By Mike Nesbitt | Contributing Editor
The annual Icicle Match got its name from the usual weather experienced around Eatonville, Washington in mid-December.
Frost and icicles are the common things but this year the Icicle Match was held in 50-degree plus weather, with a bit of rain but still so warm that we had no hope of finding any icicles. That, however, didn’t stop us and the Icicle Match, a variation of a black powder cartridge rifle silhouette match, went on as planned.
To say that the Icicle Match is a variation of a BPCR silhouette match is hardly a proper description. Let me add just a little bit of double-talk by saying the Icicle Match uses the very same targets but is totally different. That probably doesn’t help, so I’ll describe the match as it was shot, with the targets in the order that I shot them, along with my partner Corey Everett. To say the least, the Icicle Match certainly is a challenge as well as a break in the routine.
First of all, I’ll explain that the Icicle Match does not follow the NRA guidelines or rules for a silhouette match. Shooters cannot use the scores from the Icicle Match for points toward their NRA shooting classifications. This is simply a fun match, complete with a pot-luck lunch and prizes for ending the shooting year with some good natured and “different” shooting.
This match is run by Steve and Beth Morris. Beth handles registration very well and she also “assigns” partners to shooters who are alone in addition to organizing the shooting relays. She had me shooting with Corey again and we were to start with the rams at 500 meters, with me shooting in the first relay.
When Kevin Watson, the rangemaster for the first relay, called “Shooters for Relay One, to the line!” I grabbed my .45-70 by C. Sharps Arms with the 10X scope by MVA (Montana Vintage Arms) along with some ammo and went to the firing line. Spotting my shots for me was Tammy Everett, Corey’s wife, and she does a tremendous job of it, always seeing where the bullets hit. Most shooters fire from the prone position in silhouette matches but I prefer to do my shooting from the sitting position while using cross-sticks, it is simply easier for me. We have a few minutes to get the height of our ‘sticks adjusted and then Kevin called out “Ready!” That’s when we prepare to fire. Because the Icicle Match, like silhouette matches, is timed, we must wait for the order to shoot. Then Kevin called out “Fire, you have a fire!!” and the shooting begins.
I will give you a target-by-target description of the match, but I don’t dare try to make it a shot-by-shot tale. That would take too long. It would be too embarrassing as well. But my first 500-meter (roughly 550 yards) shot, at the ram sighting target, was a good hit. With that ‘in the bag’ I decided to go for score and, almost as usual, the hits did not continue. I should have fired more shots at the sighting target instead of just one ‘fouling shot.” It took some sight adjustments before I began making hits again and my score on the rams was four.
The loads I was using fired the Saeco 480-grain bullet powered by 63.0 grains of Swiss 1½ Fg powder, with a wad in between the powder and the bullet. Ignition was provided by Winchester standard large pistol primers. Several silhouette shooters use different loads with different bullets for particular distances. This is especially true for the “chicken loads” which are fired offhand at 200 meters where a lighter load that is easier handling can have advantages. For myself, so far, I used my 63-grain loads with the 480-grain bullets at all distances and targets.
Then Corey took over, doing his shooting from the prone position. Corey also uses a Sharps rifle in .45-70 caliber, with Vernier adjustable iron sights, but we have never compared our loadings. He got six of the rams. Once again, like we had done before, because I had gotten four, he came back with six, so we got all ten of them… (No, it wouldn’t look that way on our scorecards…)
The champ for the rams in this match was Diana Mitchell, she got all ten. I took the picture of her as she fired her first shot, and she told me later that maybe being photographed was some help. All of her rams fell, one after the other. Diana was the only shooter in this match to get all ten of any of the harder to hit than usual targets and that’s an outstanding accomplishment.
Next, Corey and I moved to the chickens at 200 meters. But this time the targets weren’t just chickens. For the Icicle Match most of the chickens were replaced with gnomes (which I pronounce as “g’no-mees”) and quail. Yes, tiny silhouettes of quail, at 200 meters (220 yards). And those targets were part of what’s called the “hunter’s relay” where your spotter can’t help you. No sighter shots either. You just start shooting, as if you were a hunter, and you get as many as you can, with as many shots as you can shoot, during the standard time limits of 7 ½ minutes for the first half of the relay, 5½ minutes for the second half. One more change, these targets can be shot at from the prone or sitting positions while using cross-sticks.
