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St. John's Rod and Gun Club 2017: (87 Photos)
Its been another crazy busy year at the SJRGC with regular shooting events taking place on a weekly basis, construction of a brand new Pistol Range, and hosting of a number of specialty tournaments throughout the year as well!
1. Although activities at the SJRGC slow down over the winter, activities still continue throughout the winter months. The Old Fellows Clays League meet Wednesdays for a weekly 5 stand shoot, the pistol groups are still active, and members use the Rifle Range through out the cold snowy months as well. I was elected once again for my fourth term as President of the club and have another great executive board to work with again this year.
2. On the first Sunday of each month we continue to hold our new & lapsed member orientation sessions, most of which I attend or run entirely.
3. The Trap group doesn't shoot in the winter, the expensive machines are removed from the trap houses in the fall for safe storage. As found in the past it's too much work to shovel the Firing Line, & traphouse doors and move clay targets with snow on the ground.
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5. We had quite a bit of snow at the club this winter, mostly from the back to back blizzards in February.
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8. Although we were about a month late this year due to lingering snow and soft ground we finally got to re-installing the automatic trap machines on April 29th.
9. All the machines were cleaned, greased, and rubber o-rings replaced as necessary just prior to re-installation.
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12. Even Mark French was on hand to assist in the installation.
13. With cool temps this year snow piles are still lingering well into May. It will be the end of May before the Archery ATV trail is clear enough to use!
14. In May Andrea, Peter and I took on the task of repairing the Clubhouse Fireplace and return it to safe, clean operating condition.
15. Quick inspection and measurement of the top to have a new cap made.
16. The old Fire Bricks were seriously degraded & falling down so they were removed a couple years ago and fireplace put out of service.
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19. Peter hard at work installing a new firebrick liner.
20. While Peter worked inside the Fireplace, Andrea and I parged and re-grouted the gaps & cracks between the stones outside the fireplace for a nice clean appearance.
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23. With the inside work complete we will move onto the outside work later this summer parging the stones and making a new chimney cap to keep rain & squirrels out of the clubhouse.
24. Local welder/fabricator and club member Mark Squires made a beautiful new grate for the fireplace which makes cleanup easy and keep the fireplace safe by preventing flaming logs from rolling out of the hearth.
25. On June 3rd we held our annual clean up day where all ranges are shut down so club committees can complete maintenance and repairs on club facilities safely and effectively. Prior to the event I fabricated this new strain relief for the power cable on our generator.
26. Previously the cable hung in place but the weight of the wire coupled with vibrations on the generator wore the hole & eventually wore through the electrical connector. The problem was spotted before anything came close to shorting out due to thorough regular inspections performed on all of our equipment.
27. On the generator we installed a new thicker plate to properly cover the now egg shaped original hole, this coupled with red locktite and my new strain relief should prevent the problem from re-occurring.
28. Next on the list was a full spring generator service which included new engine oil & filter, two new fuel filters, a new fan belt, and a thorough inspection.
29. As in previous years we treat our clean-up day volunteers (which topped about 50 members this year) right and provide a hot lunch, drinks and snacks.
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31. Each year we get a dumpster or two delivered to the club for clean up day. This lets us get clear of all the old broken junk that accumulated for years across the club, getting clear of items our regular garbage collectors cannot take.
32. On June 11th we held our annual Newfoundland Sportsman shoot which consisted of Trap shooting in the morning, followed by Sporting Clays in the afternoon.
33. We had a great turnout on this beautiful, warm, sunny Sunday with 46 members and guests participating.
34. During the shoot I had trouble with my Browning Citori 725 Over/under Shotgun, it would not lock up when closed. Troy and I took it apart discovering the issue was caused by a very small (less than 1mm thick) shaving of steel from a defective shell had lodged behind the shell ejector. We had the problem fixed in short order and I was able to finish the shoot problem free.
35. Sandra Bassan and Joanne crafted another wonderful lunch for all shooters.
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37. The afternoon Sporting Clays course was set up very well by our dedicated sporting clays committee. They utilized a wide variety of mechanical hand operated throwers all the way to our fanciest battery operated remote control throwers including the new Tower mounted machine.
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40. One of my favourite clays stations is the fleeing pair.
41. Peter Tucker and Joe Rosa tied the day's event with a score of 87 with Joe winning the very close shoot-off to claim the 2017 Ed Brocklehurst Top Gun award.
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43. On June 12 we began construction on our brand new Pistol Range. This new range will be 30m x 30m and will provide approx 12 shooting stations from a fixed firing line with target stands set at 20 & 25 meters.
