Match Report Air Gun Oregon & AirGuns of Arizona - 2024 Extreme Air Gun Challenge I’d like to thank everyone who attended, some traveling from across country, and everyone who made such a huge effort to make this event a success. First the sponsors, Co-sponsors,
Air Guns of Arizona, and
Skout Air Guns, also
Athlon Scopes,
Falcon Optics,
Arken Optics,
Altaros Slugs,
JSB Predator International and
Corbin Slugs for donating some of their quality products toward hosting the event… The event also would not have been possible without my club mates: Randy, Jacob, Darren, Casey, Eric and the RSO staff from
Ashland Gun and Archery Club.
Thank you, and bless you ALL for helping me make this year’s event a success.
The many weeks of steady preparation and testing of our new long range targets with LED lighting signifying a hit was worth the effort. They didn’t perform 100%, but they really helped the score keepers get it right with a lot less down time between relays in the Long range event. And seeing the lights flash with a hit is REALLY satisfying for both the shooters and the fans watching. The rest of the facilities needed only minor repairs to be ready for action this year.
We added a new event this year and it gained popularity better than expected. The 100 yard EBR bench rest contests have been exclusively shot with pellets only. With all the new air rifles designed for slugs and the new high quality of the slugs being manufactured, I thought we should see how they could compare with the pellet scores in the 100 yard EBR game. I scheduled the slug classes to shoot in the later and most windy part of the day, so the scores in that class probably would have been even better, but the slug class, as expected posted on average, higher scores than the pellets, as you’ll see as I continue the report.
This year we had competitors the
Skout Air Guns team from Pennsylvania, and they did well with their new slug barrel they matched up with some really accurate Corbin Slugs. They ended up with 3 first places. Many competitors also traveled in from the North and South West, 36 competed in the 5 events, 100yd EBR pellet, 100yd EBR Slug, EFT 25yd-105yd Field Target, the Speed Silhouette challenge, and the Long Range 145yd- 300yd challenge..
The weather was perfect on Thursday for registration and practice. The skies were partly cloudy with light winds with temps in the high 60s. Friday, the cold front started moving in and the winds began their dancing in our Southern Oregon Valley bowl. A double rainbow was called in to guide the competitors to the eventJ
We had 24 Extreme Field Target competitors, so with 15 lanes we easily split up into squads of two each. We had 64 total shots. The match went 1/3 faster than last year with this method, it allowed us to have more time to do both pellet and the slug class 100 yard bench rest in the afternoons.
John Bagakis again this year lead the way with the high score on day one with a 59/64, with Barbara Pellegrino within reach at 55/64. Gabe Valenzuela and Darren Taylor were next with 52/64. David Stevenson was at 51, and eight more from 47 to 50. Unless John had a bad day two it looked like a tight race for second to fourth.
Friday afternoon, we started with the Extreme Bench Rest 100 yard Pellet class. Gabe Valenzuela scored the high card with a 220-3x with his FX M3, Luke Sowinski from the Skout team was second with a 218-2x, Keith Short, Skout Team, next with a 217-2x, Linas Cechavicius with a RTI Prophet II a 215-3x and Mike Bricker shooting another Skout at 213-3x.
Skout Air Rifles ended up doing well with three 1st places.
Later Friday, the EBR 100yd Slug class started around 3 pm and the fickle winds had gained velocity as the front edge of the cold front unfolded around us.
Brad Stevenson and his Vulcan 3 with
Altaros slugs in .22 cal (5.52) 40gr Kings, shot a 237/250 with 3xs. That’s 17 points higher than the high pellet score for the day of 220 shot by Gabe Valenzuela. But that is still a long way from the perfect 250 scores you sometimes see in 25 meter bench rest. Does that matter, or is the target too hard? Gabe V. also shot a great 232 4x with his FX M3 and, as did Luke Sowinski, but his had 7xs shot with his .25 cal. Skout and Corbin .2475 caliber 48.5gr slugs. Todd Blanchard shot a 229 3x, and Mike Bricker a 223 2x. On average the slug scores were about 10-14 points better than the pellet class.
Some great scores were shot on day two of the EFT match. John Bagakis didn’t let up… he shot better with a 61/64 to secure his 1st place spot, but Andy Gonzalez also shot a 61/64 after shooting a 49/61 on day one, to jump all the way to 3rd. Barbara Pellegrino was more consistent with a 55 day one and a 57/64 day two, to secure her 2nd place prize. Linas Cechavicius & Gabe Valenzuela tied, but Gabe took 4th by winning the shoot off.
