Oregon Competitions?

shoots_5

Handloader
May 15, 2009
811
12
Anyone know of any good competitions in Oregon? Or even Washington? Preferably something longer range, maybe steel or silhouette shoots? I've done a couple of searches and haven't found much, so either my googlefu is lacking or there just isn't that much in the way of competition shoots here! I'm really wanting to get into some long range/practical type comps but traveling all over the country for them is pretty much out of the question at the moment, unless someone wants to sponsor me! :grin:
 
Shoots 5 I feel your pain I drive 3 hours one direction to shoot 600 yard bench rest and f class.
 
Seriously, you would think with as much open space as we have in central and eastern Oregon it would be a Mecca of long range shooting, but there just isn't many organized competitions. Wish I had the time and funds to put one on!
 
Washington State Rifle and Pistol Association puts on a LOT of NRA Highpower matches every year. Some are prone only, and out to 1,000 yards. There's really a hotbed of prone competition here in the Pacific Northwest. Both conventional prone and F-Class. The WSRPA will show you many different ranges in Washington, and match schedules:

http://www.wsrpa.net/

Rattlesnake Range is our 1,000 yard course, and it's brutal in the wind. Absolutely brutal.
http://www.tcsa.info/

My club, The North Central Washington Gun Club, hosts frequent 600 yard matches, as well as a few standard NRA Highpower matches:
http://ncwgunclub.com/main/index.php

A buddy, Jim Findlay, puts on a match every year that is very unconventional, and a LOT of fun. It has grown in stature and popularity over the years:
http://www.findlaycup.net/

Oregon State Shooting Association hosts more prone and conventional NRA Highpower matches, including some well regarded long-range prone matches:
http://www.ossa.org/Highpower/HighPower.html

I've also enjoyed shooting the Idaho State Sniper competition, outside of Boise Idaho at Blacks Creek Range:
http://www.blackscreekrange.com/

British Columbia also hosts matches, and I've enjoyed shooting there. Beautiful ranges, and yes, every now and again they let an American take home a first place medal...
http://www.bcrifle.org/

There, that ought to give you some good reading! I used to be a pretty active match shooter, but have tapered off after a shoulder injury a few years ago, and trying to work around a constantly shifting work schedule. Would love to get the Green Machine out more often again, and shoot a few matches. Been long enough now that it would be like starting over.

Regards, Guy
 
TT - one first place medal, won a few minor matches where there was no trophy or medal, and made a few other decent finishes. It was a lot of fun, and I'd really like to get back to it. Maybe I'll give it another try in December. We have matches at my local club all year round, snow or no snow.

Shoots_5

The traditional NRA Highpower, Prone or even F-Class comps might not be exactly what you're looking for - but the question becomes...

Do you want to shoot a match pretty much every week, or shoot one or two a year? The unconventional/tactical-practical matches are a hoot, and they're more popular than ever, but they're still kind of few and far between.

The standard prone and F-class matches are held pretty much every week somewhere in Washington, and Oregon has a pretty good schedule of them too. There is a group that just travels around to different matches every week or two. Don't make the mistake of thinking you're going to go in there and show 'em how it's done... :grin: Those boys and girls can shoot! Several are on the U.S. Palma team, and several others really have very distinguished shooting careers. I learned a lot shooting with those folks.

Regards, Guy
 
Guy, thanks for the info. That Findlay cup match is the type of match that I'd love to shoot! And I have no delusions about showing anybody anything... I'd just be hoping to not embarrass myself! I'll have to look into some of the fclass type matches too as I'm sure I would learn a ton from those shooters as well.
 
The Findlay match is awesome. It's been a few years since I shot it. Usually seems to be held when I'm working or something.. But yeah, it's good.

Shooting from a helicopter... :grin:

NOT your typical NRA match at all!

Enjoy. Guy
 
Ya I can imagine shooting from a helicopter would be a blast, and likely ridiculously hard! What kind of distances were the helicopter targets? Do you have to lead the target when you're the one moving rather than the target? Sounds like it might be a tough match to get into now that it's on the precision rifle series.
 
