Welcome to Quail Creek Gun Range
January 2026 - Air Rifle Benchrench Match
The first Hot Dog Shoot of the 2026 Shooting Season was held on January 17th. The attendance was one of the best in the last couple of seasons, with fourteen, bundled up shooters lending a hand to setup canopies. With that completed, flags, practice targets and benches adorned with airguns of various makes, front and rear rests, air tanks and coffee cups were made ready for three events. The 25 meter paper target, 75 yd paper target and the spectator favorite, the Chicken Little Silhouettes. With coffee cups in hand the shooters descended upon the three boxes of cookies Patrick Shely’s wife baked for the attendees. Standing around, visiting and trying to catch some of the rays of sunshine starting to peak over the Santa Ritas.
After a short round of practice, the 25m event started promptly at 9:00. The wind was brisk at times, but that didn’t prevent some fine scores from being posted. After two cards of 25m, the target stands were moved to 75 yds, for another two cards at that distance. The wind was supposed to go down, by the 75 yd competition time, I guess it missed that news. However, Terry Wiest posted a score on one card, that is one of the best I have witnessed, given the conditions.
We finished ahead of schedule, and most of the Silhouettes were set up before lunch. Our Chef Jim and his sous Chef Sandra, served a piping hot, Hot Dog lunch and we proceeded to the Chicken Little Silhouettes. The wind was still pretty dicey and the scores showed it, with only two shooters getting perfect scores of 32. To determine 1st and 2nd place. 4 chicken silhouettes are placed at 70 yds, each shooter is allowed 4 pellets, the clock is set at 2 minutes. Terry Wiest and Jack Mercer were in the shootoff, both knocked all four over. They were setup again, clock set at 1 minute, both knocked all four over again, They were setup again, clock set at 30 seconds, Terry knock over the most, winning the Gold, giving him a clean sweep of Gold medals in his shooting class. Well deserved Terry, it wasn’t a wind friendly day.
Some other notable scoring, on Saturday was by Jeff Miller, who has just returned for the winter and shot a couple of times in 7 months, won two Gold medals in his class, Bron Greenwood, won 3 Gold in his class.
Though Patrick Shely’s guidance the QCAGC is developing some excellent shooters. He’s at the Range, most Thursdays and Saturdays, but won’t be back for a few weeks. He’s getting a hip replaced next week, wish him the Best. I will be standing in for him for the time being.
Jack Mercer, President Emiretus
2025 Top Gun and Member of the Year
The Quail Creek Air Gun Club held its annual meeting on December 12 this year. The club members were welcomed by Rocco Colicchia (President) with presentations made by Steve Miller (Finance) and John Livingston (Director). Three board members were elected. Ted Zazeski was elected Vice-President replacing John Pabst, Carl Honaker was elected Director of Communications replacing John Livingston and Greg Garman was elected Secretary replacing Bill Tucker.
The next events made up the fun part of the meeting. The presentation of the Jack Mercer Top Gun trophy and the presentation of the Mike Schlesinger Member of the Year trophy. The Top Gun trophy was presented by Jack Mercer to Terry Weist for earning an outstanding 68 points during the 2025 competition shooting season. Mike Schlesinger presented the Member of the Year trophy to John Livingston. Members of the Club voted for John for his many contributions to the success of the Club. Congratulations to Terry and John. There was also a raffle at the end of the meeting. Patrick Shely donated $100, which Paul Lischeid won and a Riton scope donated by Chris Varas was won by Barry Cohen. Barry then donated the scope to be auctioned at the meeting. Eileen Sykora won the scope with a bid of $150.
