The 8th annual Safari Rifle Challenge is in the books.
Here is a recap of this year’s event made by Jay Sheffield. Jay is the Match
Director of the Safari Rifle Challenge World Championships:
Well, Safari Rifle Challenge 2018 is in the
history books and Tanner Van Pelt of Sandpoint, Idaho is our new champion!
Below is a picture of Tanner with his trophy sponsored by Shawn Joyce at DIIZCHE SAFARI ADVENTURES. Mark
Wicka of Montana took second and Lance Brewer of Washington state was 3rd.
We
had 70 registered shooters from 14 states and 3 Canadian provinces. Here was our course of fire and a few photos.
Main Range Events
1. Checking Zero ---- Four shooters on the line. Starting position will be
EMPTY rifle. On the signal you will load and fire two rounds at the 45 yard paper
target then load and fire one round at the 100 yard eight inch steel plate.
Open action, show clear, muzzle up during scoring and return to the gun racks.
2. Coming & Going --- Rifle loaded with two rounds, safety on. On the
signal, fire at each of the two outside targets as they go away. On your second
shot the targets will instantly reverse course and come back towards you. You
must load one round and shoot the center target. Open action, show clear,
muzzle up when done.
3. Mad Momma --- Rifle loaded with one round, safety on. On the signal, shoot
the 50 yard baby elephant with eight inch steel plate kill zone. Reload and
take a frontal brain shot at the charging “Momma Ele”. Open action, show clear,
muzzle up when done. (Kill zones will be faintly marked for scoring purposes;
you must evaluate the angle then shoot at the frontal brain just like in real
life).
4. Herd of Buffalo --- Load 1 round, safety on, low ready position. Shoot the 50 yard
buffalo in the eight inch steel plate kill zone, move to next spot, load 1
round and shoot 75 yard buffalo in the eight inch plate. Move to next spot, load
1 round and shoot the 100 yard broadside buffalo (11”x 16” kill zone). Open
action, show clear, muzzle up when done.
5. Fleeing Buffalo --- Rifle loaded with 2 rounds, safety on. On the command
“standby” the buffalo will start going away. On the “shoot” command fire 1 round
at 50 yard buffalo target eight inch steel plate kill zone. Then fire 1 round
at the fleeing buffalo. Open action, show clear, muzzle up when done.
6. Left or Right --- Rifle loaded with two rounds, safety on, low ready
position. On “standby” command the targets will start towards you. When it
passes the cone the Range Officer will yell either left or right. You must shoot that side
first then fire your second shot at the other side. Open action and show
clear.
Shooting Bay Events
1. No Pressure --- Water bottles at 25, 35 and 45 yards. Rifle loaded with 2 rounds.
On the command, shoot any two bottles, reload 1 round and shoot the 3rd bottle.
10 points for each EXPLODING bottle. Timer starts on “shoot” command. 1 point
deduction for every second that it takes to complete the course. Lowest
possible score will be zero, no negative scores. Open action, show clear,
muzzle up when done.
2. Crossing Shot--- Starting position will be low ready with 2 rounds in the
rifle, safety on. The 40 yard target will travel across from left to right then
back to the left again. You will fire 1 round as the target travels in each
direction. All shots must be taken while target is between the cones. Show
clear, Muzzle up, return to gun rack.
3. Swamp Things --- 2 rounds in rifle with safety on. On command, shoot 1 round
at the brain or spine of the 40 yard crocodile head. After the shot, the 40 yard
hippo head will rise from the water to see what’s going on. You must quickly
take one brain shot on the hippo before he goes back down. (Kill zones will be
faintly marked for scoring purposes; you must evaluate the angle then shoot at
the brain/spine just like in real life). Shooting sticks will be available if
you want to use them.
4. Charging Water Jugs --- Two shooters, two rounds in rifle, safety on. The
cart will start towards you on “standby” and you will then be given the shoot
command. You must shoot the jug on your side then race to shoot the middle jug.
Open action, show clear, muzzle up when done.
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| Motorized Cape buffalo |
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| Baby elephant before.... |
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| Baby elephant after. Champion Targets provided us with all of our AR500 steel plates and that stuff takes a POUNDING! |
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| Retreever and his .450 No 2 NE double taking on Charging Momma |
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| Bolt guns on the ele course-John Harma from Phoenix, AZ |
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| Dave Snellstrom from Colorado |
The elephant was 9 feet tall. The steps allowed us to reach the forehead to paste bullet holes.
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| Charging water jugs |
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| Wayne Jacobson from American Hunting Rifles with a 600 Overkill gun he built for the shoot |
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| Moving targets... |
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| A 600 OK cartridge from that custom red rifle above. 825 gr CEB at 2100 fps. WOW! |
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| Crocodile head |
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| Rising Hippo |
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| A herd of buffalo |
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| Garry James & Gene Gordner in some period costumes |
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| Garry with his hammer double gun |
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| Trying to knock off 3 little bottles! |
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| Two of the gun racks with everything from modern Rugers to classic Holland & Holland bolt guns |
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| A young lady taking on the crossing targets |
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| The source of our power! |
Below, putting
out some of the raffle prizes from sponsors like DIIZCHE SAFARI ADVENTURES and
Champion Targets. Mark Sullivan sent us a bunch of videos and books.
And
last but not least, the reason we do this. The Libby Rod and Gun Clubs mission
is to promote the shooting sports and most importantly expose youth to the many
opportunities available at the range and in the field. The young folks below
are members of the Libby area Scholastic Clay Target Program. They
enthusiastically volunteer to help with setup, scoring, pasting targets and
moving items between the stages. Our club is blessed with some truly world
class shotgun shooters who have mentored and coached these young people to
multiple state level awards! Our raffle table is used to help fund their team
costs from event registration fees to travel and shotgun shells. This year we
raised a total of $530 for them.
It was great to see everyone at the shoot. See you all
next year! Next year, the 2019 Safari Rifle Challenge World Championships will
again be held in Libby, Montana at the Libby Rod and Gun Club. The event is now
held in June to assure cooler weather!
If you have not had the opportunity to attend one of the
shoots in beautiful Libby, Montana, then we hope you will make plans to do so
in 2019. The shooting event fills-up very quickly after they send notices to
the participants on their email group. If you want to sign up, request more
information, or get on their notification list send Jay an email (see below)
and he will get you squared away.
We hope to see you next year!
