Work on the Cowboy Shooting Annex on Saturday, October 15
October 12, 2016
Howdy all, hope all is well. Just a note letting everyone know what is going on at the range and with the saloon. The new berm is going in and hopefully it will be done soon. As for the saloon, first of all thanks to all the guys that helped in setting the poles and lifting up the saloon front. That brings us to the next step. Being it is going to be a nice day this Saturday, we decided to see if we could get the floor on the saloon done, before the weather changes. So if anyone can help on Saturday, that would be great. The plan is to eat breakfast Saturday morning at Marlin’s truck stop (east end of Bismarck) at 7:30 a.m. and then go out to the range, starting work about 9:00 a.m.
Hope to see ya at the range!
Mike “Rod-Iron-Rip” Ripplinger
Dear BMRPA Members, It is with a heavy heart that I am writing to let all of you know that the BMRPA has lost one of its founding fathers. Marlin Fried, the namesake of the Fried Family Marksmanship Center, passed away this week. He is survived by his wife Leanne, children and grandchildren. While Marlin has not been active as a shooter with BMRPA for several years, we would still occasionally see him at the outdoor range in his red Chevy pickup, tending to the trees he had planted. In years before, many of you might have known Marlin from Gun City, the shop he started on Main Street in Bismarck. For those of you have never made it to Gun City, it was the type of unique gun store we don’t really get to see anymore. Not all of the trees at the Fried Family Marksmanship Center were planted by Marlin but a great many of them were. He embodied the spirit of old men planting trees which they will never live to enjoy the shade of. It was that spirit of providing for future generations and his enthusiasm for marksmanship and firearms ownership that inspired Marlin to donate the land that the Fried Family Marksmanship Center sits on today. The BMRPA, a club founded by competitive shooters coming together never had its own facility before Marlin’s gift. It was that gift by Marlin and the Fried Family that was one of the greatest factors turning the BMRPA into an organization that provides opportunities for competitors, youth and female shooters and provides a space to exercise our freedom. For that gift, we are thankful and appreciate how uncommon an act such as that is. So, Marlin and the Fried Family, we thank you! We also wish to express our condolences to the Fried family for their loss during this sad time. A memorial service will be held at 11:30AM on Monday, January 19, 2026, and visitation will be held Sunday, January 18, at 5:30PM at Bismarck Funeral Home, and 7pm prayer service. https://www.bismarckfuneralhome.com/obituaries/marlin-fried Tom Headrick President, BMRPA
2025-26 Junior Marksmanship Program