TRAC match – June 15, 2021

With some trepidation, there was concern that we might turn into human marshmallows roasting over an open heat source today.  Strangely, that wasn’t the case.  During set up, the temperature was logged at 93 degrees and would warm up to 105 degrees by the end of the match.  The wind built up continually through the match from 5 mph up to 9 mph, with some minor gusting, and switched back and forth from SSE, to ESE, to South, then back to SSE as if it could not make up its’ mind.  Also, the skies were lightly overcast and gradually turned to heavy haze, but the combination of these conditions actually made shooting from under the canopy on the rifle silhouette range surprisingly quite comfortable!  We were not inconvenienced one iota.

There were but four of us today, and we set 5 lanes / 2 targets per / etc., etc. but did not shift targets at the halfway point.  With the wind shifting direction and intensity, the second half of our matches are proving to be vastly different from the first half, so we left the course as is.  We did use KZ from ¾” up to 1 7/8” and set the targets out farther, so the challenge level did increase.

Mike – 37/40 – he shot his Thomas and did his best to try to clean the course again, but to no avail.  Screwy winds took care of that.

Mark – 36/40 – he dusted off his Steyr after not shooting it in a while and got soundly thumped on one target as the wind shifted during the shot….like ½” out!

Barry – 35/40 – he shot his Redwolf and didn’t think he did very well.

Larry – 32/40 – he shot his CR-X in .20 cal, but still finished at 80%

Joe and Scott could not make it today, Wayne is on the mend and should be home in AZ by now, and of course Gene has to work…..that dirty four-lettered word.  Ahhh, it is good to be retired…

Next week, because of scheduling, we will be back at the pistol silhouette range and will gather at around 7:30 to beat most of the heat.  We should be able to start at about 8:00 for the match.

Also, word just in about Mormon Lake and our monthly match.  Fire restrictions have been raised to stage II.  That is no big deal, but with the email from the forestry service stating that the fire restrictions “may” jump up to stage III in the next week or so, this might impact being able to shoot.  As such, we have not been issued our permit yet.  This may be a last-minute decision on the part of the forestry service.  We can then either opt to cancel the June match, or try to do a quick scheduling for the range at Ben Avery, just to have some place to shoot.  Just want to give the membership fair warning.  We may not like it, but we also may not have much choice.  We will keep you posted as info becomes available.

Respectfully submitted (and enjoying the A/C as this is being typed)

Mark Kauffman

Secretary, Airgunners of Arizona, Inc.


Field Target Club