GOB Tennessee State Championship

Today (November 21),  the Good Ole Boy's club in Pulaski, TN held the Tennessee State Field Target Championship match. The event was hosted by Roz Sumpter. The weather was perfect with light winds and the temperature in the mid 60's. We couldn't have ordered better weather for the event!

The sight in range was open at 8:00 AM and there were plenty of pellets headed down range soon thereafter. Everyone spent plenty of time on the sight in range getting their respective rigs ready for the match. It was nice to see all of the regular "Good Ole Boy's" at the match, as well as a number of others from around the southeast. We had three new shooters participate that had never shot at the GOB club before today. They were Randy Mitchell, Alan Hughes and Sloan Bryan. It was great to have these guys come out and participate at this match!

The course of the day included eleven lanes, three targets per lane, two shots per target for a total of 66 shots. There was one offhand/kneeling lane on the course. The target placement was expertly set up by Roz Sumpter and Cliff Smith. It proved to be a very challenging and interesting course with a difficulty level of about 36T according to Roz.

A shooters meeting was held just before 11:00 AM and various aspects of the match were covered with a heavy emphasis on safety during the match. After the shooters meeting, we were all off to the course to start the match. The match was held on the White course in the pines trees.

The Piston Division had a good representation at this match with eight shooters. There was some good competition among these guys as well. Doug Vinson and Brad Troyer shot together and that proved to be a close competition. There were also three WFTF Division shooters. Those three guys all shot together and proved to also have a close contest as well.

I was shooting in the PCP Division with my USFT. I shot with Rod Bradley and we had a great time. It was a relaxing day and we spent most of the time talking about airguns, imagine that! We started on lane eight, which meant that we would end on the offhand/kneeling lane. Our first lane proved to be a difficult one. The third target on lane eight was set up in a tree at approximately 54 yards. It only had a kill zone size of about 1". I thought it was one of the more difficult targets on the whole course. Rod just received his Leupold Competition 35X scope back from the Custom Shop this week. Since he had just set up the scope on his Vanquish, he was getting used to the rig and still working the kinks out in the system. Unfortunately, he missed those two shots on target three on lane eight and was off to a rocky start...

Dottie Berry was shooting PCP today with her Theoben MFR and was off to a great start. She shot with Charles Garvey and they started on lane three. Dottie cleaned her first two lanes with ease and was smoking right along. She didn't miss a shot until lane five and recovered quickly. Her overall performance for the day was very impressive! Charles was also shooting very well today, as usual.

Pat OBrien was shooting his USFT in the PCP Division. Pat had a few problems with his rig at the last local match, but he got those worked out. Pat shot very well today and turned in a good score at the end of the day. David Brown shot with Pat and he also shot well at this match. David was shooting his big orange USFT. Overall the the PCP Division scores ended very close. Everyone put forth a great effort and kept the pressure on each other. It made for a fun and competitive match.

When we were all done, we went back up to the pavilion for a catered BBQ lunch. Everyone had a great time eating and socializing. The event was concluded with the awards being handed out. We also managed to get a group photograph before everyone left.

We thank all of the shooters that participated in the Tennessee State Championship match. It was great to see new faces and we hope to see you guys again soon. We all thank Roz for hosting another fantastic match. We also appreciate the effort that he and Cliff put into setting up another World Class course for us to enjoy.

This was the conclusion of the regularly scheduled matches for the GOB club until March. However, weather permitting, we may occasionally call an imprompttu match during the winter months. If so, we will notify everyone on the forums and by email of the time and date. So, keep a watch out for those notifications and come on over to shoot with us. We hope to see you all again very soon!

Take care,

Harold Rushton

Match Results
PCP DIVISION
NAME SCORE RIFLE
Harold Rushton 63/66 USFT #19
Dottie Berry 61/66 Theoben MFR
Ken Hughes 58/66 Air Arms Protarget
David Brown 57/66 USFT
Rod Bradley 55/66 Theoben Vanquish
Pat Obrien 53/66 USFT
Roz Sumpter 53/66 Theoben MFR

PISTON DIVISION
Doug Vincent 51/66 Whiscombe JW75
Brad Troyer 48/66 HW-97
Cliff Smith 43/66 TX200
Steve Vines 42/66 TX200
Sloan Bryan 32/66 TX200
Matthew Rushton 31/66 TX200
Alan Hughes 22/66 TX200
Randy Mitchell 15/66 R-10

WFTF DIVISION
Robert Ray 57/66 Air Arms EV2
David Slade 54/66 Theoben MFR
Scott Thome 48/66 Air Arms EV2

TEAMS
1st
Robert Ray
David Brown
David Slade
Dottie Berry
Total Score 229

2nd
Roz Sumpter
Mathew Rushton
Brad Troyer
Pat Obrien
Total Score 185

3rd
Harold Rushton
Steve Vines
Sloan Bryan
Alan Hughes
Total Score 142

4th
Ken Hughes
Doug Vinson
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Total Score 109

HUNTER DIVISION
Charles Garvey 58/66 USFT