Greetings BSPSC members!
Our club and Directors have been very busy this month, with even more activities coming up. Sean Boushie designed and fabricated a new rack for storing many of our match props and equipment in the garage. With the new rack we have been able to stuff the proverbial 10 pounds into a five-pound sack. However, the specific storage zones have led us to adopt a different process for match teardown where props and equipment will be delivered to the front of the garage, and one of our experienced members will direct the storage. Another great change was that Rex Svoboda modified our trailer to accommodate delivery of stage props and targets. We are still learning the best ways to load the trailer, but we hope that it will enable us to delivery all the materials to set up a stage on a particular bay at one time.
Deb Wolverton has completed an arduous journey of over 9 months to complete the contract for our Shoot Sig event in September. You read that correctly. She and Laramie could have had a baby in that amount of time, although they have declared that particular option is not under consideration.
Several of our members completed the requirements to become USPSA-certified Chief Range Officers. In addition to online lessons and designing a stage for review, the candidates attended a 2-day seminar with classroom and range sessions, concentrating on stage design, stage control and match management. Congratulations to Sean Boushie, David Bridges, Deb Wolverton, and Laramie Wolverton!
Speaking of stages, the Board of Directors and Laramie Wolverton have been designing and reviewing stage designs and have established a repository with over 500 designs from past and present BSPSC members as well as other clubs. This has significantly expanded our ability to field fresh and challenging stages for our matches. Word templates, Excel spreadsheets and SketchUp drawings are used to ensure consistency with USPSA rules and avoid equipment shortages when planning events.
Sean and Deb have worked with our local vendor to create a BSPSC match jersey. Additional details and ordering instructions will be in a separate message, but we can say that the jerseys will be of the same material as you see at Area and National events, with the ability to include first and last name, at an affordable price.
With all these positives, there always seems to be a negative, and unfortunately, we continue to experience vandalism and theft of our Practice Shed equipment. Despite highly visible and readable (for those who can read) signs prohibiting firing rifle cartridges on steel targets, we have multiple poppers that have been damaged or destroyed by high-powered rifle projectiles. Additionally, target supports, and other equipment have not been returned after use. In some cases equipment has been tossed on the ground by the shed and left to corrode or disappear. We have attempted to provide our members with various types of practice equipment such as Steel Challenge sets, a Texas Star, plate rack, and poppers. While some damage due to wear and tear (like the plate rack) is expected and we will repair and maintain those items, we cannot continue to replace equipment that is destroyed or stolen. Please remember that Practice Shed equipment and supplies are for BSPSC members ONLY. They are not for loan to friends or for use at events without BOD approval. Sharing the combination with non-members will result in loss of BSPSC membership.
On Sunday, April 28th, starting at 9:00 am we will hold our BSPSC Work Day. We will clean and organize our match equipment, repair walls that I have systematically damaged over the last couple of seasons (they don’t call me “woodchipper” for nothing), upgrade our comms gear, and lube/paint moving targets. Please stop by and help us if you can.
Last, but not least, the Range Cleanup Day will be held on Sunday May 5th. As we have noted before we enjoy an unusual amount of support from WMFGA for our events and activities. This year there are even greater tasks to be completed on the cleanup day. The construction of the Liberty Center Youth Shooting Sports Complex is well underway and there are many opportunities to clean and organize around the building as well as the usual activities of range cleanup. If you can only help on one day of the year, please help on Range Cleanup Day.
Our next match will be the Mother’s Day match on Sunday, May 12th, and the next Missoula Speed Steel match will be on Saturday, April 27th.
See you at the range,
Scott