07 - July 15, 2018

Well our July match turned out to be a series of ups and downs. The first down was the temperature for the match date was projected to be around 103, the second down was the surprise that our match director Scott encountered when he arrived at the range and found about a dozen shooters decked out in camo tactical gear setting up a tactical match on our range. We had already been moved from our original 4th Sunday of the month date by an earlier scheduling conflict, so this match was having a tough time getting off the ground. A quick check with the range office and we were directed to a new range down the road a bit. The tactical people were nice enough to point our shooters to the right location and Scott continued setting up the match with out skipping a beat We had advertised a tough layout for the match to get people ready for the Oregon State GP the following weekend and Scott took the notice seriously, setting up a challenging course. We had no idea how challenging until the match started.

One of the match ups was that we had 14 hardy shooters brave the forecast inferno and find their way to the new range. A second up was the weather for the match turned out to be beautiful, with pleasant conditions and comfortable temps holding out for the entire match, only getting noticeably hotter as we enjoyed lunch after the match.

What did catch us completely by surprise was the wind. The velocity appeared to be fairly consistent with what we normally have at our Ione location but something was different and it wreaked havoc with many of the shooters. One of our best shooters sat down to engage his first target and when the pellet failed to hit the face plate he knew it was going to be a long day. I never did get a good grasp on the wind as I could never could convince myself to hold almost twice what I thought I needed. That said we had several shooters who showed us they could master the difficult conditions. Scott S continued his string of high match scores shooting great 46/54 to win Hunter PCP with Mike C right on his tail with a 43/54. Some equally great shooting was displayed by Mark W with a Hunter Piston score of 40/54 and Riz M shot an outstanding 43/54 at 12fpe to win the WFTF PCP class.

After lunch some of the pistol shooters got in some work and shot a practice match using the rifle course (crazy). I saw Cameron K put on a display of offhand pistol shooting that I couldn't believe. He first started by cleaning the 6 shot offhand rifle lane, then if that was not enough he picked a 53 yard 1.5 inch KZ target and dropped it his first shot. I'm thinking everyone gets lucky, so what does he do he steps up and drops the same target again with his second shot. That was quite a display of offhand prowess.

We ended up having a really fun day with a challenging match. We had a nice lunch after the match and I think everyone had a great time which is why we do this in the first place. As the last of us were leaving for the day you could feel the temperatures approaching the 100's. Thanks to all who showed up for the match and especially those who come early and help with the set up.

I have attached a couple of pictures of our lovely range just to make the folks back East jealous. I don't know how you all can shoot in those mono tone green conditions with all those mosquitos and bugs flying around and you have those leaves and limbs moving around with the wind distracting you. You people are tough. Out West we have the fire department come out and do control burns to add some contrast to the lovely earth tones we enjoy during the summer, and we certainly wouldn't want a weed standing to give us any hint of what the wind might be doing and break our concentration.

Jim in Sacramento