I'll +1 to that and agree this will be a sought after match to shoot in the future. I posted this over on NorCal's forum but seems appropriate to share here and back up
@sfogold
I know there were a few on the fence about this match, but Ryan Kerr and Charles Roberts pulled off a pretty great event. On Friday, shooters had the opportunity to check zero and shoot a small selection of targets between 270-1040 yards. Solomon from SoCal ran a side event using his fancy new electronic target hit indicator board that measures your group size as you shoot. The first thing I noticed walking around the range were the specific, dedicated areas to stage rifles so they were out of the way and pointed in a safe direction. After shooting a match recently in another part of the country where muzzle discipline is more than a bit complacent, I was reminded why and how much I love shooting in the West.
The safety brief wasn't until 8:30 on Saturday morning, and I'll admit that sleeping in both days was hella nice. Charles led the brief and covered all the usual safety items in detail. He then asked for a show of hands of new shooters. Turns out this was the first 2-day for about 50% of the match attendees. Plenty of experienced shooters in there though, so Charles asked us to keep that in mind and help out the new guys and gals prior to and after they'd shot each COF.
Speaking of the course of fire... it was balanced with each stage being cleanable if you were really on the ball. Every stage was 120 seconds except the PRS speed skills stage that was 90 seconds. There were only two stages I can think of that were higher on the difficulty level (the trailer stage ate up a ton of mulligan coins with mixed results on the second run). Lots of 12 round stages that required the shooter to either reload or use rounds from their 2-round holders. There was a match requirement that no magazine could hold more than 10 rounds. I know I don't practice reloads as much as I should and it showed on a couple of stages.
The facility they're using is a beautiful cattle ranch. Low rolling hills with switchy winds and mirage that flat out lies to your face. I felt the target sizes were appropriate for the difficulty level of each stage and for the winds in that valley. Ryan & Charles had at least two RO's for each stage, with some having three if there was a lot of movement or transitions between props. All stages had at least one known, experienced RO in charge of running the course of fire.
After the shooting was all over, we headed over to Murray Farms for dinner and the awards ceremony. The location of the match is seriously right off a freeway. We could watch vehicles driving down CA-58 while we were walking around the range. Murray Farms is the exit off the freeway, so it was super close and convenient for the awards and dinner. Plus, they have pretty tasty pies. Just sayin'. There was a bit of a lag on the awards due to some issues getting scores to load to Practiscore, but the problem was solved by taking a picture and airdropping the scores to all of us.
Overall, a good event. Some minor hiccups like target failures on day one that caused a few cease fires, but they solved that problem for day two. I'll absolutely sign up for any other match these guys run though. It's within driving distance, close to larger cities with lodging, good food, and a short drive to the match, and the course of fire was fun. Yes, fun. I like fun. I didn't shoot as well as I could or should have, and I still had a lot of fun.
Well, except for the stupid trailer. That stage was rough.
