This is going to be a long one, requiring multiple posts (photo limit/post).
The June 2023 match is a done deal, and it was as much or more fun than past matches at this site have been.
This was the hub of activity once we arrived and got set up...All three photos taken from the same position but looking west, then south, and then east. South includes the silhoutte area.
The Aspen Mtn matches take place at 8600 feet above sea level, high in the mountains of western New Mexico. Specifically, the match site is about 10 miles south of Luna, NM and about 3-4 miles away from the pavement. No cell service, crystal clear night skies, hardly any vehicular traffic, and minimal signs of a humans touch....spending time here makes a person acutely aware of the fact that there are thoroughly wild areas still available here in the United States, despite our mostly modern way of life. More on that at the end of the report....
Here are some photos Larry took of the forest service road leading into the area...
The weather for this match was beautiful, night temps in the low 40s, highs in the upper 60s, many of us wore at least long sleeves for the duration of the weekend, and scrambled for an extra layer or two as the sun set each day. Winds were BEARable, definitely not howling, (again, more on that in a minute) with characteristically-for-the-area swirling winds coming from just about every direction. I would estimate even the gusts on Saturday morning during the rifle ft match were at most 8-10mph.
We had a few newcomers this month, with Mike A and his wife driving in from Oklahoma. Norman, Jeff, and Ote (father, son-in-law, grandson trio) were also first-timers for an Aspen Mtn Match. Rounding out the new-to-field target group was Travis R, who dropped by and shot a few lanes before needing to take off for prior engagements. It was fun to get to know these new folks and hope to see them again at future Aspen Mtn matches.
As has become custom for these matches, the silhouette match took place Friday evening. Instead of 40, 50, 60, 70 yards, Rex decided to make it a bit more challenging this month, by stretching it to 50, 60, 70, 80 yards. Let me tell ya, shooting at little 1/5 scale chickens at 80 yards from a stool and shooting sticks, with a mere 19.5fpe small bore airgun makes a guy feel a bit undergunned. But somehow Rex was able to only miss one shot, putting him in first place. I think it might have even been his very last shot. Regardless, very impressive. Misses listed for the top three scorers.
Silhouette score
The rifle field target match was held Saturday morning. We were pleased to have a total of 16 shooters, nearly all shooting in the Hunter class.
Here is the rifle winner, Steve Q.
There were 6 targets with Troyers higher than 41. The overall Troyer for the course was a 34.2, putting it in the "expert" category. I included stats for the 3 highest T targets.
And the rifle results....
For the three high scores....
There are always more stories within the match than can effectively be conveyed, but I'll touch on a few......
After lunch we shot through the pistol course. We had set 13 lanes total, with the first 10 lanes having three targets, but only two strings ran. Steve and Rex reran the strings, basically dropping the hardest target from the rifle match, and adding in another pistol target. The Troyer average for those 10 rifle/pistol targets was a 32, and the Troyer average for the 10 new pistol targets was a 21, making the overall pistol average a Troyer of 26.5. There were 6 targets for the pistol match that would be illegal at an AAFTA Grand Prix.
Here is the pistol winner....Rex
Pistol results
I was feeling like my 35/40 would net me the win, but I was quite surprised to see Rex's PERFECT score. I'd bet money that the # of field target shooters that have ever shot a perfect score in a pistol match is very small. AND Rex did it with 6 targets that would have been too difficult at a Grand Prix! Very impressive.
Always a lot of 1720Ts in the mix at a pistol FT match.
The June 2023 match is a done deal, and it was as much or more fun than past matches at this site have been.
This was the hub of activity once we arrived and got set up...All three photos taken from the same position but looking west, then south, and then east. South includes the silhoutte area.
The Aspen Mtn matches take place at 8600 feet above sea level, high in the mountains of western New Mexico. Specifically, the match site is about 10 miles south of Luna, NM and about 3-4 miles away from the pavement. No cell service, crystal clear night skies, hardly any vehicular traffic, and minimal signs of a humans touch....spending time here makes a person acutely aware of the fact that there are thoroughly wild areas still available here in the United States, despite our mostly modern way of life. More on that at the end of the report....
Here are some photos Larry took of the forest service road leading into the area...
The weather for this match was beautiful, night temps in the low 40s, highs in the upper 60s, many of us wore at least long sleeves for the duration of the weekend, and scrambled for an extra layer or two as the sun set each day. Winds were BEARable, definitely not howling, (again, more on that in a minute) with characteristically-for-the-area swirling winds coming from just about every direction. I would estimate even the gusts on Saturday morning during the rifle ft match were at most 8-10mph.
