Blog | Manzano Mountain Gun Club

MMGC cooks for the Mountainair Gymkhana

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 21:09:07 -0600

Today was a great day!

Trini Griego, Kevin Dunlap, Nick Franks, and Barbara Chung were our main cooks for the day ... even Robert Chung showed off some of his cooking skills.

Nick wrestling dogs.

Nick, Kevin, Barbara, Trini — in a relaxed moment.

Christine Franks and Sharon Doler took food orders and handled the cash.

Even our illustrious President and First Lady joined in on the fun.

Lonnie and Sonia Greene organized everything, making it an easy and fun day.

Trini's wife, Adrainne, baked a special (huge) batch of beans for our Frito Pie. Juanita Chavez made us some of her wonderful red chili.

Christine, Barbara, & Sharon managed the booth.

We will be donating a few of our extra goodies.

We still have some supplies, candy and chips for our next Rodeo - possibly June 16 & 17th. If not, it will be on July 8th.

Thank you again to everyone for making this a wonderful experience.

Co-Chair Sharon Doler

Proud to help out

Sat, 21 Apr 2012 21:15:35 -0600

MMGC sponsored two shooters to participate in the NEw Mexico Coop Employees Disability Fund and the Aim To Assist sporting clays fundraiser, held at Del Norte Gun Club on March 31.

Club member Kevin Dunlap has reported that club member Paul Chavez was joined by CNMEC accounting manager Alena Brandenberger to utilize the two entries we sponsored.

Kevin writes, “Paul shot well and seemed to enjoy the event. ... Alena had never shot any shotgun sports before, but with the loan of a shotgun and some brief training from members of the Del Norte Gun Club, she completed the event, took home a trophy, sunburn, and a new love for sporting clays.”

What we’re here for: supporting a worthy cause and introducing a newcomer to the pleasure of shooting sports!

Inaugural Youth Air Rifle Event

Sun, 29 Jan 2012 20:08:28 -0700

The Manzano Mountain Gun Club sponsored a free air rifle target shoot for Mountainair area youth this afternoon. Eighteen youth (8-17) participated. Parents were required to be present for the entire event.

Targets galore (pre-shoot)!

After registration & safety briefing, participants each had several turns at one of four shooting stations, using club-owned .22 caliber break-action air rifles.

Taking the safety briefing seriously.

MMGC provided eye & ear protection for each participant.

Break-action .22 cal air rifle.

Club members served as coaches, supervising & assisting each shooter individually.

The line.

Coaching.

Taking careful aim.

Each shooter has a coach.

Instruction.

Snacks & drinks were also provided by the club, but hitting targets was the real attraction of the day.

Focus.

At the end of the afternoon, after many popped balloons, some participants were asking to have another shoot next Sunday.

That’s Super Bowl Sunday, so... no, not next weekend. Sorry kids!

But soon, very soon, as this is just the beginning of a happy Mountainair family tradition.

The Manzano Mountain Gun Club would like to thank the Town of Mountainair for allowing us use of the Dr. Saul Community Center for this youth event. It is an excellent space for air rifle marksmanship!

Misbehavior — don’t tolerate it!

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 14:16:40 -0700

We have received this press release from the New Mexico Department of Game & Fish. It relates to misbehavior in Torrance County, so we want to spread the word:

Click to view full size.

In which we play

Sat, 19 Nov 2011 14:35:42 -0700

Saturday, November 12, saw our second “fun shoot” & potluck this year. Our generous host Kevin prepared roast pork & cherry cobbler, and other attendees brought their own specialties — potatoes & sausage! savory biscuits! split pea soup! — you would be excused for thinking it was a blustery day & we all intended to stay warm.

On a windy day, our fun shoot was sparsely but enthusiastically attended.

Zombie Zed had a very bad day.

Moriarty Rotary Youth Pheasant Hunt 2011

Sat, 22 Oct 2011 16:21:31 -0600

Today was the day — the Seventh Annual Moriarty Rotary Youth Pheasant Hunt took place at Shiver Farm north of Moriarty. Conditions were perfect, too: wam, clear, just a touch of breeze in the morning.

The day began with NRA safety training followed by shooting clays. For the clays there were three shooting stations, with youth participants lined up safely behind the shooting line waiting their turn.

Three shooting stations at the Moriarty Rotary Youth Pheasant Hunt,
with a single shooter & instructors at each station.

Each participant had three opportunities to shoot a string of five clays. While some beginning shooters needed several attempts before breaking their first clay, an impressive number of the youth shooters were busting every clay thrown out for them.

MMGC youth member Heather Warren takes aim at a clay.
Heather broke 14 of the 15 clays thrown for her.

As one of the primary purposes of our club is to promote youth firearms training and shooting opportunities, the Manzano Mountain Gun Club is pleased to again provide funding for a shotgun raffle prize for the Moriarty Rotary Youth Pheasant Hunt.

MMGC Secretary Kathleen Clute presents certificate
to raffle winner Lauren Wilder.

MMGC’s shotgun prize was won by Albuquerque resident Lauren Wilder, who will be able to redeem her certificate at Charlie’s Sporting Goods. Lauren, the daughter of Dennis Wilder, rides horses and has raised lambs for 4-H. She first held a gun as a 10-year-old. Now 15, Lauren is a member of ROTC, where she participates in the .22 caliber marksmanship program. Although she doesn’t hunt (yet!), she will soon be the proud owner of a quality shotgun.

A Sunday at Appleseed

Thu, 04 Aug 2011 17:25:20 -0600

Context: As noted previously in this blog, MMGC VP Alan Clute earned his Rifleman Patch at an Appleseed Shoot last October. This post is adapted from an email he sent to a friend the following day.

