After many months of planning and preparation, FSA held our first National 50 Benchrest League match combined with a session of speed silhouette.
The 50-yard range at FSA may seem to be sheltered between 12-foot-high berms on two sides and an 8-foot-high concrete wall on the other. But, if you assumed that would block most of the wind, you would be mistaken. We shot the match in hot and muggy, but sunny weather, with temps hitting a little over 90 degrees. There was a threatening storm in-coming that was expected to hit just after the match and I think it contributed to the difficult conditions. At times the wind blew so hard that the leaves on the trees flipped over and at other moments it would slow to just a breeze. I think most of the 9 participants thought the day was challenging and fun at the same time.
The first-round ended with Brandon Michaud and Jeff Swartz tied at the top with 241, but Brandon with a higher X count. All but one of the remaining shooters scored in the 230’s making for the start of a very competitive match. After the second round, Brandon inched ahead of the pack by 2 points, but was pursued by 4 shooters, all within striking distance. The 4 were behind Brandon by less than 10 points each. The third and final round brought the 3 highest scores of the day. Jeff Swartz shot a match high 248 9X that launched him into first place with a 3-card total of 731 18X. Rob Moore’s excellent third card of 247 9X let him cut down his 8-point deficit and move up into second place with a total of 724 22X. And Ryan Spanagel shot a 245 10X that secured the third spot on the podium.
Immediately after the N50 match we moved over to 2 adjacent lanes that were set up with speed silhouette targets from RX Targets. Four participants stuck around to run a couple of double elimination brackets and several more head-to-head duels. The highlight of speed shooting was 2 back-to-back heats between Brandon Michaud and Ryan Spanagel. Brandon managed to win both heart pumping nail-biters with only 1 target remaining on Ryan’s side both times. And Brandon did that while using the High Pressure Pneumatics/Hawke Optics/DonnyFL/Predator International sponsored loaner gun (an AvengeX converted from .25 to .22 for speed silhouette).
Thank you to everyone who attended and please make sure you thank all our sponsors. Give Donny FL, Hawke Optics, High Pressure Pneumatics, Predator International, and Baker Airguns a call if you need anything air gun related.
Jeff Swartz and Ryan Spanagel
The 50-yard range at FSA may seem to be sheltered between 12-foot-high berms on two sides and an 8-foot-high concrete wall on the other. But, if you assumed that would block most of the wind, you would be mistaken. We shot the match in hot and muggy, but sunny weather, with temps hitting a little over 90 degrees. There was a threatening storm in-coming that was expected to hit just after the match and I think it contributed to the difficult conditions. At times the wind blew so hard that the leaves on the trees flipped over and at other moments it would slow to just a breeze. I think most of the 9 participants thought the day was challenging and fun at the same time.
The first-round ended with Brandon Michaud and Jeff Swartz tied at the top with 241, but Brandon with a higher X count. All but one of the remaining shooters scored in the 230’s making for the start of a very competitive match. After the second round, Brandon inched ahead of the pack by 2 points, but was pursued by 4 shooters, all within striking distance. The 4 were behind Brandon by less than 10 points each. The third and final round brought the 3 highest scores of the day. Jeff Swartz shot a match high 248 9X that launched him into first place with a 3-card total of 731 18X. Rob Moore’s excellent third card of 247 9X let him cut down his 8-point deficit and move up into second place with a total of 724 22X. And Ryan Spanagel shot a 245 10X that secured the third spot on the podium.
Immediately after the N50 match we moved over to 2 adjacent lanes that were set up with speed silhouette targets from RX Targets. Four participants stuck around to run a couple of double elimination brackets and several more head-to-head duels. The highlight of speed shooting was 2 back-to-back heats between Brandon Michaud and Ryan Spanagel. Brandon managed to win both heart pumping nail-biters with only 1 target remaining on Ryan’s side both times. And Brandon did that while using the High Pressure Pneumatics/Hawke Optics/DonnyFL/Predator International sponsored loaner gun (an AvengeX converted from .25 to .22 for speed silhouette).
Thank you to everyone who attended and please make sure you thank all our sponsors. Give Donny FL, Hawke Optics, High Pressure Pneumatics, Predator International, and Baker Airguns a call if you need anything air gun related.
Jeff Swartz and Ryan Spanagel
