We had the opportunity this weekend to go over and hang out with the gang from Airgunning Atlanta. This months match was held at Walt Roller’s place in Bremen, GA. Walt was a gracious host for the match. He opened up his home to eveyone and we had a blast of a time from start to finish. I think that Ken Hughes described it best… Walt’s place is a park that just happens to have a Field Target Range set up on it!
I took my son Matthew and my daughter Elisabeth with me on this outing. When I started shooting field target, neither Matthew nor Elisabeth were very interested. However, after I pulled their arm a few times and finally got each of them to a match they found out that the old fat guy was on to something fun! Anyway, we went over to Oxford, AL on Friday night and stayed at the Hampton Inn. As it turned out, there was a great Harley Davidson dealership next door with a free concert and about a zillion Harley’s parked everywhere to look at that night. Walt’s place was only another 45 minutes away so the next morning we went on over there.
When we arrived we were met by our gracious host, Walt Roller. He directed us to his sight in range where he had some very interesting targets. We got settled in and took a few shots only to find that a couple of them were exploding targets! They were great and really added to the spirit of things being so close to the 4th of July. My son really enjoys anything that goes boom and Walt’s targets were no exception.
As it turned out there were some great competitors that turned out for the match. Walt had guys come from Alabama, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. As usual it was great to see friends from other states again and the fellowship was greatly enjoyed. I had the opportunity to shoot with Walt for this match. As usual I gained some great pointers from Walt as he is a great competitor and outstanding shooter. We had a great time shooting together and I look forward to shooting with Walt again in the future.
The course that Walt had set up was pretty tough. The course was set up with a Troyer Difficulty level of 37. After shooting a couple of lanes, Guy Omictin asked Walt if he had any larger drill bits for the targets… I got a kick out of that since Guy rarely misses a target. The course was a 60 shot course. It consisted of 15 lanes with two targets per lane. Most of the course was set up under beautiful and shady trees. Walt also had park benches set up evenly spaced on each end of the course. It really made a nice atmosphere. There was one manditory standing lane. If I remember correctly the targets were about 30-35 yards and could not have had more than about a 1″ kill zone. They were tough! Funny thing, I missed the closest and nailed the far target both times… The rest of the course seemed to be very equal in difficulty. It did not seem that there was any “give me” shots on the course. If a target was set up close (10-15 yards) it had a small kill zone. So, I think overall the course was very equal in difficulty.
When we were done Walt fired up the grill and cooked some great burgers. Everyone was invited into Walt’s home and we feasted on grilled burgers, salad, chips and cold soft drinks. We had a wonderful time of fellowship after the match. After lunch Walt pulled out the score cards and went over the results. When it was all done Guy Omictin won the PCP class with a 57 out of 60 and Ken Hughes took the Piston Class with a 41 out of 60. It was a tough course and there was some great shooting.
Once again I would like to thank the guys from Atlanta for having us at their match this past weekend. The hospitality was great and we really enjoyed the fellowship. Anyone interested in Field Target should look out for the next time Walt sponsors a match. I would highly recommend going as you will have a blast and get some great BBQ!
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