Iowa's Original Chunk Shoot

[okieboy]

 Here are some pictures of the Iowa chunk shoot August 27. This is a really good shoot to attend for a number of reasons: the setting in rolling Iowa cow pastures is beautiful, the shoot is conducted at a pleasant pace (I personally like the lunch break between relays 5 and 6) and the shooters are both competitive and friendly. Where else can you get to know Steve Bookout besides his forge? And the prize blanket! This is a blanket shoot, but there were so many prizes on the blanket, that most people were called three times!
 Results have been posted on a site that caters to chunk gunners, but my name is not there this year. I will show my best target with a new under tuned rifle (my other targets were not as good, but have mysteriously gone missing). If I had known that one of Ken Guy's tomahawks was prize for Ugliest Gun in the Cornpatch, I would have used hose clamps instead of pins to hold my barrel on. Oh well, live and learn.

[Ken G]

Okieboy,
Thanks for posting the pics.  Looks like a good time.  My bucket list includes making it Bookie's shoot one of these years.  I sure hope to get a check by that one.  
I've made a tomahawk for the "Ugliest Rifle" for the last couple of years.  A couple of years back a feller painted his chunk gun green and pink to claim the title.  I think hose clamping a barrel down would go a long way toward winning.  hahahaha  
Cheers,
Ken
 

[alyce-james]

Okieboy; Thanks for posting the pictures-and fun was had by all. In the 70's-early 80's I shot with the Waterloo, Iowa Turkey-Foot-Longrifles. Thanks for the ride. Jim & Alyce.

[greybeard]

Okieboy.  Thank you sooo much for the great journey you have taken us all on  and now the icing on the cake with this post of the gun in action.  I see a very long stock blank there. Whats up with that?
Again THANKS .   Cheers Bob

[okieboy]

 Bob, that stock blank was the prize from my first trip to the "blanket" and my shooting didn't even bring me in high in the pack. I haven't ran it through the planer yet, so right now it is kind of a mystery prize.

[tim crowe]

Okie, Ken , & Bookie
 Going to the shoot is on my list. I saw Angus plinking away in the back ground , did he get his long chunk gun finished? More important how did he do?
Von Swab

[plastikosmd]

nice pics, i like that shooting table in the second pic. looks like someone reused some legs from a folding table? maybe just the ticket for me, tho I wonder about 3 vs 4 feet on the ground and rocking. would love closer pics of that setup!

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

okeyboy...do you measure from the centre or the edge of the bullet hole?

[Daryl]

The centre of the hole to the centre of the X looks like it would work out about perfect for a .450" ball. There appears to be about .015" of paper between the hole's sides and the centre X - add that to 1/2 a ball and .255" looks about right, I'd guess, just off the cuff, so to speak. (who needs a set of calipers?)
 

[okieboy]

 Chunk shooting is always measured center of bullet to center of the X. As you can see from the target, you "declare" the caliber that you are shooting for the scoring crew. Obviously this levels the field when a .40 shoots against a .50. The scorers use overlays on paper targets; when people shoot boards with knife cut Xs you are supposed to bring a half bullet with the center marked to help measuring, especially on shots that cut the X. When I "shot centers" on boards in Missouri, they didn't bother measuring shots that didn't cut the center. In a match like that there is no string measurement, closest shot wins First, next closest wins second, so it is possiple (but not likely unless you are Alvin York) to win all of 1st through 6th place.

[Daryl]

I recall that one chunk shoot that Davey Crocket supposedly competed in or spoke about, remarked that any shots more than 1 1/2" from centre disqualified the shooter or that target from scoring, which would put that shooter into a separate class - shooters without the proper # of shots scoring - I suppose.

[SPG]

Gentlemen,

Here in Windy Cody we score shots to the farthest edge/corner of the target paper. A miss is given this extreme measurement; usually around seven inches.
Round balls in a gusty 40 mph wind can be moved quite a bit. We figure the best shot for each of ten matches and tally the measurement for a string aggregate for the 11th match.

We have had a match where four grader blades wouldn't keep a backer on the ground. On days like this, if we threw out all shots more than 1 1/2-inches out everybody could just go home.

Steve

[Daryl]

Yeha - I know - blew me away when I read that. We'll be scoring to the 'far' corner as well next year, on misses, that is.