April Match Report, Monthly Match

Saturday, April 15, 2023 

pistol silhouette range / BASF / Phoenix, AZ

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Well, we turned the corner and spring is finally here, although there were days in the past few weeks that felt like we had winter one day and summer the next, based on the extreme temperature ranges and inclement weather.  Today we experienced a cloudless blue sky with temps ranging from 72° up to 79° and wind from zero to 10 mph with the occasional gust.  That happened towards the end of the match, and sent the plastic lane marker cones flying down range.  Although the wind could be deemed mild, it did come at us from every direction.  Initially, we thought we would have a predictable condition with the wind out of the NW, but then it shifted and swung around to the SW, followed by the NE, then about halfway thru the match, it just swirled around us between 6 and 10 mph.  Pick a direction; any direction and that is where it was coming from.  It made an already challenging match even more so.

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We set our usual 12 lane / 48 shot match.  Lane 6 was designated as the standing lane and 1/3 of the targets were set beyond 45 yards.  The lower scores for today attested for the challenging target placement and wind conditions.  Fortunately for us, we had some terrain features in place.  With all the rain that we had in the recent past, a good portion of the range was covered in foot high vegetation.  We took advantage of this in target placement and augmented the rest of the course with strategically placed tree branches that we collected in the past for just this purpose.

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13 shooters congregated and competed in 4 classes, which included 3 spring piston shooters.  We also had shooters travel from Nevada and California to shoot with us.  Pat came from North Las Vegas, and David and his wife, Kay, came over from San Diego.  Kay was recruited to be our photographer for the day and took over 40 really good pictures that need to be edited, with the best included in this report. 

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As usual, we are thankful for those who showed up early to help set the course.  This took less than half an hour.  Taking down the targets afterwards took even less time with everyone pitching in.  Thank you to everyone.

Because it is expected to get warmer and stay that way, we had a discussion amongst all present, all club members, and decided to try starting earlier for next month’s match.  Instead of our usual 10:00 start time, we will start at 9:00 to try to beat the heat.  Of course, in June the monthly matches with be held up in the mountains at Mormon Lake and remain there until October before returning to the valley.  For any questions or concerns, we ask that folks traveling to attend the matches to please consult the web site schedule or send an email to request specific times.

After the scores were announced and awards presented, everyone broke camp to head their separate ways, with a few of us heading back to Wild Horse West for burgers.

Also note that in the stats, the tied scores were broken into placement based on the longest string of hits in a row from the lane where each shooter started.

Until next month, take care, be safe, stay healthy, and practice, practice, practice…

Respectfully submitted.

Mark Kauffman

Secretary, Airgunners of Arizona, Inc.