My first grounghog match today.

[std7mag]

Up early (5am) for my first groundhog match today.
100 yard match near Grampion, PA.
I've never shot this type of match. Doing so from invitation of another shooter that lives in my home town. (Altoona, PA.)

Using my wife's very stock, Savage 110FP in 223 Rem.
It has an EGW 20MOA one piece base (i was planning on a 600 yard F-Class match later this spring), Warne steel rings, Vortex Crossfire II 6-18X44 scope.

When i bought the rifle, trigger was 7lb. I adjusted the creep out, and have it down to 1.5lb.

Load consists of prepped LC brass, Fed 205M primers, Alliant PP2000MR powder and 69gr SMK.

Hopefully i don't embarass myself.

 

[David R]

Offhand?

 

[std7mag]

No, off the bench.

And....

I won factory class!!!

 

[FrankenMauser]

Very cool.
Congrats!

 

[NHSHOOTER]

So, for us uninformed, what is a groundhog match?

 

[David R]

congrats on the WIN.

Where I come from, the first weekend in May you go out and shoot all the woodchucks you can. Biggest wins the prize. Its a Blast.
Copenhagen NY is where I am from, the hunt is on tug Hill. Buncha Hicks!

I used a lot of guns. For a few years I used my Deer rifle, a Savage 110 in 7mm mag. 115 grain bullet going 3500 fps. I used a scoped TC contender in 32-20 for closer shots.

David

 

[std7mag]

When i was a kid, that was usually what was involved.
Now in the PC age, someone may be traumatized for life.
Although there were at least 3 people there with "hunting" rifles, one brought his freshly won Thompson in 270 Win.
The majority there were benchrest rifles in 30BR.
The folks at Anderson Creek Sportsmans describes their shoots as social events with lots of food (deer chili, deer bologna), and oh, there's some shooting also.

Targets for this time were square, i'm told some are actually ground hog shaped.
3 minutes, unlimited sighters. Then 8 minutes for 6 shots on record.
See attached picture.

 

[T. O'Heir]

"...with "hunting" rifles..." Oh, F-Class. As in any rifle, any sight, any ammo. AKA "Belly Benchrest". I believe there's a discipline called Sporting Rifle too.

 

[std7mag]

No, decidedly NOT F Class..

 

[wachtelhund1]

Groundhog match, is that where you shoot as many groundhogs as you can on a Saturday morning? I remember those days. Fifty-seven years, growing up in CT, I bought a 218 Bee built on a Winchester lowall. I kill hundreds of groundhogs with it. Wish I still had that gun. I do still have the reloading manual with my load data written in the back.

When I was sixteen, on spring - Saturday mornings I would shoot a half dozen or so and put them in my trunk and drive into Hartford. I'd pull up to a city corner. As I would get out I would hear, what's this white boy doing. I'd pop the trunk and yell fresh killed wood chuck, $3.00 each. In less than three minutes I'd be driving away with date night money.

 

[NHSHOOTER]

std7mag Thanks for the information, sounds and looks like fun..I think I will mention it at my next months club meeting..

 

[std7mag]

Alas, i have to inform you that while the scores were being tallied up, i was listening more to another shooter with much more experience than me. I was surprised when they called my name, and wrongly assumed (yeah, i know ) that i had gotten the win in Factory class.
After some calls it has been established that i placed second. Which i'm still stoked about!

Seems the club president won the Factory class. Hmmmm..

Second is still great to me! Met some great people, had fun, and learned alot!

 

[wachtelhund1]

std7mag,
You are educating me! Groundhog matches that are not groundhog shoots. I had to Goggle Groundhog matches. And now Factory class! I had to Goggle that too. Factory class applies to varmint matches. As one who has shot F-class (1,000 yards) I had never heard those terms. Now I know. Keep up the good shooting.

 

[std7mag]

It had me scratching my head too!

I get to challenge the club president again next month.

I wonder if i change the stock, if it's still "factory"?

 

[old roper]

When I was shooting BR some clubs include Factory class. Lot of local club members shoot it and club made some money from it.

 

[langenc]

When I was sixteen, on spring - Saturday mornings I would shoot a half dozen or so and put them in my trunk and drive into Hartford. I'd pull up to a city corner. As I would get out I would hear, what's this white boy doing. I'd pop the trunk and yell fresh killed wood chuck, $3.00 each. In less than three minutes I'd be driving away with date night money.

Yankee ingenuity at its best!!! Congratulations!!!
Im wondering if you ever told the date where the $$ came from. Some would think "Yankee ingenuity," others not so much.

 

[bamaranger]

missing something

Did I miss it........what distance was this match, and others like it, shot.??

 

[std7mag]

They called it a "grounghog" match. More a UBR match.
UBR type targets at 100 yards off the bench.

Man those UBR targets are small!