← Trap Talk From The Back Fence
Trap Talk From The Back Fence
California State Champ & Gun Club Manager Bryan Weeks on the Golden West Grand | Trap Talk Ep. 166
01:03:57
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- [00:24]
A
Welcome to season four of TRAP Talk,
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B
brought to you by Craig off the choice of champions.
- [00:29]
A
Hey folks, if you're wondering where you can get your merch, head on down to shop Trap Talk podcast dot com.
- [00:34]
B
Yes, folks, you can get hats, T shirts, sweatshirts. They even have a ladies tank, shooters, towels. We might have some new stuff coming out for the 2026 year. Who knows?
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A
We got all the swag. Head on down to the website. Thank you so much for being TRAP Talk supportive.
- [00:49]
B
Thanks everyone.
- [00:49]
A
Good morning, Trap Talk listeners. I'm your host, Zach Nini. I'm here with my co host Richard Marshall Jr. Wishing you a happy Friday. We've got a really special episode for you today. We've got our friend from Livermore, California, Brian Weeks with us, who is a fellow shooter and a gun club manager. And we are really excited to talk about some stuff that's going on in the west coast today on the show. Welcome to the show, everyone.
- [01:12]
C
Thank you.
- [01:13]
B
Thanks, brother.
- [01:14]
C
Thank you very much.
- [01:15]
A
Ricky, would you mind doing the honor of introducing Mr. Weeks a little more than I did?
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B
Yeah, absolutely. You know, Brian is from Vallejo, California. I said that right?
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A
Right?
- [01:25]
C
Yeah, yeah.
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A
You sound good. Sound like you live from California, like you got a street.
- [01:28]
B
No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Nebraska. But Brian's been a shooter since about 2012, registering targets, PITA and AT. He doesn't cross register a lot. He's not like Zach, so he shoots them both. But he has been on the PITA All Star team three times. The most recent.
- [01:51]
A
Correct.
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C
Yeah.
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B
And. And in 14, he won the PITA doubles championship, California State PITA. And then in 2025 at the California State ATA shoot, he won the state singles championship.
- [02:07]
C
Yes, sir.
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B
Brian, you know, he shoots a little bit, but mainly focuses on. He is the manager of Livermore Pleasanton Rod and Gun Club, which I have been to several times.
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A
Brian.
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B
I've only shot there once and I just recently came back from teaching lessons out there. So. Beautiful club. So we'll get into that and talk a little bit about everything and stuff coming up with the gun club and a lot of awesome news coming up.
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A
So let's for sure, for sure, this sounds like an exciting show. I've been talking with Brian for a long time about we needed to get him on because there's a lot of gun club managers out there in the country. There's not a lot of gun club managers that have won state titles and been on the teams. So like he has a perspective of not only managing a gun club, but he has A perspective from a competitor. Because if you don't know Brian like I know Brian, he's a competitor, he likes to win. He's always shot very well. And just the other day at the, at the, I believe it was the Autumn grand, He broke a 99 and handicap from the 27 yard line. So he is one of the guys that knows how to shoot. He, he, he bangs targets pretty heavily and, and we're, we're so happy to have him on the show. So my, my first question is, Brian, we will get to the Livermore stuff, but how did you get into trap shooting specifically? What made you fall in love with the sport that we all love?
- [03:26]
C
So that's a pretty interesting story. In 2005, the girl I was dating at the time, her cousin was having a bachelor party. So we went up to this ranch and we were all shooting off a ridge and, and all I had was a 20 inch shotgun, you know, eight shot shotgun, and they were throwing throwers. Her father at the time said, you know, you're gonna have to be really quick when you shoot that gun. So I said, and to this day it is the hardest target I've ever hit in my life. And I was hooked at that moment. So from there I, I was able to seek out Martinez Gun Club and we'd shoot there all during the week. We'd come off the golf course, we'd go shoot, we'd go shoot at lunchtime during the week sometimes. And it was on from there. I got into some really good guns about 0809. Bought some Browning shot Brownings for a long time and then it just blossomed from there. Man, I was hooked that first shot. Zip ball is Bullard likes to say I was hooked. Just hooked. You know, you see that, oh, when you hit your first target you ever look at and you create that black ink ball, you're hooked. So it was great. Before we get into. It's a pure feeling, can I say one thing to you guys real quick? I want to absolutely that I think you guys, with what you're doing, you two on this show, I think you are the fuse that is going to ignite trap shooting again in this country. So thank you for doing this and what you do because this deal is a big deal. It really is. So thank you for doing it.
- [04:49]
B
Well, we, we appreciate that. You know, like I tell everybody all the time, it was all Zach's idea. And I told him, I said, what the hell we doing? And, and it worked for the one time. I will give zap Props, you know, but, no, we appreciate that, Brian, and it has been fun, you know, to get to see people come back to shoot that, watch us on YouTube. They hadn't shot in 20 years, you know, and it's. It's just great for the sport that we love and, you know, that I've been doing longer than Zach's been alive.
- [05:24]
A
Yeah, yeah, it's true. And. And thank you for the compliment, Brian. I. That the only reason why it works is because people listen and they tune in and they ask questions and they. They care. So, you know, I want to thank everybody that listens to the show. I want to thank everybody that. That suggests people to listen. And, you know, for both me and Ricky, he came out and did a big class, and, you know, you guys took great care of him at Livermore. I came out and did a smaller class in between shoots on the way to Benia's funeral and met up with some people there, and you guys treated me like gold. So, you know, I really appreciate the fact that you guys have a facility that's catering to the shooter and. And that's important because nowadays there's not a lot of local small gun clubs around, especially in California. I know they're. You know, they're shutting down left and right. So, you know, as far as a trap range, I mean, there's not a lot of game next to you in Livermore, California. I mean, there's pretty much that. That one. That one gun club on Dagnino Road, and that's it. I mean, that's. That's where it is.
- [06:27]
C
Well, and it's.
- [06:28]
B
It's true when, you know, when I was just out there, it is one. You know, and I'm fortunate to travel to a lot of gun clubs across the United States, and I've shot at gun clubs up in Canada and. And stuff, and. And talked to a lot of people, and honestly, you know, Brian, we didn't drive around anywhere. I mean, it was windy and cold, you know, when I was out there. But all my students loved it, had a great time, you know, and. But it is one of the only gun clubs that actually have rifle pistol ranges on it, too.
- [06:58]
C
And a bunker, Olympic bunker, the nicest bunker west of the Rockies, so I'm told. Covered pretty nice bunker. I was checking it out.
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B
Yeah, there was a few guys over there shooting while we were shooting a couple times. Caught myself over there looking, and a couple of the guys were actually on class, were like, oh, yeah, they're shooting that game over there. So it. It is A cool place. So anybody out there, you know, go support Livermore. Seriously, it. You guys will have a blast. And Brian will treat you well. And they make a mean tri tip steak sandwich too.
- [07:30]
A
Yeah, that tri tip's too good. We'll have to talk about that later in the show because I'm still. I'm still salivating over it. So. So for you, Brian, it sounds like you were hooked immediately. You got that immediate rush of, of adrenaline and, and endorphins when you got that first smoke ball. And then you started getting pretty serious about it. How long did it take you to transition from shooter to saying, hey, I want to get involved? I want to, you know, run a gun club. I want to be able to help the sport? I mean, what was that timeline?
