Spearpoint Kansas ELR Match

Chadby Kinyon

6/16/22 12:10am As Joe and I pulled out of my driveway in what most would consider the middle of the night, there was excitement in the air, along with a sense of dread. Excitement to attend the ELR competition at Spearpoint Ranch in Lincoln, Kansas, for the first time and yet the dread of the drive. We were facing a 16+ hour drive to one of the best long-range facilities in the country. A journey that would take us through Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, and Kansas, racking up 1,165 miles on Joe’s loaded down F150. We would drive through the night and most of the next day to reach our destination. As luck would have it, we arrived in Rifle, CO, at around 8am, just right to stretch our legs, gas up, and get breakfast. So when on a road trip to an extreme long-range shooting competition, how do you not stop for breakfast at Shooters Grill in Rifle, CO? It seemed like a perfect fit to us. I had a chicken fried steak not quite the size of a plate, country-style gravy, scrambled eggs, sourdough toast, and hash browns with a big glass of OJ to wash it all down. With our bellies full, we purchased a couple of T-shirts that were, shall we say, critical of Alec Baldwin’s firearm safety skills, and then back on the road. The next stop would be Lincoln, Kansas, not to be confused with Lincoln, Nebraska, when making hotel reservations. This was the point in our trip when we became aware of that fun fact.

We arrived at the only hotel in Lincoln a little after 5pm. We checked into The Post Rock hotel. Strange name for a hotel, right? Well, not really. As it turns out, they used cut limestone as fence posts in this particular part of Kansas. They are literally everywhere, and I would guess them to be well in excess of 100 years old. I think you make do with what you have, and they didn’t have trees to spare for making fence posts.

I will assume that none of you have been to this little town in the middle of the heartland so let me set the scene for you. Lincoln is a small town of about 1,100 people, so the streets kinda roll up in the evening and everything closes down. We went looking for dinner. As it turned out, the only place to get fed that evening was at this little cafe at our hotel. The owners of the hotel also owned the restaurant. I didn’t get exactly what country they were originally from, but the cuisine is described as “Himalayan.” As a meat and potatoes guy, I ordered a double cheeseburger and fries instead of the more exotic fare which, I’m pretty sure included some part of a goat. It wasn’t quite The Double Pit with bacon from The Pit Stop in Boulder City, NV, but it was really quite good. Part of me wonders if it was actually goat. I’ve never had goat before but if it was it’s totally edible. With our bellies full once again and exhausted from the drive, we turned in early. We more or less had a free day tomorrow.

6/17/22 10:00am After a slow morning getting up and around, we decided to take a short drive 60 miles back the way we had come to Hays, KS to check out Joe Bob Outfitters. At one time, years ago, I had purchased AR parts from them for a rifle I was building, and we were curious about what the large online retailer might have. As it turned out, they didn’t have much that either of us needed. If either of us had been building an AR, we might have had a different opinion. I got a couple of new work pocket knives that I needed since the one I had was only a knife by shape, not by function, and I got a smoking deal on them since they were on the clearance table.

6/17/22 3:00pm After returning to Lincoln, we decided to make a run up the road from our motel to check out Spearpoint Ranch. Upon arriving at the ranch, I met Steve Wirth, the owner and operator of the ranch. Steve gave us the nickel tour of the facility, which is still in the finishing stages of a remodel but shaping up to be a first-class destination. The lodge has a massive common room that boasts big comfy chairs, couches, a huge flat-screen TV, a pool table, a bar, and a small kitchen area with a retail and office area that are still under construction, taking up one corner. The bedrooms were like a hotel room with two queen beds and a bathroom. The price of your room includes family-style dining, prepared by Steve’s wife Laura, and you won’t hear any complaining around that table, just the sound of silverware moving the food. While visiting with the guys at the sight in range, it was made clear that you don’t want to miss or, for that matter, even be late for any meal made by Laura as she has skills when it comes to the culinary arts. We weren’t staying at the ranch; they simply didn’t have room for us because they were booked solid through the weekend. Next time this is where we will hopefully stay.

