Monthly Newsletter for the Ocala Sportsman s Association: August 2015 Issue #5, Volume 3 The Ocala Sportsman s Association is a private gun club, firearms training facility and outdoor shooting range. It is dedicated to the shooting sports, to preserving the rights provided by the Second Amendment and a safe, friendly facility for training in the safe use of firearms. INSIDE The President s Corner...2 & 3 For Sale...4 News Flash (Rifle Range)...3 Old & New at OSA...6 & 7 Work Days...4 The Firing Line...5 & 6 Gun Related Web Sites...8 OSA Calendar of Events...9 RSO Coverage Schedule...10 1
The President s Corner OSA Board of Directors President Chief Instructor Bowling Pin Match Director Ray Radank Vice President Gerald Hickey Secretary John Bentley Treasurer OSA Web Master I.T. Director Feg Henkel Director Dave Michaels Director Bruce Dill Director Bill Heffernan President Emeritus Mike Bryant-Chief Range Officer Dan Sauro Range Volunteers NRA Chief Range Safety Officer Ray Radank/Feg Henkel Range Safety Officer Tom & Joyce Schulke Jerry Hickey, Bill Heffernan John & Theresa Griffin Rich Brown, Fred Bernstein Dave Vanderwall Ladies Class Joyce Schulke Mark your calendars for the next OSA quarterly meeting and cookout on Sunday, September 13th. Food prep and cooking starts at 11:00. Food will be served starting at noon and continuing until meeting start time at 2:00 PM. The overwhelming crowd favorite menu continues to be my grilled chicken, Gerry's macaroni salad (triple batch this time) large deep fried butter flied breaded shrimp, and smoked brisket and lemonade. I would like to get a better potato salad if any of you have any suggestions let me know. Also Bush s baked beans, chips, and of course desert is Schwan s out of this world ice cream products. I promise to have more sundae cones this time as they seemed to be the favorite last time. Also the call goes out for volunteers to help with the food and cleanup. Last time Louise McAleese worked her butt off all alone after the meeting started. While her hubby Charley said her behind looks better now, Louise was frazzled to the bone from the heat so please help out if you can. Our friend and member Donna Jankowski won t be able to help for a while like she normally does due to a major accident she had while visiting a sick friend in Connecticut, her friend has since died. Donna had to have reconstructive surgery to her right leg and she is going through major rehab for her injured left leg. Donna cannot bear any weight on both of her legs and is using a wheel chair. She is just now slowly getting around with the use of a walker. I was reluctant to spread the word about Donna and some of the members chewed my butt a little skinnier for not telling. Donna was stuck in Connecticut for more than six weeks after the accident but is now home doing well but is not up to visitors yet. If you would like you can send your well wishes to the board or the club and we will forward them on to Donna. I SCREAM! YOU SCREAM! WE ALL SCREAM FOR ICE CREAM! We now have Schwan s ice cream products (served for desert at our quarterly meetings) in the fridge at the range for all to enjoy on a hot day or even a cold day if your hearty enough. We ask for a dollar donation in the cash box to cover the expense of keeping it stocked just like the 2
water and soda and not to worry, it will still be served at our quarterly meetings. Items include: Sundae cone Ice cream sandwich Ice cream bar (chocolate covered bar) Fudge bar Diet Fudge bar (sugar free) English toffee bar Those of you with camera phones or digital cameras that can send or forward pictures, please bring them and take a few pictures of the goings on at the meeting and send them to the board. We would love to have them for the newsletter. SEPTEMBER MEETING AGENDA 1. OSA financial report including letter from the IRS. 2. Of course the big topic of discussion is the rifle range status along with improvements and proposed changes. 3. The berm has eroded significantly from it's original height and all the rain this summer hasn't helped so it is now easier for misplaced shots to fly over the berm. This also makes target placement more critical to safely impact the berm. 4. Status of Lester Rick Stinnett court case. 5. RSO's for the range and mandatory when the rifle range goes hot, will also lower our insurance rates. 6. Any menu ideas for the annual December meeting? Fish fry? Fried chicken? Leave it the same? You tell me. News Flash BELLS ARE RINGING, HORNS ARE BLOWING, SIRENS ARE BLARING, SHIPS WHISTLES ARE SOUNDING, FOG HORNS ARE BELLOWING!!! The commencement permit to begin construction for the rifle range has cleared the county and Magnum construction has it in their hands!!! The start date for construction is Monday August 31st. The contract is slated to run for ten days but the board has planed for some upgrades and/or additions that may or may not add a few days to the schedule. You can probably count on the range being closed and access limited for at least two weeks. As the schedule firms up the information will be posted on the website and on the calendar. 3
