The Quaker Hill Rod and Gun
Club Newsletter
PO Box 80
261 Oxoboxo Dam Road
Oakdale, CT 06370
November 2016
The Official Journal of the Quaker Hill Rod and Gun Club
Range safety
Range safety is our
most important responsibility
Members are reminded that it is mandatory
to follow all range procedures and rules when using the Club facilities.
Even though you have been qualified
to use a range it is a good idea to annually
review the procedures and rules that you
learned when you first qualified on a range.
It is a member’s responsibility to qualify and to know and comply with the rules of
the range they are using.
"No one told me" is not an excuse. If
range procedures and rules are not posted
on the range they can be accessed on the
members only portion of the website.
QH To Host Swanson Match
The Club will again host the David L.
Swanson Memorial Rifle on December 2, 3,
and 4, 2016.
The Carroll Range and Club House
are reserved for this event in which some 130
young rifle competitors will compete.
Competition will run from 3PM to
10PM on Friday and from 8AM until 6PM on
Saturday and Sunday.
The Swanson Match dates back to the
early 1960s and is one of the largest junior
shooting events held in Connecticut.
In 1977 former Club President Jack
Santo, then a young Quaker Hill junior, won
the event.
M-1 Sale Continues
Gary Owens, Ralph Jackson, Ryan
McKee, and Ted Naumer were the successful M1 bidders Wanda Redfield took home the Traditions black powder rifle.
An additional M1 will be placed at silent
auction at the November General membership
meeting with a reserve price of $500 and a bidding form upon which bidders will fill in their
name and their bid. Bids will be in $25, or higher,
increments. An additional $25 fee will be charged
by the FFL to cover transfer fees and taxes.
Proceeds from the auction will be used to
improve the safety of the High Power Range.
Thanksgiving Dinner
The Club Steward will prepare a traditional Thanksgiving dinner to be served at 5PM
before the November General Membership
meeting.
You may make a reservation by signing
up in the Club House or calling Charlie MacLean at 860-848-2798 before November 12th at
which time participation will determine of the
event will be held.
Hunting Season Range
Restrictions
All outdoor ranges are closed until 10AM
on Saturday mornings through Thanksgiving to
safely accommodate hunting on Club grounds.
Page 2
The Quaker Hill Rod and Gun Club Newsletter
Membership News
Newsletter Contributions
Newsletter contributions are encouraged. Submit your material no later than the first
Thursday of each month
for inclusion in the current newsletter.
Send
contributions to Hap Rocketto at
[email protected]
or
401-322-7193.
Display QH Cards
All club members are required to display their membership
and Range Certification
Cards while on club
property.
Safety Is Not
An Option
The three basic
general rules of safe
gun handling.
Always point the
muzzle in a safe direction; never point a firearm at anyone or anything you don't want to
shoot.
Keep your finger off the trigger and
outside the trigger guard
until you are ready to
shoot.
Keep the action
open and the gun unloaded until you are
ready to use it.
The Club welcomes our newest members voted in at the September meeting: Christian Alvis, Mark Cukierski, Joseph Delia, Richard Brugneel, and Michael
Carroll
Second
Reading:
Kevin
Bombero, Joshua Brown, Milissa
Burdick, Bernard Denoyer, James
Hubbard, Micheil Smith, Nathan
Weiss, and Michael Weiss.
First Reading: None this
month
If any member knows of any
reason why an applicant to the club
may not meet the required standards for membership they must notify any member of the Executive
Board immediately
Monthly Work Parties
Every third Saturday work parties are conducted which benefit the
club and provide work hours and provide opportunity to complete work requirements..
Ground Committee Chairman
Butch Watson is seeking Club members to join his
committee.
Additionally,
any
club
member who is a
licensed contractor or tradesman
who would like to
be contacted to
bid on or work on any projects, please
contact Watson at 860 334-8284 or
[email protected].
A business card would also be helpful.
It is the Committee Chairpersons responsibility to have projects
for these work parties. Chairpersons
are to contact Rich Civitello with your
work list at the E Board meeting.