After receiving directions from Steve, we headed off to the zeroing range. The range had paper targets at 100 yards and a couple of steel plates at 1400 yards. We set up all our gear just like a regular range session so we would know how the environment (humidity) would affect our bullet flight. We each fired a few shots and were on target, so it became more of a social event. I met people that I “knew” but only from internet chats. I had never actually met them in person. I was disappointed to find out that a couple of friends I made over the years had to cancel at the last minute, and I wouldn’t get to see them again this trip. My old friend Bruce Baum was there, and it was nice to catch up with him. Early to bed, we would need to be back at the range for the safety briefing at 8:00am the next day.

6/18/22 7:00am When we pulled into the range parking area, there were just a few other vehicles and about a dozen people milling around establishing their camps for the day. This involved setting up some sort of sun shade, folding chairs, and lots of coolers and cases. Once the base camps were set up, the attention turned to spotting scopes, tripods, and support gear. I don’t think I’ve EVER seen this much glass in a single location in my entire life, including Cabela’s, and not cheap glass either. One in particular sticks out in my mind. Brian Wink has a set up with 2 Swarovski STR80s mounted together like binoculars. The scopes have an electronic reticle in them that can be turned on or off. The left scope had a Mil reticle and the right one had an MOA reticle. This would be what I consider the top end of spotters. Most shooters or teams have more than one spotting scope as they perform different functions. For example, I have two, one for actual spotting that is equipped with a reticle inside, so when you call corrections to your partner, you are giving more information than your best guess. The second is equipped with a phone scope that allows a cellphone to take the place of your eye and look through the spotting scope to take pictures or, in this case, record video for review in case there is a discrepancy on whether a round hit or missed the target. It’s a little like having dash cam footage for the police in the event of an accident. Without the video, you have no case to appeal, and by the way, the appeal process works like this. You narrow the appeal to a-

-specific shot on a particular target. You then hand Steve a $100 bill. The tower will then review the video footage of the shot in question. If you are right, you get your $100 back and the corresponding points added to your total score. If you are wrong, Steve keeps the money and the points. This process keeps the protests to an absolute minimum while still allowing them.

Next came the rifles. As discussed in previous articles, these things are big and heavy, most being five feet or more in length and weighing in excess of 30 lbs. I find it interesting the different ways folks are addressing the same ballistic problems, and we all think we have answered it in the best way possible. People slowly opened up their cases and started reassembling their rifles from traveling to shooting configuration. Depending on how they travel, this could be as simple as attaching a bipod for someone who drove the whole way. Or a little more intense by remounting the action into the chassis or stock, remounting the scope to the action, and then putting the bipod back on for someone who flew. It’s almost impossible to find a case that will house one of these big rifles without having to take it apart in some way. Several folks had converted the back of a pickup into a rolling armory. Several had drawers that held their rifles and ammo, then case after case of support equipment. A full-sized pickup is just about the right amount of room for two shooters to transport all the necessary equipment for one of these weekends. A camper shell might be necessary if you are carpooling more than that.

As I strolled through the parking area visiting with people, I realized that yes, some of these folks are local to Kansas, but the vast majority are from out of the area. Joe and I came from Las Vegas, and just looking at license plates, I saw KS, NE, OK, GA, MS, AR, TX, TN, CO, KY, MI, NV, WA, FL, MO, and ID so when at some point I come to you looking for support for a match being held in the Palouse (once I retire and move back home) please realize that The Tribe travels. They bring their wallets with them and, to a degree, leave the contents behind when they head home, the same as softball, basketball, trap shooting, or any other traveling sport.

I know we are in the heartland of the country, and things are different here in many ways. Not that it’s a bad thing, in fact quite the opposite. Immediately after the safety briefing, the entire crowd, with no exception, turned to the American flag atop the tower, took off their hats, placed their hand over their heart, and broke out into the pledge of allegiance which filled my lungs like a breath of fresh air. The range is now hot!

I had plenty of time to stew in my competitive juices as I was 22nd of 42 in the firing order. Trust me when I say that the pressure was on, even if it was only in my head. A good portion of the top long-range shooters in the country call this their home range, and they are here in force. I know their name and who they are but hadn’t had the chance to compete against most of them. These are the guys with sponsor names all over their jerseys and their names on the back. I had a couple of hours to pass before firing my first shots. This isn’t the best position to be in since the wind in the early morning is usually at its calmest. The wind will slowly increase as the day goes on, generally peaking around 5pm.

