You Can!

I’m always amazed at how often we, as people, set barriers for ourselves. “Can’t” seems to be word most often used to set those barriers. I hear it all the time among shooters. “I can’t shoot offhand…I can’t make Master Class… I can’t shoot in the wind… I can’t break 1,200 in the Winter .22 Schuetzen League.” You name it – I’ve heard it –  and it drives me crazy! Henry Ford is credited with saying, “Whether you think you can or you can’t, you are right.” I love that saying and shooters have learned not to use the CAN’T word around me. 

Sometimes the problems that would be left unsolved if we just said, CAN’T and gave up, could lead to some pretty great things if we just said, “I can.” Here at the Smithmoor Range in Carpenter, Wyoming, that’s what happened. I want to tell you about it mostly because next time you might be thinking CAN’T, I want you to think of Smithmoor and think “CAN.”

For quite a while, I was interested in and wanted to shoot BPCR rifles. A close family friend ordered a new Shiloh Sharps rifle back in 1990, before the Quigley movie came out. He actually ordered it from Wolfgang Droege, the original owner of the Shiloh Sharps Company and took delivery of it from the Bryan family who had recently purchased the business. When it arrived, I was only 12 years old and I’ll never forget the experience of handling that rifle. It was almost a spiritual event and between the beauty of that rifle and watching “Quigley Down Under”, BPCR competition and rifles have always interested me. I read the Black Powder Cartridge News, and always watched for articles by Mike Venturino regarding anything to do with BPCR. For one reason or another, it wasn’t until 2012, that I was able to purchase my first rifle and began shooting BPCR Silhouette at the Golden Gun Club in Watkins, Colorado.

The winter of 2012-2013, was quite open and we were able to have matches every month. Under the careful tutelage of match director Michael Rix, and expert riflemen Jack Odor, Rick Moritz, and Brad Rice, I enjoyed it immensely. The challenge of the sport, and all the new friends I met was a great experience for me and I still treasure them. The winter of 2013-2014, was a different story and at one point I went six months without being able to attend a match. Something had to be done – but what? We can’t do anything about the weather, right? Wrong! A plan was hatched to build a building that we could shoot silhouette matches from in inclement weather and consequently the Smithmoor Range was born. 

After reviewing pictures and reading numerous articles about historic Schuetzen houses around the country, I knew a similar idea could be done for 22 BPCR silhouette. Our predominant winds here in southeast Wyoming, come from the northwest. Making good use of old powerline poles, and scrounging whatever good deals on materials we could find, a 16 by 64-foot building was erected in a north-south fashion. Four, eight-foot overhead doors were installed along the east side, with one large sliding window in the center. A wood stove made from a couple of old oil drums kept it warm, and after small berms were pushed up with a backhoe, we were in business. Total expenses in the building and range were about $8,000. I had spent more than that on the two rifles I was using to compete with.

We held our first match in November of 2014, and 12 shooters entered. We had a great time and I had no idea what the Smithmoor Range would turn into. We have since made many additions to the original shooting shed, and built a complete full-size 500-meter silhouette range with a clubhouse, bunkhouse, and 80-foot covered firing line. We hold our Winter Series 22 BPCR matches November through April, with the season finale in April. Most of the matches fill to capacity and several shooters are left on the waiting list. A couple of years ago we started holding two matches a month to help give everyone a chance to enter. We also hold monthly regular BPCR matches in the summer and host the Smithmoor Cup BPCR Championship in conjunction with the Rocky Mountain Regional 22 BPCR Championship in August of each year. They normally fill to capacity as well.

If you are thinking this story sounds pretty amazing, especially at a time when our sport is thought to be on the decline, you are right. Although much of the success must be attributed to a group of active and supportive shooters, the fact remains that one person took the initiative and acted as a leader. Being a match director has been a very rewarding experience and I am constantly impressed by how much help I receive. Everyone in our group finds their own way to help. Those with good finances help with money, those with time come help build and work on the range, and those that can call matches and run the line do that. Different shooters help my wife, Coralee, who provides a meal each month. It is often a very simple, but it is always really tasty. More than one shooter has said they come for the food, and shoot while they are there!

Newcomers to our range are often surprised by the fact that we do not charge for our monthly matches. I absolutely love to be an excuse killer and not give potential shooters any reason not to be there. No money? No rifle? No ammunition? That’s OK, just show up and we will set you up. There is a donation can shooters can contribute to if they are so inclined, but it not expected. Folks often wonder how we can do this and the fact is, I don’t know either. I feel like I spend an inordinate amount of my life worrying about money and financing. Shooting is supposed to be fun, so I just choose to not worry about the money when we are shooting. If it is supposed to happen, it will, and somehow money has never really been a problem for us.

I see other clubs across the country struggling to find shooters and witness long-time monthly matches ceasing, while various championship matches have stopped being held. It saddens me to see this and while I don’t think they necessarily made mistakes, I do think there are a handful of general guidelines that need to be followed for a match to be successful. First, even though our matches are very social, at their heart they are still a competition and that’s why people come and shoot. Celebrate the winners and let everyone who didn’t win wish that they had. Any attempt to “socialize” the event and give participation trophies ends poorly. “Steel sharpens steel,” and we have seen the shooters at Smithmoor Range grow in number and skill level because we have always promoted competition.

Close behind the priority of competition is to remember to make the matches fun. We all have the stresses of normal life off the range and we come to the matches to leave that behind for a little while. We laugh and josh each other at every chance, while being alert to those having problems and being ready to help. We often hold a “5th Station” during our winter series and I have fun varying that target each match. Numerous gongs, paper targets, and silhouettes are shot from both prone and offhand positions that give the shooters a special challenge. You can find ways to make your match fun and unique, too.

For many of us, winter is our slow time. There are lots of matches and activities to do in the summer, but not as much in the winter. I think there should be more shooting sheds like the one here at Smithmoor around the country. They can be constructed for affordable amounts at existing shooting clubs or they can be easily built on private property. One of the great things about .22 silhouette matches is a large acreage is not required. Our range sits on just two acres. A non-profit company can easily be set up (or an LLC) to limit liability to the owners. I would really like Smithmoor Range to be both an example and an inspiration for interested parties around the country. Please reach out if I can help in any way. You will find us on the web at SmithmoorRange.com or on Facebook under Smithmoor Range. Always remember . . . You Can!