44. All of the overburden from the new range site and gravel pit was dropped and spread in front of Trap House D which was a close, convenient and useful place to get clear of the unstable material.
45. Range floor complete, ready to start berms.
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47. Berms complete. With major construction over, it was time for our dedicated volunteers to take over ,apply finishing touches to the range and ready it for use by members.
48. My first project was putting together a 21' flag pole which will fly a red safety flag when in use like all other ranges at SJRGC.
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51. The flagpole was carried to the club and a steel collar planted in the ground about 3.5 feet. The collar is larger than the flag pole which will allow future volunteers to take down the pole for repairs.
52. My next delivery was twelve 6' concrete parking lot curbs to prevent vehicles from accidentally rolling onto the firing line of the new range. This 2800lb load was near the capacity of my 2500HD but the trusty Silverado got the job done with ease.
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54. Next Andrew and I built four shooting benches which will be placed on the new range. The new range will provide four seated positions and eight standing positions in total.
55. Rough layout of the shooting positions laid out according to templates provided by the firearms office. The large 6x6 posts will mark the firing line as well as provide a mount for small tables for the standing shooting positions.
56. While Andrew worked with our backhoe operator planting the firing line posts, I continued work on the large signboard which will hold all necessary range rules, operating procedures and announcements.
57. 6x6 posts were planted 3' into the ground in concrete, 2x4 cross boards were installed on which to mount plywood. This will provide a sign area 10' wide and 8' high.
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59. Shooting benches, shooting tables and most of the target stands complete.
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61. Finally on July 17, 2017 I received our Range Operating Certificate from the Firearms office so I headed immediately to the club to install chloroplast on the twelve target stands and officially open New Range A.
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63. The next large project completed at the club this year was a complete rehabilitation of existing ranges B & C. Range B is our 50, 100 & 200m rifle range while Range C is a pistol pit set up for 25m dynamic handgun and 50m fixed rifle & shotgun shooting.
64. Every 5 years we have a full inspection and re-certification by the firearms office, and this is the year. Over time our loose sandy soil washes down making the berms thinner than spec, and if left unattended lower than spec as well. We inspect all ranges monthly to ensure we do not operate an unsafe range and this year we had our contractor reshape all berms and bullet catchers back to spec at the right height and a 1m crest.
65. With New Range A complete we removed the 20m bullet catcher from Rifle Range B. Our contractor did a fantastic job of rebuilding all of the bullet catchers and two side berms and removing all loose rock from the range floor.
66. In preparation for the Provincial Trapshooting Championships I headed to the club mid week. First I completed some final work on Range A. then cut the grass on the Trap Range and all around the clubhouse.
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68. I even took time to patch up one of the scoring tables.
69. Big shoots like the provincials take a lot of work to run, from initial planning & organizing to registering shooters, scoring, providing meals and loading trap machines!
70. Shooters from across the province participated in this 400 target event on July 15th & 16th under beautiful sunny skies and very light winds.
71. Troy Coldwell, Bob Mercer, and Andrea Bassan competed for the champion of champions event with Bassan and Coldwell agreeing to be co champions each receiving a score of 49/50 after two rounds.
72. On July 29th we held our annual Youth Outdoor Skills event. Each year SJRGC partners with NL Wildlife Division to host a shoot open to member and non-member youth who must pre-register. It's a fun day teaching Shotgun, Rifle, Archery and Outdoor Survival.
73. With some youth returning from previous events we set up stations with varying difficulty so everyone had a great time and learned something new regardless of their skill level.
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77. This was also the first big event held in part on our recently opened Range A. It provided an excellent facility for the Rifle portion of the Youth Shoot.
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79. Ongoing maintenance is a fact of life at any facility and SJRGC is no exception. These voice release systems get broken up by the wind, and connectors corrode from the rain. With 20 units in service there's always one in need of repair.
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82. Regular weekly Sunday Trap shoots continued through the summer on foggy, sunny and windy days alike.
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84. In October our new clubhouse windows finally arrived. The old windows were old when they were installed back in 1963 and were now completely worn out and leaking. These new vinyl windows will keep the building weather tight for decades!
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86. In late October Bassan, Johnny and the boys finished the last major repairs to the clubhouse fireplace by replacing the chimney top with a cast in place piece, new flue, and stainless steel cap to keep squirrels out.
87. Although the busiest year yet at president with so many big projects complete, it was very rewarding to have gotten so much great work complete at our amazing facility.
Cheers, MIKE
Copyright © 2025 Michael Smith |
