Smithmoor Range

03/18/2026

Hangry

03/18/2026

Shooters and Friends, 3/16/2026

The first Smithmoor March 22 BPCR match was held Saturday the 14th at Cody’s Shooting Shed. Some of the worst winds ever recorded happened over the several days before the match and I was wondering if we should even try to have the match, but it all worked out. We ended up having a pretty decent day for it, even though the weather predictions said it wouldn’t be. Temperatures were in the 40’s and a 10-20 mph breeze did come up in the afternoon, but for March in Wyoming, it was pretty darn nice.

Coralee and Grace had plans to attend a neighbor’s wedding shower, but Michael and Melissa Jackson saved the day and brought chili for lunch to help celebrate Michael Jr.’s birthday. It was great chili, thank you guys! We had several sets of donuts for a morning snack too. Not sure who all brought them, but they are much appreciated!

Bryan Norman put a bunch of effort into our fifth station this month. He came up with a 1/5 scale buffalo and he made a spring loaded 2” gong right where it’s vitals would be. When hit, the white little target would fall out. It’s pretty dang cool. We put it at about 120 yards, which should simulate about 600 yards. Only ten shots and no sighters were allowed. If you hit the vitals on the first shot, you scored a 10, 2nd shot got a 9, third got an 8 and so on. As usual, our shooters never failed to amaze and we actually had three get it on their first shot to score a 10. Wow! Andrew South was awarded the winner’s certificate as his shot was the most centered. Good job Andrew.

AA/A class was also won by Andrew this month (27), with a close second as Asa Smith with a 26. Both AAA scores! It is fun to see these guys working hard and improving. I’m suspecting we will have some new AAA class members sooner than later….

No AAA class this month, but Master Class was won by super shooter Bryan Norman by cleaning the prone and whacking 4 chickens, which is a Grand Master score. Great Shooting Bryan. A while back, Bryan was christened with the nickname “Bullseye” by Dad. It has kind of stuck and is definitely fitting.

We had a tie for the match winner this match between myself and Michael Rix with 36’s. Michael Cleaned the prone and whacked 6 chickens, which is some great shooting. We met on the chicken line to settle it with a shootoff, and I’ll be danged if Michael didn’t best me! Great shooting Michael! This left me with being 1st in the Grand Master class.

Our second March match will be March 28th. Coralee and Grace will be at the wedding that they had the shower for this weekend so we will have to go it alone. Please pray for us…..

The Winter Series Season Finale is coming up quick on April 11th. If you haven’t gotten your entry in, please do so ASAP. Also, micraculously, it looks like this coming Saturday the 21st is likely to be quite nice weather. Currently the forecasters have it at 85 degrees and no win. Several shooters had asked to have a big bore match that day, so I think we will. Get loaded up and we will plan on it. A heads up letting me know who all is coming is much appreciated, but not required. Hope to see everyone then.

Take care my friends,
Cody

Shooter Buffalo Chicken Pig Turkey Ram Total Place
Grand Master
Steve Anderson 9 1 10 10 10 31 Clean Prone
Doc Bement 7 3 10 10 10 33 Clean Prone
Michael Jackson 9 1 10 10 9 30
Mark Pachares 8 4 10 10 9 33
Michael Rix 10 6 10 10 10 36 Clean Prone MW!
Cody Smith 7 7 10 9 10 36 1st
Dan Womer 7 1 10 9 10 30

Master
Greg Bybee – 4 10 6 6 26
Kevin Finney 1 0 9 8 7 24
Danny Glick 7 0 10 10 9 29
Ed Himelhoch 6 4 9 8 7 28
Michael Jackson Jr 7 2 10 9 9 30
Bryan Norman 10 4 10 10 10 34 Clean Prone 1st
Joe Kapler 6 5 10 9 8 32
Gary Smith 0 3 8 8 8 27
Richard Stephenson 2 1 10 9 8 28
Joshua Tangeman – 2 9 8 6 25
Seth Tangeman 8 3 10 10 7 30
James Sedman 9 4 10 10 9 33
Dick Hennebry 1 1 10 9 8 28

