Canadian National Field Target Association Championship

Hosted by the Port Colborne Field Target Club on July 16^th & 17^th, 2016

Match Report by Tim MacSweyn

For this year’s CAFTA Nationals, I was hoping that everything would be in place for a great weekend and a successful event.  As it turned out, that is precisely what happened.  The weather, the courses, the food, the camaraderie and most of all the great people all worked together to create the perfect FT atmosphere.  Since I will be moving out of the area, this was my last go round as match director at Port Colborne that has been up and running for the past eleven years.  In my 17 years of activity in FT, I was fortunate enough to be the match director or co-match director at 16 National Competitions, so this one going so well was a real nice closer.

Twenty-four shooters took part this year, including one shooter from Quebec and three US shooters.  By the end of the weekend, it was just 24 friends hanging out and enjoying each other’s company.  Dean brought his wife, Deb, and Hector brought his wife Veronica and their new son Daniel, whose smile definitely lit up the event.  My wife, Angie, also helped me out on Saturday and Sunday with meals and organization.

After day one of the competition, the open pcp certainly had the closest race under way.  The top three had their scores lined up at 51, 52 and 53.  The other four classes all had one individual who separated himself fairly significantly from the pack.  Sean in hunter pcp, James in hunter piston, Joel in WFTF pcp and Hector in WFTF piston all jumped ahead in their classes.

After the shooting, we all headed to a local restaurant, the Reeb House, and enjoyed a great buffet meal, with lots of conversation and laughter.

After day two, not surprisingly, the ones who jumped into significant leads on day one, all won their classes.  The open pcp turned into a close race between Ryan and Dean, with Ryan taking the top spot by two points.  Colin shot very well, enjoying a great day with his dad and was declared the Junior Champion.

As soon as the shooting was done, I tallied the scores while we all chowed down on subs, veggies, chips and cookies that Angie had picked up and Sean set out for us.  As we finished eating, the class awards were presented to all the winners.

After the awards, the prize table was quickly set up for the draw that has become one of the signature parts of the CAFTA Nationals.  Air Gun Source donated a great number of FT related items to the table, including a Hawke 4-16 scope, sets of SM rings and a number of quality prizes.  We thank them for their continued support of the FT community.  Don, representing Burlington FT Club, donated a couple of pistols and a number of other items to the table.  Chris, Dean and Jeff also donated items to the table.  The Port FT Club also kicked in a good number of prizes; resulting in two prizes for everyone and some with three.  Thanks to all who donated to the table.  I think, Colin went away a pretty happy camper after the draw ended, thanks to some good luck and generous people.  The best prize for me, and I think quite a few others, was the smile on his face.

Tom was quite eloquent representing the group, and delivered a very nice thank-you to yours truly for my involvement and contribution to Canadian Field target and to the Port Club.  Your words and thoughts were greatly appreciated my friend.

Thanks also to Deb, who took a ton of pictures that I look forward to seeing on the forum and also for the help she gives to Angie.  Thanks to the camp out crew at the clubhouse for providing security, keeping the water stocked and keeping the fresh targets on the sight-in range.  Thanks to my best friend, Angie, for doing so much with me and for me to make the running of this match much easier.

Lots of folks headed out to help the guys pull the targets off the lanes and the sight-in range.  That help is great appreciated by all involved. 

A heart felt thank you to all that attended and were ultimately responsible for the success of the event.  I look forward to shooting at the 2017 CAFTA Nationals, wherever it is and will try to support the match director as well as the many that chipped in this year.  I hope to see many of you at a match in the not too distant future.

                                                                                    Tim

CAFTA Nationals 2015 Results Chart

** Set up lanes    US shooter – Italics

Port Colborne Field Target Club

Results for June 18, 2016

            We had a nice hot summery day for our second match of the 2016 season.  There was some wind on the sight-in range, but the woods negated most of it during the match.  Eighteen shooters attended in five different classes with ten of those shooters in piston classes.

            The match was a little more difficult than a normal monthly match (T-32.8), which is the usual practice for the June match before the CAFTA Nationals in July.  There were not a lot of targets one would consider easy.  In spite of that, there were some good scores and definitely some close competition.

            Brian took the top spot in piston hunter, Dean the top spot in open PCP, Ted the top spot in WFTF piston and Joel the top spot in WFTF PCP as well as high score for the match.  Colin was our lone junior and managed to improve considerably from the last match, in spite of this one being more difficult.