Work Days When the construction starts for the rifle range OSA will have two or three works days to get everything spruced up around the range while it is closed for construction. Cleaning and painting need to be done, burn the trees and brush that were cut down for the rifle range as well as the burn pile on the other side of the property. Lunch will be provided and not just pizza's like in the past but a quality lunch from Big Bobs Italian or Alfies, depends on popular vote. Volunteer Member labor will be needed to take care of these items. More information to follow. For Sale This column will only list items for sale or swap by OSA Members for OSA Members. It is not for items that belong to OSA and OSA does not profit in any way on items sold through the newsletter. Only of members, by members, for members. You can send your list directly to me, or hand it to me at the range or send it to the board for listing in the newsletter. Don t forget there is a Swap & Shop Forum on our website that you can use. Two guns are currently for sale by our previous president Mike Bryant. Ray has them in his possession for inspection and tryout. 1. Smith & Wesson M&P 15-22 rifle 22lr caliber, three Smith & Wesson 25 round magazines with a leather gun case. This gun is in like new condition and is an excellent shooter, nice tight groups at 15 yards, you would expect nothing less from an M&P. Unbelievable price of $350.00 for the gun, magazines, and case. You would be hard pressed to find this gun new for less then $499.00 with only one magazine and no case. 2. Kimber 1911 target II in 9 mm with stainless satin finish and beveled magwell extension. Gun also comes with ten Wilson Combat 10 round magazines. At $34.95 each regular price for the magazines that's $349.50 total just in magazines not including tax! This gun also comes with a leather holster and everything is in pristine condition with original hard case and takedown tool. How can you pass it up at $700.00 for all? Both guns can be seen and test fired at the range on Mon, Wed, Fri when Ray is at the range from 9:00 to 2:00. 4
The Firing Line OSA Range Safety 1. ALWAYS keep the gun pointed in a safe direction. 2. ALWAYS keep your finger off the trigger until ready to shoot. 3. ALWAYS keep the gun unloaded until ready to use. In the title box above you see the 3 Fundamental Rules for firearm safety. You see them on our classroom walls. You see them on NRA materials. You see them on the OSA New Member Orientation handout. You hear them is firearm training classes. They are the basis for our firearm safety rules. In our Member Manual (sometimes referred to as our Standard Operating Procedure), Section III Gun Handling Rules, the 3 Rules are the first listed and provide the basis for all the other safety rules. Abiding by this section should be second nature to all our members. It is for the member s safety that we adhere to them. We also have a set of General Range Rules in Section II. These go hand in hand with the items in Section III. There isn t enough space in the newsletter to go over each one, but a couple of them need to be emphasized. First is, NEVER step forward of the SAFE LINE and NEVER handle any firearm or accessories when people are down range. The SAFE LINE (that yellow line on the floor) is inviolate. What does that mean? It means, adjective 1. free from violation, injury, desecration, or outrage. 2. undisturbed; untouched. 3. unbroken. 4. not infringed. It means that when the range is COLD it is not to be crossed, for any reason! Second, NEVER bring a loaded firearm to the firing line and never leave the firing line with a loaded firearm. Firearms brought to the line must be cased. A hard case, a soft case, a gun sock, or even wrapped in a towel or blanket will suffice to meet the criteria of cased. Don t open the gun case on the bench wait until the range is HOT and take the case to the firing line. When you re done shooting, make sure the firearm is unloaded and placed back in the case before leaving the firing line. A rule of thumb is case to the gun not gun to the case, the gun never moves without being in the case unloaded. Some of you might ask, I want to practice with my Carry Firearm, so now what? Section III covers that, essentially it allows for a shooter to remove the firearm from the holster and unload it and place it in a case. The is done at the Clearing Barrel. The Clearing Barrel may only be used when the range is HOT. After shooting 5