Meeting Information
Quaker Hill Rod and Gun Club
General Membership meetings
are held on the third Thursday of
each month, except July and August, at 7PM in Sullivan Hall at
261
Oxoboxo
Dam
Road,
Oakdale, CT 06370
CLUB OFFICERS
President
Richard Civitello
860-884-5009
[email protected]
Vice President
Vacant
Treasurer
Robert Giffen
860 608 7137
[email protected]
Secretary
Timothy Fournier
[email protected]
Sergeant at Arms
Dave Madole
Trustees:
Jeff Urgitis, Keith Griffin, Ralph
Jackson, Scott Pierce, and Ross
Sanfillippo
Contacting Officers
When contacting officers
please leave your complete name,
member number, and a contact
number or email to insure a prompt
response.
Range Closures
The Carroll Indoor Range is
always closed during Executive
and General Membership Meetings
and any Club House activity.
Page 3
Lawyer Zone
By
Jack O'Brien
Club Attorney
I just returned to Connecticut after a nine
week, 8000 mile travel-trailer trip with my wife
across this great nation. My "bucket list" consisted of this trip which I put off for a number of
years.
Once we crossed the Mississippi River
its seemed to be a different country. Often we
saw men and women carrying side arms in
open carry states. On several occasions I
stopped in gun stores to price out ammunition. I couldn't believe the price of ammo. Most
often it was 1/2 to1/3 what we pay here in the
East. When I asked about handguns the shops
were eager to show me various handguns and
freely handed them to me. I did not have to
show any permits until the time of purchase.
Firearms are way of life in western
states. They are not "Gun-Nuts" but honest
and sincere people firm in their belief in the
Second Amendment and especially in their
right to carry a firearm. On one occasion I was
caught staring at a man walking down the
street in Cody, Wyoming with a gun strapped to
his hip. He came over to me and asked if I was
from the East. After a few minutes of conversation he said "Welcome to Wyoming. A state
where honesty, and love of Country IS NOT
POLITICALLY INCORRECT."
I left the western states convinced that
this is the backbone of our great country. You
gotta love them.
QH Junior Program
Mark Wujtewicz, Quaker Hill Junior Director, has announced that the 2016-17 Quaker Hill Junior Program has begun.
Junior practice smallbore competitive
marksmanship on Friday evenings in the Carroll Range under the supervision of a trained
staff of coaches and instructors. Contact Mark
Wujtewicz, at [email protected] for information.
Club Elections
With the 2017 Election in
the rearview mirror we must
now turn out attention to the
Club’s biennial election to be held in April.
All offices will be open. The President and Treasurer incumbents have announced that they will not run for another
term and the vacant vice president's chair
must also be filled.
Interested parties should make their
intention to run known to the membership.
New London
County Pistol
League
The New London County Pistol League
is still in its early stages and the Club teams
find themselves at opposite ends of the spectrum.
The QH Nutmegs stand at 5-2 behind
the 280 average of Bob Droesch while QH
Team is 1-6 with Phil Kohanski in the lead
shooting a 278.
The NLCPL shoots on Monday nights in
various ranges in southeastern Connecticut.
Anyone interested in shooting in the New London County Pistol League contact Gary
Zawistowski [email protected] or
Jack Santo, [email protected]
Mohegan Rifle League
The undefeated Quaker Hill
Magnums lead the Mohegan League with a
20-0 record. The Quaker Hill Team is rebounding from a weak start and, at 11-9, has
a good chance to overtake the teams ahead
and move into second place.
Rifle shooters contact QH captain Mark Wujtewicz, [email protected] ,
or Magnum captain Hap Rocketto, [email protected] to shoot in the Mohegan Rifle
League. .
Page 4
The Quaker Hill Rod and Gun Club Newsletter
Carrol Range
Winter
Schedule
The Carroll Range is reserved for on the
following days for Club sanctioned activities on
the following days and times from October 1 st
through the end of March.
Monday: Montville High School-3PM to
6PM and New London County Pistol League7PM to 11PM
Tuesday: Grasso Technical High School3PM to 6PM
Wednesday: Montville High School-3PM
to 6PM and Mohegan Rifle League- 7PM to
11PM
Thursday: Grasso Technical High School3PM to 6PM
Friday: Southwestern Rifle League-10AM
to Noon and Quaker Hill Junior Program-6PM to
10PM
The Carroll Range is closed on the first
and third Thursdays of each month during Executive Board and General Membership Meetings.
The 2016 Club
Fall Trap
League
The 2016 Club Fall Trap
League will run through November 15th. It
is shot Tuesday and Thursday morning at
9am, Thursday evenings from 4:30pm until
complete, and Sunday afternoons at
12:30pm. Two rounds, 16 yard and Handicap, are shot each week for score under
ATA rules. Entry fee is $10.00 per competitor.
