RILEY CONSERVATION CLUB

P.O. Box 101, Riley, IN 47871

www.rileycc.com

May 2010

Members,

Welcome back to a new year as Riley Conservation Club continues advancing and improving. Congratulations to John Swez, a newer member who was the big winner of the March drawing for the scoped Remington 700 varmint rifle. John was amazed at winning it, saying “I never won anything” and is enjoying shooting it.

There will be a club shoot shoot around for 22 rimfire rifles on the third Thursday in May, June, and July. Start time is 6:00 pm, Brian Meister is director for this and will be supplying targets and shooting games. A nominal fee will go to the club. Plenty of daylight and lots of fun.

We continue to sign up new members and build up the facility. The recent work day was a huge success, given a poor turnout of members. The 50 yard berm was replaced with a sandbox similar to the 25 yard sandbox, this project was headed up by Randy Hofmann and aided immensely by Mike and Daniel Armstrong with their tractors. Rock was added to the north side of the firing line so shooters don’t have to cross mud to get to their vehicles. The trail going to the big lake was cleared, as was most of the shoreline on the lake near the clubhouse. Many thanks to the Boy Scouts for help on this project. As time progresses, we expect to add rock to the drive, and add sand to the other backstops at 75 and 100 yards, and perhaps sand to the backstops at 50 and 100 meters. We also added dirt to the east pistol bay, making it taller and therefore safer. We expect to be adding a spot to shoot archery on the north side of the firing line.

With the advent of the new shooting berms comes the topic of proper targets. We have been blessed with folks donating targets, but the metal targets have specific caliber limitations. The round target swingers at 25 yards are for calibers up to 44 Mag—NO HIGH POWER. The animal shaped targets are limited to .22 rimfire only—NO HIGH POWER or 17 HMR or 17Mach2. The high speed bullets will damage these thin steel targets. Remember, these targets have been donated for everyone’s enjoyment, damaging or destroying them will only lead to the targets being removed. Feel free to shoot clays at 50 yards or 50 meters, they are much more challenging at further distances.

25 YARD SANDBOX—This is a recycle project. As such, we need for only bullets to be in the sand. No clay targets, no wood targets or backers, no other debris. Our goal on the recycle project is to sift the sand and recover the expelled bullets. Clay targets, wood boards and other debris only plug the sifters and cause needless work for the members who are gracious enough to donate their time to sift the sand and extract the lead. A clay target holder has been built, if you use it, please put it in the grass in front of the berm so the clays fall in the grass.

BOWLING PIN TREE—This target was designed for high power shooters. Bowling pins have been hung from a pole and are a challenging target at 100, 150 or 200 yards. Feel free to have a go at them with your high power rifle, they swing wildly when hit!! Take care not to shoot the pole, or the chains that hold the pins. It is portable, so you can move it to a desired distance, making sure there is proper backstop behind this target.

We will have many small work projects, throughout the year. For those who didn’t make out work day, we sure could use your help on any one of these projects. Something as simply as picking up fallen branches around the range and front road, or shoveling a bit of sand back to the top of the berm after it has washed down from rain, is greatly appreciated and helps spread the workload. We have matches in need of line officers, pre-match target set up, and other light work that can be done at times other than the designated work day. Contact any officer for small tasks to help us out.