the process is reversed to place it back in the holster. This also applies to Law Enforcement Officers. Third, NEVER pass a loaded firearm back and forth between shooters. Similar to the Second rule, Shooter to the gun not gun to the Shooter. If we follow these rules religiously, we will all have a SAFE and ENJOYABLE time at the range. Please take a look at the Member Manual especially the Safety Sections. Old & New at OSA Life member and strong supporter Ted Fries was very instrumental in helping to right the ship along with his son who was the original attorney for OSA. Together they analyzed and helped expose what some of the old Board members were doing at the time. It started in September 2013 at the quarterly meeting when two members asked the treasurer for an audit of the books and the president then jumped and stood next to the treasurer and with an emphatic "NO" and said an audit would not be conducted. Then another member asked why not and the reply was; We have not done one in the past and we are not doing one now! Well, that started the ball rolling and the members wanted answers as to where their money was going and what were they trying to hide. The board then tried to evict Ray and deal with him in a way that was not according to Bylaws and even threatened legal action against any member that supported Ray. It should be noted that only a four members (out of seven) of the board came after Ray. As the other two members of the board found out or became aware of what the others were doing they were shut out as well. It all came to a head in December at the annual quarterly meeting when elections were held and the membership overwhelmingly voted Ray back on the board and voted in a new treasurer. The following month in January, 2014 the treasurer finally turned over the "books" a month late. Along with the previous treasurer, 3 other board members resigned their positions. This was no surprise to us as it was anticipated they would do this and had a complete board in place ready to take over. After some research some major theft issues were discovered and legal action was taken. Had the previous board succeeded in getting the $40,000.00 loan they had already arranged for the rifle range expansion it would have bankrupted OSA. After analyzing the books we did not have enough monies to make additional loan payments and have the club survive. Without an additional influx of cash from the members the club would not have survived. After paying all the bills the first four months the club had little to survive on. We put an absolute choke hold on spending to reorganize. We found that required tax returns had never been filed. Our Not for Profit status was rescinded because the tax returns had not been filed in years. We were paying for one of our insurance policies 6
that did absolutely nothing for OSA yet two members on the board were consistently refused access to both policies. We saved a lot of money by eliminating the worthless policy and going with an NRA policy that offered much better coverage at a substantially reduced cost. While we have worked with a top CPA firm on our taxes and we are up to date for 2014. Our Not for Profit status has been restored back to the date is was taken away. There is still a question of tax liability for 2011-2013 and our CPA is working on our behalf with the IRS. Anyone that wants to talk shop about the range are welcome to provide comments, suggestions and constructive criticism. The door is always open. Those of you who know Ray know that is at the Range on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 9am to 2pm. If all you want to do is criticize how the club is run and not provide a possible answer, I suggest that you run for a position on the board before you open up about how it is run. We are tired of hearing "this is how we did it up north." Now for some of the Good Stuff! How many of you have taken notice of the positive changes that have occurred at OSA since the start of 2014? It was a pretty bumpy road for the board of directors in 2014 and that was because we had many hurdles to deal with that absolutely had to be taken care of or dealt with. There was much hollering and fist pounding, some hurt feelings, storming out the door, accusations and finger pointing and I was a big part of it. My goal is, and always has been to return the club to it's members. After all, it is your club and your monies that feed it and sustain it. The club needs to be what you want to see happen and grow. The special interests had been in control for too long and they were doing what they wanted for themselves, spending your money to do it, not what was good for the club. The addition of the plate racks for member use has been terrific! The popularity of the plates has reduced the cardboard target backer demand as well as provide practice for the members that shoot competitions. One rack is adjusted so that 22 caliber can knock them down and the other needs centerfire to knock them down but you can use any approved handgun caliber on either rack. The plate racks are on the fifteen minute shooting cycle just like the rest of the range. If people are waiting to use the racks please be respectful of others and rotate or share on the fifteen minute cycle. If you would like the racks painted to better track your hits, please bring your own white paint. Our skills practice days on the 2nd and 3rd Thursday mornings are a little slow because of the summer heat but still provide much fun shooting steel targets, bowling pins and IDPA practice and introduction. This is a free for members only event. Setup is at 9:00, safety briefing at 9:30 with first shot at 10:00 and we usually go until about noon but if demand is high we will run longer. This is a volunteer event so please come early to help setup and stay to tear down. 7