Almost everyone shot better on day two with the lighter winds, but you would think the light rain would have held back the scores, but Carl Forrey shot a 60/64, Mike Bricker and Linas Cechavicius a 59, Martin Martin and Glenn Horner both a 58, and Gabe Valenzuela joined Barbara with a 57 on day two to get him to the winners circle in 4th place in the
AOA Extreme Field Target Grand Prix.
Mike Bricker shot the high 100y pellet class EBR score with a 224-0x for day two. Todd Blanchard was next with 220-1x, Tony Pellegrino a 218-0x and Luke Sowinski a 217-3x. Todd Hartman scored a 216-1x and John Bagakis 215-0x.
The last event for day two was the 100y Slug class EBR. Todd Blanchard’s 233-4x was the high card, with Brad Stevenson recording a 230-3x, Gabe Valenzuela a 225-2x, Luke Sowinski 224-4x and also Chad Staten a 224-3x. Mike Bricker shot a 220-0x and Bill Gardner a 219-4x. The stronger afternoon winds had taken their toll with the Slug class EBR scores ending much closer to the Pellet class on day two.
Here is the list of the competitors who made the 100y EBR Pellet class Finals: Robert Steele, Mike Bricker, Todd Blanchard, Gabe Valenzuela, Nathan Wilkening, John Bagakis, Keith Short, Luke Sowinski, Linas Cechanvicius, Fred Philips & Tony Pellegrino.
And in the new 100y EBR Slug class we had the following make the cut: Bill Gardner, Chad Staten, Mike Bricker, Todd Blanchard, Gabe Valenzuela, Brad Stevenson, John Bagakis, Linas Cechanvicius, Augie Sotelo, David Stevenson, Luke Sowinski, & Fred Phillips.
Sunday morning the skies were clearing and the winds were very light. We started off with the Speed Silhouette Challenge. We had two banks of 5 targets each for a total of 10 targets at 25 & 50 yards so the two competitors could go “head to head” with the winners moving on to challenge each other until we were left with John Bagakis on top and Dave Wilson second, and Linas Cechanvicius in third. It’s a really fun game to play AND watch.
Next up was the finals in 100y EBR Pellet class. After some very difficult scoring decisions, an abnormal and very gentlemanly tie was agreed to between Mike Bricker and Robert Steele for 1st with a 216-3x next was Todd Blanchard with 214-0x, and Todd Hartman at 213-3x and Gabe Valenzuela with a 212-2x.
The 100y EBR Slug Challenge showed higher scores this time with Bill Gardner from the Skout team posting a 234-5x, and Chad Staten was right behind with a 233-5x next was a tie broken by X count with Todd Blanchard at 232-6x and Mike Bricker with a 232-5x.
This year in the 300 yard Long Range Challenge, Mike Bricker didn’t shoot another perfect 250 or even win again, but his team won with his FX Panthera; Tony Pellegrino (210) was 1st, and Mike and Tony’s wife Barbara tied for 4th with 190. Scott Hull was second with a 200, and Brad Stevenson & John Bagakis tied for 3rd with 195. Chad Staten also tied at 4th with a 190. The new targets we designed with LED lights flashing when hit really worked well, a minor improvement will make them 100% accurate next year. They really helped the spotters and competitors AND the onlookers enjoy the game.
Finally, in the Combined this year, Todd Blanchard was 1st, Brad Stevenson 2nd, Gabe Valenzuela took 3rd a and Mike Bricker 4th.
Again, I really want to thank everyone who attended made such a huge effort to make this event a success, especially our Co-sponsors,
Air Guns of Arizona, and
Skout Air Guns, also
Athlon Scopes,
Falcon Optics,
Arken Optics,
Altaros Slugs,
JSB Predator International and
Corbin Slugs Please support them with your air gun related purchases.
The event also would not have been possible without my club mates: Randy, Jacob, Darren, Casey, Eric and the RSO staff from
Ashland Gun and Archery Club.
Thank you, all and hope to see you again next year!
Wayne Burns,
Match Director
AirGun Oregon & AirGuns of Arizona
2024 Extreme Air Gun Challenge
