Wes at the prematch sight in line.
The February XFT match took place in Phoenix yesterday morning. We were one again at the Phoenix Rod and Gun Club and once again appreciate their hosting of these matches and sharing of their facilities.
The weather was amazing, 65 degrees without a cloud in the sky. Wind was maybe gusting up to 6mph but it was quite minimal and overall very pleasant. Towards the end of the match it was switching back and forth a bit and being tricky, but that's just the game.
The morning started out with a little poi verification along the firing lane, as well as the usual catching up and talking airguns amongst friends (perhaps the best part of the matches).
I had big intentions of trying to get a photo of everybody's gun/rig but that only got as far as the sight in lane. Here are the guns I was able to get. Some Red Wolfs and Impacts, and even a RW Heritage stock as well as some more exotic stuff like a Delta Wolf, an EVOL Mini and a Thomas HPX.
AOAs general manager, Greg G, set us up with some newly printed lane markers and they looked and worked great. Thanks Greg. Thought it'd give readers a feel for the course so I roughly circled the targets on each lane with pink. I somehow missed Lane 12, dang it. Oh yeah, Ben put in some work and added two lanes, so we shot a 48 shot match this month.
Lane 1 is one of the new lanes
Lane 2 is basically the old Lane 1
Lane 3 is the other new lane, somebodies range finder showed this at an 8 degree incline but it FELT more uphill than that. Sure got in my head when I was trying to figure out how to handle the incline, I was a X, O, X, X on this lane and quite pleased with myself for knocking down both 100 yarders.
Far target on lane 6 is a quail that is strategically placed in that little ravine coming down the slope There's also a larger ravine that cuts through most of the targets from roughly lane 4-10. The wind does really strange things in all these topographical features and it makes for a fun challenge.
Lane 9 used to be the old Lane 7 so it's the oddball lane. It has usually been an offhand lane but last month we did Killer Troyer from bucket and sticks (tiny KZs). That seemed to be a hit so Ben decided to split it this month. Near target on Lane 7 was an offhand, and far target was a bucket and sticks shot, I think he told me 1" @ 46 and the near/offhand kz was probably around 1.75"
Near target on Lane 10 was a skunk and there were just a few pieces of grass sticking up into the kill zone from my apparently lower-than-most-bucket height. I was complaining about it but knocked that target down both times.
Total of 21 shooters this month and this is how everyone did.
We had Kirby shooting with us for the first time. He's a PRGC member and spectated a few month back and it looked interesting and challenging enough for him to come give it a go this weekend. That 37 is quite respectable.
Tim was also a first time shooter up from the Tucson area. He, Ben, and myself were squadded together. Poor guy was getting more "help" from Ben and I than he bargained for. I'm sure he was wishing we'd just shut up and let him shoot. We were making so many suggestions that his head was probably spinning. After a couple lanes I thought to myself we should have just left him alone and let him shoot, lol. Hopefully we didn't run him off with our non-stop chattering.
From what I could gather, the slug shooters may not have finished out the match. I'm still waiting to see somebody show up with these newfangled wunder slugs and show us pellet shooters how it's done. In theory the slugs should be kicking our pitiful BC pellet shooters collective butts, but it has not yet gone that way. (That little takeaway opinion agrees with what I see at home when I compare pellets to slugs).
It's always fun to go through and type up the equipment table. Shooters are always trying something different, different gun, swapped scopes around, etc. For example, Kent was shooting an Evanix .30 this month, after usually shooting .22s. He told me he was holding off too much in the beginning, lol. And Wes borrowed Ben's .25 after shooting with a .177 last month. He commented on the larger Newtonian equal and opposite reaction effect from the .25. Scott was shooting a new RTI Prophet this month and he seemed pleased with the gun's performance. Ben and I also got in on the equipment and theory swapping/testing. We had preemptively agreed to try out the small bore stuff together, a match within a match if you will. So he shot the 16.2gr/.177s @ around 990fps and I shot the 15.89gr/.20s at around 910fps. I went into it feeling really under-gunned at only 29fpe but was pleasantly surprised with how well the .20s did. On that note, I was afraid I wouldn't have enough retained energy on the long ones to knock down these big steel targets. Unfounded concern because when I hit the paddle, those targets were falling, even with my low (relatively) power gun. Ben, with the .177, reported the same effect, paddle hit = knocked down target. Ben and Mike's target design allows for a reliable knock-down even with low fpe.
