April 2026 (2) - Flipbook - Page 48
E-mails from the
Desert International
The 2026 Desert International
is in the books. Eight days of
shooting paper targets at Ben
Avery Shooting Facility in Anthem, AZ. Winds from 3 to 30
mph, and temperatures from
60 to 95 degrees.
Due to the length of this match,
I decided to try a di昀昀erent way
of writing it up. Instead of one
long article, I decided to send
myself an email every night
discussing the day’s events. I’m
hoping that this will help keep
everything in order and give
the readers an idea of the ebb
and 昀氀ow of the match. Hope
you enjoy it!
By Jonny V
The author on the 200 yard line the day of the .22 rim昀椀re match.
Email #1, March 9th, 2026 06:29 hours
I checked into the Airbnb and
got everything unloaded. The
house perfectly suits our needs.
It’s a three bedroom two bath
house on what looks to be an
acre lot. The driveway is gated.
This will be a comfortable and
secure spot for the next 10 days.
The cost is less than staying in a
hotel and we have all the amenities of a fully furnished home at
our disposal.
We stopped by the range and
found Zach, Curtis, and Steve
working to get some new targets moved and ready for the
match. We pitched in helped
out for a little while and got the
chores done. The targets are all
new. Frames, cardboard, every48
thing. They are 6 feet by 6 feet.
I brie昀氀y thought about the time
we will spend in the pits pulling
and marking targets for our fellow shooters. Call me weird, but
I’m one of these guys who likes
pulling targets. It’s as much fun
as shooting, at least for me.
After that, we hit the grocery
store. We picked up steaks,
fruits, and vegetables. We also
got some sandwich makings
and a case of water. It’s going
to be hot this week. Drinking
water is going to be very important. The rule of thumb is that
you should be going pee every
hour. If you’re not, then you are
getting dehydrated. One of the
昀椀rst things dehydration does
is degrade your eyesight. Can’t
a昀昀ord that! We have electrolyte packs to put in our water as
well.
On Monday, we’re going to
drive out to one of the many
public ranges around here and
check our “no wind” zeros at
200 yards. The wind is always
blowing here and having that
mechanical zero is crucial.
Without a set starting point,
any wind call from your spotter
would be meaningless.
Editors note: I had no idea how
prophetic that statement would
be...
April, 2026 - Issue #2
