On Friday evening, July 31st, the .22 long-range silhouette carnival began to take shape! With match organizer Russell and his volunteers setting targets, the parking lot began to fill with shooters eagerly awaiting a weekend of plinking fun. By 7pm that evening, 15 shooters were on the line talking rifles, ammunition, ballistics, and, in general, sharing their love of shooting sports.

Russell voluntarily started this match because he saw the need and wanted to bring shooters to “the best plinking range in the country”. Unlike any other match hosted at the NMLRA headquarters, it is nearly impossible to shoot a perfect score, and it’s designed that way. In short, “ it doesn’t matter if you have a $200 gun or a $2000 gun, you can’t beat my games” Russell says, “It’s all about how well YOU know YOUR gun” This mantra keeps everyone in a good mood all weekend, even if you don’t have the best gear, you can still have fun and have a shot at one of the many cash payouts.

On Saturday morning, the range opened at 8:00am for practice, giving those who arrived over night the chance to sight in and get used to the range. We hear it during every event, the wind in Friendship, Indiana is unlike any other range and this plays heavily into this match where shooters are taking their .22s out to 500 yards.

The weather appeared iffy according to the morning news report. It looked like it could be a total washout, but by the time of the shooters meeting at 9:30 am it was a perfect day for shooting. Russell hopped up onto the loading bench to address the shooters. He’s a charismatic young man with a passion for fun shooting, his presentation of the rules, goes by with laughs and smiles, it’s going to be a good day. 

At 10 am everyone made their way down the line for the first event, the dueling tree. While all of the other games are run at once, allowing for everyone to shoot at will, the dueling tree is a bit of an event in itself for this match. There is no other shooting apart from the dueling marksmen, everyone else makes up the audience, watching and reeling over the events of the 1 minute shoot off. This match is split up into 4 classes to allow everyone a fair shot regardless of the kind of gun they brought, many bring multiple guns for more chances to win. The dueling trees are set at 30 and 50 yards to keep things interesting. You might be a better shot at close range, but the two trees at separate distances make for a perfect opportunity to inject some strategy into the game. 

With ups and downs, cheers and clapping, we worked our way through the 4 classes in just under 2 hours. The last class was the “unlimited class”, arguably the most interesting of the weekend. Shooters prepared reproduction .22 Tommy guns with 110 round magazines in an attempt the outgun their opponents. Be sure to check out the NMLRA youtube channel for the dueling tree match video later this week to see how well that worked out for the shooters. 

After a break for lunch, and with it more fellowship, the games opened at 1:30 pm. Participants visit Russ’ sister, Lauren with cash in hand to purchase rounds of each game, there’s no cash shortage here as disgruntled shooters return after each round wanting a chance to record a better score, the wind has picked up by now and is wreaking havoc on the tiny projectiles flying downrange. 

Games were as follows : 

• Crow shoot $5 (for 2 plays) 

-10 shots, 10 crows -Targets at unknown yardages from 30-300yrds -Offhand only -ANY registered hit will count -High scoring shooter wins, -3min time limit -Ties decided by shoot off Near to Far, miss and out. 

• Prairie Dogs $5 (for 2 plays) 

-10 shots, 10 Prairie Dogs -Targets at unknown yardages from 40-440yrds -Any position -Any registered hit will count -High scoring shooter wins, -3min time limit -Ties decided by shoot off Near to far, miss and out. 

***HOA scoring; for positions other than first, ties will decided by furthest target(s) hit.*** 

• Know Your Limits $2 per play 

-10 Targets at known yardages from 10-200yrds. -Shot in order, near to far. Each hit scores, from near to far: 2-4-8-16-32-64-128-256-512-1024 -Position multipliers are as follows. 

• Prone=1x 

• Kneeling/sitting=2x 

• Offhand=4x 

-These are the only positions allowed -In changing positions, the shooter may only move to a LOWER position and never the reverse -3min time allowance -Timing/scoring will begin with the 1st hit (5 miss maximum) -Shooter may choose to stop at any point and have his/her present score recorded. -ANY miss = Total score of 0 -Ties decided by shoot off, Near to Far, miss and out. 

