American Airguns Blog
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Another Good Old Boys Match
This past weekend I helped out at the eight annual Good Old Boys FT match up in Pulaski Tennessee. This match has grown a lot since 2001 and we have had a lot of good matches up at Roz's Hollow. I had the privilege to design and setup the Blue course that is in a wooded area nestled at the base of a tall hill. The course has a stream running down through it at the base of the hill so it offers a lot of interesting shots. Normally I have 2-4 shots that are way up the hill at long distances and steep inclines, however this year I decided to not go so far up the hill and put a target in a tree about 25 yards from the firing line but up about 30 feet. It was an interesting shot.
I really enjoy planning and setting up courses and this years course was no different. I love to be out in the woods away from civilization. This year it was really hot and boy there were a lot of ticks out and about. I even saw my first Cotton Mouth along the creek while I was setting up the course. The course turned out to be a bit more difficult than the other course but not by much.
For some reason, this particular course gave me more fits than any course I can remember in recent history. I had a bunch of cold lines for target malfunctoins and string problems. The weird thing to me was that I did all my normal target maintainence and checkout prior to the match. There were two Stoutenberg targets that failed during the match that I had tested and they worked great. Both failed to fall reliably with a high power hit on the paddle. Both would fall with a hit from a 12 ft. lbs. rifle but not with a high power hit. The both would fall when shot with a 3 ft. lbs. air pistol at point blank range too. I am going to work on these targets and see if I can figure out what causes this sort of problem with the Stoutenbergs.
I have been setting up courses and running matchs now for 13 years but I never stop learning. I learned a few things this weekend too. One thing was not to put two targets that look similar to each other only a few yards apart and somewhat obscured by the brush around it. I had two vulture targets up the hill that were at 44 and 46 yards. The 44 yard vulture could be seen by either moving completely to the left of the lane or in the middle of the lane but through a small channel between some small trees. I had a lot of people complain that they had a hard time finding the second target. I like to have my lanes setup so that all target can be seen and shot from one point at the front of the lane. It helps to make the match run a bit smoother.
Even though I had to run my butt off on Saturday chasing down target problems, I still had a great time. I didn't shoot real well but that was to be expected since I didn't really have much time to practice this year. I have spent too much time playing with my auto reset targets and other family events kept me from shooting. One high point of Saturdays shooting for me was lane 10. After having run up the hillside three times to work on an old wood target, I sat down on lane 10 and cleaned a not so easy lane. That put a smile on my face.
Saturday night we had a social gathering at the practice range after supper. A bunch of us sat around and talked about airguns, movies and a whole host of other topics. Some had a few adult beverages made up by Kenneth Hughes. I took my little Yorkshire Terrier with me and she had a great time running around, sniffing everything and barking at a few people. s
Sundays shooting wasn't much better but I was much more relaxed and was exprimenting a bit with my shooting position. I shot with Rod Bradley and Kenneth Hughes both of whom are good fellows. I knew when I walked up to the lane and saw them sitting there that I was going to have a fun day. And I did.
Even though my shooting was subpar, I really enjoyed myself againg at the GOB match. It was nice to see my old friends there and shoot a bit too. Even though the weekend wore me out physically, it recharged my mentally and I was glad I was able to be a part of the event. Lord willing, I will do it again next year.
I really enjoy planning and setting up courses and this years course was no different. I love to be out in the woods away from civilization. This year it was really hot and boy there were a lot of ticks out and about. I even saw my first Cotton Mouth along the creek while I was setting up the course. The course turned out to be a bit more difficult than the other course but not by much.
For some reason, this particular course gave me more fits than any course I can remember in recent history. I had a bunch of cold lines for target malfunctoins and string problems. The weird thing to me was that I did all my normal target maintainence and checkout prior to the match. There were two Stoutenberg targets that failed during the match that I had tested and they worked great. Both failed to fall reliably with a high power hit on the paddle. Both would fall with a hit from a 12 ft. lbs. rifle but not with a high power hit. The both would fall when shot with a 3 ft. lbs. air pistol at point blank range too. I am going to work on these targets and see if I can figure out what causes this sort of problem with the Stoutenbergs.
I have been setting up courses and running matchs now for 13 years but I never stop learning. I learned a few things this weekend too. One thing was not to put two targets that look similar to each other only a few yards apart and somewhat obscured by the brush around it. I had two vulture targets up the hill that were at 44 and 46 yards. The 44 yard vulture could be seen by either moving completely to the left of the lane or in the middle of the lane but through a small channel between some small trees. I had a lot of people complain that they had a hard time finding the second target. I like to have my lanes setup so that all target can be seen and shot from one point at the front of the lane. It helps to make the match run a bit smoother.
Even though I had to run my butt off on Saturday chasing down target problems, I still had a great time. I didn't shoot real well but that was to be expected since I didn't really have much time to practice this year. I have spent too much time playing with my auto reset targets and other family events kept me from shooting. One high point of Saturdays shooting for me was lane 10. After having run up the hillside three times to work on an old wood target, I sat down on lane 10 and cleaned a not so easy lane. That put a smile on my face.
Saturday night we had a social gathering at the practice range after supper. A bunch of us sat around and talked about airguns, movies and a whole host of other topics. Some had a few adult beverages made up by Kenneth Hughes. I took my little Yorkshire Terrier with me and she had a great time running around, sniffing everything and barking at a few people. s
Sundays shooting wasn't much better but I was much more relaxed and was exprimenting a bit with my shooting position. I shot with Rod Bradley and Kenneth Hughes both of whom are good fellows. I knew when I walked up to the lane and saw them sitting there that I was going to have a fun day. And I did.
Even though my shooting was subpar, I really enjoyed myself againg at the GOB match. It was nice to see my old friends there and shoot a bit too. Even though the weekend wore me out physically, it recharged my mentally and I was glad I was able to be a part of the event. Lord willing, I will do it again next year.
