December 2018 ASC FT Match Report

The Arlington Sportsman’s Club held our monthly Field Target rifle match this weekend, the first match in a few months, because the rains have been heavy this fall and seem to occur on or just before the match leaving us no choice but to cancel; something we don’t do very often in Texas.  Today dawned cold (37F) but warmed to 45F by shooting time, but the winds also picked up to about 12-15mph, and we finished the match at 62F.  This is my kind of winter weather. JWe had 11 shooters today, including one new shooter, Nick Petta, who was encouraged to attend by his father-in-law Dick Spengler, an ASC club member that doesn’t shoot air rifles(!).  Many thanks to Terry Vanpool for helping Nick through his first match; hopefully he will come back and encourage his father-in-law to get an air rifle too.  The match was 54 shots over 9 lanes today, with no standing or kneeling lanes due to the still muddy ground.  In my never-ending quest for new targets, I purchased 8 used but unique targets from Ronnie Easton and the Northern California Airgun Club.  The Troyer rating was 27.2, with an SD of 8.89, average KZ 1.08 inches, and an average target distance of 29.3 yards.  We had a quick shooters safety meeting, squadded the guys together, and got started on time at 10:00am.

In the spirit of having fun, I intended this to be a laid back, relaxing year-end match after the typical more challenging matches to help improve our shooting skills.  My definition of fun comprises interesting targets, or lanes with a theme, or shots with unique challenges.  This month we had the “Zombie Apocalypse” lane, the “Chip & Dale” lane (all chipmunks), the “Flock of Birds” lane, the “Bugs Bunny” lane, and finally “The Battle of the Bulge” lane.  “The Battle of the Bulge” lane was composed of 3 German tank targets from the NCAGC. I am happy to be the new owner of these unique targets and look forward to using them for many years.

I also placed 2 unique bell targets out past 55 yards (hee hee) to challenge the shooters with something different than the usual falling target.  These are also courtesy of NCAGC and Ronnie Easton.  Many shooters were able to hit them at least once and ring the bell.

At the end of the match, we turned in our score cards and tallied the scores with Paul Walker posting the match high score of 52/54 and first place in Hunter PCP. First place in Hunter Piston went to Jim Clarke with 42/54. View the full list of all competitors’ scores and equipment below.

For all of you that couldn’t make it out, you missed a great match in great weather with a bunch of great guys.  I really encourage you to come back out when you can, and to anyone who hasn’t ever shot Field Target, this is my open invitation to try it.  Don’t worry if you don’t have a suitable air rifle yet, we can pair you up with someone to share a rifle with, or we can loan you a rifle for the match.  You really have no excuses not to come out and try this.

As I always say every month, thanks to everyone who joined us at the match and also helped take down the course.  You have no idea how much I appreciate your help to take down what takes me and a couple of others hours to setup. We will have our next match the 4^thSaturday in April but be sure to attend the Dallas Field Target Club match on April 14.

See you at the next match,

Jeff Cloud

Field Target Match Director

Arlington Sportsman’s Club