The Los Angeles Rifle & Revolver Clubs 100th Anniversary year continues to produce great matches, attended by competitors from all over California and Arizona. The annual All American 6400 proved to be a hard fought contest with the lead changing many times in the various classes as the ever tough LAR&R winds were out in full force for the four day Smallbore marathon. Despite the wind, conditions were pleasant with temperature in the 80’s and moderate humidity.
Day 1 of the match, shot with metallic sights, saw Dennis Flaharty of Irvine take an early lead with a 400-23X in the Dewar, which he held through the 100 yard match. At that point, Dennis started to have some mechanical problems with his trigger which he wasn’t able to repair until that night. Dennis’ 400 was the only 400 fired all day in a field of great shooters as the wind got the best of many competitors in the 50 Meter and 50 Yard matches. However, Rick Curtis of Phoenix climbed to the top in the Meter match and held on through the 50 Yard match, finishing the day on top with a 1590-100X, followed by German Salazar, also of Phoenix, at 1589-97X and then Dennis at 1588-90X.
The Expert class was just as tight as the Masters, with Katie Van Bogaert of La Canada and Stephanie Costello of Queen Creek, Arizona trading the lead a few times during the day. Katie ended in the lead at 1580-82X with Stephanie at 1579-77X and in third place was Christine Costello with a 1576-61X. There are still some male shooters in the Expert class but they seemed to be hiding while the women took all the top spots! Joyce Kim from Gilbert, Arizona led the Sharpshooters with a strong 1582-76X with Charlie Linn of Apple Valley in second at 1575-76X and John Giles in third at 1569-72X. The closest contest of the day was in the Marksman class where Van Lawrence shot a 1487-23 followed by Jennifer Smith of Long Beach at 1586-23 and Amanda McMullin of San Dimas at 1485-24. Match Director Ray Del Rio’s barbeque on Saturday was a welcome respite for the group of wind-weary shooters. There’s nothing like sharing your tale of woe over good food to ease the pain – a bit.
On Day 2, an any-sight day, most of the competitors attached scopes to their rifles, heeding the old adage “In scope there’s hope”. That hope was to be short lived as the winds cranked back up to the 20 mph range by the time the 100 yard match began. The wind, quickly switching from 9:00 to 1:00, not to mention constantly changing speed, left many competitors silently wondering if they’d forgotten all they once knew. Once again, 400’s were as scarce as a desert rainstorm with only four fired during the day (Rick, Dennis, Katie and Dara Zachary). Rick once again led the Masters, finishing with a 1596-110X, Dennis in second at 1595-91X and German trailing at 1592-115X. In the aggregate, Rick now held a three point lead over Dennis and five points over German; a tough deficit to overcome.
Dara Zachary of Clovis used her 400 and a few other good scores to head the Expert Class and had the Masters looking over their shoulders with a solid 1590-99X. Lloyd Miller of Bermuda Dunes was second at 1588-93X and Katie's 1582-88X was third. Paul Feist, whois 13 hour drive from Eureka won him the Long Distance award followed at 1578-77X. In the Sharpshooter class, Charlie Linn, who seems to have outgrown his classification, scored a 1582-82X to close the gap to Joyce Kim who’s 1579-77X still had her in the aggregate lead by four points while Saugus resident Mark Kellerman’s 1577-65X was good for third place. The Marksmen kept up in their battle with Jacob Miller stepping up to a 1561-54X, with Brian Macias of Monrovia following at 1533-36X and then Jennifer Smith at 1531-38X. After the shooting ended, a large group of shooters and friends made their way to The Boat restaurant on Rosemead and Huntington Drive for hamburgers and reflection. There had to be a way to crack the code on that wind – it just wasn’t readily apparent.
In keeping with the 4th of July spirit of the match, David Kimes set up a giant inflatable US flag and Uncle Sam to greet competitors on Day 3. Metallic sights were once again the order of the day, temperature and humidity remained constant (high 80’s, 25%) and our old friend the wind was back as well. The Master class saw an unexpected turnaround as slowly, match by match, Rick Curtis relinquished his seemingly solid lead. By day’s end, German won the day and was in the aggregate lead with a 1590-95X, followed by Sam Thoman of Long Beach at 1580-62X with Rick trailing at 1578-85X. German’s aggregate lead was seven points over Rick and fourteen points over Dennis (1574-79X); the writing on the wall was coming into focus.
