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IDAHO AIRGUN FIELD TARGET CLUB
Pocatello, ID
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Idaho Airgun Field
Target Club
Sept 12, 2009
2009 Idaho
State Airgun Field Target Championship
By Ron Gill
The
Idaho Airgun Field Target Club held its 5th State Championship
match
on September, 11 and 12 at the Oregon Trail Range north of
Pocatello,
Idaho. Five competitors came from the Puget Sound to match
their guns
against our targets. Their presence makes this match special
and we
thank Terry Cooke, John Mickel, Howard Lee, Jim Poh and Rick
Knowles
for coming. This is our big match where we can show off our
range to
out of area folks and put what we have done and learned into
action.
THE TARGETS
We put a lot into this year’s big match starting with the targets. Ray
Carter worked with Quality Targets (qualitytargets.com)
to get new
target faces that would fit onto the new Gamo target with
interchangeable faceplates. While it is the hit zones that count for the
score, different and imaginative faceplates add variety to the match.
Quality Targets also made hinges to allow adapting these faceplates to
our older Gamo targets. This required a few home made parts and some
adjusting, but in our state match, all targets functioned perfectly.
THE RANGE
Our range runs along two draws that meet forming a V pointing west into
the prevailing wind. By moving down one draw and then back up the other,
we get a wide variation of wind and sunlight as we move from lane to
lane. Wind and sunlight are always a feature of our matches because we
are exposed to winds off the Snake River plain and the shooters and
targets are sheltered only by sagebrush. The last few lanes offer steep
uphill shots on grassy slope where the wind can easily move a pellet to
the downwind side of the target.
Pistol FIELD TARGET
This year we held our first pistol FT Championship. Ray set up the
course as well as wrote the club’s pistol FT rules. We were very
gratified when Terry Cooke arrived a day early to shoot in our pistol
match. Terry shot an IZH, but the rest shot Crosmans. Unlike rifle FT,
the pistol game is mostly played with domestic airguns run on CO2.
George Gardner, who has never been one to run with the herd, shot a 1377
pumper. He pumped more times to shoot targets set at longer ranges.
PISTOLS:
Non
Magnified
Ray Carter, Crosman 2300 custom, TASCO red dot, JSB 8.4
Terry Cooke, IZH 46M, Walther Dot, JSB Exact Express
David Read,
Crosman 2300S Williams irons, CPL
Magnified
George Gardner,
Crosman 1377 custom, 4-16X, JSB 8.4
Ash Covey, Crosman 2300 Custom,
3-12X Barska, JSB 8.4
Ron Gill, Crosman 2300 Custom, 3-12X Barska,
JSB 8.4
RIFLE FIELD TARGET
Ash Covey is our 2009 Rifle Director. We
worked with Ash to lay out a
match with a lot of targets that were
fun to shoot and a few targets
that would be a challenge to the
shooters that would become the match
winners. Air Arms rifles and JSB
pellets were common. Two rifles we
haven’t seen before were the RWS/H
850 and the Benjamin Marauder. Don’t
count the 850 out, Ray has had
some setbacks, but that rifle shoots. The
Marauder is new and was
just fitted with iron sights. The sights are the
same ones that are
on the Airforce 10 meter rifle. We all told Dave he
had to have a
scope to shoot FT, but he is wearing us down.
RIFLES:
Piston
Terry Cooke, FWB 300, Leapers 8-32X, JSB 7.
John Mickel, AA Prosport,
Leapers 8-32X, JSB Express
Howard Lee, AA Prosport, Leapers 8-32X,
JSB Express
George Gardner, Theoben Evolution, Bushnell 6-18X. JSB
8.4
Jim Poh, AA TX200, MTC Viper, JSB Express
Precharged
Rick Knowles, AA EV2, Nikko, JSB
Ash Covey, Daystate X2, Simmons 44
Mag 6-20X, JSBH
David Read, Benjamin Marauder, Aperture Sights, CPH
Ron Gill, AA S-400, Leapers 8-32, JSBH
Ray Carter, RWS/H 850 (CO2),
Centerpoint 4-16X, JSB 8.4
SCORES:
Pistols, Non
Magnified
Ray Carter 19/30 Idaho Champion
Terry Cooke 11/30 Second
David Read 7/30 Third
Pistols, Magnified
George Gardner
24/30 Idaho Champion
Ash Covey 17/30 Second
Ron Gill 11/30 Third
Rifle, Piston
George Gardner 46/60 Idaho Champion
Howard
Lee 37/60 Second
Jim Poh 36/60 Third
Terry Cooke 33/60
John
Mickel 33/60
Rifle, Precharged
Rick Knowles 53/60 Match
Winner
Ash Covey 46/60 Idaho Champion
David Read 43/60 Third
Ron Gill 42/60
Ray Carter 31/60
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