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March Match Report, Monthly Match

Saturday, March 18, 2023

Small bore range / BASF / Phoenix, AZ

Scores.jpeg
Group Photo.jpeg

Today's crew who braved the "windy" conditions; front row, L-R; Henry, Barry,  Larry, Dave, Jake.

Back row, L-R; Ben, Scott, Stephen, Mike, Wayne, and Mark

In our never-ending quest to try something new and innovative, we decided on having an afternoon shoot!  Actually, we didn’t have much choice because the lever action rifle silhouette shooters scheduled the range until 3:00 pm.

We decided to get there around noon-ish to collect the targets, get everything set and staged at the back of the range next to the fence, so we could set the land speed record in setting the course, once we were able to able to gain access to the range, only to find when we got there, the crew in front of us were finished!  They decided not to shoot their afternoon course because it was too windy!  Too Windy???  I guess we are a hardier bunch than we thought we were because we have shot in some horrendous wind conditions and thrived because of it.

 

So, with 2 hours to kill, Larry, Barry, and I set up the 12-lane course and had everything ready to go by the time the troops showed up.  Stephen got there early and helped us finish the set up.

 

We thought the weather was gorgeous!  Partly cloudy skies but still with lots of sunshine, temperatures remained constant at 70° the entire time.  Winds ranged anywhere from 3 to 9 mph, with minor gusting at times, and came at us primarily from the SE with minor variations on that.  At one point during the match, the wind cycled 180° and came at us out of the west, which really screwed up some shots for those unsuspecting shooters.

We only had 2 cold lines; one when a string was snagged and had to be unsnagged, and the second time when Scott’s range buggy decided to roll down range all by itself.  Guess he forgot to set the brake, and the wind caught it and it started rolling and didn’t stop until it got about 30 yards downrange.  Obviously, a cold line was immediately called amid lots of cat-calls, hooting and hollering, and thunderous applause, while a very embarrassed Scott walked down range to retrieve it.  Unfortunately, my camera was not readily at hand, so no pictures….darn!  Yes, we do have a lot of fun when we get together to shoot.

There were 11 of us today.  The aforementioned Scott, a retired wildland firefighter, brought his grandson, Henry, along.  Henry is learning to shoot well, and also learning about the antics of the adults in having some good-natured fun at his grandfather’s expense.  He’s a good kid and has fun with us when he shoots with us, this being spring break from school.  There is the future of the sport.

The afternoon format seemed to work particularly well and we are going to propose it to our membership for next Jan, Feb, and March so we don’t have to get up at oh-dark-thirty during the winter months.  Old bones take a while to get moving anyway.

Gotta thank everyone for helping tear down the range afterwards.  It probably took no more than 5 minutes, after which we announced the scores and handed out awards.  Actual duration of the match was just about 2 hours and there was plenty of sunshine left in the day.

For those club members who normally participate in our Tuesday TRAC matches, we will not be shooting until the first Tuesday in April, due to BASF hosting the outdoor expo at the ranges.

Respectfully submitted,

Mark Kauffman

Secretary, Airgunners of Arizona, Inc.

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