Glynn and Mindy Kiper are North East Louisiana farmers with a passion for shooting sports. Like a lot of hobbies tend to do, their love of shooting the various disciplines of sporting clays grew into a business. They first built skeet and trap fields on a section of their farm near Mangham, Louisiana but were soon introduced to the sport of Helice shooting.
Helice shooting is an off shoot of live pigeon shoots that were popular for a time across Europe. Helice or ZZ birds as some call it, is some what similar to trap although 5 different target throwers with random presentations replace one trap machine. Helice targets are also not made of Clay used in traditional sporting clays targets. Instead they are made of orange plastic propellers with a center white cap. When a target is called for, the targets are already spinning and a single random target is released. If the shooter hits the target, the white center cap must be knocked free and fall within a ring or fence marked on the ground.
From the random nature of the targets to the materials used, All of these factors create a target that flys more like a live bird than any other form of competitive shooting. Where as a Trap tournament may require hundreds of targets to declare a winner, Helice tournaments are typically decided with just 30 targets.
Project details
Current Video Work
Cottonland Gun Club now features four Helice rings of their own as well as Skeet, Trap, and soon a traditional Sporting Clays range. They’ve grown and continues to be one of the nations leading Helice tournament locations. The spring 2021 Helice Open tournament sanctioned by the US Helice Association was held at Cottonland Gun Club. Below is our most recent video produced for Cottonland Gun Club which features this event.
Early Video Production
Starting in 2014, Riverbank Products was asked to film a short video highlighting a Helice tournament held at Kiper farms. The video was, at the time, one of the few Helice videos that could be found online. There were only aproximately four Helice rings found in the US. Since then, the sport of Helice has grown as has the Cottonland Gun club.
Website Management
In 2020, Cottonland Gun Club’s website had become very dated and was due for a refresh. Mindy Kiper contacted us and we began developing a new web presence for their business. The new website incorporates their branding and provides better information, about the Shooting Range and upcoming events. Riverbank Products was also able to take current photos from their events. This makes sure guests actually know what to expect when planning to visit for their next tournament.
Event Photos
Riverbank Products also takes great action shots and event photos. Below are a few of the images caputured from the 2021 Spring Helice Open Tournament.
Do you need help promoting your business? From Photography and Video creation to print and web content, Riverbank Products can help you better market your business and reach your customers.
Gibson’s stores were once a dominant retail chain store. They carried a variety of merchandise but sporting goods is what I remember most. Rumor is that Sam Walton once inquired about opening a Gibsons franchise before starting Walmart. A series of ownership changes and a bankruptcy in the early 90’s almost ended Gibson’s stores. However, there are a couple of remaining stores in Texas. We once had a Gibsons Discount store here in El Dorado, Arkansas.
My First Rifle
It was the early 80s and I was just a young kid. I went all over with my Popaw. He was one of my heroes. One afternoon we went in to Gibson’s and that’s where I saw it. A Nickel Plated Rossi Pump action 22. The thought, “you’ll shoot your eye out with that thing kid” runs through my mind now but I thought it was the coolest gun i’d ever seen. It was shiny and it looked like the perfect size for me. My papaw used a similar rifle to ward off squirrels from his pecan trees. Many days we’d pull up to his house and he’d be standing outside under the carport waiting on one to come out. With my own Rossi, I could do it with him. For now, though it was a wish list item.
A couple days later, when we went over to visit, I was surprised with that very 22 Rifle. It wasn’t Christmas morning, but it sure felt like it to me. We went out to shoot it and before he and my dad would let me shoot it, we had to clean it. It was there that I learned the importance of properly taking care of a new rifle.
My first Rifle
The thing about a new rifle is that, like any new toy, you want to go play with it as soon as possible, but you can’t let the eagerness to go shoot get a head of proper gun safety and maintenance. Now Lets skip forward a few years. Say 30-35 years.
The Christensen Arms Ridgeline
My dad is now retired. Like my popaw, he spends most of his time with his grandkids. Although he doesn’t hunt much anymore, he wanted a new precision rifle to play with. Several years ago, he purchased a Remington 700 VLS chambered in 6mm remington. The 6mm Remington has long been a favored round in our family. Although not as widely know as the 243 Winchester, the 6mm rem actually predates the 243 and offers slightly improved ballistics and the same bullet. The 700 VLS is a beautiful gun but its heavy bull barrel proved more weight than Dad wanted to carry so, he never really shot it.
With the wide popularity of the 6.5 creedmore, he decided he wanted to give it a try. Dad and I stopped by T.P. Outdoors in Monroe, LA to talk about some custom guns.
After talking with a gunsmith and discussing several options as well as pricing some Dad initially decided to go with a custom built rifle. Then, T.P. Outdoors got in some new Christensen Arms rifles. These rifles have been on order for months and they came in just days after placing his order for a custom rifle. After looking at the new Christensen Arms Ridgeline and finding out nothing had been ordered yet or started on his custom gun, Everyone agreed that the Christensen arms would better suit his needs and at a slightly lower price with more features. We’ll call it perfect timing.
The Christensen Arms Ridgeline has many of the features dad was looking for right out of the box. It’s pretty much a custom rifle right from the factory. It features a bedded stock, and a fluted bolt in a 700 clone action with a carbon fiber wrapped barrel. We’ve shot carbon fiber barrel before on a Ruger 10/22 and love the performance. This one is no exception. It makes for a very light gun at 6.3 lbs which was dads number one concern. He wanted the performance of a heavy barrel but not the weight and fluting only does so much. The carbon fiber dissipates heat 300 times faster than an all steel barrel of equivalent weight. It also comes threaded for you suppressor guys out there. If you don’t have a suppressor, it comes with a thread protector and a ported muzzle break so all of your bases are covered.
