June Monthly Match Report 

Saturday, June 21, 2025 – Mormon Lake, AZ

Barry Diehl/Larry Piercy, Co-Match Directors

As one of the Founders of Airgunners of Arizona Field Target Club it is encouraging to see the mixture of competitors who drove to shoot this month’s match! There were competitors with as little as a couple of field target matches under their belt up to shooters who had nearly 40 years of knocking down these steel pests. Even more encouraging was the fact that competitors ranged in age from their early 30s to their late 70s. This gives me hope that field target competition will continue even after I am feeding the flowers that shooters are admiring while shooting!

​

There is only one word that predominantly describes the atmospheric conditions throughout the match this month – WINDY, WINDY, WINDY!!! You know that person on the TV, the radio, or online who espouses to predict the weather? That person who is only close to predicting what it’s going to be like outdoors and is accurate less than ninety-eight percent of the time. Well, unfortunately, this time they were right! Temperatures began in the high 60s and rose to the mid-70s by the end of the match on a bright sunny day. Humidity was in the 5-10% range. The WIND however, was predicted to be 15-20 mph with gusts from 30-40 mph and the weather forecaster was spot on!

​

The course set-up made the wind an even greater factor. There were 8 lanes with 3 targets per lane. Everyone took 2 attempts at each steel critter beginning with the near target and finishing with the far. The difficulty was the target placement! Every lane had a target that was mounted on a bracket strapped to a tree from 6 to 10 feet above ground level. The angle was not an issue but the difference in elevation caused the nasty winds to catch the pellet differently than any of the other 2 targets on the lane. And then there were 3 targets set out in the meadow requiring you to shoot from inside the forest out into the open field. (I think I heard someone say that they thought that this month’s Match Directors were sadistic, but with the wind I might have mis-heard!) Despite Barry and my most devious efforts these shooters made a mockery of our course which was a Troyer of around 28-30 with no wind and a 36-38 with wind.

​

Look at the amazing scores below! Kent G shot a perfect score in these extreme conditions! When I asked him how he did it he attributed it to 1) not wearing his usual cowboy hat but instead the hat from the company where his daughter works and 2) his “ear-i-cators” (i.e. Windicators) to judge the wind. All I know is he needs to keep an eye on his hat and his ears!

​

Any tied scores were broken by taking the 1st miss beginning at Lane 1 and are noted with an *. Here are the results:

Just a brief commercial for one of our Club members: On July 11, 12, 13, 2025 there will be a
combined Extreme Field Target, 100 Yard Benchrest, and Silhouette Match in Williams, AZ just
west of Flagstaff. There are only a few openings left so if you are interested contact:
martinmartin@gmail.com

Finally I want to thank everyone who assisted in setting up the course. Steve M, Ryan S, Barry D,
Carl F, Kent G, Paul W, and Larry P. Without this crew no one would have had anything to
complain about or curse about on Saturday. Be sure to thank them.

Next month Airgunners of Arizona will be holding their monthly match on 7/19/2025 at the
same venue (hopefully with less or no wind) just in case you missed the June match. You can’t
beat the scenery or the comradery!

Respectfully and deviously submitted,
Larry Piercy
President/June Co-Match Director
Airgunners of Arizona