April 3rd         FT Golf on the Hill

A small video by Jolting Joe C our resident Talon bad ass

 By Tony I

 Well it was another fantastic day at Diablo FT with the new season at hand and old and new shooters meeting up. In the effort to mix things up from the "same old same old", we hosted our first "Golf FT Match" to provide an exciting and new challenge for the shooters that attended.

Normally our FT matches are held on an Action Pistol Range that limits our targets to about 46 yards on very flat terrain. All obstacles are man made aside from the wind(well there are some loud and long winded folks but not sure if they are enough to influence climate!!! ) The gun club we shoot at has been so pleased with our airgun programs that they granted us permission to use their Archery Range on the rolling hills of the range property to shoot FT at ranges well beyond 55 yards if desired with open exposure to the wind!

With the Golf Match, unlike normal FT/HFT, the goal is to get the lowest possible score. 10 lanes were set up with 2 targets per lane. You can take a maximum of 3 shots per target. If you shoot the target on the first shot, you get a 1 and move on to the next target. If you hit the target on the 2nd shot, you get a 2 and if you get it on the 3rd shot, you get a 3, if you miss the target on all 3 shots, you get a 4!

Everyone was excited about this new event and for many, it would be their first exposure to shooting at targets past 45 yards on uneven terrain, fully exposed to the elements! More importantly for some, it would be their first FT Match, good times for sure!!!

When I arrived, the weather was brisk but calm but seeing many of the regular FT shooters as well as some new faces on the firing line brought a big ole warm smile to my face followed big a huge grin seeing those FT Targets on THAT HILL for the first time ever!!!

The sight in line:







The range:









Today I was paired up with veteran shooter Eric Ko whom is a big fan of spring piston airguns:



As we're moving along the course, we both agree that this new game and location is a very nice change of pace and others that we are talking to agree.

New shooter Adam arrived at the match with his Walther Falcon(.22) to give the course a go. He is inspired by Airgun Hunting and shot the course Off Hand and Kneeling and was pulling off some amazing shots that impressed his squad partner, California FT Spring Piston Champion Jonathan Reyes and everyone else witnessing him shoot that magnum springer with accuracy!

Adam shooting with Jonathan R.:



Son L. is another new airgun shooter that arrived with a new springer in hand to check out FT at Diablo with his new RWS 52. He only got the rifle a few weeks earlier and got it sighted in at home, figuring he could figure out the other holdovers at the sight in range:



Joe C. is a veteran airgun shooter and former powder burner competitor that found the dark side of airguns and got bit with the airgun bug real good with his Talon SS. He drove down from the Chico area to one of our Fun Shoots and realized real fast that he wanted to check out all the airgun events at Diablo!

Joe C.:



One of our veteran FT Shooters, Bill H. brought along a friend to check out FT. His friend Hugh used to compete in 3P with rimfires back in high school from what I recall and found FT to be fun once he found comfortable positions and accustomed to Bill's rifle:



As the match is progressing, a few of us kept joking around, where's the wind? We were prepping the course the day before in near hurricane like conditions, cold, windy and wet thinking wow tomorrow's gonna be REALLY Tough Conditions, hope people don't complain about the insane wind...

Well the winds stayed mild at worst during the match but it gave everyone a taste of what having to hold off of a killzone was like and everyone enjoyed it.

Riz M.:



Lonnie S.:



Greg T.:



Paul B.:



Pat Jacobs with his HW97K:



Bill H.:



At the end of the day, the winner of the First Annual Diablo FT Golf Match was veteran FT Shooter, Guy Omictin.

Guy Omictin on left and high springer shooter Jonathan Reyes on the right:





Final scores are as follows:

Spring Piston:

Jonathan R. 33
Paul B. 40
Son Lu 43
Eric K. 48
Pat J. 49
Adam 53

PCP:

Guy O. 28
Lonnie S. 31
Kevin Y. 31(Shooting sub 12 fpe, no harness, what's up with that, going International Class?!?!)
Riz M. 32
Tony I. 33
Ron E. 35
Bill H. 43
Greg T. 52
Hugh 53
Joe C. 54

We had a few surprise visitors that caught us off guard in a very good way. The president of the Gun Range that our club shoots at dropped by to see how things were going and express what a good thing we have developed and that he is happy with the programs. Also, James Manou, one of the owners of Cometa USA dropped by to introduce himself, watch the match, meet club members and show us the new Walnut Stocked Cometa 400s(with or without adjustable cheekpiece).

Lonnie Smith on the left, James Manou on the right:



After the match, we bbq'd some links and dogs with potato salad and fruit to accompany it and had a good time talking and reflecting about the match followed by some good ole plinking!!!

Another fine day at Diablo, looking forward to the next event!