We had a few newcomers this month, with Mike A and his wife driving in from Oklahoma. Norman, Jeff, and Ote (father, son-in-law, grandson trio) were also first-timers for an Aspen Mtn Match. Rounding out the new-to-field target group was Travis R, who dropped by and shot a few lanes before needing to take off for prior engagements. It was fun to get to know these new folks and hope to see them again at future Aspen Mtn matches.
As has become custom for these matches, the silhouette match took place Friday evening. Instead of 40, 50, 60, 70 yards, Rex decided to make it a bit more challenging this month, by stretching it to 50, 60, 70, 80 yards. Let me tell ya, shooting at little 1/5 scale chickens at 80 yards from a stool and shooting sticks, with a mere 19.5fpe small bore airgun makes a guy feel a bit undergunned. But somehow Rex was able to only miss one shot, putting him in first place. I think it might have even been his very last shot. Regardless, very impressive. Misses listed for the top three scorers.
Silhouette score
The rifle field target match was held Saturday morning. We were pleased to have a total of 16 shooters, nearly all shooting in the Hunter class.
Here is the rifle winner, Steve Q.
There were 6 targets with Troyers higher than 41. The overall Troyer for the course was a 34.2, putting it in the "expert" category. I included stats for the 3 highest T targets.
And the rifle results....
For the three high scores....
- Steve's singular miss was on lane 6, a 1" kill zone at 39, making it a T of 39.
- My two misses were a 1.5" kz at 46 yards on lane 2 (I got it on the first shot but the second was a split right between 12 and 1 oclock, wind shifted on me and lifted the pellet) and a 3/8" kz at 12 yards right in the middle of my 5 year old's temper tantrum.
- Rex's three misses were: a misranged target on lane 1 (1.25"kz @ 47 yards) he hit high, at 12 oclock, he held at 3 oclock for the 1.5" kz at 55 on lane 9 for wind....and hit right at 3oclock, and he couldn't see the beat up kill zone on the frog on a log target, which was the 1/2" kz @ 22yards (highest T of the course).
There are always more stories within the match than can effectively be conveyed, but I'll touch on a few......
- My son Colben was squadded with Ben. Colben has always shot with me, but I mentioned at lane assignment that he's been managing his own gun, ranging, dope, etc for a couple years now, and could be squadded with somebody so that we had all shooting squads of 2 each. Ben reported that it was very enjoyable to shoot with my little buddy Colben. As much of an airgun mentor as Ben has been for so many shooters in the southwest, it was kinda cool to see him and Colben take off for their assigned course after the shooters meeting, poetic almost.
- For the 6 or so years that I've been involved in field target, matches have always been a reason to get together and swap airgun stories, as well as airgun gear. And some gear certainly changed hands this month. Larry sold Norman a Red Wolf. A USFT found a new owner (my USFT is still safely mine, this was a different specimen). I sold some pellets, to two different recipients. I also bought a scope from Dan, intended to go on my 5 year old son Cabe's gun, eventually.
- Cabe was extremely excited to shoot in his first match. He did pretty well on the first couple lanes, knocking down both near shots on two different lanes, the 1/2" kz at 13 yards and the 1/2" kz at 14 yards, but he got frustrated when we got to some targets placed around 5 feet off the ground. He just couldn't get situated to find the targets, since most of our practice had been at targets on the ground. Saying he got frustrated is actually a bit of an understatement, as he actually completely lost his cool. His punishment for the temper tantrum was that I didn't let him finish shooting the rest of the match. He was pretty upset with me, but on the way home was already talking about practicing on targets NOT on the ground, and excited to try out the new scope acquired from Dan.
After lunch we shot through the pistol course. We had set 13 lanes total, with the first 10 lanes having three targets, but only two strings ran. Steve and Rex reran the strings, basically dropping the hardest target from the rifle match, and adding in another pistol target. The Troyer average for those 10 rifle/pistol targets was a 32, and the Troyer average for the 10 new pistol targets was a 21, making the overall pistol average a Troyer of 26.5. There were 6 targets for the pistol match that would be illegal at an AAFTA Grand Prix.
Here is the pistol winner....Rex
Pistol results
I was feeling like my 35/40 would net me the win, but I was quite surprised to see Rex's PERFECT score. I'd bet money that the # of field target shooters that have ever shot a perfect score in a pistol match is very small. AND Rex did it with 6 targets that would have been too difficult at a Grand Prix! Very impressive.
Always a lot of 1720Ts in the mix at a pistol FT match.
