by kevin y
Every once in a while you find an event that just seems to make your “hobby” a little more special. LD’s Temecula shoot is that special event. Once a year Larry Durham the creator of the USFT match rifle opens his ranch to air gunners everywhere, He puts on a 2-day FT match, formally know as the Temecula Challenge. The match includes a swap meet, bbq lunch, red wine for dinner, Sunday morning breakfast and all the shooting you can handle. Among the myriad of things to do you can chat with Tim from Mac1, pick LD’s brain or test your gun
in the 51 yard tunnel or exam LD’s collection of old airguns - lets just say I think he has Tony beat.
The Temecula shoot is widely regarded as one of the most difficult shoots on the west coast and many shooters up and down the coast make the trip to test their skill. If you shoot 75% of the targets you’ve probably won. In spite of its difficulty level it is one of the most enjoyable shoots I know of. What make it so special is the terrain and the realistic hunting simulation. There are no flat sitting spots framed in by 2x4’s, there’s no level shot across a flat range and there’s no neat orderly layout in which you can memorize and shoot with your eyes closed. And then there is the wind, a wind that is possesed. It comes from different angles during the day and seems to constantly change its velocity. Its not enought to know how much to dope the wind thats a problem its knowing when to dope the wind.
With stars in our eyes and thoughts of a New World Order Tony, Lonnie and I made the trip down to LD’s Famous Temecula shoot on Friday. The master plan was to get sighted in early and get acclimated. Test the guns in the tunnel and get an idea of how much wind we were going to need to dope. Well that didn’t happen. After getting caught by rush hour traffic Tony and Lonnie were going to be lucky if they were going to get their guns sighted in before the match.
Reality sets in.
With just 3 ½ hours of sleep and unsighted guns we staggered up to the practice range to sight in our guns and make our adjustments. 07:30 am the morning air was cool and crisp without any wind, aaah it was going to be a good day. By 9:00am I was sweating and the temperature had risen to 85F and conservation of energy was going to be a factor, the wind now was blowing from west to east at 5mph. At 10:00 it was now +90F and I picked up my gear and retreated to the nearest shade. And it grew hotter still. I was starting to think just about surviving Temecula never mind hitting anything.
The match started and I was shooting with Ron Jobbes & Terry Depew in springer class. Terry and Ron are both excellent shots; Ron being local and Terry driving down from Nevada. We started on lane 7; a 25 shot into the road where the wind whips through and 45 yard shots into the rocks at the edge of a cliff. Not to bad for shots but not a cake walk either…I missed 3 hit 1, oops. Lane 8 was much tougher a 45 & 50 yard shots into the rocks Very deceptive lane with strong thermal drafts and nasty crosswinds. Doping for 4 inches of drift and 1inch of down draft, I fire - Goose egg. Oh and the temperature, it kept climbing.
The weather report was for +95F and 10-20mph winds, they were wrong it was closer to 125 F and that nice breeze never really got going it just gusted when you tried to pull the trigger.
Up in the rocks where we shot from you really couldn’t feel much of a breeze anyways and the rocks you sat on seemed more like frying pans reflecting the heat. I could‘ve swore my pellets were melting. Moving to lane 1 it consists of a nice spot atop a rock with targets at 68 (lasered) and 20 yards, yes 68 yards. Smiling Larry insisted that it was at 57; whatever you say Larry. I think it was only hit 5 times all weekend. LD also had many other surprises, this year his fetish was for you to shoot from 3 positions (kneeling, prone and standing). While that doesn’t seem so bad it should be noted there is no clean level shooting box; Try lying on those sun baked rocks or a bunch of nettles. It got hotter still and so it went.
After the dust had settled Bobby Corocoran from AZ shot an 87 out 116 for first in PCP. Terry Depew from NV took Springer class with 62 out of 116.
Tony scored an outstanding 67, remarkable for it being his first time.
Lonnie scored a 28, he scored 24 on sunday after he finally got his gun sighted in. Good going there Lonnie.
I (Kevin) scored a 58 (Springer) I'll use excuses # 6 & 15
I appreciate and look forward to the challenges of Temecula and while I may describe it like a walk through Hades it is by far one of the most enjoyable shoots I have participated in. The difficulty level only serves to further accent each hit you score, every hit is worked for and every hit is well deserved. Temecula is tough but so very special when you’re done. Surviving the Temecula Challenge and your score no matter what it is, is something to be proud of.
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