It was on these targets that I got my best score, six hits! Those included two chickens and the four gnomes. I couldn’t seem to hit a quail. But wait just a minute! There was one more special target posted at the same distance, a small Santa Claus face that we were to take one shot each at, offhand. I stood up and gave it a fair try. My shot missed but it did hit a quail. That shot, of course, did not count…
While I was pleased with my six hits on the two chickens and the four gnomes, I must admit that it took me twenty shots to get the score of six. The real champ for these small targets this time was Dennis Mitchell with nine hits out of the ten targets and then Steve Morris got eight. I don’t know how many shots they took but we can quickly guess that it was more than just nine or ten…
Corey shot in the second relay, with Steve Morris as rangemaster, and Corey got four of the little targets.
Then we moved to the “pig line” at 300 meters (330 yards). But this time the targets weren’t little pigs. Instead, we shot at turkeys and those turkeys were ‘laying down’ instead of standing upright. To make things even more interesting, we were to shoot at the laying-down turkeys offhand. That meant we were shooting at targets we weren’t used to seeing at a distance for offhand shooting that we weren’t used to doing. In other words, this was very different. It was that way for every shooter, nobody did very well. I got just two of the turkeys, one out of each group of five. Steve Morris, Pat Ochoa, and Drew Seutter (shooting a .32-40) each got three turkeys and they were the top scorers for those targets.
Our last targets, for Corey and myself plus Bob DeLisle and Jerry Mayo who were shooting next to us, were the pigs which were set out on the “turkey line” at 385 meters (roughly 423.5 yards). The pig silhouette, patterned after a small javelina, are quite a bit smaller than the turkeys, even so I managed to knock three of them over, shooting from the sitting position with cross-sticks again. That gave me a score of 15 for the day. Corey got five of them and that also gave him 15 hits for the day.
That is how things looked at the Icicle Match, as seen from behind the butt plate. Our two top shooters were Pat Ochoa, using iron sights, with 28 hits and Steve Morris, using a scope, with 27 hits. The top three iron sight shooters were; Pat Ochoa, Beth Morris, and Corey Everett. For the scope-shooters, the top three were Steve Morris, Diana Mitchell, and Dennis Mitchell. The two top shooters both received “icicle awards” while others got small cash awards for their good shooting.
But that only describes the shooting. We also got to enjoy a pot-luck lunch and some very good tasting goodies were available. While we did have good things to eat, there was no break in the shooting, no lunchtime as might have been taken. That was no problem, we all snacked between relays. In addition to that, each shooter brought a “blanket prize” which were awarded by a drawing after the Icicle awards were handed out. That simply added to the fun.
If there is anything wrong with the Icicle Match it is the fact that now we must wait an entire year before doing it again. And we can only hope that the weather for next year’s Icicle Match will be as pleasant as this year’s, but we certainly can’t count on it. Good weather or bad, what we can count on is having more fun!
| Iron Sights | C | P | T | R | Tot | Scopes | C | P | T | R | Tot | |
| Pat Ochoa | 8 | 3 | 8 | 9 | 28 | Steve Morris | 8 | 3 | 7 | 9 | 27 | |
| Beth Morris | 3 | 2 | 7 | 8 | 20 | Diana Mitchell | 4 | 2 | 5 | 10 | 21 | |
| Corey Everett | 4 | 0 | 5 | 6 | 15 | Dennis Mitchell | 9 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 20 | |
| Drew Seutter | 6 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 10 | Heather Ochoa | 0 | 2 | 6 | 7 | 15 | |
| Bob DeLisle | 1 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 7 | Mike Nesbitt | 6 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 15 | |
| Jerry Mayo | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 6 | Cary Thorogood | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 7 | |
| Larry Litten | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | Kevin Watson | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
