The Shooters: back row, Dale Stovall, Warren “Dite” Little, Gary Lancaster, Mike Schauf, Norm Wight, Larry Schauff.   kneeling; Larry Anderson, Gary Swartz, Jack Babon. not shown: Tom and Betty Wilkins, Tate Jones and Dite’s son Douglas.

 

Dale under close supervision…                                     Nice Shirt Gary!

A nice grouping                                                           Dale Jack and Tom at storytime

Betty and Dale enjoying chow                           Jack, Dite and Douglas

 

A tense moment as scoring begins                     The final tally!

 

The day dawned hot and dry, the forecast was for another 100 degree day. Just the kind of day for the hotly contested inter service bragging rights at the 2017 WMMOA Day At The Range. A dozen WMMOA Gunslingers came out to demonstrate their prowess with a variety of firearms. Rifles and pistols of a wide range of calibers, were expertly fired even after decades of laying in a drawer in the laundry rooms across Western Montana. With this group of veteran shooters, safety was easily maintained up and down the firing line. Mysteriously, the guns seemed to have lost some of their accuracy in the year since last year’s competition.

          After warming up the pistols and the shooters, it was time for the WMMOA President’s Cup, one of the most prestigious honors in shooting. Ten competitors teamed up to square off to test their mettle against the best that each service had to offer. Unfortunately, for the third year in a row, the Marine Corps failed to muster a team. Norm Wight and Mike Schauf lead off the Navy effort with a very respectful score of 33 points on the small target 10 meters downrange. Next up was the Air Force team #1 of Dale Stovall and Larry Schauff. General Stovall is regularly near the top of  these events but Larry really made the difference in the USAF benchmark score of 55 points. The Army team #1 was the next to fire. Jack Babon and Gary Swartz, a couple of steely eyed sharpshooters, gave it their best shots but could only muster 54 points. Army team #2, Larry Anderson and Gary Lancaster shot well but could only score 42 points. Tom Wilkins and Dite Little was a hybrid team called Air Force #2. Dite had to depart to pick up his son Douglas, so Tom’s score of 22 was doubled to produce 44 points. The Air Force had pulled off an upset and soared off into the wild blue yonder as team champions. In the individual competition, Gary Swartz captured high honors closely followed by Dale Stovall and Larry Anderson.

          As is our tradition, we gather for a Bar-B-Que following the competition. Thanks to Gary Swartz for cooking and bringing brats and chips; Mike Schauf for bring beverages and Tate Jones for bringing condiments and desserts.