Now the lessons learned when I was just a kid are now really important. With any new rifle, ensuring its clean and free of any grease or manufacturing defects is important. It’s also important to properly break in a new barrel. This is definitely the case with a new precision rifle with a sub moa guarantee like the Christensen Arms Ridgeline.
The barrel break in process can help increase accuracy by smoothing out the rifling in the barrel and prevents material from being impeded in the steel. It can also help ease future cleaning and maintenance. We still need to run another box of ammo through it, but we’ve followed Christensen Arms recommendations for barrel break we’re already getting pretty good results.
For the moment, we’re shooting Hornady Precision Hunter ammo. Some of our shots have included sighting in the Leupold VX5HD 3-15×56 with FireDot reticle. The scope lets in a lot of light and has been great to shoot so far. Below is two three shot groups at 100yds after sighting in the scope and really trying for accuracy. I’m happy with that and I think most people would be. We tried the Hornady Match Ammo and didn’t get quite as good a results but Dad’s looking forward to playing around with some other ammo to find the best load and going out to some longer ranges.
Hornady Precision Hunter 6.5 creedmore 143 gr ELD-X at 100 yds
Few cons
There are a few very minor things that I’d change about the Christensen Arms rifle if I were building it as a custom gun.
The bolt handle is light and appears to have had some thought put into its design, however, the design leaves some relatively sharp edges that make it a little uncomfortable to work the bolt. This will most likely have some work done to it and be refinished in the future.
The Ridgeline has a standard magazine compartment similar to any other Rem 700 and it works fine. The stock is a very nice, light weight free floated and bedded stock. However, the bottom plate of the magazine and trigger guard does not recess up into the stock like I would prefer. The magazine in my factory Rem 700 BDL in 6mm rem has a much better feel when you hold it in one hand at the mid point of the gun. Although not really a big deal, this leaves a little sharper edge around the bottom plate than you’d probably get on a custom rifle. and its probably a trade off between weight of the thicker stock that may be required to recess the magazine bottom plate.
Popaws Squirrel Gun
Other than a few very minor issues, the Christensen Arms Ridgeline is probably the sweetest rifle I’ve ever shot. Its light weight. It feels great in your hands. The 6.5 Creedmore performance seems amazing and so fun to shoot. It seems like a nearly perfect rifle. Popaws squirrel gun sure has changed a lot over the years. This one has me drooling all over it just like my Popaws old squirrel gun did years ago. Maybe one day I can have a “squirrel gun” that nice too.
Last week I had the pleasure of attending the Professional Outdoor Media Association (POMA) annual conference in Lincoln, NE. I first became aware of POMA about a year ago which was around the time of their 2017 conference. Since Lincoln is an 11-12 hour drive for me, it would have been much easier to have made the hour and 45 minute drive to shreveport last year, but other commitments and issues prevented me from attending or joining POMA2017 conference. Instead, I began to watch POMA from a distance.
What I saw was some really engaging images and writing coming from other industry members who were involved with POMA. I saw them interacting with clients similar to some I’ve had and others I was eager to pursue. I also saw the diversity among the members. While the common denominator among the members is the outdoors. Some are more heavily involved in hunting vs fishing. Hiking, shooting sports, and General conservation efforts are also heavily represented.
As the 2018 conference came near, I knew I wanted to attend this year. I had hopes of meeting some other industry peers and since I’ve seen this group interact over the year, I knew forming some relationships was a real probability here. Plus, I’m almost entirely self taught on many of the skills that i’ve gained as a photographer and videographer. So a chance to learn from others in the industry was really important. In the weeks leading up to the conference, I honestly didn’t have the money to attend. I’ve had some other expenses and things come up over the last few months that I just had to take an honest look at weather I should attend or not. So I prayed about it and left it in God’s hands.
Within a few days is when I got a call from Kevin Orthman, POMA’s executive Director. After a brief conversation, he said he liked some of my work and wanted to know if I was still interested in coming. Of course I was, but just couldn’t really make it work. Thats when Kevin offered me a sponsorship. Someone was planning to attend and due to some family issues was not going to make it so there was a spot available. I don’t know if I really contained my excitement on the phone but I jumped at the chance. I truly felt that God had answered my prayers on this issue. We don’t always see immediate answered prayers but this time I did and it was so awesome to have been blessed with this opportunity. Kevin, thank you for the invite.
The conference itself did not disappoint. While I was expecting a little larger attendance I think the number of people there was actually perfect. I felt like I was able to begin to form relationships with several who attended and not just swap cards and move on. The seminars were well attended and the speakers were very knowledgeable on their given area of expertise. I can’t thank the corporate partners and sponsors that helped put the event on enough. I learned some new things and I highly appreciated the opportunity to meet other people in the industry.
So what did I learn. Well one thing that I’ve felt for a while and i’ve seen some signs of is that our industry is struggling. Hunters and Outdoorsmen are declining in numbers. This notion was repeated multiple times over the week with statistics to back it up. God’s country has different meanings to different people. To some, its the rocky mountains. For others, its the Mississippi delta river bottoms. No matter your interpretation, our culture is changing and without new hunters and outdoorsmen, coming in and taking the reins, our outdoor heritage and the conservation of “God’s Country” may not fair very well in the future. I guess, the main take away is that POMA is a great organization in a great industry. It’s doing a lot to help bring a positive light into this industry and It’s one that i’ll be joining for sure. I hope that others in this niche of the outdoor industry will consider joining POMA as well.
