May/June 2009

Next Meeting

To be Announced

UP COMING EVENTS:

LaGrange Pet Parade:

The Battery and the 2^nd USSS application to participate in the LaGrange Pet Parade this May 30^th as been accepted and approved. We will set up in Area 3 #40 which is on LaGrange Rd between Maple and Goodman. Set up time is 8:30 and steps off at 9:30. This is a short parade compared to some of the others. This will also be the only parade the Battery will be participating in with all the monies going to pay for the cannon and the Long Range match in July. Please wear your dress uniform. That means your cleanest and nicest looking uniform with any of the fancy stuff also. Bring a musket to carry. No Blanks will be fired. After the parade the Battery will discuss some of the other upcoming events. So please plan on staying a little longer or plan to have lunch in the area.

6^th Annual Matuszek Memorial Skirmish

The wheels have been put in motion and the Battery and the 2^nd US Sharpshooters are getting ready for this event. This skirmish is being held at the Sandy Ford Range on June 27^th and 28^th. The 2^nd USSS has again offered to help us run this skirmish and will be offering a Sat and Sunday breakfast in the clubhouse. They will also help with some of the line work as safeties and the running of the smoothbore match.

If you can, please head out on Friday to help prep the range and target materials. N-SSA rules state that host teams can compete in the skirmish with the exception of the Skirmish Director and Stat Officer. We will need you to work and help run the shoot but you will also be given the opportunity to shoot. So bring your firearms and ammo especially for team events. The plan is to fill an A-team and then fill in any other teams needing shooters. You also will be allowed to shoot a limited amount of individual targets.

While the 2^nd USSS will be serving breakfast, the Battery will be providing lunch. This will be during a certain time slot and a menu has not be worked out as of yet. We will be in the need for people to help out with this also. Please let the Commander know what days you can attend. I believe he will be there Friday AM.

Long Range Artillery Match

This highly anticipated artillery Match is again being held in Grayling, Michigan on July 11^th. The Battery has registered one rifled cannon and two mortar teams. This means the Battery will need to figure out what type of projectile to try. It was reported that the new liner was being ill-affected by the zinc projectile with the casted lugs. The idea of using a sabotted projectile was thought of but recently discovered they may not be as accurate. This means some decisions must be made and projectiles made.

This year the mortars will be fired at a stake around 275 yards. As stated a work party will be scheduled to work on targeting for the skirmish and creation of the projectiles. Maybe we could talk JT into letting us practice firing the mortars in his fields.

Past Event Reports

Civil War Relic Show

Thanks to all of those that showed up at the DuPage County Fair Grounds in Wheaton to help with the display. A special thanks goes out to Dick Kock and John Thatcher for bringing down the cannon. Pulling the cannon can be challenging. The Battery and the 2^nd USSS put out a very much appreciated display. Many people stopped by and talked to them. Hopefully they became interested and will become shooters in the near future.

First Official Western Region Skirmish

A small contingency of Battery members made it out to Sandy Ford in April for the first official Skirmish of the year. As usual this was a well run shoot by the 46^th IVI. The Battery did well but not good enough to take any team awards. This may be false, for they may have taken a 3^rd place Smoothbore team award home. One high-light was the 50 yard breech-loader target shot by the Battery Commander. He managed to fire a 49-1x and took home a first place award.

Those attending the event was John T, Scott, Paul G, Jon M, Dick and John M. That evening a dinner of venison sloppy joes was had. The weather started warm and the commanders newer brandy punch was offered. Then a cold front moved through dropping the temperatures into the 60’s so some hot buttered rum was heated up. Over all it was a good practice for the up-coming Spring Nationals.

119^th Spring Nationals

A very small contingency headed out to Virginia to participate in the 119^th National Skirmish. Actually only one had to head out there being that the other lives out there. Stan and John represented the battery on the firing line and they didn’t do too bad.

