Thank You- TEMECULA CHALLENGE

[JW.]

After nearly a decade the Temecula Gran Prix event has returned and it did not disappoint!! Thank you LD, Juan, Wayne, Randy and everyone who attended, what a great weekend.

I posited that this venue may be more difficult than Nevada and some others said that may not be the case. I think Old Mr. Wind took this personally and decided to put that argument to bed once and for all. The Friday pistol match started out fairly windy (it felt really windy then) and after some big thunder and ten to fifteen minutes of rain we we enjoyed some pleasant weather with just a hint of wind.

Saturday was very nice, warm, not a lot of wind for the locale and there were a few who hit the challenge target way up on the hill. If you hit this particular target on both days you were in the running for a free rifle. I'd guess about six to eight people hit this target on rifle day one, only three managed to knock it down on day two.

Sunday was insane, early morning winds were gusting to 10 plus mph and did not let up at all. I think this was the second most windy match I have ever attended, the first being day one of the Ennice NC AAFTA Nationals, which was the tail end of a huge hurricane, winds over 25mph, rain and 40 degrees.

I managed to hit the challenge target both days, however my success was short lived, Lauren hit it twice shooting WFTF (she also shot top score on day one, an amazing performance in the wind) and Son hit it twice shooting WFTF Springer. As an Open shooter I had no business being in the shoot off and may or may not have intentionally shanked the first shot. Lauren won on the kneeling portion of the shoot off to claim the challenge prize rifle (do not bet against her when it comes to offhand lanes, you'll lose).

It was great to meet some new people and to see a few people I have not seen in many years, to catch up and inevitably feel really old when you discover that those young-ins that were running around years ago are now in their 20's and doing things you'd never imagine for a career.

Turns out that getting schooled at the Worlds was a great way to come to terms with wind reading and hold off application for Open, I still have no idea how they do it, more so in the wind on Sunday, but dipping my toe into that word has given me a new appreciation for the WFTF competitors and the wind itself. It improved my shooting tremendously, I had no idea.

My squad-mate on Sunday took this video, I swear I do not remember it blowing like that when I was shooting.... LOL

I hope we get to do it again next year!!

 

[steve123]

Yep it was a fun match! And congrats Jim.

I think the last time I held out off the faceplate to hit a KZ was at one of LD's matches almost 20 years ago. It wasn't as windy as Sunday was but the target was 65 yards or so in one of his non AAFTA matches back then. Then there was another target at 80Y but it was huge/the Terrorist. I think I gave it 10" of windage on that one.

On Sunday being buffeted by the wind on my body meant timing the shot being just as important as holding off enough because half the time my wobble was the size of the entire KZ. There sure were a bunch more splats on the faceplates on the downwind side than the up wind side!

A pretty neat and rare challenge to shoot in those conditions and I really enjoyed the experience. Great to see all you guys again too.

 

[SoCalAirrifles]

Yes! Hows the wind on the audio Super fun shoot and always great to meet fellow airgunners. The incline shots were a very challenging experience. Thanks everyone who put this shoot together. Socal field target, Airgun Oregon, LD and all the fellow competitors.

 

[.SevenSeven]

After nearly a decade the Temecula Gran Prix event has returned and it did not disappoint!! Thank you LD, Juan, Wayne, Randy and everyone who attended, what a great weekend.

I posited that this venue may be more difficult than Nevada and some others said that may not be the case. I think Old Mr. Wind took this personally and decided to put that argument to bed once and for all. The Friday pistol match started out fairly windy (it felt really windy then) and after some big thunder and ten to fifteen minutes of rain we we enjoyed some pleasant weather with just a hint of wind.

Saturday was very nice, warm, not a lot of wind for the locale and there were a few who hit the challenge target way up on the hill. If you hit this particular target on both days you were in the running for a free rifle. I'd guess about six to eight people hit this target on rifle day one, only three managed to knock it down on day two.

Sunday was insane, early morning winds were gusting to 10 plus mph and did not let up at all. I think this was the second most windy match I have ever attended, the first being day one of the Ennice NC AAFTA Nationals, which was the tail end of a huge hurricane, winds over 25mph, rain and 40 degrees.

I managed to hit the challenge target both days, however my success was short lived, Lauren hit it twice shooting WFTF (she also shot top score on day one, an amazing performance in the wind) and Son hit it twice shooting WFTF Springer. As an Open shooter I had no business being in the shoot off and may or may not have intentionally shanked the first shot. Lauren won on the kneeling portion of the shoot off to claim the challenge prize rifle (do not bet against her when it comes to offhand lanes, you'll lose).

It was great to meet some new people and to see a few people I have not seen in many years, to catch up and inevitably feel really old when you discover that those young-ins that were running around years ago are now in their 20's and doing things you'd never imagine for a career.

Turns out that getting schooled at the Worlds was a great way to come to terms with wind reading and hold off application for Open, I still have no idea how they do it, more so in the wind on Sunday, but dipping my toe into that word has given me a new appreciation for the WFTF competitors and the wind itself. It improved my shooting tremendously, I had no idea.

My squad-mate on Sunday took this video, I swear I do not remember it blowing like that when I was shooting.... LOL

I hope we get to do it again next year!!

Thanks Jim, I agree TAC is a great name and in keeping with some of the western events, but we gotta respect The Man's wishes. Maybe LD will do TAC 2026.

 

[AirNGasman]

Sunday was insane, early morning winds were gusting to 10 plus mph and did not let up at all.