Because I was in the squad of 3 I'm not sure how the post-match meeting went, as we were still shooting. From photos I was sent, as well as the compiled results, it looks like Peykan, Tony, and Sandy took home the AOA prize money. And Barbara would be the longest winning streak of someone not otherwise placing. So I think Ben needs to get the JD Custom Design gift certificate to her for longest streak.
Here's some random photos from throughout the match....
Ben, me, and Tim
Looking north along the main path during the match, from about Lane 9
Looking south from about Lane 8.
Robert and Tom? I think.
Team Centercut, some of them anyway.
Wes and Scott coming back down the trail from the far end of the course.
Tim about to take his offhand shots on Lane 9.
Looks like Wes dropped the skunk here.
Oh, right before I shot my last lane Ben dropped a hint that he had added some ribbons in random places up on the hill side. That was hotly debated in the past. They were there yesterday though, for the observant shooters. Wish I would have known about them earlier in the match, lol. Now I know, and I'm making everyone else aware, keep your eyes peeled for ANYTHING that might be an indicator of what the wind is doing up the hill.
Thanks to Scott, Peykan, and I think Van for some of the included photos. I always appreciate photos from other competitors for the match reports, they give alternate views and improve the quality of the match report.
Thanks to AOA for sponsoring us with prize money and the new lane markers. Thanks to JD's Custom Design for the gift certificate prize. And a huge THANK YOU to Ben and Wes and anybody else that helped set or tear down the course. I felt like a jerk leaving Ben and Wes there alone to clean up the course but due to my eye condition my night vision makes driving through elk country a sketchy situation (was needing to get home before dark). The amount of effort, physical and mental, as well as the investment of time that Ben puts into this whole endeavor is mind boggling. He does a lot of work to ensure that the shooters enjoy the matches, and he's constantly working on improving the matches in any way possible. And he does it for free, simply out of kindness and his desires to share the love of airgunning. Seriously, thank you Ben.
(Shooters, feel free to make any necessary corrections).
The February XFT match took place in Phoenix yesterday morning. We were one again at the Phoenix Rod and Gun Club and once again appreciate their hosting of these matches and sharing of their facilities.
The weather was amazing, 65 degrees without a cloud in the sky. Wind was maybe gusting up to 6mph but it was quite minimal and overall very pleasant. Towards the end of the match it was switching back and forth a bit and being tricky, but that's just the game.
The morning started out with a little poi verification along the firing lane, as well as the usual catching up and talking airguns amongst friends (perhaps the best part of the matches).
I had big intentions of trying to get a photo of everybody's gun/rig but that only got as far as the sight in lane. Here are the guns I was able to get. Some Red Wolfs and Impacts, and even a RW Heritage stock as well as some more exotic stuff like a Delta Wolf, an EVOL Mini and a Thomas HPX.
AOAs general manager, Greg G, set us up with some newly printed lane markers and they looked and worked great. Thanks Greg. Thought it'd give readers a feel for the course so I roughly circled the targets on each lane with pink. I somehow missed Lane 12, dang it. Oh yeah, Ben put in some work and added two lanes, so we shot a 48 shot match this month.
Lane 1 is one of the new lanes
Lane 2 is basically the old Lane 1
Lane 3 is the other new lane, somebodies range finder showed this at an 8 degree incline but it FELT more uphill than that. Sure got in my head when I was trying to figure out how to handle the incline, I was a X, O, X, X on this lane and quite pleased with myself for knocking down both 100 yarders.
Far target on lane 6 is a quail that is strategically placed in that little ravine coming down the slope There's also a larger ravine that cuts through most of the targets from roughly lane 4-10. The wind does really strange things in all these topographical features and it makes for a fun challenge.
Lane 9 used to be the old Lane 7 so it's the oddball lane. It has usually been an offhand lane but last month we did Killer Troyer from bucket and sticks (tiny KZs). That seemed to be a hit so Ben decided to split it this month. Near target on Lane 7 was an offhand, and far target was a bucket and sticks shot, I think he told me 1" @ 46 and the near/offhand kz was probably around 1.75"
Near target on Lane 10 was a skunk and there were just a few pieces of grass sticking up into the kill zone from my apparently lower-than-most-bucket height. I was complaining about it but knocked that target down both times.
