Burbank Muzzleloaders September Newsletter
Burbank Muzzleloaders Newsletter September 2020
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On August 30th, Burbank Muzzleloaders held its fourth cumulatively-scored walkthrough of 2020. Surprisingly, the weather was cooler (or shall we say more tolerable?) than expected, and it turned out to be a great entertaining match on the hill! Additionally, it was a great pleasure to be graced by Skip Stokes’ presence. All of us riflemen did some serious damage that day, and the scores were close. Humble Lee Bowman came in first with 18 hits. Sam Baseman also scored 18 but came in second due to a tie-breaker. Tom Trevor came in third with 16. The other scores were just behind them, so the author can definitely claim that Burbank Muzzleloaders still has its mojo on and is in top shape! Don’t forget that the club’s final walkthroughs of 2020 will be on November 29th and December 29th. . Come one; come all and see who will finally claim the prize of four Morgan dollars and a genuine 1883 racketeer nickel, all generously donated by Tom Trevor.
The following week, the range was closed due to extreme heat. Notwithstanding, we, being die hards (or knuckleheads), still showed up to shoot. After all, the show must go on! The author may concede that we might have underestimated the intensity of the heat. Suffice to say, we all remembered scorching days before and did just fine. Well, that was the past, and all in attendance could agree that Sunday, September 27th was truly a record…but exactly how hot? We all happened to be by temperature gauges that seemed to slightly differ. The thermometer on the shed door displayed a whopping 120 degrees F. Jannu’s car read 117 F. The thermometer by Tom showed 116 F. The thermometer by Sam said 111 F, but Sam said you had to add 6 degrees to what it said. The author’s car showed 119 F. Does it really matter? It was hot. DAMN HOT. In the delirium, we all still managed to shoot like men, or at least we think we did.
The following week, on September 13th, the Powers That Be provided us with some much-needed relief, and it was so agreeable that the furnace we all shot in the previous week was virtually absent from our minds although a few singed survivors recounted to the others what they had missed. It was the day of Tom’s legendary Springfield Trapdoor match, THE match not to be missed! It was a great match with good ol’ camaraderie. Even Sam’s griping about being blind this and blind that didn’t get us down. However, there’s always a winner, and at 200 yards at the bench, modest Lee Bowman took it again with 75-6V. Tom Trevor almost had him but came in second with 75-5V. John Clevenger came in third with 74-4V. When you’ve got those Trapdoors dialed in, boy can they group. They really are THE black powder cartridge gun to own without a doubt.
The Springfield Trapdoor carbine match off-hand at 100 yards highlighted different riflemen. Jannu Lorentson came in first with 64-1V, Sam Baseman second with 63-2V, and Lee Bowman third with 63-1V. Although we were not mounted, that was some pretty good shooting with those recalcitrant carbines, and the author can confidently claim that had Burbank Muzzleloaders been there, we would have been a great terror on the Plains! The last round consisted of 5 shots standing at the 500-yard gong with long rifles. Many shooters managed to hit the gong twice, but it was decided that he who had hit the gong with the first shot was to be the victor, and that happened to be a very jubilant Eric Blakely.
Tom’s prizes were generous, for we were all provided with further victuals to keep all of us black powder shooters well fed! Moreover, we enjoyed a final raffle with some great prizes, most notably informative books. It really was a great match, Tom, one to go down in club history.
The club’s next match, to be held on October 11th, will be silhouettes at the usual yardages. Have we all finally decided to begin shooting at life-size animals for a change? Perhaps so if “blind” Sam gets his way. Well, that’s all for now, folks, so don’t forget about Burbank Muzzleloaders, the place to shoot!