Cool Gun Related Websites From time to tome we field questions from members on where is a good place to buy this or that. Here is a brief list of websites for gun accessories that we have found to be very good on quality and price! Need extra magazines for your guns and don't want to pay full retail? Try: 44mag.com they sell at wholesale prices but don't have a huge inventory gregcotellc.com Greg has a good inventory and good pricing. Need accessories or performance parts for your Smith and Wesson? Look no further than speedshooterspecialties.com they specialize in performance parts and accessories for Smith & Wesson. hwcny.com sells shooting gear, holsters, police equipment to the public at very good pricing! Need reloading supplies? Check out powdervalleyinc.com good prices on gun powder, bullets, primers. Berrysmfg.com good source for bullets, quality stuff. starlinebrass.com new brass in quantities of 100 to a 55 gallon drum! sinclairintl.com anything and everything for reloading ammunition. Everybody is always looking for ammunition at reasonable prices, try these places. Targetsportsusa.com if you buy a case lot you get free shipping! Great pricing too! gunbot.net is a multiple listing service for companies selling ammo, just click on the caliber you are looking for and you can select the manufacturer or name brand and price you are willing to pay and you will be directed to that website. ammoseek.com is another multiple listing service like gunbot. These two ammo seupdate their sites hourly, so if you don't find what you want, check back later and you will see updates on listings. A to Z gun gear opticsplanet.com A to Z gun related gear and accessories at very good pricing!!! Huge site, it will take you a while to browse this place unless you are shopping for something specific and even then the selection is LARGE!!! sportsmansguide.com shooting and hunting equipment midsouthshooterssupply.com shooting gear and accessories brownells.com you need a part for your gun and they don't have it? Your outa luck! That's it for now!!! Happy hunting. 8
September 2015 Ocala Sportsman s Association Event Calendar September 2015 SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY 1 2 3 4 5 Rifle Range Wall Construction 6 OSA New Member Orientation 9:30 AM 7 8 9 10 Skills Practice Day 9 AM 12 PM Range is Closed 11 12 OSA Bowling Pin League 8:30 AM 13 Quarterly Membership Mtg 14 OSA Board of Directors Meeting @ 1 PM. 15 16 17 Skills Practice Day 9 AM 12 PM 18 19 OSA IDPA Match Setup 6:00 PM 20 OSA IDPA Match 12 PM 5:00 PM 21 22 23 24 Marion County Sheriff s Dept HR-218 Qualification 25 26 OSA Steel Shooters 8:30 AM 27 28 29 30 TVSS Reservation 9 AM 12:30 PM Every Thursday is reserved for maintenance and/or special events, the range is not available for open shooting.. 9
RSO Coverage For September 2015 September 2015 Ocala Sportsman s Association RSO Coverage Calendar September 2015 SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY 1 Feg Opening Fred to 2 4 Ray Opening Bill H. - 3 Rifle Range Wall Construction 5 Ray Bill H. - 6 New Member Orientation 7????- AM Evening???? 8 Feg Opening Fred to 9???? - AM Evening???? Range is Closed 10 11 Ray Opening Bill H. - 12 OSA Bowling Pin League 8:30 AM Feg Post Pins- 13 John & Theresa Griffin 14???? - AM Evening???? 15 Feg Opening Fred to 16????? - AM Evening???? 17 18 Ray Opening Bill H. - 19???? Opening Bill H. - 20 OSA IDPA Match 21????. AM Evening???? 22 Feg Opening to????. to 23?????. AM Evening Dave V. 24 25 Ray Opening Bill H. - 26 OSA Steel Shooters 8:30 AM Feg Post Steel - 27 John & Theresa Griffin 28????. AM Evening????. 29 Feg Opening Fred to 30???? AM Evening -???? Every Thursday is reserved for maintenance, the range is not available for open shooting. NOTE: As of September 1, Range Time is 6:00 PM. The Board of Directors would like every one to take a good look at this schedule. Also take a look on the website at past month RSO Coverage Schedules. You will notice the same names. We have had a couple of RSO training sessions this summer so there are a number of members who could be helping out with the open time slots and picking up some of the slack. The time is fast, it is just about here, when without an RSO assigned to a time slot the range will not be open for general membership use. Please if you can help out let Feg or Ray know. Thank You. 10