2012 Northern Great Plains Regional Championship

Sponsored by: Bismarck-Mandan Rifle and Pistol Association
Fired September 8 and 9, 2012

Thanks to everyone who participated in the 2012 Northern Great Plains Long Range Regional Championship on September 8 and 9. This year we had 28 competitors at our event compared to 21 competitors at last year’s event. This was probably the best turnout that we’ve had for a high power event at our range. This year we had shooters from North Dakota, Minnesota, Montana, South Dakota and Wyoming. I hope we can continue to grow our numbers. I know there are shooters out there with some great equipment – we need to get them on the firing line and get them hooked on the shooting sports.

Thanks again to Earl Garbina for, once again, coming down from McClusky for both days to run the line at our match. I really appreciate Earl’s efforts – since he is running the line – this allows me to fire the match. I would also like to thank Rich Pinsonneault’s wife and daughter (sorry – I didn’t get their names). This was Rich’s first match (that I know of) and I’m glad the whole crew that came with him pitched in and helped out. Since we were short a complete line, Rich’s wife volunteered to mark targets and his daughter helped score and also post scores on our bulletin board. You need a lot of volunteers to put on these events, and I’m always short some help – so I really appreciate all their efforts – THANKS AGAIN!

Congratulations to our 2012 Northern Great Plains Regional Champion, Morgen Dietrich (Olivia, MN). Morgen fired a 974-32x for the Gold medal in the Conventional Class. Neil Adams (Billings, MT) took the Silver firing a 967-27x in the Conventional class. In the F-Class, Brian Suhr (Page, ND) fired a 956-26x for the Gold medal, Eric Johnson (Detroit Lakes, MN) took the Silver with a 941-20x and Michael Cobert (Grand Forks, ND) fired a 931-11x for the Bronze medal. Kohl Klein (Bismarck, ND) was the top junior with an 851-13x, and Aaron Carico (Valley City, ND) was the top F-TR shooter (using the standard 308 cartridge) firing a 902-10x.

We had our usual challenging winds – seems that year after year we can’t get a break and have some good weather at this event. Despite the rather windy weekend, it appears that we have a new state record in the Open F-Class. Brian’s score of 956-26x surpasses the previous state record score of 949-16x set by Nathan Dagley at this range on September 13, 2009. I wonder what would happen if we ever had a nice weekend!



Well – this season – which is already short in the northern plains, is coming to an end. Our last High Power event of the season (at least for us NoDak’s) will be the events in Rolla, North Dakota, the weekend of September 29 and 30. On Saturday, we start with an M1 Garand match (30 shots for record and 5 sighters at 200 yards). This will be followed by the North Dakota Mid-Range State Championship – 3 – 20 shot strings (with unlimited sighters) at 600 yards. This will be for Conventional and F-Class. Finally, we’ll have the Bruce Alexander Memorial High Power match (80 shot over-the-course) on Sunday, September 30. Given the attendance at this event, and the limited number of firing points at the David Disrud range north of Rolla, I would suggest calling Andy Johnson as soon as you receive these results to reserve your firing point for the events scheduled this weekend.

Our first match of 2013 at our range in Bismarck will most likely be the first weekend in May, 2013. I hope to see all of you, and more new shooters on the firing line.

Tom Thompson