Field Target Club

Bill

Pat S. (Paddy)

Pat C.

Beverly

Josie

Kent

Airgunners of Arizona "St. Paddy's Day" Match Report

Saturday, March 16, 2019 - BASF Pistol Silhouette Range - Phoenix, AZ

Thanks Lauren.  Your candid insight is greatly appreciated.  It is always interesting to note what other shooters think about regarding our matches.


We contested 5 classes this month.  Open PCP was the largest class with 7 shooters.  Cole ended up smoking the competition with a 33 and the only score posted above 30 for today.  Once again, Mark was the only shooter in Open Piston.  I can’t help it, my (CCA) Diana 54 at 12 fpe is such a smooth shooting gun and a joy to shoot.  WFTF class had 3 shooters with Lauren taking top honors with a 27.  Bill C’s wife, Josie, shot her first ever match, knocked down 2 targets, hit nearly every face plate, and was having an absolute blast.  Her smile is just as contagious as Lauren’s!

“This past Saturday was the Airgunners of Arizona's March monthly match at Ben Avery Shooting Range and now I finally understand what March Madness means when it comes to wind! The match was held on the Pistol Silhouette range and after searching all the other ranges upon arrival, I finally saw the Airguns of Arizona Van and I knew I was in the right place. After chatting with some people and having the shooters meeting, the match started. I was lucky enough to be paired with Sandy C. We struggled through the match and through the intense winds. For me shooting 12ft/lbs it was absolutely brutal.

Pat C. and Ben

Barry (top) and Mike

During shoot off

Well, March is holding true to tradition regarding the wind.  We were looking for 5-15 mph winds, according to the NWS forecast for our St. Paddy’s day match, but got blasted!  Welcome to the wind machine!  In January, the winds were head on, and last month they came at us over our left shoulder.  Today, they were 90 degrees from the right…..most of the time.


To give you an idea, I was shooting a 12 fpe rifle with scope set at 24X.  At 25 yards, my hold off was 2 mildots.  At 50 yards, I was holding anywhere from 3 to 4 mildots into the wind.  The intensity would vary so the actual hold off was a guessing game.  And to top that off the wind was pushing the pellets down.  I hate 6 and 7 O’clock splits! 


During the actual match, the wind had lightened up a bit, but when we set up the course, it was absolutely brutal!  Much stronger and gusting heavily.  The sun was nice and bright and skies were clear and blue.  It was supposed to be in the low 70’s, but the wind made it feel much cooler and kept everyone bundled up.

Sandy

Course Set Up

Happy


St. Paddy's


Day

In Hunter PCP, Mike and Barry tied for the top spot again this month, forcing a shoot off.  Once again, the “Old Man” prevailed by scoring one more point over Barry in the shoot off.  Ben and Beverly were also tied for 3rd place, but with Ben needing to be elsewhere right after the match, did the gentlemanly thing and relinquished 3rd place to Beverly.  What a guy!  Last but not least, we had two shooters in Freestyle class with Pat S besting Kent.  Everyone seemed to have their work cut out for them today.

Scott

Barry

Cole

Sight in

Rick and Klaudia

Brian

I didn't have the Hit Zone of the targets in my sight picture when I pulled the trigger for most of the targets and surprisingly, I got them! It soon became news that Mark was shooting very well with his Diana 54 Spring Piston rifle and was only 4 down (Ed. NOTE; I WISH!!!) in the first half of the shoot! Cole snuck in through the cracks and managed to finish with a very good 33. What a score! Bobby finished with a 28 and Sandy and I tied with 27. Larry Piercy was just on our tails with 23. It seems those Tsar's are really working taking 2 top spots. It was great seeing a couple of new faces there as well. Granted I've not been running the AZ Circuit for too long myself.

Thanks for an enjoyable shoot, despite conditions. A bad day at the range is still better than a good day in the office.


Lauren Parsons”

Bobby

I asked Lauren to give us her take of her first match shooting with us at this venue.  Miss Parsons is a seasoned veteran of WFTF shooting and has won the women’s world championship title.  She was also just interviewed in a featured article in the February issue of AIRGUN SHOOTER magazine (UK).  Here are her words;

Lauren

Kent, Larry, and club alumni Rick and Klaudia spent just under an hour to set up the course and have everything ready to go by just before 8:00 when the troops started to roll in.  With this kind of wind 3 months in a row, we were not sure how many would brave the conditions…….again. 


As it turned out, we had 17 shooters who were bitc…..er……”commenting” about conditions throughout.  It was an equal opportunity inconvenience for all, to put it mildly.  We made the best of it, shot some good scores considering conditions, and kept a sense of humor about it all.  What else can you do?  We still had fun.  The Troyer factor, with wind, was calculated to be 35.98 with no forced position shots.  With the wind, we were forcing ourselves to try to maintain position while being buffeted….LOL

Mike, the Old Man

Here are the scores and equipment stats;

As always, individuals need to be recognized for their unwavering desire to contribute.  Kent was on site before I arrived this morning.  We got the materials needed for the match over to the site as Larry was arriving. 


Surprising us were Rick and Klaudia, who stopped by to say hi and to help us set up before they had to be elsewhere.  They are very active with family and church and have not been able to come out to shoot with us in a while.  It was great to see them again. 


Ben showed up with muffins and donuts and fruit to share with everyone prior to the match.  Afterwards, everyone pitched in to pull targets, strings, blocks, etc. 


Thank you to all of our crew.  We could not easily do it without you and we appreciate all of you!

Respectfully submitted

Mark Kauffman

Secretary, Airgunners of Arizona.