- [07:59]
C
So it was 09 before I started shooting club shoots and league, you know, North Bay league and South Bay league and those. Those types which you're familiar with, Zach. And then, oddly enough, I wasn't really familiar or too into the registered stuff, but oddly enough, at a wobble dinner at Martinez, sitting with Dave Kelly, Dave Kelly, he says, when are you gonna start shooting registered? I said, oh, I don't know, Dave. And you know, he gives you the famous line, you got to get off the porch sometime, boy. And that's what sets you off, you know. You know, everyone says, don't poke the bear on Dave, but he does a really good job of poking you to get you motivated. And that's what motivated me to shoot. Registered shoot, started in 2012, haven't quit since. And then as far as getting involved with the gun club, Livermore kind of headhunted me in December of 2020. The. The other manager that was doing it passed away, Jim Wiley. And they kind of head hunted me and they thought that I'd be a good match for them. And it's. We've been doing it ever since. I'm just starting my six year of running this club, and I love every minute of it. It's great. It allows me to give back to something that's given me a lot. And I enjoy it. I enjoy the shooters, enjoy helping the shooters, all of them, the pistol shooters, the rifle shooters. It's so much fun at this club. We do a lot, got a lot of leagues. It's just a lot of fun here.
- [09:18]
A
See, I. And I agree and I knew, I knew Jim Wiley very well. I would consider him, you know, one of the people that I looked up to when I was starting. So, you know, the old history of California, you know, kind of Going back, it was, you know, Jim Wiley was the single specialist in the area. You had Dave Kelly was handling doubles and handicap. You had, you know, Jimmy Heller. Coming up north, you had Steve Smith. You had all these names. And I was like in the middle of it as a kid and I didn't even know who these people were. But you know, you get to know him and you're like, oh my God, you had Benus over here. You had, you know, just so many names. I'm, I'm, I'm forgetting so many too. I mean, Holly obviously down south, but this was back when, you know, when I started was the back end of still great heyday trap shooting in California where you still had, you know, maybe not as much stuff, but you still had all the guns, you still had all the names. I mean, gary Benetti, Andy McLaren, I mean all these guys that were just, yeah, David Zanotti. Zanotti. I mean just straight up killers. I mean these guys were killers. And, and you know, it was a good time. You, you started a little after me. Brian, I remember when you started. I was around the, the leagues when you started. But I do want to take a second and circle back to the South Bay and the North Bay because I think there's a lot of people that listen to our show and they, we talk about the ata, we talk about leagues, we talk about, you know, stuff explain to the listener that might not know what South Bay or North Bay is, what it is, how it works and kind of how it's run. Because I think it's a really cool league and I've never, that's, that's, I've never really told the story and that's how I got into trap shooting. My first competition was a South Bay.
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C
So South Bay and North Bay, long standing history of running leagues. They're once a month leagues, a few different clubs. South Bay is kind of Livermore south down to San Jose and North Bay is kind of Livermore north up to Valley of the Moon. They're once a month, they're 150 target leagues. They have trophies every time and they have year end trophies. And it's a great way to get your feet wet in competition. Shooting teaches you how to compete at trap teaches you how to win. They're run beautiful. The people that run those leagues are amazing at what they do. Glenn Jaeger and his crew run North Bay. Pasquale Giannada is running South Bay right now. And they are awesome. They're great. We have a great time. There's 80 plus shooters at South Bay. And there's over 100 shooters in North Bay. So it's very competitive, Very, very competitive.
- [11:43]
B
Now that's 50 of each.
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C
Most of the shooters you mentioned that are from the Northern would use those leagues as practice. Dave Kelly, all those guys, but all use those leagues as practice. So South Bay runs on ATA rules and North Bay runs on PITA rules. They're the same, you know, pretty fun.
- [12:00]
B
So you're shooting, go ahead, you're shooting 50 each, right? 50 singles, 50 handicap, 50 doubles, right?
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C
Yeah. South Bay shoots eight shoots, North Bay shoots seven shoots. They both start. North Bay starts in March and South Bay starts in February. Just a lot of fun. I mean, if you want to learn how to shoot competitive trap, those are the two ways to do it for sure.
- [12:23]
B
Cool.
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A
And I think that's a fantastic opportunity for states that have clubs within. Like what it, what it really boils down to is if you look Livermore up, Valley of the Moon is about a three hour drive. So you've got a two and a half, three hours. So you've got a three hour circumference, two hour zone where you have all these shoots within seven, seven months. And then South Bay nor, you know, north, south to South Bay, Livermore. Does, does Newman still have it or does it like, how deep does it go?
- [12:54]
C
Newman, Metcalf, Sunnyvale, Livermore. So you're an hour radius and you're shooting.
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A
So an hour radius. So if, and there's other places in the country where you have, you know, let's say three, four, five or six clubs within, let's just call it a two or three hour radius.
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C
Right.
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A
You know, if you could get together and say, okay, 50 singles, 50 doubles, 50 handicap, one shoot a month on a Saturday or Sunday. And then the other thing that I really liked about it is like you said, the year end trophies. So if you start off as a junior, you had a minimum of going to five of the seven shoots. I think it was kind of like the All American team and they used your best five shoots for the year end trophies. So, you know, if you go to five shoots as a junior, at the end of the year, they give the best junior out of the five shoots an award or the best high overall personal award. And those, those awards were very nice. They had a very nice banque and taught me one to be competitive each shoot, but then two to be competitive at multiple shoots so you could win the year end trophies, which is very similar to the all American system. I thought, you know, five out of seven shoots. I mean, it's laid out that way, and it has a lot of people running it. It has a lot of people helping to make it work. But like you said, it was one of the most competitive places and environments that there was. I remember everybody back in the day when I was shooting it, there might have been 200 shooters in the South Bay. And if you didn't shoot a 148 out of 150 or better, you did not come close. I mean, I've seen people break 150 out of 150 on those things. Several people breaking 150s, and that was huge.
- [14:29]
B
So on the north and the South Bay, are they shot the same weekends or can you shoot both leagues?
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C
The. The you they shot on the same weekend. Typically the second Saturday and the second Sunday south.
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B
So Saturday and.
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C
And okay, North Bay shoots the second Sunday. I'm lucky because I get a weekend to do both. Typically in March, they're a week apart, but in July, we have them on the same week. So it works really well for me. I can really have a lot of people in punch a lot of shoot a lot of campers. It works really good for us.
- [15:03]
B
Well, yeah, you got a beautiful, beautiful place there. So.
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C
And Crossover Club, we cross over into both.
- [15:09]
B
Right.
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C
We. So, you know, both are here all the time. It's a lot of fun.
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A
Now, correct me if I'm wrong, other than Kingsburg, is. Is. Is Livermore the largest gun club, trap gun club in California now?
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C
Yes. Other than Kingsburg. Yeah, yeah, we throw.
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A
Now, for the people that don't know Kingsburg is where they hold the state shoot. It's. It's. It's in. It's. By Fresno, California. If you haven't been there. It's a beautiful facility. It's been years since I've been there, but that's. That's the facility that's large enough to hold the ATA State shoot, but you guys are holding the Pita State shoot and also the Golden west grand, and also North Bay, South Bay, and also a lot of other shoots that we'll get into more in the show today.
- [15:51]
C
Yeah, yeah, yeah, we. And so that Golden west grand, that's your second largest trap shoot in California. That Pita State shoot is your third largest shoot in California. And obviously the ATA State shoot at Kingsburg is the largest shooting California.
- [16:05]
A
So, yeah, those are big. And I did want to take a mention you. You mentioned Pasquale running South Bay, and I wanted to give a shout out to him because I just spoke with him the other day he called in and he's actually just launched a. A new podcast for California trap shooting. He interviewed the gun clubs and he's trying to get gun club awareness out there. And he had our, our friend Bob Graves on as one of the people that he interviewed the other day. So I listened to that the other day and, and Bill Groves and, and, and I said, hey, you guys are doing a great job. I listened to the Bill Groves episode and so, so shout out to that podcast in California. And you know, he called me and he said that his purpose and goal was to help highlight clubs in California and get people to try trap shooting for the first time. So I love to hear it when other people come out with these, you know, these ideas and these things, because at the end of the day, you know, a high tide raises all ships and we need to get these gun clubs activity to keep them around. We need new, new shooters. New shooters is, is the big, the big topic of discussion.
