decimated the field at the 2016 600 Yard IBS Nationals at Big Piney winning nearly every category. The accuracy and agging capability of Jason's Heavy Gun with him behind it is legendary. Friday afternoon I was joking with Jason as he was playing with his Heavy Gun. I said, "Jason You know after the 2016 Nationals, the IBS made a rule that if you kick everyone's butt with a gun, it's illegal to bring it to another Nationals!" He just smiled.
For those that don't know it, due to health reasons Jason had been on a shooting hiatus since the 2016 Nationals. I think the entire 600 yard community was excited and thrilled to see Jason back on the firing line. It was also good to see him picking up right where he left off and that's "KICKING BUTT"! You won't find a nicer guy or a fiercer competitor anywhere. I think his good friend Tommy Jacobs (Vapor Trail Bullets) once said of Jason, "There ain't no quit in him." Welcome back Jason!
John Ross and Fred Thurman tied for first place in HG score with both shooting a score of 196. However the tie was broken by the smaller group aggregate which went to John Ross. John also took home top honors in HG overall with a score of 3. Pretty hard to beat score of 3 (1st score and 2nd in group)!
Heavy Gun
https://youtu.be/o7VDIEsKPv8
The 2 Gun!
Going into the final two targets in Heavy Gun it appeared that history could be in the making. Carroll Lance was on the verge of being the first person to ever win both the 1000 yard IBS Nationals and 600 yard Nationals in the same year! But as I stated earlier, it's not over until it's over. Carroll's first three targets in HG were 1.745, 1.728 and a sub inch .801. That's a 1.424 aggregate, folks, and he had only dropped 4 points going into his final target. I think we can all guess what's coming: Carroll got caught on his fourth target shooting a 3.864 and dropping 7 additional points. This took Carroll out of contention for the overall 2 Gun Win. The St. Louis Range Range giveth and the St Louis Range taketh away. I've shot St Louis for over 20 years and I can say for a fact the St. Louis Range can be a cruel and heartless B@#*#h! Carroll was only one target away from making history!
2 Gun Winner!
Congratulations to Andy Ferguson for his impressive and second-in-a-row IBS 600 yard 2 Gun Nationals Win! Andy stayed steady all weekend with a 3rd in LG group, 13th in LG score, 5th in HG group and 4th in HG Score for a total of 25! I know that Andy was rooting for his good friend Carroll Lance for the win, but if you stumble it's good to have buddy pick up the ball and take it across the finish line. I don't think we could ask for a better Champion and ambassador for the sport then Andy Ferguson. If you just sit down and start making a list of the good guys you know, Andy Ferguson will be at the top of the list. Andy is soft spoken and probably the most sincerely humble person I know, in spite of his many accomplishments at 600 yard Competition. Andy probably won't like this, but while Richard Schatz is undoubtedly "The King", I believe Andy Ferguson is "The Prince."
A man that needs no introduction in this sport Andy Ferguson "The Prince!"
Meanwhile back at the ranch.
Mike Mcbride* came in second with a total of 34. I keep putting the asterisk by his name because he is a relay 3 survivor.
Carroll Lance 3rd with a total of 49.
Jason "Welcome back" Walker 4th with a total of 58.
Matt Owens 5th with a total of 67.
https://youtu.be/QiVpaZc3Ylk
Top Shooter for the week (L-R) Johnny Powers, Carroll Lance, Mike McBride, Jason Walker, John Ross!
A special congratulations goes to Donna Matthews for Top Female shooter and Congratulations to Andrew Powers for Top Junior shooting honors.
Donna Matthews Top Female Shooter!
Andrew Powers Top Junior Shooter!
Those that made it possible:
Despite all of the difficulties with the weather, the match ran very smoothly. Targets were measured and hung quickly. Stats were posted promptly, and the target crew and Range officer kept the whole thing going. Let us also not forget Steve Wilson, John Ross and Patti Johnson for all the hours of prep work for making this happen!
