Saturday, June 27, 2015

2015 Safari Rifle Challenge World Championships-Coming Soon!


The 2015 Safari Rifle Challenge World Championships are coming soon! The event will be held in Libby, Montana at the Libby Rod and Gun Club. Jay Sheffield is the Match Director and puts on an exciting and enjoyable event. It is always held on the second Sunday in July (07-12-2015). There is a large community fund raising concert every year on the second Saturday so they piggy-back with that to give shooters something else to enjoy while they are visiting Libby, Montana. This year Three Dog Night will be headlining the concert.

The shooting event fills-up very quickly after they send notices to the participants on their email group so they don't advertise. If you want to get on their notification list shoot Jay an email (see below) and he will get you on the email group.

Here is an update from Jay regarding the soon to be held 2015 event:

It is once again time for the Safari Rifle Challenge. Now in our 5th year, we continue to grow and I believe we are now one of the largest events of this kind in the country. I recently sent out the registration packs and the response has been almost 100 percent return of previous competitors. I know that the media coverage, particularly on the Outdoor Channel has helped immensely. Michael Bane filmed us for the "Shooting Gallery" TV show. Outdoor Life editor John Snow attended as did author Jon Haviland. There is a high likelihood that the outdoor show "Where in the World is Colorado Buck" will film this year’s event. And several outdoor writers are also likely attendees.

Each year we are trying to up our game and this year we have added a variable speed remotely operated “buffalo” as well as several cable mounted crossing or charging targets. We also expect to blow up about 350 one gallon water jugs in a variety of scenarios.

We are now at a point where we are having to turn away late registrants for lack of space. To address that issue, our club has been working with the U.S. Forest Service and our local County Commissioners to expand the range facility. We have tentatively reached an agreement for a first phase expansion of 5 acres which will get us 3 more ranges. If all goes according to plan, work will start this fall and we will be ready for a major expansion of our event in the summer of 2016 and the ability to handle up to 200 competitors.

Our list of sponsors continues to grow. Many thanks to Shawn Joyce of Diizche Safari Adventures and Jeff Sipe of Montana Rifle Company for their EXTREMELY generous contributions over the last few years. Thanks also to Champion/ATK for their contributions of DuraSeal self-sealing targets, Norma USA for their donation of ammunition and gear, Ruger for shooting apparel and accessories, and Vortex Optics for donating some very nice binos and scope. Mark Sullivan of Nitro Express Safaris donated some great books and a set of videos as did Larry Shores. Skinner Sights also has generously provided prizes.

If you have not had the opportunity to attend one of our shoots in beautiful Libby, Montana, then we hope you will make plans to do so in 2016. If you want to be added to the (confidential) email list, just drop me a line at safaririflechallenge@yahoo.com

Sincerely, Jay C. Sheffield Match Director

Here are a links to coverage from last year’s event in case you might like to learn more: