By Dan Rudy
Sentinel writer
A Wrangell competitive shootist bested his own performance last year at the 26th annual Western National Shoot from February 28 to March 6.
At the 2016 event, resident Don Roher took five different awards – a personal best – but this time around very nearly trebled that performance.
“It was truly an amazing year,” he commented afterward.
Hosted by the National Muzzle Loading Rifle Association at the Ben Avery Shooting Facility outside of Phoenix, Arizona, the competition is touted as one of the world’s largest for muzzle-loaded shooting. The site itself is the largest public operated shooting center in the country, at around 1,650 acres. It draws shootists from all over, competing in several different skill categories. His third time competing at that level, Roher noted this year that it was the weather posing the greatest challenges throughout the tournament.
“It just rained horribly. None of us could shoot,” he said of the first day. The following day was a little better, raining a bit but with high winds.
“We may as well go shoot,” Roher recalled saying. “All of us are going to be shooting in the same wind.”
Participants come down as teams representing their state. The team Alaska sent out this year was nearly double the size of last year’s, with seven shooters participating. They assisted each other during the competition, helping each other to load and clear the occasional jams during timed competition.
Despite the weather, their teamwork and individual skills paid off. At the awards banquet, Roher said it was a red-letter year for the team. “Alaska really cleaned house.”
“It was one award after another, it was just incredible,” he continued. “After the third or fourth award, the secretary who’s handing the awards to the national president whispered something to him, and then he says, ‘Don, you may as well move your chair right up here next to me.’”
Fifty-five medals were picked up by the group in all, with Pat Reed of Wasilla earning 18. Roher won 14 awards himself, using six different pistols. As with last year, at least one of his weapons was acquired for the occasion, in this case an 1851 Colt Navy revolver, “which was a little bit lighter than the 1860” model, he noted.
A comprehensive list of placements and categories will be available in the upcoming June issue of the NMLRA newsletter.
Roher was accompanied by his wife, Bonnie. The couple developed their interest in black-powder firearms after picking up a pair of such rifles in 1978. Compared to other weaponry, Roher found himself drawn to the loading and firing processes, the history behind them and the shooting community.
The weather at this year’s competition was not without its benefits, making friends of the competitors. “The rain kept us all pinned into a small group, so that helped as well,” Roher said. In the process he made a few new friendships over the weeklong competition.
Roher is also continuing work on a book about black powder revolvers. Containing about eight chapters at the moment, the book will outline some of the different models of historical firearms, how to safely load and fire them, and some key points to maintaining and repairing the weapons.
Reader Comments(0)