The 2014-15 Winter Multiplex season has come to a close.  Thanks to all who participated – you set new records for clubs entered and targets thrown. Click here to see the High Over All winners and random draw shooters (center of page). HOA tags and random draw prizes will be distributed in the next couple of months.  The payout checks for Jan/Feb were mailed 2/23.  It’s not too early to sign your club up for the summer season!

Congratulations go out to Junior Shooter Peyton Rex for shooting his first ever 25 straight at The Old Skagit Gun Club (Burlington WA.) on February 7^th during the singles event at the Multiplex. Weather for the shoot can only be described as monsoon type rain. Peyton is pictured getting his patch from Sherry Greene the shoot cashier and club officer. Peyton’s squad mates Dave Daniels, Don Reimers, Rudy Martinak and Dennis Pettit performed the customary shooting of the cap before leaving the trap field. As you can see from the picture Peyton’s hat is still in pretty good condition, maybe a little too good a condition. All four men missed that hat at a range of about 20 feet. This hat has now become Peyton’s very lucky hat.

Note: if any member knows of anyone that gives hat shooting lessons I know four guys that want to sign up for a class.

Editor’s comment: Rudy did get a little mud on the hat when he tried to shoot it on the ground.

Jim Rankhorn, PITA Vice President

On January 24-25, 2015, the Newman Swamp Rats Trap Club hosted a PITA event for the first time in some 28 years.  The Averages and History Yearbook confirms that the Newman Swamp Rats was an active host of PITA events through 1986.  They hosted the PITA CA State Shoot in 1951.  Their latest effort was attended by 30 shooter who were not dissuaded by foggy conditions and cooler than predicted temperatures.

I was unsuccessful in learning the origin of its name because there is a decided lack of swamps evident around Newman, California.  It is a very old club, established in 1933 with the present log constructed club house built in 1953.  Located near the city of Newman, California, population 10,224 (2010 census) in Stanislaus County, it is surrounded by agriculture and nut orchards as far as the eye can see. The nearby city of Patterson has most of the facilities needed by visiting shooters.

This is a member based club directed by 7 elected board members and having approximately 65-70 active annual members according to the President, Esther Puckett.  A couple of unique features are the club house itself, a log building about 105 feet by 36 feet and a huge backdrop screen across the entire trap field.  Puckett said the screen was erected last September to appease the neighbor at a cost of some $74,000.  Although weather may have discouraged some from attending this event, it had no effect on the enthusiasm of PITA All Star Rich Bullard who traveled from Reno, Nevada, to lend his support to the club.

We enjoyed our short stay with the Swamp Rats and hope they continue hosting PITA events.

Sue Brewer, Secretary

There has been some discussion on the meaning of the word ‘to’ as used in the 2015 Official Classification Tables and Handicap Guide.  The meaning in the new chart is ‘up to this point‘ (i.e. once you reach 97% you are in AA class for singles).  For those using the 3S computer cashier system you will notice in the classification area the use of “over or equal to this % (>=)” and “under this % (<)”.

There are many ways to say the same thing which seems to be causing confusion.   The ending percentage is to the number but not through it.  This is clear when you look at all the classifications.  The starting percentage begins with the ending number of the lower classification.  If this still confuses you replace the word ‘to’ with ‘up to but not including’ in all cases.

Example:  Singles:  

AA- 97.00% and above

A – 94.50% up to but not including 97.00%

B – 91.50% up to but not including 94.50%

Congratulations to all the brave shooters who made this possible.  Two records have been set – most shooters in a Multiplex: 411 and most Multiplex event targets thrown: 55,350.  See all the results here.  Be sure to check your scores – all results are final Saturday, January 10th at 9:00 am PST.

Join us in congratulating the 2014 P.I.T.A. All Stars (click the word All Stars).  You will see many new names on the list this year with some very impressive averages.

The high averages were accomplished by:

Men: Singles-Gary Bonetti .9904, Handicap-Dave Kelly .9317 and Doubles-John Mullins .9714

Ladies: Singles-Julie Spindler .9708, Handicap-Julie Spindler .9150 and Doubles-Lisa Salt .9192

Veterans: Singles-Dex Tourville .9856, Handicap-Daro Handy .9474 and Doubles-Marty DeVries .9472

Juniors: Singles-Chayton Vega .9759, Handicap-Andreas Borgesen .9340 and Doubles-Chayton Vega .9200

Vince Howe

Robert Winchell

Rick Freeman

Rich Bullard

Patricia Sargent

Mark Zeller

Olivia Taylor

Iain Wilson

Charles Winchell

Bryan Weeks

2014 Series Winners

Congratulations to the 2014 CSTA Series Awards winner.  Buckles were awarded to the winners at the Annual Series Awards Shoot, held at Coon Creek this year.  Random shooters in attendance won flats of ammo donated by CA PITA gun clubs.

The 2015 membership cards are available for downloading.  We also recommend downloading a copy of your 2014 membership card so you will have scores readily available for computing your singles average (last 1000 singles targets) and your doubles average (last 1000 doubles targets).

NOTICE: Rule changes effective 11-1-14

There are rule changes/clarifications effective Saturday, November 1, 2014.  The new Rule Book is here!

1. Section A. Clarification about renewing memberships late in the shoot year.
2. Doubles average based on the last 1,000 targets (was 800) and classification percentages revised. The new classification guide can be found on the FORMS page.
3. All references to Senior Veteran to be replaced by the term “Senior”, abbreviated “SR”.
4. Cross registration of targets updated to reflect each Association’s current rules.