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B
Yeah. If we don't get new shooters, this
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C
year is really the big year to promote California trap shooting. You're going to hear a lot from Pascual. You're going to hear a lot from me. We really want to get back to promoting California shooting. Let's go back to Bob Graves, 2010 California State Handicap champion. Do you know straight? And he's the last hundred straight at Kingsburg in the California state. Bob, great. From the 27. Pretty interesting.
- [17:36]
B
I wonder who he took lessons from.
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C
Well, I think Zach might have learned from him. If you let Bob tell it. Zach learned from him, but, you know,
- [17:42]
B
Zach learned from him. And then I gave lessons, I gave lessons to Bob.
- [17:46]
A
I. I learned a lot from Bob. And you know, the cool thing about Bob that I liked versus Ricky at the time, as me and Bob would go back and forth to talk about stuff, Ricky just say, no, you're wrong. Do it this way. And I'd be like, all right, all right. That, that. That's the difference between Bob and Ricky is me and Bob really were talking about concepts and going back and forth and kind of learning the game together and saying, you know, what about this and what about this and what about this and what about this? Because we were kicking it off of each other left and right and left and right. And then when I ever just wanted the truth, I'd call Ricky and he'd say, no, no, no, this way, and all right, all right, so give them the truth. It's differences. It's differences. And. But, but Bob was a huge, huge part of my game and a huge mentor. And I wouldn't be where I am without him. And he was always supportive of me when I started traveling and, and always been there with me. And I spent many, many, many hours in his truck, driving to Livermore, driving to Newman, driving to Stockton, driving to Sacramento, driving. I mean, all the clubs, some of them aren't around anymore. I know, but, but, but for me, Livermore was a part of who I was growing up. I lived in San Jose. Livermore was about 45 minutes away. That is the club that I shot the most with. Dave Kelly. That's the club that I shot the most with Benias. So all the times I got to shoot with Benias mostly was at Livermore, and. And I also got to shoot it quite a bit with Jerry Parr there. You know, Steve Smith, Wade Stanfield, Jeff. Jeff Pasquetti, Jeff Cook. I mean, all, all my California gang, you know that. Yeah, Livermore was the showdown. And you know, nostalgia wise, always had the camping spots full, always had the bar.
- [19:29]
C
Every one of those guys that you just mentioned are a handful. Every one of them. And they are, trust me. And then when you let Bullard come down and get in the mix, it's even more of a handful.
- [19:40]
A
Bullard stir in the pot. Then you got Mike Wardo, the logger. I mean, you got, you got some, some personalities, some people there that just let me tell you, you know, Rick, the only thing looks better than these hats we're wearing right now is a bunch of gold and silver from Ron Prescott at Mid State Precious Metal. Show them the goods.
- [19:56]
B
Listen, all I got, silver right now, I won't bring the gold out for
- [19:59]
A
Zach, but you know, I always want to get that gold.
- [20:01]
B
Shotgun shells, 10 ounce bars. Folks, he could do anything for you. For all your shoot needs, give Ron Prescott a call. Midstate Precious metals dot com.
- [20:11]
A
He's a great guy. Support him. He supports all the shoots. He supports Trap Talk. If you're thinking gold or silver, you need to be thinking Ron Prescott at Midstate Press Metals. Thank you, Ron.
- [20:20]
B
That's right. Thanks for all the support.
- [20:21]
A
I just love the way they're covering all the shoots across the country. The content, the pictures, what they're doing online, what they're doing on Facebook, Instagram. What do you think?
- [20:29]
C
Yeah.
- [20:29]
B
Traption usa, It's a great magazine. They are the official magazine of our podcast and we are the official podcast of TRAP usa. So we really appreciate it.
- [20:39]
A
That's really cool. And what they got is a deal right now. If you put Trap Talk P in for the print version and trap talk D for the digital version. It's 19.99 for the print and 9.99 for the digital for one year. You're not going to find a better deal, so subscribe today. You won't regret it.
- [20:53]
B
Absolutely. Thank you for all the support.
- [20:55]
A
You know, Ricky, I know you used it on your barrels, but do you even know what RGS stands for?
- [20:59]
B
No, Zach, what does it stand for?
- [21:00]
A
Really good.
- [21:01]
B
Well, that is true. It is good stuff, folks. I use it to clean my barrels, and it does make them shine.
- [21:07]
A
Only problem is I wear white T shirts when I clean my barrels, and I get them all messy, so I got to be better at that. But it gets all the plastic, all the gunk out. Give them a try, folks. They're great.
- [21:16]
B
That's right. Give RGS a try. We appreciate all the support.
- [21:19]
A
You know, Rick, when you're riding around your air conditioning and your nice can am and I'm walking, I'm thinking to myself, where do I get one of these things?
- [21:25]
B
At Big Red Motorsports, that's where you get one. George or Jason Lee, they'll take care of you, Zach.
- [21:31]
A
I mean, I need one. I'm tired of riding on the back of that cooler. I want to sit inside that cab and roll around in style. I mean, my face is on the back, but help me out.
- [21:38]
B
Listen, I'm gonna move your face to the bumper is where it's gonna get moved for the new one, okay? All you need is a little quiche, and we can take care of you. But listen. BigRedMotorsports.com thanks, Jason and George Lee and Big Red Motorsports for all the support. They'll take care of you, folks. And it's free delivery. The best thing that you need to do is during those shoots is like, shut off everybody's cell service because they'd be there shooting. And I'm at home and I'm getting FaceTime videos and from Dave and all that, I'm like, oh, my. Zach's in there. Like,
- [22:11]
A
oh, we were having a good time. I mean, you couldn't.
- [22:13]
B
Oh, yeah, you couldn't.
- [22:14]
A
You couldn't measure the amount of fun that we had. And. And, you know, as soon as the event got done, a lot of the days there was cookouts, and then after the cookouts, you know, you had that big bar in the back at Livermore, and I know you changed the location of the bar from when I was, you know, a kid, but, you know, moved around now, and. And I just remember all the hours and times we spent back there with that whole crew, I mean, it was always a full house in Livermore. And. And the shoot that I want to talk a little bit about today, you know, the Golden West Grandmore, you guys have really built that vibe back. Because I've come to the gold west grand now probably three times since you guys started hosting it again. And the vibes of the golden west grand are classic trap shooter vibes. I mean, we've got gold coins, we've got cookouts, we've got calcuttas, we've got the bar open every night. You've got, you know, liar's dice, you've got all the. So. So walk the shooter through that. Hasn't been there and hasn't experienced it. You know, what you guys are doing, you know, and where you're looking to go with that shoot.
- [23:13]
C
So the Golden west grand. This year, it's May 6th through the 10th. It starts on Wednesday through Sunday. It's a. It tends to be an all American point shoot. We get enough shooters to make an all American point shoot. We have three banks, 12 trap fields. We take on about 210 shooters on singles day. It's a great shoot. It's a great time. The weather is always nice in May in Livermore. It's not too windy, it's not too hot. Perfect full camping facilities. We could take on 70 to 75 campers. It's just a great shoot. And it. And it's a small club trying to be a big club. So you get that small club vibe with a big shoot. You know, it's not like the Autumn grand where it's huge and spread out. But you still get that vibe by coming to Livermore.
- [24:01]
B
Right?
