Upcoming Competition - Western Intercollegiate Rifle Conference Postals

Hi Everyone!

Like I said in last week's newsbrief and this week's newsbrief will be stating we will begin shooting our WIRC Postal targets in a few weeks.

First - What exactly is the Western Intercollegiate Rifle Conference (WIRC), and what is a "Postal"?

• The WIRC is the collegiate rifle conference that we participate in. The WIRC consists of us and 12 other member teams from around the midwest.
• A "Postal" match is a competition where we shoot the targets at our home range and then mail the targets into the match coordinator for scoring.
• The other type of competition we participate in is a "Shoulder to shoulder" match. This is we either travel to someone else's range, or they travel to ours and we all shoot our targets in the same range.

The WIRC is a set of targets due at the end of every month and runs from October through February. It consists of 20 shots in Prone, Standing and Kneeling (also referred to as a 3x20) Smallbore + 60 shots AirRifle. We typically shoot postal targets for our October - January scores. For February we travel to another school and shoot the finals / championship match in a shoulder to shoulder competition. This year North Dakota State University will be hosting the February competition on the weekend of February 23-24, 2020.

I strongly urge everyone to participate regardless of your ability. Not only are there awards for being the shooter with the highest score, but there are also handicap awards and awards for being the most improved. BUT - you need to shoot all 5 matches to qualify for any awards.

The only cost to participate in the postal portion is whatever your ammunition cost is. For the travel competition in February, there will be a small travel cost.

Because this is a monthly competition and we need to mail targets in I will need everyone's targets shot by the last day of the month*. Please plan to spend about 2-3 hours/night to shoot the targets and it will probably take two nights. It can be done in one night but it will take about 3-4 hours.

Because this is a competition it must be shot under competition rules. The big one being - once you start the Smallbore or AirRifle portion, you must complete it. Failure to complete the course of fire after starting it will yield a "DNF" (Did Not Fire) for any remaining targets. (Example: If you show up and shoot prone and standing but leave before keeling is shot, kneeling cannot be shot at a later time.)

Below is kinda how things will work out.

1. Show up to the range.
2. Check in with me and let me know if you will be shooting Air Rifle or Smallbore that evening.You will be assigned a firing point.
3. Get your equipment and get setup. I'll be getting your match targets ready.
4. At some point I will give you the match targets. From there a timer starts.
5. At another point in time you will start firing. Once you start you will have X minutes to shoot.
   • This X will including all needed prep and target change time.

This is going to be new to almost everyone. It's been about 2.5 years since we've last shot a competition so things will be a little bit rusty. We also have a new target hanging system, target labeling and handling procedure to deal with so I will need to figure out how all of that will fit into the above routine. I apologize in advance. The first set of targets will be a bit hectic. But hopefully things will be figured out for the rest of the season.

If you are interested in participating in the *POSTAL* portion, please let me know.

If you show up at least once per week between now and October 30th, you will have the minimal skill set necessary to shoot the entire competition.

If you have any questions about the above, please let me know.

Thanks,
Zach