Montana Woods N Water August 2016 Print Edition | Page 18

SHOOTING SPORTS CONTINUED

6th Annual 2016 Safari Rifle Challenge, Libby, MT
By Raf Viniard
What did you say? Yeah I still have the ringing in my ears from the boom of big bore rifles. When I say big I
mean big. Shooters from Canada, Montana, Idaho, Texas, Alaska, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Washington, Oregon
and Colorado all signed up for the punishment of big bore shooting.
Contest such as Shooting Gallery, Charging Lion, Fast Blast, Fleeing Buffalo and many other shooting games
tested each of their skills. Several shooters used open sights rather than optics to acquire their target more
quickly. Shooting these big bore rifles i.e., 458 Win Mags, 450 Nitors, 416’s, 375’s one time would be too much
for most, how about shooting these big guns up to five times in a row as fast as you can get the shot off,
accurately of course. These big bores are pushing a 4 to 500 grain piece of lead down range.
Oh and don’t even think this is just a man’s sport, the Montana ladies stepped right up and pulled the trigger
on these big guns just like the men. Pictured left is Jennifer Ginn of Stevensville, MT
and Lori Ginn of Hamilton, MT.
The youth shooting club members acted as
runners, scoring targets, changing out targets
and other tasks at hand to move the shoot along.
These young men stayed on the move! Pictured
left is runners Issac O’Rourke and Nate Pomeroy
both of Libby, MT
The pressure was on but Joe Tusick of Havre, MT
(pictured below) with his 375 Mauser nailed the
Fleeing Buffalo almost dead center after he had
already shot a
10” 50 yard
metal gong. He
made it look
easy.
Pictured left are James and Steve Schnackenberg of Libby,
MT. James shoots a 375 H & H and Dad shoots a 375
Ruger. Nothing like a day on the range shooting with your
kids. Pictured right
is Rod Harma and
from what I hear
this man lives for
big bore rifles.
Rod was shooting
a 416 Ruger.

Pictured left is Teddy Burford of McGrath, AK
458 Wing Mag with a 500 grain bullet and a
450 Nitro express with a 400 grain bullet. And
I thought my 300 Win Mag was big.
This article continued on page 17.
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David Hartley of Libby, MT was on hand to sell
his hand made knives. The handles were made
from local antlers and all the leather sheaths
were hand stitched. David uses 440 stainless for
his blades. To purchase a handmade knife call
him at 305-401-0346.