Now, some may call me crazy, some call me nuts, but I have a very distinct love for Swedish Mausers, the 6.5x55 cartridge and all things old and graceful. I found this 1915 Carl Gustof m/96 at the gunshow with Soderin sights installed. The only bad part is the bore is getting a bit thin at the front and rear and the stock disc shows it (it's been marked from a 2 to a 3, meaning it would have been rebarrelled at the next arsenal overhaul for the old girl had she not been surplussed instead).

A fellow shooter was generous enough to lend me his Hunter Sako last year and it performed very well. Another shooter lent me a Standard rifle this year but I couldn't get the loads to fit well (tight chamber) so I decided to bring the old girl for a spin around the course anyhow.

Missoula Regionals fire 4-40 shot matches (2 Std, 2 Htr). So long as the sun is light or angled well or if there is some shadow, I can make out the animals on the range. But in the late evening, the sun is on them and they completely blur right into the background. This is made worse, or course, by the diopter sights which reduce the amount of light and you see even less. I found myself many times having to count over from an animal I could discern and estimating where the bugger should be.

Anyhow, I fired her for three matches (another shooter lent me a Hunter rifle for the fourth match just so I could try something that costs 10x what I paid for the Swede. Heh heh. It was well appreciated as it was getting near impossible to see the targets by the end of day two... BTW - I have told you how generous Silhouette shooters are?)

I fired a 12, 13 and unbelievable 18 with the old girl, now nicknamed the Missoula Monster. That 18 was with me taking 7 Turkeys of all things! Her performance allowed me to take 2nd Place in Single-A Aggregate for Standard Rifle at Regionals.

Below are some pics of what the scene was like putting this beauty through her paces. Enjoy!


The course. Here's a fellow shooter taking aim and I've marked the distances to the targets.


Here's the old girl as she sits waiting to take on the 500m Rams with my Ram loads (140gr SMK over 43.0gr of IMR-4350).


A zoom view of the targets down range for the taking.


What it all looks like when you put it all together.

Cool pictures, Mike. That range is beautiful. I really have to get out there and shoot one of these days...

I concur with Jason - a very nice range indeed. Mordecai did you run into
any of the Marsh family during your stay? I understand they were or still are quite a family of silo shooters.
Cheers
Andrew

I just checked the roster and I didn't see the name posted. Hope to meet them on the range sometime though! There was another family of shooters (Mobley/Wilson) present who took many honors and awards - I'm hoping someone will have the results soon along with the stories of their accomplishments!

What a beautiful range, would love to shoot there sometime.
We should start new vintage military rifle rifle class in silhouette for such historic rifles.

Maybe something along the lines of BP Silhouette, without the mess of black powder??

Kitty

The Vintage Match sounds like fun. I know Mordecai would love to play that game. Wes brought his new/old Springfield M2 and let us all shoot it. Reminded me of shooting open sighted 22s at silhouettes in Lander, WY and in Soda Springs ID. Anyone interested in an iron sighted or vintage 22 silhouette fun match? I'd bring an extra gun to Missoula just to shoot that.

dwl

I think a vintage match is a must.

This last weekend, I took the Missoula Monster out for another spin in Pe Ell and shot a 16 and 17. My first bank of the morning, I took 4 turkeys!!! Marv Pearson just about pooped! HAHA ;) (So did I!)

I'd love to see military caliber and smallbore vintage iron sight side-matches - they'd be a hoot!

Mord;

Maybe we ought to plan a match for next year's Missoula on Friday night. What to do for a trophies?

I suggest we have recognize Match Winner and Senior Rifle (is that oldest rifle or oldest shooter?) but we could also award most expensive rifle (gotta pring proof of purchase) and cheapest rifle.

As for class rules, maybe we shouldn't have any! That might be the most novel idea. You can shoot a Winchester 52 or your Flobert pistol. The idea would be to scare some interesting guns out of the closets and back onto the range.

By the way, I've shot Long Range Smallbore Silhouette and it's a blast. The match I went to was won by a Ballard with peep sights.

I'm voting to call this the Steelchickens.com Vintage Silhouette Match. Anyone else interested?

dwl

Dave and Mord...
What to do for trophies in an old "vintage" rifle version. My suggestion would be to call for old vintage trophies back from some of the long time shooters and put new plates on them.
I for one am tired of storing old plaques and trophies, have even gone to using some of the older tall trophies as boot holders to dry them out when I wade through the water. I could probably find some from the 70's to donate...

Thought, give awards for the oldest and or most orignal firearm on the line. I can pull out a no revision WInchester 52, do not how well I would do with the sights on it but it would be fun.
Steelchickens Vintage match...sounds great.

Mary

Ooohh! Another way to spend all my money on guns! I'm in! Open sight .22's and vintage military sounds like a hoot!

This is going to be a kick...