-and 1669 yards), I moved my gear onto the firing line, unaware- that Team Cutting Edge and Safety First Tactical teams had unknowingly taken up residency in my head. Watching these guys shoot was a lot like watching a NASCAR pit crew. Everyone has a job, and they do it like a finely tuned machine. This got into my head and really hurt me on the first set of targets. The single shot cold bore (CB) target was set at a distance between T1 and T2. For whatever reason, I forgot to adjust my elevation turret down after the cold bore shot. This caused me to miss the first 3 shots on the T1 distance. It wasn’t until I heard my buddy Bruce call out from behind me, “Did you adjust your elevation after the CB?” Once I made that adjustment, I managed impacts with the 4th and 5th shots, but the damage was done, and there were no do-overs. I then made my adjustments for T2 and managed to get impacts on the 3rd and 5th shots at 1669 yards. It was time to regroup and let the rifle cool off as the barrel was hot enough that I didn’t want to touch it. (Sorry about the barrel abuse, Klayt.) I would have roughly a half hour to get my mind right and cool the rifle down. When I returned to our tailgate camp, I put my rifle down in the shade, inserted my Chamber Chiller into the rifle action, and turned it on. This is a little fan that blows air down the inside of the barrel—an absolute must to cool down the thick metal walls of the heavy barrel in a timely manner.

6/18/22 12:10pm When I took the line for T3 and T4 (1860, 1943), I was maybe a little more right in my mind but was still hung up on the mistake made in the last round. It was an 18,120-point blunder that had probably moved me halfway down the shooter’s list, but it’s time to suck it up and move on. By this time, the wind had accelerated to roughly 20 mph and was starting to be a pain. T3 yielded 2nd and 3rd round impacts, and T4 gave up 2nd, 3rd, and 4th round impacts. I felt a little better about this round but knew that the final stage could carry the points to move me up the leader board or drop me to the bottom. Time to get into the shade and cool me and the rifle down again.

6/18/22 2:20pm T5 and T6 (2203, 2907) were putting shooters to the test in the afternoon. By this time, the wind was playing around in the 20-30mph range. Why can’t we ever have one of these things on a calm day? As I settled in on T5, the wind only had about a 10-degree left-toright influence. I failed to get a single impact on this target. I hit all around it thanks to the wind’s indecision on what it wanted to do when I squeezed the trigger. T6 compounded this problem with a 23-degree swing to the right, putting the wind at roughly 33 degrees left to right. The math says the two targets were approximately a mile apart, and the shooter needed to significantly shift their position to engage T6. Although I fired 5 times at that target, we still have no idea where they landed as the target area is a small opening in the trees. As I fired, I would make adjustments using my best guess trying to bring the impacts into the open target area, but neither me, my spotter, two other spotters, nor the cameras picked up anything. Only 15 shooters made any impact on this target, and those were, for the most part, early in the day. This put me in a finishing position of 24th in the heavy rifle division. Not a performance that I’m overly proud of but with so many of the top shooters in the country here, I was just happy not to finish last. My blunder on T1 effectively cost me 10 places. Had I made these shots, the easiest ones of the match, I would have finished right next to Brian Wink, who is genuinely a top-tier shooter. Maybe I don’t feel so bad, but then again, perhaps it makes the mistake worse. Only time will tell. The next stop will be Raton, NM, at the NRA Whittington Center at the end of July for a week-long adventure that will host 3 matches with 2 different rifles. Watch for the return of the mighty 7 SAUM. If you have been following this series of articles, and I have sparked an interest, please drop me a note at chad.w.kinyon@gmail.com and relay your interest. I’m always happy to help if I can. With fingers crossed, in the next year I am hoping to bring at least one ELR match and possibly monthly medium-range matches to the Palouse.

• 31,343 pts Best of the West • 25,392 pts Spearpoint Ranch June • 56,735 pts Season Total and 162nd in KO2M rankings • Current Global ELR Ranking 167th and holding.