AA/A
Tighe Moritz – 1 10 6 7 24
Melissa Jackson 2 0 7 4 2 13
Asa Smith 8 0 9 7 10 26
Eli Smith (I) 9 1 8 3 8 20
Andrew South 10 3 10 5 9 27 1st

02/15/2026

02/15/2026

Shooters and Friends, 2/15/2026

23 shooters gathered yesterday on Valentine’s Day to compete in our February monthly match. It was a fun day and I am very graciously appreciative of all of their mates at home who allowed their loved ones to attend on such a day. The weather was quite warm for a Wyoming February day with breezes that bumped into the high 20’s at times. The winds were enough to be challenging. Coralee and Grace had ham and beans with home made corn bread for lunch. As usual, it was super! We were also blessed with Michael Jackson Jr bringing several boxes of his favorite donuts to share and Ed Himelhoch brought a bunch of super cupcakes to help celebrate a several birthdays that occurred close to the match. Thank you Ed and Michael!!

We have lost a couple of members of our shooting community in the last year or so and they have been on our hearts lately. Beth Himeloch passed a year ago in February and she is missed by all that knew her. Keith Kelly passed about a year and half ago and his presence at the matches, as well as his friendship will always be missed. Coralee made up a couple of pictures of each of them and had them framed to show everyone. We will be hanging them up in the shed. What a blessing it was to have known both of them.

Speaking of Coralee, holy moly is that woman ever amazing! She was up early yesterday morning getting her daily chores done before getting everything organized for the match, getting lunch going so it would be ready at noon, making the memorials for Beth and Keith, and then making out to the shooting shed. She hasn’t shot much over the last year mostly because she has been overwhelmed with our new ice cream business. She also enjoys the people and the matches and doesn’t feel like she has to shoot in them to enjoy them. Sometimes for her shooting in the match just adds undue stress. Anyway, she felt like shooting the match yesterday boy did she ever! She cleaned the prone and smacked six (6!!!!) chickens to easily be the match winner! WOW!!! Great shooting Coralee! Everyone there was really pleased to see her do so well. Anyone that ever shoots at Smithmoor has a pretty good idea of the enormous amount of work she does for all of us. Thank you Coralee, we all appreciate it.

Michael Rix helped us with our 5th station this month and it was fantastic. I received more positive comments on it than I have any other fifth station. As I am sure most of you know, the winter Olympics is going on and Michael’s favorite event is the Biatholon. I’ve watched a few times myself and it is fun to watch and I am just totally amazed at what those athletes can do. Michael replicated the targets that they use on tagboard for us and we shot them at 50 meters which is the distance the Olympians shoot them at. We allowed unlimited sighters and then there were five shots prone for score and then five shots offhand. The smaller center scored 2 points and the larger black scored one point. It was tough shooting and we didn’t even have to ski several miles before we shot or take a penalty lap for missing! It was lots of fun and we appreciated getting to learn a little about this great Olympic event. Thank you Michael. Steve Anderson and Bryan Norman both scored 16 on their targets. The jury ruled that Bryan’s was the better target and he was awarded the 1st place certificate for GM/M class. AAA/AA/A class went Dave Bieber with a great 14. Good shooting fellas!

For the silhouette match, Asa Smith was pleased to shoot a solid 24 to be our AA/A class winner. Emily Anderson shot a good 24 to be AAA, while JD Farmer cleaned the prone and killed one chicken to be 1st Master Class. Yahoooo! Dan Womer also cleaned the prone and killed 4 chickens for a very good 34 to be 1st Grand master! Wow! And Super Woman Coralee was our Match Winner this month with a clean prone and 6 chickens! Holy Cow! Great shooting everyone!

Our Best of the Best 2 day winter Championship is next weekend the 21st and 22nd. It is currently full, but it is likely we may lose a shooter or two so if you are interested in shooting let me know and I’ll put you on a waiting list.