- [24:01]
C
We think our service is really good. The trophies we always try to make nice. This year's golden west ground is a full trophy package, full belt buckle trophies for every category, class and yardage, from event one to the last event.
- [24:17]
B
So it's a lot of gold coins.
- [24:19]
C
So this year there is a champion. As you know, the price of gold's up. But this year, in every event one through nine and hoa and haa, there is a gold coin champion buckle. So on your first event, Zach, on Wednesday, you're shooting for a gold coin
- [24:35]
A
buckle and that's that. That shows a lot. I mean, it takes a lot to do that for a shoot. I mean, I know what the price of gold is now and. Crazy. That's a thousand dollars plus right now. Yeah, it's, it's. It's crazy. And, and the reality is to step up and do that, I know requires a lot of commitment from the gun club. And it also requires a lot of commitment from the sponsors because I know a lot of people have come together around Livermore and supported the shoot and stepped up to, to help when needed. And you know, unfortunately, folks, that's what it takes if you want to have a shoot like that. If you want to have that once a year vibe experience where you go there and you have the opportunity to shoot for some, you know, California gold. Nostalgia. Nostalgia. You have to have some people that come together and say, hey, we want to help put this on every year. Because unfortunately, a gun club is not going to make it on $48, a hundred to be able to throw gold, silver and all these other things at a shoot and actually stay in business.
- [25:35]
C
Yeah, we're very lucky with the sponsors. Ronald Prescott, Midstate Precious Metals, takes care of us on all the. Ryan Castani, the Western Zone VP with Excel shooting sports. They've been a big help for us for the last year. Homer Hanson's always a great help. We have two major sponsors, Ron Fessler and Weldon Burch that have always taken care of us. Fessler, Brown Electric, Cal West, White Flyer, Winchester. Always huge sponsors for us, oddly enough. Rich Bullard, always a big help to us. But it was at the Damane family gun club for years before, you know, after it was at Harold's. Bullard's been trying to win that handicap champion for a long time. And I think so practices this year. I think he could do it this year. I really do.
- [26:20]
B
So what you're saying, Brian, is, is you need Rich Bullard to donate a little bit more this year is what you're telling me.
- [26:26]
C
That. And I need him to show up because again, with what you guys are doing.
- [26:30]
B
I'll shame him.
- [26:31]
C
I think I'll shame him. I think this conversation we're having is going to make it happen. But what with what you guys do, you're bringing out the personalities in trap. It's so fun to watch Bullard and you guys like that single shoot off at the Autumn Grand. Zach, you know, you guys put on a little show right before. And then he was out the first round. And it's just fun, you know, the mustard slipped off the hot dog, as we like to say with him. But the, the showmanship that Bullard brings to his shoot. Love him or hate him, I love him to death. Is really good for trap. It makes it fun to watch. Right? Because if we're just Going out, it's like watching paint dry, as everybody says. But when you guys do the showmanship and the shoot offs and, and, and all that's going on, it's so much fun to watch. So again, he's. He's a great draw for any shoot he's at. He really is. Love him or hate him?
- [27:24]
B
Yeah, no, you. Hey, I love to hate him, so it's okay.
- [27:28]
A
But.
- [27:28]
B
Yeah, no,
- [27:31]
C
and rightfully so. I mean, we could tell all the stories about when you first met him, and he takes your. He takes your shells from the single
- [27:37]
B
shoot, and then he calls and apologizes like a week later. And I'm like, really? You know, and so, no, Rich is. Rich is good for the game. We have a lot of fun when we shoot together, you know, and him and I and Zach will shoot. You know, a couple shoots a year together, and it's fun. And, And Rich can still compete. I mean, you know, Hell yeah, you.
- [28:00]
C
You got him holding that low gun, though now. He was such a great high gun shooter and level gun shooter. Now you got him on the lid. I don't know what you're doing, but hopefully it'll work out.
- [28:09]
B
I don't know. For his doubles, it'll definitely help. I could tell you that. Everything else. We call him the Hammer because he just drops a gun on him.
- [28:16]
A
I mean, I call him slash LaRue because he's got that, that hook that he does on the left side. But, but, you know, honestly, you mentioned the Tucson shoot off that we had the autumn grand singles championship. And I told him to his face, I said, rich, I was nervous about you as a competitor until we got to the 11 shot. And then the pressure came off the 11th shot. But that, that first 11, that first 10, he was in the middle of him. And I said, okay, this boy is here to play. Because, you know, me and him broke the 200 on the same squad together. I broke mine, and then he broke his next. And it was, you know, it was a little gamey the last 50. We had some, Some wind and stuff. And. And I said, hey, I know you're gonna. You get through them first 10 or 11, and it's gonna be on and 11th bird. He let me out of it.
- [29:01]
B
So what you're telling us back. What you're telling us is that you shoot good when you shoot with Boulder. That's what you're telling us.
- [29:08]
A
I love shooting with Bullard.
- [29:09]
B
He's so. It looks like the spring grand here in a couple weeks. You know, you're not Shooting with him.
- [29:15]
A
He's got other things. He's got other things to do. I'll have to make it on my own. I'm gonna do my best. I'm going to be shooting with all my friends. Is probably alone. By myself. Nobody.
- [29:24]
B
Yeah, exactly. Squat ready. Oh, wait, I'm. I'm post five by myself.
- [29:28]
A
They're all gone again. So, so, so getting back to focus on Livermore and the Gold west grand, to talk a little bit about the history for the people that don't know. You know, Brian, if you can explain a little bit of the history of the Gold west grand, because it has been known in my understanding as one of the greatest shoots on the West Coast, One of the biggest money shoots on the west coast from a long time ago where a lot, you know, it was accolade that a lot of people would fly from the east coast, you know, Florida, New York. I mean, yeah, everyone would come from all over the country.
- [30:02]
C
West Coast. It was at Harold's Club. I mean, it was huge. For a long time, all the people in Nevada were involved. The casinos. I mean, it was such a big deal. You know, that's where the gold comes from. That was a big deal. And then eventually it went to Sage Hill, which is the Damani family gun club. And then we eventually got it. This year is the 74th annual Golden west grand. And we've had it since the early teens. Obviously, Seicho closed and then Binillas found a way to revive the shoot at the Golden West Grand. And we've been trying to make it big ever since. You know, it's never going to be like it was at Harold's Club. That was a huge club and it was a big deal. The biggest shoot on the West Coast. But we are trying to make it a very big shoot. And we love it when our all Americans come out and shoot with us and hang out with us. You know, we love it when Zach comes. You know, it's a great time. Any we. There's a lot of all Americans that do shoot the shoot.
- [31:02]
A
So how much room for capacity do you have from where it is now to where it could go? Like if we said, hey, we're going to max it out so that you have the full. The full shoot that is as big as it can be at Livermore. How many squads do you think you can take and how many squads are you getting? Currently?
- [31:17]
C
We. We run 40 squads. Just over 40 squads. With 211 in the singles. I'd like to get it to 250 I'd like to have 50 full squads and we have room to grow. We have some places we can add another bank so we could run four banks and get it up to 300 very easily in the next couple of years. So we're looking forward to that. We're trying to grow it. 250 would be great on singles day, since we're talking about it. Singles day is a big day. Livermore switched over to throwing the green top target. So they're. It's a beautiful target out here. You guys both saw it. When you're here, it contrasts beautifully. You can't miss it. And then also maybe the shooters don't know. But on Saturday night during the single shoot off after the singles championship, we throw a shooter appreciation dinner, free to everybody on the grounds. I mean, 200 people having a nice dinner together. It's great. So that's always a big draw. That's also the special event night where we, you know, auction off the shooters for the next day in the handicap champion. Sunday is. Go ahead.