Oh, I think you can get in. Just contact Jim early to sign up. He runs a good match. I don't know how far the helicopter shots were - the helicopter part is pretty new, and I haven't shot in Jim's match in a few years.

There's another one up by Colville Washington, not as publicized. All steel targets at unknown distances. Haven't shot that one myself, but it might be worthwhile. I'd heard about the match, and actually stumbled across a couple of the targets while I was deer hunting up there last year. Far northeast corner of Washington.

Guy
 
Accurate shooter has a listing that is being compiled by our own Nodak7mm of places and events that you can dig through for shooting in your area.
Here is a link:http://forum.accurateshooter.com/index.php?topic=3788942.0

Guy - is this the event you are refering to?
http://forum.accurateshooter.com/index. ... =3798735.0

I shot a 60 out of a Huey some and it is harder to hit things on the ground than you think it should be.
 
Thank you for that! I'm going to try and find someone on there willing to show me the ropes. It does all seem pretty intimidating starting out, and I think having someone there that you are comfortable with to ask the stupid questions to would certainly be nice.
 
That is what I did. Most of the people I have met are friendly and want anyone new coming into the sport to be successful and enjoy it. Observe what everyone else is using for equipment and ask them why. This can save a lot of money in the long run instead of having to upgrade constantly. You will figure out fairly quickly who the top shooters are. See if you can score for them and watch their form, how they read wind, where the flags are at when they shoot, etc...

The nice thing about F-class is that in competitions you are shooting against those with the same classification as you. Don't worry about whether you are beating the masters and high masters, just try and improve each time out yourself. Good equipment helps, but the top scorers are usually the ones that can read wind well and learn how to adjust if conditions change.
 
+1 on what Joel said.

My first time out my score was embarrassing. The second time, I placed Third overall. Two years later, I won the local shoot.

So just go out there and do it. You'll be surprised how good you can be.

Wind will be the equalizer. Those who can read them will do good. Those who can't will be in the cellar. The accuracy of your rifle doesn't matter much. It's the nut behind it that does.
 
Desert Fox":3o13hlgw said:
Wind will be the equalizer. Those who can read them will do good. Those who can't will be in the cellar. The accuracy of your rifle doesn't matter much. It's the nut behind it that does.

+1 on the screwball squeezing the trigger :roll: .

I bought a really nice 6BR last spring that was set up with a McMillian benchrest stock that would shoot in the .2's on a bench. I was able to shoot low to mid 190's with it for F-Class midrange events (never shot 1000 yards with it). My first 10 shots were normally 10's, but I noticed that the last 5 shots would be when I started shooting 8's and 9's. This was due mainly to the configuration of the stock (BR vs. F-class design). I have a new 6BR being built with a McMIllian F-class stock that will hopefully give me the same kind of accuracy and remove some of the fatigue factor with the BR stock.

I saw guys use factory hunting rifles at some low-key league matches, but their scores made them realize fairly quickly that you need a higher level of equipment than the typical hunting rifle and scope combo will give you.
 
Found a tactical/practical type match coming up in February up in Washington I'm going to try and shoot. I have a question on this type of match though that maybe someone here can answer. With the round count being around 175 rounds for the 2 days and with shooting different stages where you are moving between targets and on a time limit, are you losing all that brass or do you have an opportunity to go back and police your brass? Was just thinking that if you're just burning that much brass for a match it suddenly gets a bit more expensive....
 
I've lost brass in competitions like that, but normally am able to scoop up most of what I shoot.

The guys running the matches are usually handloaders too, and they understand that everyone wants their brass back. Especially the precision rifle stuff.

In some handgun matches & training, I don't even try to find my brass in the sea of cases underfoot.

Guy
 
Thanks Guy. I don't mind losing a few pieces, just couldn't see losing a 100+ over the course of the match.
 
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