Thank you everyone for all of the support and friendship,
Cody Smith

Shooter 5th Chicken Pig Turkey Ram Total Place
Grand Master
Steve Anderson 16 4 10 8 10 32
Michael Jackson 12 2 10 10 10 32 Clean prone
Mark Pachares 12 5 10 9 7 31
Michael Rix 12 1 10 8 10 29
Cody Smith (I) 14 5 10 10 8 33
Coralee Smith 10 6 10 10 10 36 Match Winner! Clean prone
Grizz 6 3 10 7 7 27
Dan Womer 13 4 10 10 10 34 1st and Clean Prone

Master
Dick Farmer 13 3 10 6 9 28
JD Farmer 13 1 10 10 10 31 1st and Clean Prone
Ed Himelhoch 7 1 8 8 8 25
Michael Jackson Jr 12 3 10 6 8 27
Joe Kapler 11 2 10 9 8 29
Gary Smith 8 3 5 7 6 21
Katy Stephenson 11 5 9 8 8 30
Richard Stephenson 7 2 10 6 7 25
Joshua Tangeman 12 1 10 8 9 28
Seth Tangeman 14 4 10 8 6 28
Bryan Norman 16 3 10 7 9 29 1st 5th Station

AAA
Emily Anderson – 1 8 8 7 24 1st
Dave Bieber 14 0 8 4 8 20 1st 5th

AA/A
Eli Smith (I) 12 0 8 4 7 19
Asa Smith 12 0 9 6 9 24 1st
Melissa Jackson 5 0 8 7 7 22

02/01/2026

Good afternoon,

Thank you for all the interest in shooting our Championship matches in August. We are taking entries and are about 80% full already. WOW!. If you would like to come shoot with us in August, please send in your entries soon.

I have made it through the stack of entries and have posted the list on our website, under "Registered Shooters" This is an current list as of today, 2/1/26. If you sent your entry in and don't see your name, please let me know. Sadly, our postal mail service isn't quite as reliable as we would all like.
https://www.smithmoorrange.com/registered_shooters

The RV spots are full and unfortunately some who requested an RV spot will end up in the dry camping area.

Thank you and we're looking forward to seeing you all in August!

Steve AndersonRichard BementLinda DobkinsPhillip DobkinsDick FarmerJD FarmerDick HennebryJoe KaplerTom ReedAsa SmithEli Smith

01/27/2026

Shooters,

Here at Smithmoor we have generally followed the NRA Black Powder Cartridge Rifle silhouette rules. Over the years there have been a few of the finer points that have not been enforced and we generally have not really had any problems. Smithmoor Range has migrated away from its association with the NRA and I think it is time that we write a set of new rules to better fit our range and competitions. I will be working on a rough draft and asking for comments before finalizing them, but I wanted everyone to have an idea of what is going on so they can be prepared for the Smithmoor Cup come August. Don't worry, nothing will really change over what we have been doing.

In general, these are the basic changes to the NRA rules I have planned and will be enforced at our major matches:

1) Straight Black Powder Only. No substitutes allowed and no duplexing of any kind.

2) No maximum rifle weight.

3) Any single shot falling block action or other single shot action dating pre 1896 that generally follows the spirit of our sport is allowed.

4) Shooting from a bench will be allowed for the prone animals. HOWEVER, two caveats here.
1- The bench must not be obtrusive, cumbersome, large and heavy, or slow to move, or be in any way, any kind of annoyance to the fellow shooters or the match director. No rear support is allowed and cross sticks must be clamped or firmly attached to the bench.
2, I ask that benches only be used by those that need them. If your health is such that shooting prone or sitting is no longer fun because it hurts, I understand and want you to able to continue to compete. However, if you are capable of shooting prone or sitting and do not need the bench, please refrain from using it. As much as I want to allow shooters to continue to be able to compete, I do not want our sport to turn into a bench match where everyone is shooting from a bench.


Thank you for your attention to this matter. Please share and spread the word. I welcome any questions or comments and will be working on a complete written rule list.

