Hot new shooting sport
simulates small-game hunting
John McCoy <wildwordwv@cs.com>
Daily Mail Outdoors editor
Friday November 01, 2002; 11:00 AM
When Rick McAllister pulls out his favorite air rifle, people turn and stare. Who could blame them? The 14-pound, German-made pellet gun looks like something straight out of a Buck Rogers movie. A powerful telescopic sight extends nearly three-quarters the rifle's length. The gun's heavy, stainless-steel barrel measures nearly 2 inches in diameter. Its futuristic stock is a Tinkertoy maze of adjustable joints and spacers. McAllister participates in an arcane, relatively new sport called field target shooting. With his high-tech pellet rifle, he shoots at steel targets shaped to resemble small game animals. When his pellets strike the target's tiny "hit zones," the targets fall down. The surprising part isn't that McAllister is able to hit the targets, it's the range at which he's able to hit them. At 50 yards, for example, he routinely shoots hit zones only an inch and a half in diameter.
Field target shooting is fairly new, at least in the United States. Shooters in Great Britain set up the first rules in 1980, and England has remained the discipline's hotbed ever since. Participants in the United States founded the American Airgun Field Target Association in 1987, and the organization now serves as the pastime's governing body on this side of the Atlantic. McAllister, eager to promote field target shooting in West Virginia, has formed the Mountain State Field Target Association. "We only have three members right now, but we're hoping to host a nationally sanctioned match next year," he says. "We believe interest will pick up after that." For McAllister, a longtime participant in a variety of shooting-sport disciplines, field target shooting has evolved from a pastime to a passion. "I want to become the best in the world at this," he says. "All my other goals have disappeared."
He's off to a decent start. In 1999, the first year he tried to compete, he won the Maryland State Field Target Championship with a rifle considerably less powerful and accurate than the one he now shoots. In 2000, he finished 47th in the World Championships and was ranked 35th in the United States. Those results are fairly remarkable, since McAllister took up the sport almost by accident. "I traded some reloading equipment to a friend, and he included an air rifle in the trade," McAllister recalls. "I couldn't fathom that an air rifle could be worth $130, and it piqued my interest."
From the Internet, he learned that only four disciplines cater to top-level air- rifle marksmanship -- the Olympic 10-meter event, a benchrest event, silhouette target shooting and field target shooting. "Of the four, field target seemed to be the most exciting," McAllister says. "At least it was the one most people seemed to be talking about." Since he took up the discipline, McAllister has filled a gun safe with an ever- improving collection of air rifles. His latest acquisition represents the pinnacle of field-target technology. It's a souped-up version of the Steyr LG100 Olympic target rifle, modified for field target use by master gunsmith Allen Zasadny. Without a scope, it costs nearly $2,800. A 10-by-50 scope like the one McAllister uses pushes the price tag close to $3,800. Computer-generated vernier dials allow McAllister to precisely dial in adjustments for any drop or curvature in the pellet's flight. Sophisticated muzzle brakes negate the rifle's substantial recoil. Weight stabilizers allow him to hold the scope's crosshairs precisely on each target's hit zone.
But McAllister says shooters can be competitive in the discipline without spending nearly that much money. "You don't have to spend thousands," he says. "You can set yourself up very well for about what you'd spend on a deer rifle or a skeet shotgun." Field target matches closely resemble 3-D archery matches. Organizers usually set up 10 "lanes" in the woods, and locate three targets in each lane. Squads of two to three shooters move off into the lanes and fire from designated spots. "The distances aren't marked, so you have to know how to use your scope to find the exact range to each target," McAllister says. "While one shooter shoots, another one keeps score and another one resets the target." A 60-shot match usually takes about as much time as an 18-hole round of golf.
Though the targets usually resemble small-game animals, event organizers sometimes get creative. "I've seen all kinds of weird targets," McAllister says. "Loony Tunes characters, a 7-Up can, even Saddam Hussein. One of my personal targets is in the shape of the state of West Virginia." Currently, the only field target range in West Virginia is the one McAllister built at the South Charleston Fraternal Order of Police range. The only local organization is the Mountain State Field Target Association McAllister founded. "The sport needs to be promoted, and I intend to promote it," he says. "Anyone who wants to try it can get in touch with me and I'll be happy to let them use one of my rifles." McAllister can be reached at 722-2080.
Writer John McCoy can be reached at 304-736-3585.Read another article about Mountain State Field Target Association