- [32:21]
B
Good. No good.
- [32:22]
C
Sunday is the handicap champion. But before that is a 50 target non registered, where we give all the money back that people enter in. So it's, you know, whatever per hundred and we put all the money back in. White Flyers always donated the targets for that. So It's a strictly 50 target money shoot handicap shoot precursor right before the handicap championship. So lots of fun, lots of things to do.
- [32:46]
B
Nice.
- [32:47]
C
Now we also go back. Go ahead.
- [32:50]
B
Go back to Saturday's singles. After the singles. Your appreciation dinner. Yeah, so let's talk about that real quick, Zach, because there's a lot of clubs that don't do stuff like this, you know. Now Vernal does, you know, the Western Grand. They do a ton of stuff where drinks and everything all week long and such. And then you go to Las Vegas. And Vegas does dinners every night and lunches and, you know, drinks and all that such. So doing that though, I think is a huge hit. I know it's costly to the club, but it just shows your appreciation for the shooters that show up and their family. So I commend you for doing that.
- [33:29]
C
Yeah, we're really lucky. We have a big sponsor, Weldon Burch, that usually sponsors that dinner and he loves to do it. We love to put it on. So it's, it's a great time again with the special event. And Bullard in the past has been the guy for that. But, you know, then he kind of can't get a call the next day. So we usually have an auctioneer come in for that. It's just a little lot of fun, you know.
- [33:50]
B
You know, what you're telling us is he's. He's getting. He's getting soft in his old age is what you're telling me.
- [33:54]
C
No, I think he's trying to protect. I think he's trying to protect himself because you guys are coming at him every which way but loose now. So he's gotta. He's got to step his game up, you know, like I always.
- [34:03]
B
Hey, hey, Brian. Like I tell everybody, you start it, I'm gonna finish it.
- [34:08]
C
That's true. That's true.
- [34:09]
A
Yeah. And I think. I think there's a lot there, you know, you. If you're gonna throw an event, a special event, something like that, having a shooter's dinner to keep the draw there. And also I like the idea of having dinners on Saturday nights for the singles because people stay. I mean, one thing I will say is every Saturday night singles championship shoot off I've ever either watched or been in that didn't have a dinner. You had like, you know, eight or ten people behind you other than the clay target. Right. And. And then. And then an example.
- [34:42]
B
You.
- [34:42]
A
You. The Golden west grand, huge crowd because everyone's there for dinner. Or Las Vegas, huge crowd, everyone's there for dinner. Another example. Normally the crowd at the Autumn grand, not so much this year, biggest crowd ever, because they were doing the memorial dinner for Bill Martin the same night as the singles championship. And so literally, I looked back there, and instead of it being, you know, Rich Bullard and maybe one other person that'll watch me, there was actually a few people back there. I mean, Ricky Marshall's used to a couple hundred fans, but Zach Nini. I get one, maybe two, maybe three. That's all I get. So it was. It was a lot of fun. And I think if you can coordinate something like that and let the shooters know in advance, that is a. A big draw to keep them on the grounds.
- [35:27]
B
Yes. Oh, huge draw. That a lot of people don't realize that if you do these dinners, it is a huge, huge draw to bring people and keep them there and. Because listen, yeah, it is, you know, watching paint dry sometimes and such, but it is gay great, you know, camaraderie to sit around and watch your fellow competitors and friends and socialize with people, you know, meet new people, too. So that. That is the great thing. And, you know, and what you guys are doing. I know years ago, I always wanted to come out to the Golden west grand when it was in Reno, but I never got to make it because I always had something going on that same time. And it seems like it. You know, when I teach, it's from like a lot of full on. It's like into March to the end of May right before the Great Lakes or the Western Grand. So it's always tough for me to. To go to shoots during that time when I got students that like, hey, I thought those weekends are open.
- [36:27]
C
Well, to add what you're saying, Ricky, if you did come out to the Golden West Grand, I think you'd meet a lot of nice people. I think you'd have a great, great.
- [36:33]
B
Absolutely.
- [36:34]
A
You know, Rick, I just love having the peace of mind and knowing that if I'm traveling or I'm flying, something happens, I can get my winig and my craig off replaced quickly and easily without costing me a bunch of money.
- [36:43]
B
Yeah, exactly. The gun and trophy insurance, it's the best out there to ensure your guns.
- [36:48]
C
Sure.
- [36:48]
B
Your trophy, animals, everything.
- [36:50]
A
Thank you to the whole Cushman family for supporting the show and everything they do for trap shooting.
- [36:54]
B
Absolutely. Get a hold of Cole Kushman and he'll get you set up.
- [36:57]
A
Hey, Rick, we got to take a second. We got to thank everybody, Outlaw engineering and the Preston family for supporting trap shooting and supporting trap talk podcast. They've been here for us. They're great people, you know. You know them real well, Rick.
- [37:07]
B
Yeah, I've known Randy since 1988. R2 and the family, they're great supporter of the show. Coop just won the autumn grand handicap championship with a 97.
- [37:17]
A
I know, I was there. I got to interview him. It was great. I was so proud of him. He's doing a great job. Hashtag, where's Coop? He's somewhere with that big buck buckle. He's having fun.
- [37:25]
B
So that's.
- [37:26]
A
So you need anything engineering related, get a hold of Outlaw. They'll take great care of you. Great folks.
- [37:31]
B
Thanks for all the support.
- [37:32]
A
Outlaw. You know, Rick, I know you've had a lot of involvement with them since the beginning, since they started. But I really love the way that the shot tracker, you know, catches the doubles from shot to shot with the looping. You know, tell the folks what they need to know about that system.
- [37:45]
B
It's the best system out there. It's like having a coach on the end of your barrel, like we say, but going especially in doubles from first shot to second shot. You can see it on the graph. You can see it on video.
- [37:55]
A
Yeah. I mean, if you talk about that, J Hook with Sean, Holly and all them. I mean, it'll literally show that loop and I think that's really powerful if you're doing it. They've supported the show since the beginning. They love trap shooting. They're great people. Give them a shot, folks. They make a great product.
- [38:08]
B
Take game technologies. Hey, Zach, have you been out to 73 Pointers Ranch lately?
- [38:13]
A
You know, I have. Rick and Carla Burke have been great. I normally hunt pheasants and chucker down there, but now they got a brand new sporting clays facility and it is top notch. I shot it the other day, absolutely loved it. And if you guys haven't, you need to go give it a check out.
- [38:28]
B
Well, I'll have to come out and do a little hunting and we'll shoot
- [38:30]
A
some sporty clays then 45 minutes from St. Louis Airport. Come see it. If you haven't. Guys, check them out.
- [38:35]
B
I know off the look and see, I don't know if I've got a clinic that weekend or not. I gotta look at that. So, yeah, I think.
- [38:43]
A
I think it's a great facility. I mean, talking about it, you know, Livermore has hosted a lot of major shoots for a very long time. I mean, you had a lot of great people surrounding that gun club and building the nostalgia of trap and. And have always traditionally shot for some big pots, big trophies, big events, big things. And. And the Golden west grand is that feel. So in addition to the Gold west grand, you guys also throw the California Pita State shoot, is that correct?
- [39:14]
C
Every other year. Yeah. Lately it's been every other year. Yeah. The California Pit State shoot is here this year, two weeks after the golden west grant last year. It rotates right now between us and Golden State Shooting center every other year.
- [39:30]
B
So.
- [39:31]
A
Okay, now, I've never been to Golden State Shooting Center. Where's that at and how Big Creek.
- [39:35]
C
It's the old Coon Creek.