Yearend awards will be High Over
All, 16 yard and Handicap champion
If interested in competing contact
Ray at 860 460-3387 or stop in at the
skeet house at match time. Everybody is
Fall Pin
League
Hunting News
Pheasant season
started October 15th and
birds will be put out 1/2
hour before sunrise.
Come early to fill
out release forms and
buy
your
QHRGC
pheasant tags, $50)
which may be purchased from Shannon Rogers
or the Kronks.
All ranges will be closed until 10 am on
Saturday mornings now through Thanksgiving.
Licenses to fish, hunt, and trap in Connecticut can be purchased online by going to Connecticut's Online Sportsmen Licensing System.
Licenses and permits can also be purchased directly from many town clerks and retail
agents
Direct hunting questions to chair Shannon
Rodgers at [email protected] or 207-83-.
ply.
The Fall Outdoor
Pin League will run until
December 10th. This is
a bowling pin style
league and Bowling Pin
League match rules ap-
The targets are the special steel pin
racks we use on the pin tables. This is
a .22 pistol, semi-automatic and/or revolver, event. Entry fee is $10 per gun.
Direct any questions on Pins to
Frank Torchia at [email protected] or
Tony Goulart at [email protected].
Winter League Recruiting
.Anyone interested in shooting in
the New London County Pistol League
contact team captains Gary Zawistowski at
[email protected] or Jack Santo, [email protected]
Rifle
shooters
contact
Mark
Wujtewicz, [email protected], or
Hap Rocketto, [email protected] to shoot
in the Mohegan Rifle League.
Page 5
Practical Pistol
Winners for the October United States Practical Shooting Assocaition events are Dave
Schweitzer, Darren Hall, and Justin Montgomer
Summer Pins competition saw the Auto Division won by Tony Goulart while Joe Trudell took
Revolver division honors. The Most Improved shooter was Mike McLnerney.
Practical pistol matches are shot on Saturday mornings at 9AM with set up at 8 AM. Matches
use USPSA targets and rules. There are three or four scenarios per match, with from eight to 30
rounds fired per scenario, for 80 to 100 total rounds b fired.
If the weather forecast is iffy, on Friday email will be sent out to past participants informing
them if the match will be held.
Online match registration is available. Emailed weekly results are posted electronically after
each match, If you wish to be added to the email list, or have any questions, please contact match
communications director Jean Martin at [email protected].
Work Hours
Anyone needing work hours contact range chairman. Work hours can always be completed at
matches by assisting as tapers and steel setters.
Ideas for range improvements and/or things members would like add to ranges such as targets, plate racks, etc. are always welcome by the range chairman.
As always please pickup range when finished shooting dispose of targets, move tables and
chairs to the side of the range. This will be important in the coming months as the range will need to
be plowed.
Range Contact
Direct Practical Pistol Range certification requests , questions, any ideas to improve the
range, or problems with the range to Range Chair Darren Hall at 860-608-5546 or [email protected]
Plate Matches
Sunday, October 30, 2016 was a gorgeous fall day for the annual charity plate shoot. A
season record 21 shooters turned out, and a total of $287 was raised for Montville Youth Services.
Rob Neudecker won the rifle event with Mike McInerney second, rounding out the winners
was Matt Pach who took third place after an exciting five way timed shoot off. Handgunner Konrad
Klein finished first with Tom Vanty in second and Don Dyer closing out those in the winner’s circle
with his third place finish.
Thanks to all the club members who make these matches run smoothly by generously helping to set up, run, break down, and repair equipment.
Plate Matches for .22 rifles and pistols are open to all members and guests. It’s a friendly
competition and young and new shooters are welcome. They are held the last Sunday of the
month from April through October starting at 9AM on the Practical Pistol Range.
Two separate events are held,.22 rimfire rifle at 25 yards and .22 rimfire pistol at 15 yards
using any optic sight, a ten round maximum load with unlimited reloads, and no shooting aids. In
each event the competitor shoots seven times head on head against another shooter
Each event costs $5, proceeds divided between first three winners and the club. Non-club
members must have on file and pay an additional $1 insurance surcharge.
Questions may be directed to Allen Egerton at either [email protected], or at 860-9128067.
Shooting At A Mark: An American Tradition...
The study of United States history is one of my great pleasures and the more obscure and mysteriously obscure the greater my enjoyment. I revel in the trivial minutiae of our nation’s rich past.