Appleseed is a nationwide program, which combines very high quality marksmanship training with lessons in American history and heritage, particularly concerning the beginning of the Revolutionary War at Lexington & Concord, April 19, 1775.

Appleseed uses an Army Qualifying Test (AQT) target, modified to simulate distances from 100 to 400 yards at 25 meters, to qualify shooters for the Rifleman Patch. To qualify, a shooter needs to score 210 points, out of a possible 250. There are 4 courses of fire (stages) in the AQT, each of which tests shooting accuracy in various positions, at varying distances, and under varying amounts of time pressure.

The “Red Coat” target referred to also tests distances, by using smaller and smaller red silhouettes (standing in for British regulars — red coats) to simulate further targets. It is the first target shot at an Appleseed weekend and is used several more times after that as well. Being “bayonetted” on a Red Coat target means not even succeeding at hitting the “100 yard” silhouette, since the real life Red Coat could cover that 100 yards and bayonet you before you could reload. Obviously, one does not wish to be bayonetted!

New Hunter Safety Graduates

Wed, 09 Mar 2011 11:38:17 -0700

Several of MMGC’s youth members successfully completed the Hunter Safety training in Estancia over the weekend of March 5-6. We would like to express our congratulations to Lorenzo Griego (age 10), Wyatt Greene (also age 10) and Dylan Greene (age 7) — all youth members of the Manzano Mountain Gun Club and all now qualified to go hunting with their families.

Adult club members Alan Clute and Trinidad Griego also completed the Hunter Safety class, with the intention of preparing to be Hunter Safety instructors in the near future. Congratulations to Trini and Alan as well!

We got thanked!

Mon, 22 Nov 2010 11:08:33 -0700

As we said before, we were very happy to be in a position to support this fine family event!

Happy to support!

Thu, 18 Nov 2010 11:04:55 -0700

The Manzano Mountain Gun Club donated $300 toward the purchase of a youth shotgun which was offered as a drawing prize for participants in the Moriarty Rotary Youth Pheasant Hunt. Charlie’s Sporting Goods in Albuquerque picked up the rest of the tab for the shotgun.

The Moriarty Rotary Youth Pheasant Hunt is an annual family event. It occurred this year on Saturday, November 13, at the Shiver Ranch in Stanley. Forty youth participated in the event, and more than 100 volunteers made the day a very satisfying experience for the participants. In addition to the Moriarty Rotary, the hunt was supported by Shorty’s Bar-B-Q, who catered lunch, and the Big Horn Gun Club, whose members assisted at the shooting stations. The NMSU Torrance County 4-H office, including home economist Corina Neish and her family, served breakfast burritos, coffee and cocoa, free of charge. Sudie Teaney of the Torrance County Cooperative Extension Office, and Leslie and Carlos Chavez, Desperados 4-H Club leaders, assisted with registration.

Gun Rights for Dummies

Sun, 07 Nov 2010 16:11:15 -0700

The massively impressive Bill Whittle explains the importance of gun rights, with the kind of common sense and straightforwardness that the rest of us can only dream about. This YouTube video is part of Bill’s series on what the Tea Partiers believe, but it pretty well sums up what any of us who view the Second Amendment as the citadel of freedom will believe.

In Bill’s wonderful and pithy formulation, “Just because something is fun and scares away weenies doesn’t mean that it’s stupid!”

Watch, learn, enjoy.

Safety first & foremost

Wed, 20 Oct 2010 12:19:15 -0600

Safety is the number one issue in gun handling and shooting, and, as the Zia membership handbook puts it, safety is the moral issue. Guns can be handled safely, of course, just like cars can be driven safely. Alas, it is also true of both guns and cars that they can be handled in quite unsafe ways.

This will be a topic that I’ll post on a lot, because it is so important. For today, let’s start with some good reading.

First, the NRA has 3 fundamental gun safety rules, which you can read here. Following them keeps us all out of trouble!

Col. Jeff Cooper, founder of the “modern technique” of pistol shooting, founder of Gunsite, and general inspiration to many many modern shooters, developed his famous 4 Rules for safe gun handling. Even though many people argue about the best way to word Rule 1, it still remains true that we would have to violate two of the 4 Rules to get into any trouble. And of course, we won’t violate any of them, right?!

My shotgun teacher once mentioned that her mother always admonished, “It’s not polite to point a gun at people!” And that is certainly the first golden rule. If you always keep your finger off the trigger until your sights are on the target, and if you never point your gun at a person (or anything else you are not willing to put holes into) then the trouble you can get into with a gun is limited, approaching zero. Which is exactly how we like it.

Adventuring we go

Mon, 18 Oct 2010 14:56:19 -0600

MMGC Vice President Alan Clute attained the Rifleman patch at an Appleseed Shoot this past weekend at Del Norte Gun Club in Rio Rancho.

This was Alan’s fourth Appleseed event. Appleseed Shoots generally cover two days, Saturday and Sunday. Participants will generally shoot more than 400 rounds over the weekend and will also learn the history of the beginning of the American Revolution at Lexington and Concord in April 1775.

Alan’s first Appleseed was in June 2009, when he attended Saturday only. Then he went to the entire weekend twice earlier this year. The June Appleseed in Socorro featured 110° temperatures! In September Alan participated in an Appleseed at the Whittington Center in Raton.

Shooters practicing prone at Del Norte Gun Club; Alan is nearest the camera, shooting a Marlin 795 semi-auto .22 LR.

To earn the Rifleman’s patch, a shooter needs to score 210 points or better on the modified AQT (Army Qualifying Test). The AQT that Appleseed events use has been modified to simulate marksmanship at ranges from 100 to 400 meters while only being placed 25 meters from the firing line. This allows Appleseed Shoots to be held on nearly any range.