A Field Target match will be held on Saturday October 7 at DIFTA on the IWLAWAC chapter property, 26430 Mullinix Mill Road, Mt Airy MD 21771.
The course is 72 shots, 12 lanes, with one kneeling and one offhand lane, with three targets per lane shot twice. The average course difficulty is of almost 30T, six targets > 40T, two forced positions lanes (one offhand, one kneeling).
WE NEED A FEW HELPERS AT 8:30 AM TO SET OUT STRINGS. The sight in range will be open from 9:00 – 9:50. Mandatory shooters and safety meeting and squad assignments at 9:50. Match starts at 10:00 am sharp.
Match fees are $10 for IWLAWAC members and $15 for guests. We need a minimum of 4 shooters to run the match, SO PLEASE SIGNUP IN ADVANCE. If we don’t reach a quorum by 10:00 pm on Thursday 10/5 we will post a cancellation notice that evening.
Mark & Paulo
DIFTA Match Report Saturday, October 7, 2023
The return to normal October weather came as a shock, with temps climbing from only 58° to 60°, accompanied by showers for ¾ of the match, with the sun making an appearance towards the end. Winds varied from about 3-6 mph, with some stronger short gusts. Adding to the challenge, the course was moderately dark for most of the match.
Eight shooters competed in the 72-shot match, with one off hand and one kneeling lane. The average course difficulty was 29.7 T, with 10 shots > 40 yards; two 3/8” and six 0.5” targets. Due to a mix up when setting the course a 0.5” target that should have been placed at 22 yards, for a challenging 44T, was accidentally placed at 42 yards, for an illegal and impossible 84T, which nobody managed to knock down. At DIFTA we try to keep things interesting!
The mix of different Divisions varies a lot from match to match with the Hunter and WFTF the most popular. In both of these divisions scores were closely matched. Greg White took the match high score of 58 in Hunter PCP, followed by an amazing performance by Hector Medina with 57 in WFTF Piston. Mark Mayer acted as Match Director.
As always many thanks to those who travel long distances to compete and keep our sport alive
The final match of the season at DIFTA is Sunday November 5. See you then!
I had a blast at the match.
Marks runs a 6 minute time limit on his 6 shot lanes. I lost three shots due to timing out. There was little opportunity to wait out the wind & it was tough enough just getting a good wind call. The result was that I was finishing up with 8-20 seconds left on the clock on most lanes.
The advantage was that I shot the 72 shot match in a little over three hours (2 man squad) averaging 15 minutes per lane. That left time to get across town & meet my family for an early dinner prior to the Billy Joel/Stevie Nicks concert at the M&T stadium.
It might sound simple but the transportation logistics to connect the dots when there was a ball game at the same stadium just prior to the concert was a night mare. I'll spare the details.
I fully support the shorter time allowance & think MD's should consider doing the same thing. It keeps the game interesting & forces shooting discipline. Frankly, that made it more fun.
It's just too bad Mark doesn't have the ground to add 6 more lanes & run an 18 lanes 72 shot match with a 4 minute lane time.
.......and Hector! Awesome shooting! Sorry I had to leave early & didn't congratulate you in person.
Knobs
Thanks to Mark for setting up the Match, and to Mark and Keith for their kind words.
As Aristotle wrote: "One swallow does not a summer make".
There is still work to be done, I had three inexplicable misses at the short targets in lanes 2-4, which led me to discover a "weakness" in the Scope/Mount setup which I will correct sometime soon. And I disputed the middle target at lane 11 as soon as I ranged it, LOL!
The middle target on lane 12 was an eye opener to the "ground effect"; little bugger close to the ground in the "magic triangle" received no wind at all, of course I had just shot the short one that was near the top of the ridge in full wind!
I was also taking a lot more time because in the effort of keeping the chamber as dry as I could, I was cocking the rifle horizontally, by holding the lever and then pushing the rifle forward. Not the most fluid of movements, so I rushed 3 shots that could probably would have connected if I had taken my time.
Take a look at the wind:
It was a hoot of a shoot. Wind was challenging and more than waiting for it to ebb out you needed to shoot at some point where the flow would be laminar, even and uniform. Not enough time either.
The simple truth is that I had a good day and I made less mistakes than usual, and THIS is what we should strive for.
Keep well and shoot straight!
HM
@hector_j_medina_g So, you'd have shot a better score if you hadn't missed so many? LOL
K
Yuuuup!
Aren't truisms beautiful?
HM
