Montana Black Powder Cartridge Rifle The 2018 Arizona State Championship was held over the weekend of November 10th and 11th at the Ben Avery Shooting complex. Tim Thorne and his wife
wife put the event on and many thanks to them for their efforts! A good time was had by all that attended with shooters from many states attending.
While shooter numbers were down from last year (19 scope and 10 iron shooters), there were still several national and state champion shooters attending
making for some pretty stiff competition!
Weather was somewhat cold and windy Saturday morning with tempuratures in the 50s and winds to gusts up to 20 mph but this gave way around 11:00 to
to a pretty calm day with tempurature rising in the high 70s. With the reduced number of shooters we were able to shoot ten animals, five per bank with a
one minute wait between banks, before having the target setters reset them. It made the match roll along nicely with the shooting getting done at about
three o'clock. Tim had Famous Dave's cater the barbeque at 4:30 which was quite good and there was plenty for all! Thanks Tim!
Sunday was a little more traditional for the weather at Ben Avery with the morning starting out calm with a dozen or so hot air balloons in the air and
tempuratures in the 60s raising quickly into a very comfortable 70s, then having the wind start to pick up out of the west around 10:00 and having a pretty
constant 10 to 15 mph crosswinds into the afternoon. Then about the time we were done, the wind calmed back down for a nice awards ceremony.
Saturday shooting in Iron sights had Chip Mate first overall and first master with a 30, Del Niemyer first AAA with a 26, and Richard Wilkes first AA with a 22.
In Scope Mike Venturino was first overall and high AAA with a 29, Ralph Cole and Jay Butts tied for high master with a 28 but Ralph had more chickens so he got
the award, and Juaquin Bustamante was high AA with a 26. Vintage Snipe had Nora Thorne in first with a 23.
Sunday shooting in Iron sights had Chip and Del tied for the overall with 29s and first in their respective classes, and Richard first again in AA with another 22.
In Scope, Ted Tompkins was high overall and first master with a 29, Mike Venturino, Rick Grey, and Jim Durrell tied for first AAA with 23s with Mike getting the
daily award with most chickens, and Leon Chism was high AA with a 25. Vintage Sniper had Nora Thorne first with a 28.
Overall Aggregate winners for the match were, for Iron Sights, Chip Mate with an overall score of 59 took 1st Overall, Del Niemeyer with an overall score of 55 took
2nd Overall, and Brad Niemeyer with a 53 got 3rd Overall. 1st Master went to Pat Taylor with a 53, 2nd Master went to Ron Calderone with a 50, and 3rd Master was
Johnny Spratling with a 48. 1st AAA went to Zack Taylor with a 49 and 2nd AAA went to Dick Wilkes with a 41. 1st AA was Richard Wilkes with a 44 and 2nd AA was Wesley
Spratling and 1st Junior shooter with a 41.
Overall Aggregate winners in Scope was Jay Butts winning 1st Overall by shootout with a 56 against Ralph Cole getting 2nd Overall with a 56 as well and 3rd Overall going
to Butch Ulsher with a 54. 1st Master was Ted Tompkins with a 53, 2nd Master was Gene Davids with a 48, and 3rd Master was Klaus Schattleitner with a 45. 1st AAA was
Mike Venturino with a 52, 2nd AAA was Jim Durrell with a 48, and 3rd AAA was Bob Deletrorre with a 47. 1st AA was Juaquin Bustamante with a 48, 2nd AA was Leon Chism
with a 46, and Don Harvey was 3rd AA with a 34. 1st Vintage Sniper was Nora Thorne with a 51, 2nd Vintage Sniper was Tim Thorne with a 47, and 3rd Vintage Sniper was
Jim Eggleston with a 42.
NOTE:
These are not official scores but what I have transcribed from photos taken of the scoring sheet.
If there are any mistakes, please email me and I will fix it.
I do have a record of the photos if there are any questions.