Hard Work Pays Off at N-SSA 139Th by Bruce W
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Hard Work Pays Off at N-SSA 139th by Bruce W. Miller A bronze Ames 6-pounder gun fires in a cloud of smoke. (Tambi Dudley and Schuetzen Powder Energetics Inc.) osting a North- it’s quite a full day including revolver, smoothbore musket, U.S Infantry was the star of the match with an amazing 168.8 seconds and a 17.3 second lead over the second place South Skirmish breechloader, Spencer, and single-shot rifles. 50-7V with their Howitzer. Quite a feat with a smoothbore unit. This exciting match has become increasingly popular HAssociation Na- With these matches concluded, the artillery matches gun! and, as you can imagine, is a really great test of skill. Three tional Competition takes begin. The last event of the busy Friday was the team mor- Nine small arms team matches were held over the three- events are shot at 25 yards and a fourth event at 50 yards. a great deal of time, tar match. Forty-five pieces competed in the match on a day weekend. The Shenandoah Valley weather was fabu- Competitors participate with many different firearms, in- dedication, organiza- beautiful spring afternoon. It is always great fun to watch lous and had all the competitors marveling at the absence cluding the U.S. Model 1842, Confederate Macon arsenal tion, and just plain hard this match because you can follow the projectile’s flight of the rain that customarily dampens spring competitions. conversions of the Model ’42, Hewes & Philips conversion work. Every unit in the given the relatively low muzzle velocity. The mortar teams The consistently excellent 110th Ohio Volunteer Infantry of the U.S. Model 1816 (which features a rear sight), and the Association takes its turn fire seven shots at a stake 100 yards down range. Officials (OVI) took the gold medals again. They won the musket occasional European Potsdam in .72 caliber. as one of several host units; then carefully measure the distance from the stake and tally match with a time of 485.7 seconds for the five-event pro- Eighty-four member teams participated in the Revolver usually around 15 that field the best five shots for score. The overall winner was the 7th gram. However, it wasn’t easy as the 9th Virginia Cavalry Team match of four 25 yard events: 12 clay pigeons on a about 150 people. There is a skir- Tennessee Infantry, with a five shot aggregate score of 24 were hot on their heels and finished only 1.3 seconds be- cardboard backer; eight hanging 6 x 6-inch ceramic tiles; mish director, their adjutant, and a number of staff officers feet, .25 inches; almost three feet ahead of second place 12th hind the winners. A total of 168 eight-member teams par- eight hanging clay pigeons and eight hanging 4 x 4-inch assigned to manage everything from scoring of targets to U.S. Regular Infantry. ticipated in this classic competition. ceramic tiles. The 21st Virginia Infantry finished first and provost guard and sanitation. One of the key positions is After the team carbine match on Saturday morning, the The 8th Virginia Infantry won the Carbine Team match claimed the gold medal with a time of 151.4 seconds. that of Artillery Officer. cannons rule the afternoon. The artillery range is reconfig- with a time of 387.7 seconds, edging out the 9th Virginia Three additional shoulder arm team matches were held. At the N-SSA 139th, that responsibility rested on the ured perpendicular to the regular firing line and the guns Cavalry by just 3.4 seconds. You have to feel for the 9th In the Single-Shot Rifle Team match, the 149th Pennsylva- shoulders of 28-year-old Krista Spence, the first woman fire at paper targets 200 yards away (100 yards for smooth- Virginia Cavalry; two second place finishes in the two nia Infantry took the gold with a time of 194.4 seconds, a to serve in that position. Krista is a third generation skir- bore Howitzers) into a large hillside berm. The cannon and largest team matches by less than five seconds! One hun- whopping 75.3 seconds better than the runner up. Most ri- misher. She began her skirmish adventure at the tender age their limbers are brought onto the field and into position by dred forty-one teams competed in this match of speed and fles in this match are Sharps’ or Ballard’s. In the Breechload- of four with the BB gun competition and continued until trailers. With 46 guns in this competition, it takes three one- accuracy. ing Rifle Team match, the 2nd Maryland Artillery won the age 15 when she became a regular member. As a member of hour relays to complete the match. Each cannon fires solid The 110th OVI won another