• Long Run $1 per play 

-Single shooter -Offhand only -No equipment restrictions -Dueling trees at 30 and 50yrds -Shooter will alternate between trees each shot -Shooter will have 1 min -Timing begins with the 1st hit (5 miss maximum) -Shooter will shoot until he misses -Most consecutive hits in 1 minute wins 

• Belly-Flopper Class $5 per play 

-Prone only -5x 2" disk at 100yrds -5x 2" disk at 200yrds -10 cartridges for 10 targets, -Shooters will have 3 min -No Spotters -No Sighting shots -No equipment restrictions 

• Extreme Long Range $2 per play 

-11”balloons at 440yrds -5 shots for score -No Sighting shots -No equipment restrictions -Shooters will have 3 min -Any rifle -Any position -Any hit counts -Ties decided by most consecutive hits. Failing that miss and out shoot off 

• Big Balloon shoot $5 donation (honors only) 

-36” and 16” balloons at 500yrds -10 shots for score -Any rifle -Any position -Only After hitting a large balloon may a shooter move on to a small balloon. -Any Offhand hit on a small balloon earns the shooter a chance at the door prizes. (Limited to 1 win per play)

For a full list of matches and rules, please click here. Fair warning though, if you are wanting to practice, don’t get too caught up in these games as they are likely to vary slightly for next year! 

The weather held for most of the day, light rain moved in for about 20 minutes during the traditional silhouette match, but thanks to the NMLRA’s covered firing line, only those of us tasked with setting targets got slightly damp. 

The games reopened shortly after the completion of the silhouette match, but everyone was wearing down, one participant joked about running out of ammo but another chimed in quickly saying “I brought 4,000 rounds if you need some”. There was no shortage of brass flying here! 

By 7 pm we said our good bye’s for the first day and everyone returned home, strategizing for the next morning. 

Sunday arrived cooler and foggy. The rain had finally come overnight, causing the conditions to change completely. On the line, everyone was adjusting their sights for the new conditions while laughing about the “consistent inconsistency” of Friendship. 

By 9 am new shooters were registered and sighted in. After a recap of the rules and current Indiana COVID 19 guidelines, the games were reopened. The fog had cleared and a beautiful blue sky covered the range for the rest of the day.

4 pm rolled around and the range was covered in 22 brass, tired shooters, and smiles. After an announcement that the games had closed for the day, each and every participant took to the range to help Russell’s family collect the targets from the shoot. From 10 to 500 yards everyone scoped out their troublesome silhouette of the weekend, joking with new friends each step of the way. 

The match concluded with a short awards ceremony at 5 pm. A young boy from Columbus had shot a 15 on the silhouette match (Better than several of the adult shooters), awarding him the “Best Youth Shooter” of the weekend and 4 boxes of Aguilla 22.

After having attended last year’s shoot, I have it to say it was wonderful to see so many returning marksmen and women. One group of friends even came in early and camped next to the range so they could get a good night’s rest before each day of shooting. Just about everyone we spoke to who attended last year came back with a new gun specifically designed for either the long-range matches or the dueling trees. It was remarkable to hear about how each new build was built to combat an issue the shooters had last year.

 Did the new gear help improve scores? I don’t really think so, but I know everyone had a good time. Whether you brought your father’s iron-sighted Winchester Model 52, or a fully customized CZ 457 with a KRG stock and Vudu scope, the matches were humbling but fun. 

Check out the photo gallery above to see the variety of rifles and shooters who attended.

In these troubling times, it’s easy to get down about the state of the world. There’s a lot of strange things happening, but this past weekend we were able to let it all go and enjoy something that Americans have enjoyed for generations, some good old fashioned shooting.  

The NMLRA can’t thank Russell, his family, and his friends enough for working so hard to make this match happen. We’re looking forward to next year and plan on supporting this match as much as we can to continue the fun.

In Total, we had 38* registered shooters, Paid out over $1k in prizes, and had a load of fun.

*(#37 was used by 2 shooters)

See a full list of competitor scores here