Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
DEREK RANSANICI, 8th grade student in Hurley, zeroing his rifle Saturday at the Superior Range Shooters Club in preparation of deer season opening this week. Ransanici is a second year hunter with big hopes of bagging his first buck.
By IAN MINIELLY
Ironwood Township - Area hunters arrived at the Superior Range Shooters Club in Ironwood Township to either find their zero or confirm their zero before hunting season opens up in Wisconsin and Michigan this week. The range was marked for known distances out to 100 meters with fresh targets for rifle zeroing. The club opens its doors each deer season to non-members so they can make sure they hit what they aim at.
Club members help people adjust their weapons and provide spotter assistance by calling the shots fired and their hit locations for rapid adjustments. Using the range optics saves the shooters a significant amount of time because they do not have to walk to the target and see where their rounds are impacting between shots, making everyone happy.
The club provided two spotting scopes and stable gun stands and arm rests for the best possible sight picture for accurate zeroing. By 11:00 a.m., the club already had five hunters come through and at least five more showed up in the two hours the Globe was on hand. Making this years "sight in" a success for the club and hunters.
Randy and his 13 year old son Derek Ransanici, both out of Hurley, came to the range for the second year in a row to confirm their zero. Derek started hunting last year, but did not bag a deer in his first foray into natural food gathering. Derek said he plans to get his deer this year and his dad said as a young hunter, Wisconsin provides a free antler-less tag, which enables Derek greater probability of getting his first and maybe even his second deer.
Sue Compton who started out her morning helping Dennis Beaudette lay glue down in the club's Education Building for tiling, pulled out her .308 for zeroing. Compton maintains an old dedicated makeup container to keep her ammo dry and out of the elements. Gary Lowe, club member pointed out the makeup case and said Compton found a new use for an old case, hinting he might consider doing the same thing.
In an interesting turn, Tom Niksich showed up an hour later carrying a gift bag from a store that caters more to female clientele and inside the gift bag were multiple boxes of ammo. Niksich repurposed the gift bag as an ammo bearing bag and it appeared up the task, even though it stood out on the gun range. Equipment of the female persuasion appeared to reign supreme on a dry Saturday.
Dennis Beaudette, showing off his .243, said he added a new scope to the rifle Saturday morning before coming to the range. Beaudette started shooting on the 25 meter target to walk his rounds towards center mass, before moving to the 50 meter and finishing on the 100 meter targets. Eight rounds later Beaudette was zeroed out to 100 meters and ready for the wood line.
Between hunters, Lowe pulled out a Korean War era M-1 semi-automatic Garand that was never sent to the theatre because the war ended. The rifle fired with very little kick due to the heaviness of the metal and wood, making it a real treat to fire. The Globe's first three shots were nicely grouped at 50 meters before an increase in the rate of fire on the next five shots resulted in a larger shot pattern indicative of poor breath control during firing.
Lowe said he bought the rifle through an NRA civilian marksmanship program and it was brand new when purchased, never even fired. The CMP sells different grades and types of rifles and each comes with a certificate of authenticity. General George S. Patton said, "In my opinion, the M-1 rifle is the greatest battle implement ever devised."