championship as they tri- match, besting 39 other teams with a time of 159.4 seconds. the family team, McNeill’s Rangers, she shoots the shoulder shot at two targets: a bull’s eye and a silhouette of a cannon umphed in the Smoothbore Musket Team match, beating This match is shot primarily with Henry rifles. Competitors arm matches, but her passion is their three artillery pieces: facing them that simulates counterbattery fire. 127 other units to finish first with a start the match with a full magazine, but must single load 12- and 24-pounder mor- A maximum of seven terrific time of after the magazine is emptied. tars and a mountain rifle. shots are fired on either As Artillery Officer, target with a maximum organization and logis- point count of 25 per tar- tics kept her really busy. get. A perfect score is 50 She had to oversee the in- points. Original or exact spection of the guns and reproductions of Civil conduct meetings of all par- War artillery pieces may ticipant crews. Next came be fired. The term “Civil getting 45 mortars into po- War” applies to any artil- sition for the Friday after lery piece whose model match followed by three antedates April 26, 1865. one-hour relays of cannon Crews consist of no fewer matches involving 46 guns than six registered artil- on Saturday afternoon. lery crew members for Then, of course, all the tar- all class guns. The guns gets had to be scored and Ed Moore uses a scope to inspect a cannon’s breech and vent. are classified by type: Artillery pieces must be fully inspected prior to being fired in results recorded. Thanks to smoothbore, rifled, how- their first N-SSA event, and then re-inspected every five years or Krista’s skill and the devo- itzer, and rifled how- whenever ownership of the piece changes. (Niki Bethke) tion of all the staff officers, itzer. Original or exact the N-SSA 139th National Competition was a great success. reproductions of Civil War artillery pieces may be fired. For the first time in recent memory, the Shenandoah Val- Of the nine guns in the smoothbore class, the 1st Virginia ley weather was rain free and brought out plenty of shoot- Cavalry, gun #1, won with a score of 43-2V. In the rifled ers. As with all N-SSA National Competitions, the first two class, the 3rd U.S. Infantry won with a fabulous 50-4V, just days (Wednesday and Thursday) are devoted to individual beating out the 23rd N. C. State Troops’ 50-3V. The win- matches with small arms. Competitors can order one paper ning gun was noted collector Charlie Smithgall’s original bulls-eye target for each firearm at regulation distances as 20-pounder Parrott rifle, manufactured at the West Point well as an aggregate score. The staff in the stat house was Foundry. Twenty-seven guns took part in this test of ac- kept very busy as they scored over 2,250 individual match curacy. In the Rifled Howitzer class, the Rowan Artillery The position #4 crewman of the 3rd Maryland Artillery pulls the lanyard to fire their M1841 6-pounder smoothbore gun as targets. On Friday, the small arms team matches begin and struck gold with a great score of 49-1V. However, the 3rd teammates watch the projectile fly down range toward its mark. (Ericka Hoffmann) 42 The Artilleryman ArtillerymanMagazine.com | Vol. 40, No. 4 43 Some members want to compete with much slower Spencer magazine-fed arms so they have their own repeater match. The 11th Pennsylvania Infantry won this match with a time of 170.2 seconds…just a bit slower than the Henry’s! A crew member of the 1st Younger shooters can The N-SSA is the country’s oldest and largest Civil War Valley Rangers fires their join the N-SSA at age 14. 2.25-inch Confederate Here, vent flame shoots shooting sports organization with 3,000 individuals who mountain rifle. Even this up as the gun begins make up its 200 member units. Each team represents a par- relatively small, more to fire when 16-year-old ticular unit or regiment and proudly wears reproductions portable model of cannon crewman Alex Klinepeter of the uniform the original unit wore over 150 years ago. produces an impressive lights this 3-inch ordnance At the 139th National, five skirmishers were recognized muzzle blast. (Lis Cole) rifle. (Ericka Hoffmann) for 50 years of membership in the Association; quite an accomplishment. The 140th National Competition is scheduled for Octo- ber 4-6, 2019, at Fort Shenandoah, just north of Winchester, Va. For more information about the N-SSA visit the website at www.n-ssa.org. Forty-six cannons and Due to the muddy field, howitzers competed in crews and volunteers the 139th N-SSA National hauled artillery pieces Skirmish Artillery matches.