You may be asking already what the “enhanced” means?  We had a match today that differs from anything we have had in the past….

First off, it was an absolutely PERFECT day for shooting.  The wind was negligible at best; zero wind with a maximum of possibly 9 mph, infrequent and from variable directions.  It was quite possibly the best conditions that we have ever seen at BASF.  The blue sky, albeit with a bit of distant haze early in the morning, cleared up and was nice and sunny.  Temps ranged from 57° up to 72° and humidity was 33% dropping to 16%.  You literally could not ask for better conditions.

What made it enhanced?  We set up a full 12 lanes using ½”, ¾”, 1” and 1 ½” targets, all set at challenging distances. That was on about 2/3 of the available range space.  The other 1/3 of the range was set up with sight-in targets, from 9 meters, out to 55 yards; one set was in yards, and the remainder were set at meter distances, 9 to 50 meters.  Why, you ask?

We were asked to provide sight in opportunities for shooters competing at the WFTF world championships to be held the remainder of this week at Rio Salado Rod & Gun club, and hosted by Phoenix Air Gun club.  So, we extended our reservation hours until 5 PM and planned on being here until then for those shooters that wanted additional sighting and warm up time.  Knowing we shoot our usual TRAC match in about 2 hours or so, we decided to offer a second match in the afternoon, starting at noon.  How did all that work out, you ask?

WE had 71 shooters here all day long!

The preliminaries….

Tony T, Wayne, Larry, Bill, Mark, Jesse, Joe, Pat, and Loren were here early and set the course up.  Then we measured and set out all the cardboard boxes with target faces on them.  I think there were 50 positions set out, thanks to boxes supplied by Airguns of Arizona.  They also had Larry bring out the van in order to provide any on-site repairs and refilling air tanks.  They were both needed.

The first match…..

Wayne had planned not to shoot and handled the registration.  Tony also planned not to shoot and handled the sight in range and chronographing services.  Larry planned on shooting the afternoon match, which allowed several of us to shoot the morning match, then switch off with them so they could shoot the afternoon match.  Good plan, if it had worked out.  We had just under 20 shooters in the first match.

While shooting the first match, the other shooters just came trickling, and at times, pouring in.  We gave them the option of shooting the second match, shooting as much as they would like on the sight-in range, or whatever they wanted to do, safety being paramount.

The second match….

Some shot the first match, some shot the second match, some shot both matches.  Others were content to sit on the sight in range and shoot paper……ALL DAY!  The place was packed!  They shot, they chatted, they caught up with old friends from other parts of the country and world.  Yeah, you heard that right….

We had people there from around the country; Arizona, California, Nevada, Washington, Minnesota, Connecticut, New York, Ohio, Wisconsin, Hew Hampshire, South Carolina, Maryland, and Puerto Rico.

We had people there from around the world; Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Austria, Australia, England, Northern Ireland, Wales, and South Africa.

Information gleaned, lessons learned, eyes opened wide….

I think our members got quite the education on equipment and shooting positions and techniques being used by these folks.  Everybody was interacting with everybody else.  A number of them brought their wives, as well.

During all of this, we only had one cold line.  One of the shooters on the sight in line, we believe, blew the internals out of his suppressor, so we called a cold line for them to go forward and collect the pieces that launched themselves downrange. But that was it!  All day long of shooting and that was the only mishap.

Feedback….

We were also amazed at all the shooters who approached us to thank us for opening this up to them.  They were in awe of the facilities; some had never seen a range this big or this nice.  One gentleman from England thought we had a “brilliant” facility.  Everyone was grateful for the opportunity for extra shooting before their main event for the remainder of this week.

The unfortunate thing is that our members who sat out the first match, found it so busy that they could not shoot the second match.  We were all busy handling every little thing that came up.  We also gave each of the visiting shooters one of our copper club pins that we use for our awards, and we provided coolers filled with water for all of them, as well.

The aftermath….

At 3:30 we started to shut things down.  The facility had closed for the day (winter hours) at 3:00 pm and the gates were shut.  All had to exit at the main entrance, but gradually they packed their belongings and again thanked us for the opportunity.  It was really heartwarming to hear the gratitude that was conveyed to us by everyone that attended.  Puts a smile on my face just sitting here and typing this.

Taking in the targets were Tony, Bill, Mark, and two of the remaining shooters.  Larry wound all of the strings, while we loaded everything onto the back of Tony’s truck.  Wayne was busy collecting and loading the sight in targets onto the back of his truck for a trip to the dumpster.  His little pickup looked like a garbage truck!

Gradually all was cleared up from around the range and closed up.  The trip to the dumpster found us breaking up all the boxes to fit into the dumpster.  Then back up to the conex box and unload it all back into storage.

What a day!

On Saturday, we WILL have our monthly match.  Quite a few of our membership are actively involved in running the world championships, but for those who are not, we will probably set up the 6-lane course that we normally use for Tuesdays.  Gonna try to keep things simple and easy for this match.

Good luck to our club members who are competing in the worlds; Pat Callahan, Dave Dagostino, Lauren Parsons, and Scott Webster.  Shoot well and have fun.

Respectfully submitted,

Mark Kauffman

Secretary, Airgunners of Arizona, Inc.

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