Surely that's either a misprint, or slipped digit.

.

 

[Airgunoregon]

I really want to join in thanking Larry Durham for allowing us to help him host.... he says, his last Temecula Challenge. He is eating better and he seems to be defying the doctors predictions.. so who knows.
It's an amazing venue for a match director to work with. It was great to help Juan enter the match directing role. He has a lot of energy and skills to get a club going and host matches.

Randy and I were happy to help him make the courses enjoyable. Randy continued his "no target failure" record with this match too! A failure on a target 50 yards away up a granite boulder strewn hillside takes awhile to resolve. Nice not to have any. Great Job Randy!.. I helped too

Juan and I made sure the target average troyer was 36 so the winners would of each class could get a 100 in the AAFTA grand prix. It's really important for all the grand prix match directors do the same, or the competitors who attend a match not set at 36T will not receive 100 for winning their class.

I don't mean to hijack the thread, but this is where the competitors will look and they need to understand the new rules for AAFTA GP scoring, and maybe lean in on the match directors of the events they sign up for to make sure their scores count equally in the national GP... a new thread may develop.

No environmental factors effect the base 36T, so this course was more like a 50T if you count elevation and wind. Keep that in mind when looking at the highest score percentage of possible. In the past, a great course was when the top score was above 90% but not 100% very often... it's a new world with the new GP scoring.. If no wind or elevation, then shooting 90% on a 36T course is very possible, but not on a course like we just shot at LD's. It will be interesting to see how this season scoring system works out. Are we really sorting out the best shooters in the nation?


Isn't this the kind of venue to sort out the best shooters? Not many around is there??

 

[Therealld]

We will never host another Field Target match here that adheres to the rules you guys applied, since I bought these acres BECAUSE of the challenging terrain and winds. I have never liked the earlier AAFTA rules much for my matches (of around 20 events I hosted, only a couple were AAFTA rules), and I have always been upfront with this, but since I was unaware of the latest gp rule changes until the course was actually being set, there was no stopping it then.

I enjoyed seeing many old shooting buddies showing up (some Ive shot with here for well over twenty years), as well as a number of shooters I knew, but that were new to shooting at my place. I was truly grateful for my good friend Carlos Iglesia and his buddies for fine grilled meats and wonderful sauce they Provided. Some of us stayed up late each night, shooting and talking airgun stories etc. And some us went downtown and had some fine meals together. Randy and Wayne arrived many days early with their own well tuned targets, and had most of the work done well before most others arrived to help out, but stiil, there are always loose ends to handle, and Alan Otsuka, Scott Hull, James Brinkley, Jim Wittlesey, and others filled in as needed. The GP event wouldnt have occurred here without Juan Carrerra, who did a fine organizing job and bangup website to publicise the event.

I was thrilled to have several World Champion shooters here, and a bit disgusted to realize they would likely shoot lower scores here than they did while WINNING the recent worlds matches they had attended because while the wind factors are no longer considered for the target values, the course was configured in a way that made it likely to seriously skew the results.

I love to shoot FT, but won‘t be doing THAT again.

LD

 

[Scotchmo]

At 36T, I still enjoyed shooting at LD’s venue once again. I would have enjoyed it whether it was 28T or 36T.

The Temecula venue was never known for high scores. In order for a 2025 AAFTA GP match to offer full GP points, it must have a raw Troyer value of 36. That makes for even lower scores at venues that have naturally difficult conditions.

It’s ironic that in 2025, the winners can get more GP points from missing hard targets than they get from hitting easier targets.

 

[Airgunoregon]

Juan and I adjusted the target distance and KZ size on the course to get to get to a perfect 36T (without elevation or wind or shade factors), in order to give the competitors a chance at a 100% score. Not to do so would disadvantage the competitors who paid to come and compete in an AAFTA sponsored Grand Prix event. That's the way the AAFTA Grand Prix scoring rules are now written.

I achieved this mostly with a lot of 1/2" KZ at an average of 18 yards... some to the limit of 25 yards. And 1" around 35-40 yards And a lot of plus 40 shots on the rocks at pretty steep angles, or in open slight elevation 50 plus shots. Even the occasional 1/2" at 12 yards needed to be at least hedging the KZ edge or slightly outside... and the wind could easily let up and your screwed with a split.

The winds at Larry's place are really tricky even when they are 3-5mph, but at 12-20 they are a real challenge. We saw very light to very extreme over the three day event. The pistol saw crazy weather changes and wind events.

This was a masters course for sure... and Masters attended and did really well. I shot with a brand new "never shot a filed target course before" shooter on day two and he shot a 42/102, the highest AAFTA scores were 78/102.... He's still hooked on the game, He understood it was a masters course and knows he can do better.

I was happy to be a part of making it happen.

But, I do agree with what I think LD is saying, that a well set course should have the top shooters score above 90% and a new shooter above 50%. But, with the new rules if you do the right thing for the paying competitors, you can't have both.

If not for wind and elevation, then this same course might have seen some shooters in the 90% range.

 

[isledweller]

to get to a perfect 36T (without elevation or wind or shade factors)

If not for wind and elevation, then this same course might have seen some shooters in the 90% range

Elevation is allowed to be included in course setup, as long as the targets are a minimum of 15° up or down. The only variables excluded for the Troyer difficulties calculation are light and wind.

 

[Airgunoregon]

That's good, we did click on the elevated targets over 15% in the planner, so hopefully it's all good anyway.