- [39:36]
A
Oh, it's. It's Coon. Okay.
- [39:38]
B
Yeah, from California. He don't even know these clubs.
- [39:43]
A
I've never heard of Gold.
- [39:44]
C
Recent change. Since he's left, he wouldn't know that. That's okay.
- [39:48]
B
We forgive. He should know this from his home state. Zach, come on.
- [39:52]
A
Hey, Coon Creek. I've been to Coon Creek hundreds of times. This Golden State place, I've never heard of that. So I guess somebody must have bought it because I remember when George A. Hart was running it completely.
- [40:05]
C
Yeah, the Jensens bought it. They've renamed it Golden State Shooting center. And they're putting their heart and soul in it, trying to make it, you know, a great place to shoot. They have made it a nice place to shoot, actually. So pretty good club.
- [40:17]
A
So sharp in the state shoot this. This year. You'll have that state shoot two weeks after the gold west grand. So you've got a busy, busy time now. From a logistical gun club standpoint, I want to, you know, give my hat off to you. You have probably one of the most well maintained as far as clean gun club as far as the shells being picked up on the fields, no chips, being on top of the houses and scorekeepers that know what they're doing and are very polite. How do you source your talent when it comes to, you know, getting scores and getting people to help? Because I think that's a big problem for gun clubs across the country right now.
- [40:55]
C
So I have a wonderful maintenance staff led by a guy named Paul Jeffries. They take care of all that during the week. We're only open Wednesdays, Thursday nights and the weekend. So we have three days to maintain and keep our facility clean. The rifle range is open five days a week. Again, allowing them time to maintain, clean it. The volunteer and getting the staff to run the chutes, that is our biggest hurdle. And that is run by a girl named Erica King who works for me. And she's currently responsible for getting all the people to volunteer and score our trap shoots. I mean, that's a big deal to get those people. And being in the state with the highest minimum wage, it's a. It's a tough deal to pay people like that. So, you know, we have them volunteer, we're paying them. For those of you that don't know, Erica King is the California state pita handicap champion currently. She beat them all last year.
- [41:52]
B
Nice.
- [41:53]
A
Congratulations.
- [41:54]
B
She can shoot and work.
- [41:55]
C
She can shoot and work. So I'm very blessed to have a good crew around me. They take care of me. I have a great board that doesn't tie me down, lets me go the direction I want to go. Things are just running really good around here. I like a clean facility. I like, if you walk into our trap houses, they're spotless. There's not chips on the floor. We keep everything clean. I just like it to run smooth and good. You know, I don't like to have breakdowns during shoots. And we are prepared that if something like that happens, we have extra traps and we know what we're doing to get everything going. Still simple, simple things like having good mics that work all the time. You know, how important a trap machine that Throws a target on time. Very important. You got to have that trap machine. Jesse, cross correctly. Just throwing a good target in California is a big deal because it's not easy to do. You know, you're down at sea level, you're. You got high barometric pressure. You got a westerly wind all the time. It's a tough place to throw a target, which I think is why some of those, all Americans don't want to come out here. But we could talk about that later. That sea level target seems to scare them a little bit. But it's okay. At Livermore, we try to throw the best target for your best possible result.
- [43:11]
B
Hey, the. Really, I. I have shot in California at a few different clubs, probably the most targets at Martinez, California. And that's.
- [43:19]
C
I'm glad you brought Martinez up. Yeah. Because out of the three of us, out of the three of us at that firecracker 400, only one of us has 100 straight. You know who that is?
- [43:29]
B
Who's that?
- [43:30]
C
That's your boy sitting right there.
- [43:32]
B
Yeah, but he didn't play the dang money. So that. Don't you go to the Firecracker to win money. You don't go to break a hundred. Right.
- [43:40]
C
Got his picture on the wall. Got his picture.
- [43:42]
A
I did 100 straight.
- [43:43]
B
Hey, how many overalls have you won there, Zach?
- [43:46]
A
I've never won one. I never won one. Ricky.
- [43:49]
B
You, you, you.
- [43:51]
A
Hey, you got to give it to Ricky Marshall. Nobody can one up Ricky Marshall, and he'll make sure of it. So you can. If I got 100 from the 27, he's got overalls, you know, he's always got something.
- [44:02]
B
I. I was at a shoot and he breaks a hundred, and I get the phone call that he broke 100 Martinez. And I was like, dang, he made some money and I called him. He goes. The first thing out of his mouth,
- [44:14]
A
Brian, is I didn't play the perk well.
- [44:16]
B
And I go, you didn't play all the money well, like.
- [44:21]
A
Well, to give the listeners some knowledge here, I mean, Martinez is one of those places where if you break 125 on the weekend, you're good. You did good. You know, So I played the 25s. I played the. The regular 50s, the Lewis, the yardage. I played everything. But. But the perfect 50s. I'm like, I'm not playing the perfect 50s. You can't even. I mean, we're winning handicaps there with 89s, 91s, 92s, 93. You shoot a 94 in the handicap at Martinez, you beat everybody. You just won the whole thing. And when I got done with that hunter straight, I told Bobby Aruda's dad came up to me and said, how'd you shoot? And I said, I broke 100. And he laughed and he walked off. And then Bullard got done, and he told Rich Aruda, he says, Rich says, hey, how'd you shoot? Rich says, bullard says, I broke a 90. And he says, that Italian kid over there just beat you by 10. And Bullard says, what? And, you know, he couldn't, he couldn't believe it, but I couldn't believe it. And it was one of those things where I was focused and I, I, I shot them where they were not where they were supposed to be.
- [45:32]
B
When you shot that hunter, what traps did you shoot? Did you shoot over the bunker?
- [45:36]
A
I had one over the bunker. I had one over the bunker in between.
- [45:39]
B
Yeah.
- [45:40]
A
So the way they did the, the way they did that 4, 400 is even if you started all the way on the right, the banks weren't four continuous. You did a three trap slide.
- [45:49]
B
Yeah.
- [45:49]
A
So we, so you shot, you know, more two trap slider. So Martinez is one of those gun clubs where if you had all four traps together, there'd be some banks you'd get crushed and some banks that would be favorable. So they basically, they make you shoot across the whole gun club. So everybody gets a piece of it because, you know, and it's like shooting four gun. If you shot 100 birds there, you're shooting four separate gun clubs in that hundred. I mean, boom, boom, boom, boom.
- [46:18]
C
You got the backgrounds, but a lot of fun. Yeah, a lot of fun. Challenging.
- [46:23]
B
Oh, that club is, is crazy. And I remember the first time I shot there. Came up, Dave invited me, came out, shot. We shot the Easter Grand. It was called 400 Handicap. I walked out the first round, broke 25 straight. I was like, easy go. The next trap 19, Dave goes, welcome to Martinez. And I damn. Now, I won that overall, the easter grand, averaging 89 and a half. And I did break an 88 with the middle 50. Yeah, I mean, it's seven grand or something stupid.
- [46:58]
A
I was like, it's salty. It's salty. But when, when Brian talks about that, that target at that sea level with that pressure, it's no joke. And I mean, I, I, I firmly believe that my ability to go into the Midwest or my ability to go into other trap shoots in the country and compete, I completely lay that on the fact that my first gun clubs that I shot were Livermore Martinez, Metcalf, Sunnyvale. I mean, shooting the canyon in Sunnyvale is in the wind is one of the hardest things I've ever done, learning how to shoot doubles in the canyon. And what's cool about learning to shoot doubles at Sunnyvale is if there's wind in the canyon, when you go to that second bird, a lot of the time it's either getting thrown up or it's getting sucked down. And so you have to learn how to shoot doubles. That one bird's going to be at 11ft, and one bird's going to be at 4ft, and one bird's going to be at 20ft, and one bird's going T be at 6ft. I mean, and that is where I did most of my doubles practice. And to this, to this day, I think that's why I love doubles so much, because.
