Results for the rimfire and centerfire handgun ballon competitions held on January 24h, 2026
While it didn’t actually rain on us today, the range was a muddy mess and it was cold with a very, very brisk wind. As you can imagine, a windy day for a ballon match makes things extremely challenging.
Both the rimfire and centerfire handgun matches are held using the same format. Shooters fire at four 8 inch, then four 6 inch and finally, four 4 inch balloons at a distance of 25 yards. These balloons are hung from a rope stretched across the range using strings. This means that the balloons swing with the slightest gust of wind…and they were really swinging today! Scoring is done by counting the number of shots a shooter has to take to hit all of the balloons with a maximum of four shots per balloon in order, from left to right. If the shooter misses on the fourth shot, they move to the next balloon and score a five. If you hit each balloon with one shot, that would be a perfect score of 12. We held the rimfire handgun match first. We had nine brave members participating and the results were:
Kaci Maine took first place by using her Ruger Mark II to score an 18. Exceptional shooting, Kaci. On a side note, to demonstrate how bad the wind was blowing, last year’s first place had a perfect 12 score.
Devin Maine used his Ruger MKII and Scott Stohr using a Volquartsen Black Mamba, both scored 20. After a brief shoot off at more four inch balloons, Scott hit his balloon first to take second place, leaving Devin in third. Awesome marksmanship, Devin!
In a shoot off for fourth place were Ross Mantei and Barry McAllister. They both used a Volquartsen Black Mamba (Barry was having trouble with his handgun and had to borrow one) to shoot a score of 25. After a brief shootout at four inch balloons again, Ross hit first and took fourth place. Great job, gentleman! Kudos to Barry for finishing in the top five while using a gun he’d never fired before.
In the centerfire handgun match, we had the same nine crazy (I mean brave) members participating and the results were:
Kaci Maine once more took first place by using her Smith and Wesson 686 in .38/.357 to score 16. More exceptional shooting, Kaci!
Devin Maine, using his Sig P320 in 9 mm and Scott Stohr, using his Taurus 608 in .38/.357 again tied for second and third with a score of 18. After another shoot off at more four inch balloons, Scott was lucky enough to hit his balloon first and take second and Devin ended in third. More awesome marksmanship, Devin!
Finally, we had Raymond Fox finish in fourth place by using his Smith and Wesson 686 in .38/.357 to score 22. Terrific job, Raymond!
Please join us on January 31st starting at 8 am for the first work day of the year. As you know, there are a lot of target holders that need to be repaired or replaced. Our range master, Roland Pena, will have a list of other tasks that will need to be accomplished.
The next two competitions will be held on February 15th. These will be the centerfire rifle bench and bullseye matches at 100 and 200 yards.
As always, please let an officer know if you have any questions or concerns.
Regards,
Scott