Total of 21 shooters this month and this is how everyone did.
We had Kirby shooting with us for the first time. He's a PRGC member and spectated a few month back and it looked interesting and challenging enough for him to come give it a go this weekend. That 37 is quite respectable.
Tim was also a first time shooter up from the Tucson area. He, Ben, and myself were squadded together. Poor guy was getting more "help" from Ben and I than he bargained for. I'm sure he was wishing we'd just shut up and let him shoot. We were making so many suggestions that his head was probably spinning. After a couple lanes I thought to myself we should have just left him alone and let him shoot, lol. Hopefully we didn't run him off with our non-stop chattering.
From what I could gather, the slug shooters may not have finished out the match. I'm still waiting to see somebody show up with these newfangled wunder slugs and show us pellet shooters how it's done. In theory the slugs should be kicking our pitiful BC pellet shooters collective butts, but it has not yet gone that way. (That little takeaway opinion agrees with what I see at home when I compare pellets to slugs).
It's always fun to go through and type up the equipment table. Shooters are always trying something different, different gun, swapped scopes around, etc. For example, Kent was shooting an Evanix .30 this month, after usually shooting .22s. He told me he was holding off too much in the beginning, lol. And Wes borrowed Ben's .25 after shooting with a .177 last month. He commented on the larger Newtonian equal and opposite reaction effect from the .25. Scott was shooting a new RTI Prophet this month and he seemed pleased with the gun's performance. Ben and I also got in on the equipment and theory swapping/testing. We had preemptively agreed to try out the small bore stuff together, a match within a match if you will. So he shot the 16.2gr/.177s @ around 990fps and I shot the 15.89gr/.20s at around 910fps. I went into it feeling really under-gunned at only 29fpe but was pleasantly surprised with how well the .20s did. On that note, I was afraid I wouldn't have enough retained energy on the long ones to knock down these big steel targets. Unfounded concern because when I hit the paddle, those targets were falling, even with my low (relatively) power gun. Ben, with the .177, reported the same effect, paddle hit = knocked down target. Ben and Mike's target design allows for a reliable knock-down even with low fpe.
Because I was in the squad of 3 I'm not sure how the post-match meeting went, as we were still shooting. From photos I was sent, as well as the compiled results, it looks like Peykan, Tony, and Sandy took home the AOA prize money. And Barbara would be the longest winning streak of someone not otherwise placing. So I think Ben needs to get the JD Custom Design gift certificate to her for longest streak.
Here's some random photos from throughout the match....
Ben, me, and Tim
Looking north along the main path during the match, from about Lane 9
Looking south from about Lane 8.
Robert and Tom? I think.
Team Centercut, some of them anyway.
Wes and Scott coming back down the trail from the far end of the course.
Tim about to take his offhand shots on Lane 9.
Looks like Wes dropped the skunk here.
Oh, right before I shot my last lane Ben dropped a hint that he had added some ribbons in random places up on the hill side. That was hotly debated in the past. They were there yesterday though, for the observant shooters. Wish I would have known about them earlier in the match, lol. Now I know, and I'm making everyone else aware, keep your eyes peeled for ANYTHING that might be an indicator of what the wind is doing up the hill.
Thanks to Scott, Peykan, and I think Van for some of the included photos. I always appreciate photos from other competitors for the match reports, they give alternate views and improve the quality of the match report.
Thanks to AOA for sponsoring us with prize money and the new lane markers. Thanks to JD's Custom Design for the gift certificate prize. And a huge THANK YOU to Ben and Wes and anybody else that helped set or tear down the course. I felt like a jerk leaving Ben and Wes there alone to clean up the course but due to my eye condition my night vision makes driving through elk country a sketchy situation (was needing to get home before dark). The amount of effort, physical and mental, as well as the investment of time that Ben puts into this whole endeavor is mind boggling. He does a lot of work to ensure that the shooters enjoy the matches, and he's constantly working on improving the matches in any way possible. And he does it for free, simply out of kindness and his desires to share the love of airgunning. Seriously, thank you Ben.
(Shooters, feel free to make any necessary corrections).
Live and learn.