Take care my friends, Cody

11/16/2025

Dear Friends and Shooters, 11/16/25

Our 12th Winter 22 Season started off last Saturday (11/8/25) and everyone seemed to have a good time. We had a full house booked, with a few on the waiting list but several folks had issues and couldn’t make it at the last moment. Life happens, I know. The wind blew like it likes to here in Carpenter and it made for some significant challenges. It was fairy steady at 35-40 most of the day, with gusts breaking 45 and higher. It came out of the north and surprisingly was actually shootable. Those that were able to figure it out did ok. Temps were quite mild and folks stayed quite comfortable shooting from within the shed.

Thanks to the generosity of Criag Wolf, we have some awesome new wind flags for the range. They are much improved over what we did have, and we added two more. No excuses for missing a wind call now! Lol. Thank you Craig, they are very much appreciated. I also wanted to thank Bryan Norman for his help with the range. He brought his welding truck out and spent most of a full day repairing targets and stands, as well as built the poles and bases for the new wind flags. Yahooo!! Thank you Bryan!!

Lunch was good as usual. Beef barley soup with fresh bread and apple cake for desert was on the menu. Coralee and Bev knocked one out of the park again. Dick Hennebry also saved the day, or at least the morning with donuts, too. Thank you Dick!

Our fifth station this month was the Texas star at 200 yards. There was a gong for sighters and then only ten shots were allowed at the ten 4”round gongs on the points of the star. 4” gongs at 200 yards in 45+ mph cross winds with a 22 rifle and 125 year old technology! That sounds like really tough shooting to me, but it didn’t seem to be any trouble for top hand Phillip Dobkins as he dropped all ten. Wow Phillip, that is some amazing shooting! Phillip is also our current holder of the the Brass Buffalo as the winner of this year’s Rocky Mountain Regional 22 match. Tom Reed and Ed Himeloch both wacked 7 of the gongs, while three in AAA and AA shot 5. Even young Eli knocked 5 down with iron sights. I was impressed!

We didn’t have enough AA shooters for a class with Eli as our only entry. Emily Anderson shot a super 30 to be 1st AAA, while Phillip Dobkins was 1st Master with a 32, and Grizz was first Grand Master with a 31. I was pleased to have the assistance of master spotter Michael Rix to help me navigate some tricky winds. Through his careful guidance, we managed a 35 to be the match winner. Thank you Michael!

I think the most exciting news of the match was we saw the return of two of my favorite shooters. Both Kevin Finney and Travis Purdum were founding forces in Smithmoor Range and have been absent from the matches for multiple years. Man, was it good to have them back. Hopefully it will work they can keep coming. We were also pleased to have Emily Anderson’s significant other, John Jones, come shoot with us for the first time. He is a good shoot and welcome addition to our group. Hopefully he can continue to come as well.

Our next match is scheduled for December 13th and we have a list going for entries. Through help from Dan Womer, we also have a super cool 5th station planned. I think you guys will like it. Hope to see everybody then.
Take care my friends,
Cody

Star Chicken Pig Turkey Ram Total Place
Grand Master
Steve Anderson 6 4 10 8 8 30
Doc Bement 4 0 10 7 10 27
Michael Rix 7 1 10 9 10 30
Cody Smith (I) 3 6 10 9 10 35 MW
Grizz 2 5 10 9 7 31 1st

Master
Sir Billy 5 1 5 5 1 12
Greg Bybee – 5 9 7 7 28
Phillip Dobkins 10 4 10 9 9 32 1st and 1st Star
Dick Farmer 4 3 9 7 9 28
Dick Hennebry 4 0 10 9 10 29
Tom Reed 7 2 10 8 9 29
Gary Smith 0 2 9 5 6 22
Katy Stephenson 4 3 8 4 5 20
Richard Stephenson 4 5 9 7 9 30
Kevin Finney 4 1 7 8 8 24
Travis Purdum (I) 3 1 9 7 7 24
Ed Himelhoch 7 1 10 10 6 27

AAA
Emily Anderson 3 2 9 9 10 30 1st
Linda Dobkins 4 1 10 9 7 27
Danny Glick 5 2 10 9 8 29
John Jones 5 1 10 9 6 26

AA
Eli Smith (I) 5 0 8 3 4 15

08/23/2025

Thank you to all our shooters, our sponsors, our supporters and our setters! We had a great match! See you next year!