Stat Crew (L-R) Stephanie Knight, Debbi Conver, Jessica Sutton, Patti Johnson
Target Crew (L-R) Molly Shepherd, Scott Shepherd, Nathan Shaver, Spencer Rodecap
Range Officer Dave Lingle
Full Results here!
https://internationalbenchrest.com/app/ibs/files-module/local/documents/2018 600 Yard Nationals BRRC St Louis 1006.pdf
The 600 Yard Nationals was hosted by the St Louis Benchrest Rifle Club on 7 and 8 October 2018. The Match was put on by Steve Wilson and Co-Match director John Ross and Crew. The St Louis Rifle Range is one of the premier shooting facilities in the country. It is especially known by shooters for two things in particular. The first thing is its world class facilities. Everything from the firing line, reloading / cleaning area, to its club house are first class. The second thing that the BRRC is famous for is it's treacherous conditions, and this weekend was no exception. Within a 36 hour period, shooters got to experience everything from fairly calm to switchy 15mph winds; completely clear sight pictures to heavy running mirage; thunderstorms to clear skies, with fog that held up the match for 3 hours on Sunday.
THURSDAY (D-2)
Kim and I pulled into the Range on Thursday afternoon with our camper in tow! We were greeted with heavy rain and temps hovering in the mid 50s. Thursday appears to be the day of choice for most shooters to arrive at the Nationals. By the time we got there a significant pop-up canopy shanty town had already formed behind and on the firing line. The Range has a massive 60 Bench covered firing line; however only 20 benches go out to 600 yards. Many shooters opted to take over some of the unused benches (from 21 to 60) to hang out and clean rifles. I even saw one brave soul reloading off a bench.
Massive firing line! This picture was taken at bench 1. It looks like the benches go on to infinity.
FRIDAY (D-1)
By Friday the rain had moved out (for the time being) we had much nicer weather: lows in the 60s, highs near 85. By mid morning activity on the firing line picked up to a fevered pitch. Most of the shooters were making sure their rifles were zeroed in at 600 yards and could hit the steel sight-in plate. A few, such as Stephen Hall and myself, were still tuning trying to decide what loads we would choose for the following day. By Friday afternoon the firing line turned mostly into a focal point for hanging out and catching up with old friends. If you've never been to a 600 yard Nationals, you're missing out! It's basically a big family reunion. It's not just a chance to compete, but to sit and catch up with old friends and make new ones. It's a very friendly, relaxed atmosphere. Below is a video from Friday afternoon. You can see for yourself!
SATURDAY (D-Day) Light Gun
THE SHOOTERS
https://youtu.be/G6hKSq9LI7o
https://youtu.be/HoCFgKpoXsk
https://youtu.be/bNKhVTiZJ8M
https://youtu.be/8XXPV3urXbw
Saturday, the day we have all been waiting for!
This is what we woke up to!
By the time the first relay started to fire at 8 a.m, the Range was already bearing its teeth. An approaching thunderstorm from the West was driving the steadily increasing conditions. However, once the dust cleared from targets 1 & 2, Dan Hullinger was leading in LG Score (98pts) and LG overall while Gaylon Bryeans lead the field in LG group with a 1.892 Agg.
As the line prepared for matches 3 & 4, conditions were significantly picking up due to the impending thunderstorm. The leading edge of the storm arrived while relay 2 was getting ready to shoot and peaked durning relay 3. Both relays 2 and 3 got hammered, with relay 3 getting the worst of it. While relay 3 was shooting the conditions were rough enough that I thought it might tear the awning off my camper! After targets 3&4 were posted Darrell Dacus pulled into the lead for LG score with a 189, Johnny "Paw Paw" Powers was leading LG group with a 2.047, and Gaylon Bryeans pulled into the lead for LG overall.