- [47:59]
B
Was it Sunnyvale, Zach?
- [48:01]
A
That's where you did most of it, Sunnyvale? I did a lot of doubles practice because at the time, they had one night a week where they threw doubles practice. It was 250 around or $5 for a round of 55 bucks. And so, yeah, you know, I go there with Jordan, I'd go for five bucks. For 10 bucks, you shoot 100 doubles.
- [48:19]
B
And.
- [48:20]
A
And I'd go there and probably shoot anywhere from two to 400 doubles a night with Bob Graves, with George Baral, with Tim Silvera, with. With Del or suo, with a bunch of guys from California. You know, Ferdy was always there. Edgar Bonilla was always there. I mean, just kind of like your group of guys that shot the doubles and, and loved it. And, And I, I thoroughly, thoroughly, thoroughly enjoyed it. But. But the target is different. So you haven't shot California. You need to get out there and try some of these clubs because they're completely different than what you're going to see in Missouri and Illinois and Nebraska and, you know, that kind of deal.
- [48:59]
B
Well, you're. I've shot them all and, and everybody's got their own little deal. And, you know, the. The C level target, I liked it. I mean, but the Midwest, the only difference is the Midwest, we get a lot more wind as far as stronger wind, you know. But, you know, every place, I always say, go shoot everywhere, you know, don't say, because someone said, oh, it's easier. It's hard. It's going to be easier. Hard for you. Just go, enjoy. Enjoy the gun club. And on that note, Brian is doing a new shoot coming up. He got involved with.
- [49:31]
C
Yes, sir.
- [49:32]
B
He'll talk to us a Little bit about. That's the multi state event that's going
- [49:36]
C
on twice a year, the Multi State Challenge. It was started by Billy Hobson and Lauren Mueller, who's now Lauren Dunn. And it began as the Texas Illinois Challenge. And then in 2024, it turned into the multi state shoot, a telephonic shoot. Kind of how we throw our Western Zone out here amongst all the different clubs. Typically it's about six clubs in the spring and 11 clubs in the fall. And it is a all American point shoot. So the nice part about this, we were just voted and approved to be in the spring shoot, which is great. As Californians, we don't have access to a multitude of all American point shoots. As opposed to you, Rick.
- [50:18]
A
You.
- [50:18]
C
You have huge access all around you to get to those shoots. We don't really have that. We got Kingsburg.
- [50:24]
B
You got airplanes out there. Come on, you got airplanes out there.
- [50:28]
C
There's airplanes. There's a wall at that Rocky Mountain, you know, it's hard to get over that. But anyway, seriously. So this brings another All American point shoot to California, which is going to be a big deal for us. It lets the whole Western Zone have access to another shoot. It's happening on April 17th, 18th and 19th. I was told by Ryan Castani, the Western Zone VP, to contact Steve Ricketts, the vice president of the Southwestern Zone. I called him, showed our interest, they voted us in and we're going to be the Western Zone side. I'm really excited to put it because like I said, it. It gives us access to another All American point shoot on the west coast. And we really need that because I don't know if you know, but California trap shoots, kind of a big deal. You can shoot almost every weekend in California Register shoot, except for about 11 days on the weekend. So that's a lot of traffic. A couple weeks ago, all the registered trap shoot. Remember that? It's a lot. You want to be a trap shooter in California? No problem. You can be it.
- [51:33]
B
So, yeah, there's a lot of different clubs.
- [51:35]
C
Oh, yeah. This shoot brings that. That big shoot amongst a bunch of clubs. It's going to add to the points. Hopefully our club will help in bumping the factor up a little more. And I'm really excited for it. I can't wait. So we got that the Golden west grand and the Pita State shoot. All right. In a row, bam, bam, bam. Within six.
- [51:56]
A
And that's wonderful. I think, you know, you make a great point, Brian, being in California. I was raised there and I Started my all American team journey in California. You know, Rick, I was at the Autumn grand and the Nevada State shoot and I was just really impressed with how I could see where my squad was when I was up. Just the technology, the ability to be able to see what options I've played if the events paid or not. I mean, what's your experience with, with the AT app?
- [52:21]
B
Listen, SOS Clay's app. It's the best thing out there, folks. You can see everything. It's great. You see your option payouts, you can see when you're up, you can see who's paid on your squad. Sometimes Zach doesn't pay on time, but
- [52:32]
A
it's, I get out there. But what I really think is, is for gun clubs, it's free. Call Greg, get a hold of him. He'll set you up, he'll get you running. Right. And if you pay the, the premium once a year you get free pre squatting in all the shoots. And that's the best value in trap shoot.
- [52:46]
B
Absolutely.
- [52:47]
A
Sosclays.com Rick, I really think that gunfit is probably the most important part of shooting big scores. Would you agree with that?
- [52:53]
B
Absolutely. I think Gunfit is the most important thing.
- [52:56]
A
I mean most of the top all Americans are shooting custom stocks. I know when I got my custom stock, my scores went up. I broke 100 straight in the 27 within seven days. I mean, I'm sure your experience has been similar.
- [53:07]
B
Yeah, I've been shooting a custom gun stock for 20 years. Winig. If you want to win championships, get a win of gun stock.
- [53:13]
A
Yeah, call Bobby, call Luke. I mean we got the stock whisperer over there. Bill, give them a shot. They're great and they know what they're doing.
- [53:19]
B
Absolutely. Winning.com. check them out.
- [53:22]
A
And at the time, all I had was the California state shoot every year. And then that Golden West Grand. And then basically, I mean, even if you say, okay, well I'm going to go shoot Oregon State shoot, people might say west California here, Oregon's right above it. It's, it's eight, nine hours to drive to or yes, it is. If you want to go to Nevada for the Nevada State shoot, it's six hours to get to that. So like, you know, here in Missouri I'm very spoiled because Missouri State shoot, I could shoot the US Opens an hour and a half away. Dale's at Stockdale's is five and a half hours away. I can get to Nebraska in five and a half, six hours. I can get to. I mean there's there's, you know, seven or eight. What are you driving?
- [54:05]
B
It's seven hours. It's, it's eight hours to my state shoot from you, buddy.
- [54:12]
A
This is where Ricky just butts in with information that's not necessary again. But we'll, we'll go.
- [54:17]
B
It is necessary because it is.
- [54:18]
A
All I'm saying. All, all I'm saying is there's a lot more opportunity in the Midwest to get to a lot of shoots. We're centrally located and as Californians they have to get on a plane like you said and to be able to add a level of another shoot for them to get some all American points. I think that's a valiant thing. And, and it's difficult to try to say, okay, I want to get into the points game if you're not going to get on a plane. I mean, the largest shoot that you guys have outside of California is going to be Tucson for the spring grand and that's what, 12 hours away from the Bay Area.
- [54:56]
C
Oh, easy, easy. 13. You got two at Tucson and you got, you know, Vernal, the western, the western satellite Grand. Those are the ones we have to go to if we really want to. You know, those are the closest ones to get to but.
- [55:09]
A
And Vernal's 14 hours.