            The next event on the Port Schedule is the 2016 CAFTA Nationals to be held on Saturday, July 16^th and Sunday, July 17^th.  We already have a number of people what have registered or informed me that they will be attending.  So far we have three shooters coming over from the USA, one each in WFTF Piston, Hunter PCP and Hunter Piston.  We are hoping that a good number of Canadian shooters can make it to the Nationals to enjoy two great days of shooting and fellowship.

            Many thanks to the guys who set up lanes for the match and also to those who assisted in set-up and tear down of lanes and also for taking care of the sight in range.  This help certainly makes thing quicker and easier and is greatly appreciated.

            See you in July.

                                                                                                Tim MacSweyn

Rifles are .177 unless designated otherwise.                                                            

* Set up lanes for the match 

** Shoot Off

Port Colborne Field Target Club

Results for May 28, 2016

What a great day for a season opening match!  It was sunny, a light breeze and it was hot.  I’ll take hot over rain anytime.  We ended up with 25 shooters and even had to dip into the extra scorecards as folks kept showing up.  I certainly could have awarded even more medals than the 14 handed out if I was given notification by all that attended.  Turned out to be a fun time, as the biggest award seems to involve being there and enjoying the company while we shoot in the woods.

It was a 60 shot match, shot on ten lanes in the woods.  The wind did not seem to be a factor, even on the longer shots, but some nasty little hit zones on the regular lanes combined with challenging discipline lanes provided the difficulty needed to separate the scores.  The match moved along well, with not much waiting, in spite of the high attendance.

As you can see from the results chart, there was some real nice shooting and some very close competition, especially in the Hunter Division.  We had six new shooters who were not necessarily new to shooting, but new to the Port Club.  Colin Dodds and his father, Mike, had never competed in a match and did very well for themselves, having a great time in the process.

Thanks to all who helped set up lanes, the practice range and also those that helped clean up afterwards.

We will be doing this again on Saturday, June 18^th at the Port Club.  We may use 15 lanes for that one so we can spread shooters out and avoid the possibility of delays if the attendance rises.  Put the date on your calendar and look for the official match announcement a week or so before the match.  At that time, please notify me if you plan to attend so that I can order enough awards to make lots of folks a little happier.

Tim MacSweyn

Results Chart

May 28, 2016

Rifles are .177 unless designated otherwise.

* Set up lanes for the match

** Shoot Off

+ First time shooter at Port

Burlington Rifle Field Target

Results Chart for May 15, 2016

Rifles are .177 unless designated otherwise.

….. Shooter….. Gun….. Scope….. Pellet…..

….. Hunter Division Score /96

1.. Mike Clemments..87..Benj Marauder…Tasco 6-24….. .22 JSB Ex
2.. Aaron Osterhoff..84.. AA S400…………Hawke V 6-24..JSBH
3.. Chris Holmes…..83..Brocock Concept..Hawke 4-12……22 JSB 14.3
4.. Jess Costin…….69..AA S400…………Hawke V 6-24….JSBH
5.. Dave Relf………62..Logan Solo………Hawke Air Max…?

….. WFTF Open PCP Score /48
1.. Tim MacSweyn*.45..LG100…………….Pr. Leupold 35X.JSB RS
2.. Joel Goodwin… 44..EV2 KK2………….Nikko 10-50…….JSB 8.4
3.. Ted Gibson…… 36..AA S410………….. Elite 3200 8-36..JSB 8.4
4.. James Liu……. 14..AR20 FT…………..Walther 8-32…..JSB 8.4

….. Open PCP Score /48
1.. Dean Leite*….. 48..Steyr LG110FT……..Deben 10-50…..H&N 10.6
2.. Don Irvine*…… 47..Steyr LG110FT……..S&B FT 12.5-50..JSBH
3.. Magdy Hassouna.45..FWB FT……………S&B…………….JSB 8.4
4.. Dennis Eden*….43..AA FTP 900…………S&B FT 12.5-50.JSB 8.4
5.. Lanny Hann……40..Theoben Rapid 17….Bushnell………CPH
6.. Salma Hassouna.DNF. EV2 MK4…………..Hawke 6-32…..JSB 8.4

* Set up lanes for the match

Unfortunately, both Salma and James had their guns fail them during the match.

April 10, 2016 Rifle FT Match

Post by Mac » Sun Apr 10, 2016 5:24 pm