Mike

Vince Pacheco

High Junior - Steeler Fugimagari

To the set up and tear down crew – Larry Piercy, Wayne Smith, Steve Montgomery, Abigail Montgomery, Kent Gladden, Crystal Gladden, Cole Rearden, Pat Callihan, Bobby Corcorran, Scott Rogers and his twins, Sam and Emma.  It was a lot of work, but a job well done!  If anyone was missed, my apologies.

To Airguns of Arizona and Penchetta for their generous donation of raffle items.

And a special thank you to all who attended.  We hope you had a good time.

Respectfully submitted,

Mark Kauffman
Secretary, Airgunners of Arizona

Sorry, Nothing down here.  Scroll UP!

Following lunch we held our annual raffle with prizes donated by Airguns of Arizona.  There were pellets, pellet holders, pellet lube, cleaning accessories, pellet sorters, levels, rifle sling, screwdriver set, scope mounts, a moderator, Huma regulator, 1377 pellet pistol, Diana 340L spring piston rifle, and a Benji Marauder pcp rifle.


Anthony Turchetta, who owns Penchetta donated a bum bag and a number of hats for raffle prizes.

Day Two started out a little warmer with dead calm wind conditions during sight-in.  Today we started 30 minutes earlier to provide for an earlier finish so those who had to get on the road for home could do so.  Again, conditions could not have been better.  Shooting in this environment is a joy to experience and fun to share with fellow airgunners.

Carl, Anthony, Mike, Scott, and Greg

Chris Corey

Next up was Scott Hull and Mike Smith, both tied with an 88/104 for 2nd place in Hunter PCP class.  They went back and forth several times before Scott dropped the target to garner 2nd place which resulted with Mike in 3rd place.

Steve being presented with his medal by club Prez, Larry

While the pistol match was being contested, match director Larry Piercy and his crew of helpers was putting the finishing touches on the two rifle courses.  Both courses consisted of 13 lanes with 2 targets per lane for a 52 shot match each day.  The white course was located on the North side of the two-track road and had some gorgeous views of the San Francisco peaks.  The red course was located on the south side of the two-track and angled through the woods to the east side of the sight in range.  Larry was assisted by Steve, Abigail, Kent, Crystal, Cole, Pat, and Bobby on Thursday afternoon and Friday.


Over the course of the weekend, club VP Wayne Smith would handle the registration and stats.  Club Treasurer Mary Ann McLeod would help with registration and photo duties, including chasing after lunch for everyone on Saturday.  Lauren Parsons manned the chronograph station to make sure all guns were in compliance.

In Open PCP class, Larry Piercy and Mark Kauffman were tied for 2nd place AND AZ state champion with a total score of 88/104.  Larry shot first and dropped the target.  Mark shot next and split at 9:00 giving Larry 2nd place and the AZ state title.

Lauren, Mike Niksch in stealth mode, and Garrett

Mike had to leave early so missed the medal awards

A number of individuals need to be recognized for going above and beyond in making this year’s state championship a success;


Larry Piercy for taking over the reigns as match director when it was known that Mark would not be available for almost a month prior to the match.  Job well done!

Mt. Humphrey is the tallest of the San Francisco peaks and the highest point in Arizona at 12,663 feet above sea level.

Day One of the rifle match started with a welcome, shooters meeting, and lane assignments.  Open, WFTF, and Freestyle classes were assigned the red course (Troyer factor w/o wind was 30.20), while Hunter class was assigned the white course (Troyer factor w/o wind was 31.11).  The groups would flip-flop on day Two.

As stated earlier, the weather conditions could not have been any better.  The wind popped in just enough to keep everyone on their toes.

At the end of Day One the leaderboard had Kelly Hawe with a 47 in open PCP class, followed closely by Sandy, Cole, and Mark each with a 44.

In hunter PCP class, Mike Smith and Greg Glover were locked up with 43 apiece followed closely by Bill Day, Anthony Turchetta, and Scott Hull with a score of 42.

In WFTF class Mike Nitsch held a commanding lead of 48 over Lauren Parsons and Garrett Kwakkestein with a 43 and 41 respectively.

Steve Montgomery, shooting a 45, held a lead over his daughter Abigail with a 41 and Crystal Gladden with a 36 in Freestyle class.


After the score sheets were turned in and everyone who shot was given an Airgunners of Arizona souvenir hat, we had lunch (Subway individual box lunches) including fruit, pastries, and beverages.