By Targets 5 and 6 conditions had started to settle to what I'd call normal St Louis, which were switchy with 5 to 10 mph winds and plenty of mirage! Darrell Dacus continued to hold a 2 point lead on the Field with a LG score of 285, Carroll Lance and Richard "The King" Schatz were charging up the leader board with Carroll Lance in first place in LG group with a 2.037! Johnny "Paw Paw" Powers maintained the Top spot in LG overall with Carroll Lance closing in!
The final LG results saw Darrell Dacus shooting a score of 42 on his 7th match of the day. This opened the door for Mike McBride* to move into the top position for LG score with a 380 total. Carroll Lance (The reigning IBS 1000 yard 2 Gun Champion) won LG group with a 2.105. Johnny Powers maintained a vice like hold on LG overall with a score of 11. Congratulations to the new IBS 600 yard LG Champions. Mike McBride gets an asterisk* by his name for surviving relay 3 and getting the Win! Very impressive shooting to say the least.
The Prize Table!
The prize table was massive give away with thousands of dollars of merchandise! Robby Miles and Darrell Dacus with the help of Sophie Bryeans conducted the prize drawing. All of the competitors names were placed in a hat and Sophie drew the first name and there after each prize winner drew the next winners name. Special thanks to all of the sponsors and STAN TAYLOR for round this stuff up!
Sunday (D+1) Heavy Gun
Saturday night and early Sunday morning brought thunderstorms. Several times we were shaken awake by wind and rain buffeting the camper. Robby Miles arrived to find his pop-up canopy had collapsed from the weight of the heavy rain. Not a great way to start day two at the Nationals.
Match Time!
Conditions for Sundays match can be described by a few words...fog, fog, and more fog followed by a thunderstorm and another thunderstorm later that afternoon! That pretty much sums up it up. Shooters planned for a 8 a.m. start, but the fog lingered for about three hours. I checked my clock when I heard the first shot go down range and it was approximately 11 a.m.!
Relay 3 was up first and they started in nearly perfect conditions. Steve Wilson lit up the Range with a sub inch .968 and 1.431 inch group (1.209 Agg world record pace) with a prefect score of 100! This year Steve Wilson and l have been locked in an epic battle for 600 Yard Shooter of the Year. Going into the Nationals we were in a dead tie at 121 points each. It's been an extremely friendly rivalry, but a rivalry none the less. I cannot describe how depressing Wilson's HG start was to me. After targets 1&2 Steve Wilson was leading both group, score and Overall Heavy Gun! John Ross and Jason Walker were both lurking in HG score and group.
After targets 1 and 2
An Abbreviated Nationals
Due to the highly uncooperative weather the Nationals was cut short for the HG aggregate. Instead of 8 targets we were only able to get in 4. For HG I was on the last relay. As we began to shoot targets 3 & 4 the flood gates opened! I had difficulty seeing shots on my sighter plate for target 3 and could not see sighters for target 4. So with a three hour fog delay and thunderstorms on top of us it was impossible to finish with the standard 8 target aggregate or 6 targets for that matter. I know this was a very difficult decision for Steve Wilson to make, but I believe it was the right one.
HG Targets 3 and 4
Targets 3 and 4 caused a shake-up at the top of the leaderboard! Steve Wilson ran into difficulty after his lightning start by shooting a 2.938 and 4.195 inch group with 45pts and 46 pts respectively This dropped Steve to 15th in score and 19th in group 12th in the overall Heavy Gun. One thing is for certain when competing at 600 yards, it's not over until it's over, and anything can happen!
Jason Walker secured the top spot in HG Group with a 1.689. I can tell you that Jason winning the HG Group made a LOT of people happy (myself included). Jason decimated the field at the 2016 600 Yard IBS Nationals at Big Piney winning nearly every category. The accuracy and agging capability of Jason's Heavy Gun with him behind it is legendary. Friday afternoon I was joking with Jason as he was playing with his Heavy Gun. I said, "Jason You know after the 2016 Nationals, the IBS made a rule that if you kick everyone's butt with a gun, it's illegal to bring it to another Nationals!" He just smiled.