Nov '25 Pistol Recap
Thursday morning around 7:30 I headed for the range, windshield wipers clearing off the light rain. I wondered if I would be the only one there. As I made the turn into the range, I could see one dark colored canopy was erected. I pulled into a space near the canopy, where 3 or 4 people were huddled, decked out in rain gear, trying to stay dry. Greg Garman, the Pistol Shoot coordinator was among the group and indications were that we would be waiting to see if anyone else shows up and if the rain quits. As we waited, listening to the pitter – patter of rain drops on the canopy, cars started showing up until all of the shooters who signed up, arrived. In the meantime, I put up my canopy next to the existing one to accommodate the growing number of shooters. One of the last shooters to arrive, John Livingston, announced that he heard on the radio that the rain would cease around 9:00. Looking to the North, through the fog, we could see nothing but dark, threatening clouds. It was now 8:15, could this news be yet another example of dubious forecasting in our little patch of desert in Green Valley?? One of our members, Larry Ford who drove up from Sierra Vista and after the competition, generally spends most of the day at the range. Decided to return home where he knew it wasn’t raining.
The decision was made to set up enough of the club owned canopies to accommodate all the shooters. With that the Range Master called the range cold to set up target stands and flags. Benches were setup and we practiced for a few minutes in a sprinkle of rain.
As the clock reached the 9:00 hour, someone up there flipped a switch and the rain STOPPED!! The clouds started breaking up and before long the sun was shining, the wind gained in velocity and we were back to a normal day of shooting.
Six shooters competed in three events. The first, a 25m event using the official, QCAGC 75yd target, possible score of 250. Two classes, Scope and Red dot. Will Medicott, shooting a brand-new RAW pistol, took Gold in the Scope Class with a 246 and John Livingston a 246 for Gold in the Red Dot Class. In the 10yd, using the 50m target, Will took Gold with a 2-card total of 499 – 40x, earning him a coveted 250 medal. John took the red dot Gold, 497 – 30x. Chicken Little Silhouettes, Will, 32, won Gold in shoot out with Terry Wiest, 4 chickens at 20 yds-----Will got all 4. John again won Gold with 29 critters. Congratulations to Will and John for some outstanding shooting. A clean, Gold sweep for both of you.
So, for a day that started out cold, wet and dreary, we ended in bright sunshine and great shooting. To top it off, Greg had some prizes for the first three places in the 10yd Scope Class competition, Will won a 12lb Butterball Turkey, Terry a package of Turkey Breast, and yours truly, Jack Mercer, 2- foot long, Turkey Sausages.
Many thanks to Greg for not canceling and the prizes, Bron Greenwood as Range Master, keeping us safe and on time. Anita Teschek helping with setup, take down, silhouettes, scoring and more. Watch out guys, she already has a proven pistol and will be receiving her scope on Saturday. There will soon be a NEW GAL in PISTOL TOWN!!!
See you at the Range,
Jack Mercer President Emeritus
Dec '25 Field Target Recap
Recently, the Quail Creek Air Gun Club held its first Hunter Field Competition of this season. To get enough competitors the club waits for all the snowbirds to come and nest in the warmth of the southwest. Like other clubs we run matches in winter, generally the first Sat of the month.
What is Hunter Field Competition? We have graduated from the Red Rider BB guns that were common in most families. Instead of a BB most shooters use .177 caliber lead or eco friendly pellet. The pellet basically has the shape of the badminton shuttlecock. Soft pellets flatten and fall. Participants shoot in classes. There is a springer class (similar to the Red Ryder), and another class for shooters using compressed air.. That class has subclasses due to what upgrades have been made to the air gun. As in all hobbies the upgrades can be never ending. Ie Why have a putter when you can afford a Scotty Camaron putter?
We are allowed to use maximum 16 power telescopic sights. The 10-meter targets have an ½ inch diameter bullseye that you have to hit to knock the target over. The 55-meter target has a 1 ½ inch bullseye that has to be hit to knock that target over. One shot, one knocked over target equals one point and our matches have a perfect score of 48. So you may ask, what is so hard about that? Like real hunting you find a rest, ours are a pair of crossed walking sticks and a bucket to set on. Quail Creek holds their matches at our range in the area near the Quonset huts.
To start the season we had seven competitors and medals were awarded to the 3 top scores: Ben Spencer; Gold, scored 46
Larry Ford; Silver, scored 44
Andrew Weichert; Bronze, scored 43
Jesse Avery; scored, 36
John Weichert; scored 36
Brom Greenwood; scored 30
Tom Jackson; scored 27
A very safe and enjoyable time was had by all. If this article has sparked an interest or if you may have questions come down to the range!