Field Target Club

Airgunners of Arizona TRAC match – May 5,2020 Rifle Silhouette Range
Ben Avery shooting facility – Phoenix, AZ

IF any of you guys are old enough to remember Rod Serling and the “Twilight Zone”……..”Consider if you would, a world where Cinco de Mayo falls on Taco Tuesday, but was ruined by a virus named after a Mexican Beer…….”  I actually saw a meme like this yesterday.  It fits!

Anyway, today, we had 6 shooters AND the user group liason present during the set up for the match.  Dave wasn’t sure what to expect but seemed genuinely impressed with the course setup on the rifle silhouette range beyond the 100 yard backstop in the open desert area.  His last comment before departing was, “This is actually perfect for what you guys want to do…..”  He is already putting the parts in order to change BASF protocol to allow us to shoot from this portion of the rifle silhouette range.  We have the 1000 yard range berm to the east.  We have the DPMS range berms to the west.  We can see neither firing line and when scheduled on this range, no one will bother us.  Perfect!

When the weather is nice, we can shoot where we set up this morning and when the weather is inclement, we can go back and shoot under the shade canopy at the silhouette firing line. We may do that next week due to the fact that it got a bit toasty today.  It was only 93 at the end of the match, but with no shade it felt warmer.  It was 97 when I left the facility according to my truck thermometer.

We set up 5 lanes with 2 targets per / shot through once / reset target distances / shot through the second time / 40 shot match total.  We started about 9:30 and were finished with everything by 12:00 noon.

I have to say, some of the target distances were out there.  The farthest was 55 – 56 yards.  We used 2 of each size KZ; 1.875”, 1.500”, 1.000”, .750”, and .500” as “appropriate” distances.  Of course after setting and shooting the comments were, “aren’t they a little long?”  LOL!

The wind was light and variable from the 2:00 position, moving around to 12:00, then to 10:00 ish before shifting around to about 7:00.  The mirage was easy to read when turning your scope out of focus and watching it flow or boil.  The vegetation actually was readable as well.  This place is going to work out well.

Old man Mike, using his Thomas ended up shooting clean 40/40 followed by Barry (Daystate Red Wolf) with a 38/40.  I am really liking the work I did to the TX200 (springer) and ended up with a 35/40.  Terry M (Thomas) shot 32/40, Larry P (Daystate Grand Prix) shot 23/40 and Ben shot 21/40 with a new-to-him BSA Gold Star.

We did practice social distancing and will continue to do that.  Gotta make sure that BASF is OK with more than 10 shooters at the monthly match on the 4th Saturday of May.  It is going to be a slightly different world than what we have been used to, but nothing we cannot handle.  We ARE all mature, responsible adults and can roll with the punches.

We will be shooting all four Tuesday’s in May for the TRAC matches.  As for the summer matches at Mormon Lake, that is still up in the air at the moment.  USDA forestry service is aware of our concerns, has our application, and is in contact with us frequently.  They have to follow CDC and governmental guidelines and will keep us abreast of updates.

That is all for now.

Take care, be safe, stay healthy,

Mark Kauffman

Secretary, Airgunners of Arizona, Inc.