- [55:12]
C
Yeah. Oh yeah. And we have some great shots in California that deserve to be able to, you know, put themselves on the map with these all American points. I mean on that second team you got Colton Tucker and Chayton Vega. They are battling it out for number one in California and that's a great thing to watch. They're so good. Chayton was in the singles championship with me. Colton's always in the handicap. Colton shot those great handicaps at the Grand American this past year. You know, just great shooters. We got Ethan Prescott Jr. Gold, another great shooter and little Alice Wiebe for Sub junior. You know, we have some all Americans that are really trying to be all Americans and there's some other people like myself but can't get out as much and need these point shoots to try to make those teams. You know, we, there's a lot of good shooters in California that want to make those teams just don't quite have the access because of logistics like we're talking about. So bringing this multi state challenges is huge for us. It's big for California. It allows them to get to that, try to get to that next level. And even though it's a telephonic shoot, it's nationwide. How awesome is that to shoot a Point shoot. That's going to be nationwide. You're competing against everybody. You're, you know, every club's going to throw a great target. It's just going to be a great time. I'm so looking forward to it. And then the Golden west grand right after that. Just can't wait. Just going to be a great time.
- [56:37]
B
So on the, on the Multi state challenge and you're shooting Friday, Saturday, Sunday.
- [56:42]
C
Are you sure you're going to shoot 300 on Friday? Singles cap, double. Now this is what I, the way I understand it, singles cap, doubles on Friday. Friday you're going to shoot the singles championship on Saturday, followed by another handicap. And then you're going to shoot the doubles championship and the handicap championship.
- [57:03]
B
Yeah. 800 targets in, in three days of shooting, which will add another, you know, point shoot to you. So that, that's awesome.
- [57:11]
A
That'll.
- [57:11]
B
That'll be great for the state of California.
- [57:13]
C
Yeah. And great for shooting. I mean, it's.
- [57:16]
B
Yeah, no, absolutely.
- [57:18]
A
Is there, is there anything else, Brian, that you want to highlight as the manager or as a shooter for Livermore? Is there any other exciting stuff that we missed today that we didn't get a chance to talk about?
- [57:29]
B
Just that.
- [57:29]
C
I mean, California trap shooting is so much fun. There's so many places you can do it. There's so many. There's a lot of clubs from top to bottom in California that are involved. There's some separation between the north and south, but Kingsburg does a really good job of tying us all together. The cgsta, our state organization, they do a wonderful job for us on the ATA side. The CSTA does a wonderful job for us on the PITA side. I mean, if you want to be a trap shooter in California, you can do it. You literally can shoot with. If you count club shoots. All the register shoots all the leagues. You could, you could. You're almost shooting every weekend, except for about six in the winter. I mean, if you want to be.
- [58:13]
B
And that's crazy, honestly.
- [58:14]
C
Yeah. You want to be a trap shooter in California, you can.
- [58:18]
A
Here's a question I have for you, Brian, for the people that are listening to this show today that want to come to any of your shoots in the gold most grand and they want to fly out because they're from the Midwest. You know, what's the amenities like in Livermore? And do you guys have shells on the grounds for people that are traveling from out of state?
- [58:36]
C
We will. Winchester does a great job with our shells through Excel shooting, we are going to have plenty of shells. No problem. All Winchester shells, light eights, 1200, seven and a half. The 1250s. If you like the big bangers. There'll be plenty of shells for everybody. You can fly into Oakland, San Francisco, whatever's easiest for you. I tell you, Oakland's the easiest. You're in and out of there easy. Plenty of hotels, plenty of restaurants. We'll feed you. You know, come out, have a great time. We'll take care, you know, give me a call personally. You can call the club. You can always get me. If you have any questions about California trap shooting in general, you can call me. I'm happy to answer all that. We just. We love it out here. You guys are missing out every time you don't come out. I'm telling you, you need to come out for these shoes. Get that far.
- [59:25]
B
It is a lot, you know, but it is airplane.
- [59:27]
A
So, yeah, it's. It's. It's a great time. Like I said, I've been. In the last six years, I've probably been three times. So pretty much every other year I've made a trip out there and really enjoyed when I come and, you know, get to shoot with the squad of guys and. And just relive that California nostalgia of that shoot. But for the people that don't know, I mean, a lot of people, when we go to a shoot like Stockdale's in Iowa, it's like, okay, you know, you get your.
- [59:52]
B
Your.
- [59:53]
A
Your hotel over here or you stay on the grounds, and there's not a lot of amenities. And I think a lot of the shoots in the Midwest, they're in these, you know, smaller towns where amenities aren't always, you know, plush. But when you start getting to the west coast, like Las Vegas or Tucson or Livermore, right, Like Livermore, California is a huge place. There's, you know, hundreds of hotels, restaurants, things to do. There's a lot of sites to see. I mean, this would be a good place where you could bring the family out and you can get a lot of vacation time. If you made it a long week, you could swing up to Napa and hit up wine country and check that out. You could hit San Francisco, golden gate bridge. So if you're going to make a family trip and say, okay, I want to do, you know, three or four days at the trap shoot, But I got to sell the family on the idea that we're doing a family vacation. You know, take the whole week, hit up San Francisco, hit up the sequoias, hit up, you know, Santa Cruz Beach. Boardwalk or, or you know, the redwoods. Any of the stuff that's, that's famous in that area, you're. You're within an hour, hour and a half tops of the gun club. You can be in all those, all those zones.
- [61:01]
B
Well, you got Tracy right next door to that has tons of hotels and I mean there's a ton of stuff. I was just out there and there is, there's a lot of stuff to.
- [61:11]
C
Zach, bring the golf clubs. Lots of golf. There's wineries in Livermore. You don't have to stray too far Livermore to have a good time at this shoot.
- [61:20]
B
Hey, there is some good liquor stores there too. So if you don't like wine like me. I don't like wine.
- [61:25]
C
I like bourbon.
- [61:26]
B
So there is some, there is some good for that Norcal liquor store. They. They hooked me up and they're, you know, great people out in that area.
- [61:33]
A
They really are. I mean these are, these are good American hard working. A lot of them are farmers. A lot of them come from old family town in Livermore. I mean you get that old, you know, country feel like that. Livermore and Gilroy are like my two favorite places in California because it's like, it's not like California that you would traditionally think of California. When you think of California it's like, oh, this is a little slowed down. This is like, you know, more Midwest vibes. Like people open the door for each other and they're a little nicer.
- [62:03]
B
And.
- [62:03]
A
And so I think that, that that zone is a. Is a unique experience when you're going to California. And I really, really can't urge people to put it on their list of things to do whether this year or next year or whatever. But you know, Bryant, we appreciate having you on the show. We appreciate you supporting us supporting Trap talk, supporting. You know, whenever we come down to, to teach or to talk, you've always got a place for us. You've always got a hot tri tip sandwich, which I look forward to. So. So thank you for everything that you do for, for trap shooting and for trap talk.
- [62:37]
B
Absolutely.
- [62:38]
A
And for all the listeners today. Mark your calendars, head on out to Livermore, California. Check out one of their shoots. Whether it's the multi state shooting, the golden west grand or the pita state shoot. I think you're not going to regret any of them. I'm definitely going to put the PI the gold west grant on my calendar this year and really try to make it out there if I've got some availability. So thanks for tuning in.
- [63:01]
C
We're expecting you.
- [63:03]
A
I know, I know. You always are. Dave Kelly told me. I've got a spot on his. On his bus couch that I could stand if I. If I need to. So we've always got a spot. Spot. The good news is it's only 45 minutes from my original house in California. So usually, I mean, I can just drive back and forth every day. It makes it pretty easy. And it's.
- [63:22]
B
You could. Your dad will charge you rent if you come out. It's okay.
- [63:24]
A
It's easy. It's. It's little rent. All I gotta do is cover his shells, cover his targets. He's like, we're good. We made it. So. So thanks for everyone for listening, like, share, subscribe, wear your trap Talk merch proud and we will see you next Friday.
- [63:41]
B
Good luck, everyone.
- [63:42]
C
Thank you.