For example do you know that the USS Merrimack and the CSS Virginia were the same ship?
How about that fact the first battle of the Civil War, Bull Run, took place on William McLean's farm, the Yorkshire Plantation, in Manassas, Virginia. McLean then moved his family westward to avoid the war and bought
a farm near Appomattox Court House. When General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant he did so in the parlor of McLean's house.
What of the curious juxtaposition of Major Robert Rogers, Colonial American hero and commander of Rogers’
Rangers of French and Indian War fame-the precursor to our modern US Rangers, capturing Revolutionary
War hero Captain Nathan Hale of Connecticut’s Knowlton Rangers.
Speaking of Rogers, did you know that competitive marksmanship, shooting at a mark, is almost as
old as the nation and involved some rather colorful figures in our nation’s history?
Captain-Lieutenant Henry Pringle of the 27th Foot wrote that Rogers’ Rangers “shoot amazingly well,
all Ball& mostly with riffled barrels. One of their officers the other day, at four shots with four balls, killed a
brace of Deer, a Pheasant, and a pair of wild ducks-the latter he killed with one Shot”
The Rangers often went out in small parties to hunt and sharpen their marksmanship skills, a habit of
which their British commander, Colonel William Haviland, took a dim view. Off course he regularly looked
down his long aristocratic nose at what he perceived were undisciplined provincial troops and, in his particularly parsimonious military administrative mind, their excessive use of scarce powder and ball. He forbade
them from “shooting at marks” in their encampment. In response the Rangers simply went off a distance and
practiced, but well within earshot of Haviland.
Dueling was a popular past time in the new republic and it was reported that politician and filibuster,
not to mention third vice president of the United States, Aaron Burr,…”spent several hours a day for three
months shooting at a mark until "he could cut a ball every time the size of a dollar at ten paces” in his run up
to his duel on Weehawken Heights with Alexander Hamilton, first Secretary of the Treasury, on July 11, 1804.
It was a bad choice of venue by Hamilton as his son Philip had fallen in a duel on the same spot three years
earlier. But, then again, who of has not returned to a range where we had a shooting disaster in hopes of bettering our performance?
Joseph Smith, Jr., the founder of the Church of the Latter Day Saints, the Mormons, was a marksman
of sorts. Wilford Woodruff, who would succeed Smith as a leader of the church, wrote, “I first met Joseph
Smith in the streets of Kirtland. He had on an old hat, and a pistol in his hand. Said he, ‘Brother Woodruff, I’ve
been out shooting at a mark, and I wanted to see if I could hit anything.’ And, said he, ‘Have you any objection to it?’ ‘Not at all,’ said I. ‘There is no law against a man shooting at a mark, that I know of.’
Then there was the ‘enfant terrible of the US Army, George Smith Patton. Known for packing a pair of
ivory handle pistols, a 45 caliber Model 1873 single action revolver, serial number 332088, equipped with a
lanyard loop with the right hand ivory grip bearing an interlocked vertical “GSP” while the left displayed a rampant eagle. The 4.75 inch barrel and the frame were covered with scrollwork and filigree. The other was a
Smith and Wesson .357 Magnum revolver, serial number 47022, with a 3.5 inch barrel, fitted with ivory handles and a lanyard loop to more-or-less match his Colt. The right hand grip carried the same style interlocking “GSP” monogram as the Colt but the metal had a simple blued finish with no engraving.
Patton was one of the earliest shooters on record to fall out of medal contention because of a tight
group. Patton placed fourth in Pentathlon at the Stockholm Olympic Games of 1912. Out of five events, he
placed second in swimming; third in cross-country riding; first in fencing, but a dismal 27th in pistol shooting.
A better showing in shooting might well have assured him an Olympic medal.
The probable reason for his poor score was that Patton bull headedly insisted on using an issue 38
caliber military revolver; after all it was the Military Pentathlon. There were no requirements as to what pistol
had to be used and the other entrants chose to shoot 22 caliber pistols for a host of good reasons, chief
among them being the reduced recoil. Patton’s ten bullets had torn out one ragged hole in his target and as a
result only nine of his ten shots could be identified and scored. To his credit he took the loss with good grace.
The British would come up with the idea of a backer to locate shots in a tight group in the early 1920s,
too late for Patton but, perhaps that delay was the cause Patton's antipathy toward his British counterparts
during World War II.