For those not familiar with our summer venue just to the north of Mormon Lake, we have tall Ponderosa pines with scrub Oak, and patches of Aspen.  The ground is covered in places with volcanic rock that can make walking a bit ponderous.  Thirty miles to the north are the San Francisco peaks, which form the Caldera of an ancient volcano that blew its top eons ago.  From past wildland fires there are numerous downed trees and stumps that provide us ample opportunity for positioning targets over the 8 to 10 acres that we lease from the USDA forestry department.  For us, it is an Airgunners paradise!

High Out-of-State - Kelly Hawe

Wayne Smith for running the stat office and onsite registration

Abigail

Mike presented his 2nd place and State Champ medal

Scott presented his First place medal in Hunter pistol


Field Target Club

Random Photos

The 2019 Arizona Airgun Field Target Championships, hosted by Airgunners of Arizona, were held under perfect conditions at Mormon Lake, AZ with 35 competitors traveling from 7 states to shoot with us.  There would have been 8 states, but the contingent from Oregon could not make it’ and as such, we missed them.  Regardless, we had folks from Maine, Maryland, North Carolina, Colorado, Nevada, California, and of course, Arizona congregate to shoot field target in some of the best conditions we could have ever hoped for.

High Senior - Mark Kauffman

High Lady - Lauren Parsons

We are always grateful for the donated items for our annual fundraising raffle, and that gratitude is shown in the large number of Daystate, Brocock and other rifles and related accessories that have been purchased from them.  Thank you again to Airguns of Arizona and Penchetta for your generosity and support of field target.

Larry had a couple of little helpers pulling the tickets.  Emma and Sam took turns pulling the tickets and then read the numbers

PEANUT GALLERY

Pat Callihan for stepping up to take over the pistol match director job due to Bill Corder’s last minute family obligation.

As the shooters came off of their respective courses and turned in their score cards, the results were tabulated and 3 tied scores were noted, with preparations made for the shoot offs.  As per AAFTA Grand Prix shoot off guidelines, a near target and a far target were set up.  In all three subsequent shoot offs, we never got past the near target.  That was a ½” KZ set at 27 yards with a Troyer of 54!....and that wasn’t taking into account the slight right to left “breeze”.

Next up was Mark Kauffman and Mike Smith for High Senior, seeing as we are both of advanced age and had tied scores in our respective classes.  Mike shot first and missed.  Mark shot next and remembering his split from his first shoot off, held into the wind and centerpunched the target.  Some smart a$$ in the peanut gallery boldly stated that it was the “Grandpop” award!  I will take that as a compliment seeing as I have 8 grandchildren and 2 great-grandchildren.  So there!

It is also interesting to note that both Mark and Mike, along with Bobby Corcorran all share the same birth date.  Mike and Bobby are exactly a year younger than Mark.  The three of us will celebrate that next Sunday.


On to the medal awards along with scores and stats;

Scott, Bobby, Mark, Larry, and Kelly

Pat Callihan stepped up to fill in as match director for Bill Corder, who could not be there, to run the pistol match on Friday.  He set up 10 lanes with 2 targets per lane per Bill’s instruction.  The course had a Troyer factor of 34.29.  Pat was assisted by Wayne, Cole and Kent in setting up the course.


Eight pistol shooters competed in either Limited or Hunter Pistol classes with the match start at 2:00 pm.  After all was said and done, Chris Corey of NC took 1st place in Limited pistol with a score of 19/40 and Cole Rearden took 2nd and AZ state champion with a score of 18/40.


In Hunter pistol Scott Hull of CA took 1st place with a score of 35/40 and Mike Smith took 2nd and AZ state champion with a score of 29.

Ron Jobbes

Although being a bit windy on Friday (8 - 18 mph with gusts up to 35 mph) for the pistol match, all three days had cloudless, clear, azure blue skies and bright sunshine.  The temps started out in the low 40’s and warmed to the high 60’s to almost 70’s during the day.  The winds on Saturday and Sunday were mild (3 – 9 mph) and multi-directional (SE to SW on Saturday and N, then S to SE moving to SW on Sunday), and would come and then go.  They would gust (up to 16 mph) periodically, but otherwise drift in and out just enough to mess with your mind on where to hold on the target.  The mirage also was a factor for those distant targets sitting out in the sun.  It was an absolutely glorious weekend to get together with friends from different parts of the country, and have a ball shooting at the steel critters scattered out in the woods.

Chris

2019 Arizona State Field Target Match Report

September 20, 21, 22, 2019 - Mormon Lake, AZ

Mary Ann McLeod for running the mail in registration, performing photographic duties, and handling the lunch procurement and delivery.


She is shown here with her Bison from a few years ago.