In the Expert class things were far from quiet as Bob De Pasque from Montrose rose to the top with a very nice 1584-66X that included match winning scores in the Dewar and 100 Yard matches. Christine Costello placed second with a 1577-77X and Mike Tuck of Los Angeles was close behind in third at 1576-76X. Like Bob, Doan Treavor of Lake Forest struck a blow for the Seniors, winning the day in the Sharpshooter class at 1573-74X followed by Lake Forest’s Kent Kwan at 1566-63X and Joyce Kim at 1564-62X. Jennifer Smith once gain topped the Marksmen with a good 1531-45X while Brian Macias 1500-35X and Amanda McMullin 1500-34X had the day’s closest finish to settle second and third place.
In any 6400, there is a fair amount of fatigue setting in by Day 4 but the LAR&R competitors kept their spirits and scores high on the final day. Scopes again went on the rifles and the match began a few minutes earlier than previous days in an attempt to beat the wind a little. German and Dennis traded the day’s lead back and forth; ending with Dennis on top at 1594-117X to German’s 1593-104X. Rick was in third at 1587-104X. Rick had to contend with a balky scope and replaced it with metallic sights during the 50 Meter match – yes, during the match!
Dara Zachary once again showed that when the glass goes on the rifle, the other Experts had better clear out. She shot a 1588-86X to edge out Mike Tuck’s 1586-95X and Katie Van Bogaert followed them in at 1581-73X. Doan Treavor retained his good form from the previous day, topping the Sharpshooter class at 1575-79X, with Joyce Kim (1559-63X) and John Giles (1553-63X) close behind. In the Marksman class, Jennifer Smith stretched her lead with a solid 1522-34X over Brian Macias’ 1512-33X and V. Lawrence’s 1510-27X.
When the smoke cleared and the aggregate scores were computed, the results for the 6400 were:
1st - German Salazar 6364-411
2nd - Rick Curtis 6351-399
3rd - Dennis Flaharty 6351-377
1st Expert - Katie Van Bogaert 6315-312
2nd Expert - Dara Zachary 6308-318
3rd Expert - Christine Costello 6303-299
1st Sharpshooter - Joyce Kim 6284-278
2nd Sharpshooter - Doan Treavor 6247-263
3rd Sharpshooter - John Giles 6230-237
1st Marksman - Jennifer Smith 6070-151
2nd Marksman - Brian Macias 6000-127
3rd Marksman - Amanda McMullin 5991-130
High Senior - Sam Thoman 6295-294
High Woman - Dara Zachary 6308-318
High Junior - Christine Costello 6303-299
As in every long match, there were moments of triumph and despair for everyone. Charlie Linn hung the wrong target (50Y at 50M) twice, costing him 400 points. Rick’s scope failure and Dennis’ trigger troubles had to be overcome. Sam Thoman had some bedding problems with his rifle, German shot through 15 sighters on the first bull of a 50 Meter card on Day three and had to run back to the benches for more ammo in order to continue firing – and surely there were many more stories like those. On the other hand, Dara Zachary, Bob De Pasque and Mike Tuck showed us some great shooting from the Expert class, winning a number of matches outright. Women won three out of the four classes and the Juniors showed the old times that the sport is in good hands.
Match Director, Ray Del Rio and his crew including Eddie Abalo, Vicki Linn and Mike Costello and Dan Steffan ran an efficient and well organized match. A large number of beautiful permanent trophies were presented to the competitors as well as cash and merchandise prizes exceeding $3,000.00. The overall winner was awarded $400 and class winners won $100 each. Trophy plaques in the Camp Perry tradition were awarded to each winner as a permanent memento of his or her victory. Olympic medallist Vic Auer (1972) and World Champion David Kimes (1974, 1978) presented the awards and another chapter in the club’s long and distinguished history was in the books.
The club’s website is located at: http://www.lafn.org/~larr