They started with individuals on Wednesday and Thursday and it didn’t look good. The weather became warm and windy, after the frost was gone, making it hard to shoot at 100 yards. Those who did not use more than 20 staples to hold their targets up ended up chasing them across the range. Stan over narled his smoothbore balls and had problems ramming them down the barrel. John could not repeat his success with the Sharps Rifle, but did manage to record a 50-4X on the bottom of his revolver target after shooting a 42 on the one above. When the scores and winners were posted, Stan and John won 2 revolver metals each. John also took home two musket metals.

Team events started on Friday, as did the Stan Vs. John Hits competition. The duo picked up two extra revolver shooters to fill in the team. Both shooters did very well. Well enough that they took First place in Class 3.

They then went to the Smoothbore Match. Here they did not have as much luck. They shot with John M-squared and Marty Wolfe. Though the team did well it was not good enough to place.

Smoothbore Team Match was quickly followed by the mortar match, and quickly was the term to use. Stan and John barely had enough time to set up the mortar when the tower blew the whistle for the match to start. (Actually they did not have enough time to set up and could not use the string method to line up the mortar.) So after taking a few deep breaths to relax, the firing started. They mixed things up a little and Stan sighted the mortar while John did the loading. Marty and John M then took turns firing the mortar. The ground was muddy and the weather nice. The first couple rounds fell short but adjustments were made and the closest five totaled 29 feet, 5.5 inches. Good for a 4^th place medal.

Saturday they shot with the 38^th NC team from the NC region and on Sunday the McNeil’s Rangers. The carbine team came close to a metal but no luck.

Overall it was a good shoot. The weather ran the gambit from a heavy frost on Wednesday morning to windy conditions Thursday and Friday to a down pouring rain and thunderstorm that cut short the carbine team matches then chilly overcast on Sunday. The menu included Turkey Stew, Venison Stew, been soup, sausages, and Bison Chili. The only fly in the ointment was that John left his aged Hot Buttered Rum in the frig at home.

Stan Vs John

As most of you know one of Stan’s goals is to out shoot John, the commander. He has been trying to do this since he joined several years ago. And John admits that Stan has improved a lot since that first time Stan out shot him in Smoothbore using Boris and believed that this just might be the Skirmish. Would fate allow this to happen or was lady luck still on John’s side?

The first team event was revolver. Even though John shot a 92-4x he had problems hitting breakables with the revolver. At the end of the match Stan had a one target lead. Stan was not looking forward to smoothbore for he had to buy some new round balls for he was having trouble loading during the individual matches. This did not help him as John took the lead by 2 targets total.

The next event would be close. Both Stan and John do very well with their carbines. John knew he needed to pad his lead some more before musket. At the 100 yard event that was fired first, both Stan and John hit 3 tiles each. Then at the bird-board John hit 9 while Stan only hit one. Frustrated, Stan could not figure out why he was shooting high until after the event. He had inadvertently left his 100 yard sight in place and was shooting 50 yards. With this correction made, Stan equaled John but could not gain ground. At the end John had a commanding lead of 10 hits. Stan would need to do very well with his musket or John would have to do very poor. On Sunday, Stan and John both shot well with John hitting one more than Stan. Victory was his… until the fall.

2009 Tentative Dates

It appears that most of the shoots have found a place on the 2009 calendar. These dates are subject to possible changes but most likely will not. Rumor has it that there may be one more Skirmish that may be added but it may be doubtful.

June 27-28 Sandy Ford Range - Streator, Illinois, hosted by Battery H 1st Illinois Artillery and 2nd U.S. Sharpshooters;

Jul 11^th Long Range Artillery Match

July 18-19 Bristol Range – 56^th Virginia

August 15-16 Lefthanders Gun Club - Loami, Illinois, hosted by 114th Illinois

September 19-20 Bristol range - Bristol, Wisconsin, hosted by 1st U.S. Sharpshooters.

October 2-3 Fall Nationals, Winchester Virginia