For those that don't know it, due to health reasons Jason had been on a shooting hiatus since the 2016 Nationals. I think the entire 600 yard community was excited and thrilled to see Jason back on the firing line. It was also good to see him picking up right where he left off and that's "KICKING BUTT"! You won't find a nicer guy or a fiercer competitor anywhere. I think his good friend Tommy Jacobs (Vapor Trail Bullets) once said of Jason, "There ain't no quit in him." Welcome back Jason!
John Ross and Fred Thurman tied for first place in HG score with both shooting a score of 196. However the tie was broken by the smaller group aggregate which went to John Ross. John also took home top honors in HG overall with a score of 3. Pretty hard to beat score of 3 (1st score and 2nd in group)!
Heavy Gun
https://youtu.be/o7VDIEsKPv8
The 2 Gun!
Going into the final two targets in Heavy Gun it appeared that history could be in the making. Carroll Lance was on the verge of being the first person to ever win both the 1000 yard IBS Nationals and 600 yard Nationals in the same year! But as I stated earlier, it's not over until it's over. Carroll's first three targets in HG were 1.745, 1.728 and a sub inch .801. That's a 1.424 aggregate, folks, and he had only dropped 4 points going into his final target. I think we can all guess what's coming: Carroll got caught on his fourth target shooting a 3.864 and dropping 7 additional points. This took Carroll out of contention for the overall 2 Gun Win. The St. Louis Range Range giveth and the St Louis Range taketh away. I've shot St Louis for over 20 years and I can say for a fact the St. Louis Range can be a cruel and heartless B@#*#h! Carroll was only one target away from making history!
2 Gun Winner!
Congratulations to Andy Ferguson for his impressive and second-in-a-row IBS 600 yard 2 Gun Nationals Win! Andy stayed steady all weekend with a 3rd in LG group, 13th in LG score, 5th in HG group and 4th in HG Score for a total of 25! I know that Andy was rooting for his good friend Carroll Lance for the win, but if you stumble it's good to have buddy pick up the ball and take it across the finish line. I don't think we could ask for a better Champion and ambassador for the sport then Andy Ferguson. If you just sit down and start making a list of the good guys you know, Andy Ferguson will be at the top of the list. Andy is soft spoken and probably the most sincerely humble person I know, in spite of his many accomplishments at 600 yard Competition. Andy probably won't like this, but while Richard Schatz is undoubtedly "The King", I believe Andy Ferguson is "The Prince."
A man that needs no introduction in this sport Andy Ferguson "The Prince!"
Meanwhile back at the ranch.
Mike Mcbride* came in second with a total of 34. I keep putting the asterisk by his name because he is a relay 3 survivor.
Carroll Lance 3rd with a total of 49.
Jason "Welcome back" Walker 4th with a total of 58.
Matt Owens 5th with a total of 67.
https://youtu.be/QiVpaZc3Ylk
Top Shooter for the week (L-R) Johnny Powers, Carroll Lance, Mike McBride, Jason Walker, John Ross!
A special congratulations goes to Donna Matthews for Top Female shooter and Congratulations to Andrew Powers for Top Junior shooting honors.
Donna Matthews Top Female Shooter!
Andrew Powers Top Junior Shooter!
Those that made it possible:
Despite all of the difficulties with the weather, the match ran very smoothly. Targets were measured and hung quickly. Stats were posted promptly, and the target crew and Range officer kept the whole thing going. Let us also not forget Steve Wilson, John Ross and Patti Johnson for all the hours of prep work for making this happen!
Stat Crew (L-R) Stephanie Knight, Debbi Conver, Jessica Sutton, Patti Johnson
Target Crew (L-R) Molly Shepherd, Scott Shepherd, Nathan Shaver, Spencer Rodecap
Range Officer Dave Lingle
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