{"id":29971,"date":"2025-06-16T12:24:52","date_gmt":"2025-06-16T19:24:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/?p=29971"},"modified":"2025-06-16T12:24:52","modified_gmt":"2025-06-16T19:24:52","slug":"rip-rick-courtright","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/2025\/06\/16\/rip-rick-courtright\/","title":{"rendered":"RIP, Rick Courtright"},"content":{"rendered":"<h6>By Joe Berk<\/h6>\n<p>One of the problems with getting old is that you lose friends along the way.\u00a0 I&#8217;m not as good as I should be staying in touch with people, and I recently learned that Rick Courtright, one of the guys I&#8217;d sent a few emails to without receiving responses passed away a couple of years ago.\u00a0 I was sad when I learned of Rick&#8217;s passing.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-29973\" src=\"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/20180923_7262-600.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/20180923_7262-600.jpg 600w, https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/20180923_7262-600-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 984px) 61vw, (max-width: 1362px) 45vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>I first met Rick through the Internet on the Ruger forum.\u00a0 I had posted something (I can&#8217;t remember what), Rick responded, and we started sending messages back and forth.\u00a0 I learned that Rick lived only a few towns over, and I invited him to our monthly military surplus rifle matches.\u00a0\u00a0We became friends.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-29974\" src=\"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/DSC0093-600.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/DSC0093-600.jpg 600w, https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/DSC0093-600-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 984px) 61vw, (max-width: 1362px) 45vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Rick impressed me with his complete lack of pretentiousness and his willingness to share whatever he knew about shooting and reloading.\u00a0 I enjoyed his friendship and I can still hear his voice.\u00a0 A rabbi once told me that folks we&#8217;ve lost live on in our minds, and I guess that&#8217;s true.<\/p>\n<p>I found a few photos of Rick at our informal West End Gun Club milsurp matches, and I thought I&#8217;d share them here.\u00a0 Those were fun matches and fun days.\u00a0 The matches were always followed up by lunch at a favorite local Mexican restaurant.\u00a0 Good times, those were.\u00a0 Rest in peace, Rick.\u00a0 You are missed.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Join our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/groups\/528366535451405\">Facebook ExNotes page<\/a>!<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Never miss an ExNotes blog:<div class=\"wpforms-container wpforms-container-full\" id=\"wpforms-32730\"><form id=\"wpforms-form-32730\" class=\"wpforms-validate wpforms-form wpforms-ajax-form\" data-formid=\"32730\" method=\"post\" enctype=\"multipart\/form-data\" action=\"\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29971\" data-token=\"6ee8750fff8993003d8d027fad33080f\" data-token-time=\"1792806592\"><noscript class=\"wpforms-error-noscript\">Please enable JavaScript in your browser to complete this form.<\/noscript><div class=\"wpforms-field-container\">\t\t<div id=\"wpforms-32730-field_1-container\"\n\t\t\tclass=\"wpforms-field wpforms-field-text\"\n\t\t\tdata-field-type=\"text\"\n\t\t\tdata-field-id=\"1\"\n\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t<label class=\"wpforms-field-label\" for=\"wpforms-32730-field_1\" >Email<\/label>\n\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" id=\"wpforms-32730-field_1\" class=\"wpforms-field-medium\" name=\"wpforms[fields][1]\" >\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div id=\"wpforms-32730-field_2-container\" class=\"wpforms-field wpforms-field-email\" data-field-id=\"2\"><label class=\"wpforms-field-label\" for=\"wpforms-32730-field_2\">Email <span class=\"wpforms-required-label\">*<\/span><\/label><input type=\"email\" id=\"wpforms-32730-field_2\" class=\"wpforms-field-medium wpforms-field-required\" name=\"wpforms[fields][2]\" spellcheck=\"false\" required><\/div><script>\n\t\t\t\t( function() {\n\t\t\t\t\tconst style = document.createElement( 'style' );\n\t\t\t\t\tstyle.appendChild( document.createTextNode( '#wpforms-32730-field_1-container { position: absolute !important; 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