Review: Air Targets “Match Duel” air rifle shooting game

Dave Barham reveals a fun new shooting game from Air Targets – the Match Duel. It’s not as easy as it looks…

SIMPLE DESIGN
When this new target shooting game from www.airtargets.co.uk dropped through my letterbox, I was quite pleasantly surprised. It’s not often you come across something new and interesting to shoot as far as targets are concerned, but this new game offers loads of possibilities.

It’s basically a heavy, solid steel base (31x5x2.5cm), with 15 holes machined into it to accommodate matchsticks, comprising eight holes at the back and seven at the front.

GREAT FUN
The beauty of this target is that you can either shoot it by yourself, or have a fun competition with someone else. Luckily for me, this new game arrived the day before I was due to have both of my girls over for the weekend, so as soon as they arrived I informed them that we were going to spend an hour or two in the back garden trying it out.

First up was Holly (age 10) who chose purple as her favourite colour, whilst I opted for orange, with a red matchstick as the ‘decider’. With four of each colour on the front row and three of each colour on the back row there’s a hole in the middle of the back row to place a different colour matchstick.

We decided to take it in turns shooting at each matchstick, trying to cut them in half, before taking out the final red match. It wasn’t as easy as it looked, and I eventually managed to shoot all of my matches before shooting the red one.

Then it was Mia’s turn (age 13) who had been watching and heckling her sister all the way through. She decided that rather than take it in turns, we should have a free for all ‘speed shoot’ and just shoot away at our respective matches (red and yellow this time, with a purple decider) until one of us won. That was fine by me, and as we both settled down Mia shouted “Go” before I’d even put the mag’ into my rifle!

Needless to say Mia whooped my butt – she’s extremely competitive and a very good shot, to boot. I called for a rematch, and swiftly got my revenge though.

GREAT VALUE
We spent a good hour in the garden, speed shooting these matches, before rain stopped play, and it was a real buzz. I’d definitely recommend it, and with a RRP of just £19.95 including a bag of 500 coloured matchsticks, it’s great value for money. You can even buy bags of 500 replacement matchsticks for just £3.99!

Once the kids had gone back to their Mum’s, I broke out a box of old faithful Swan Vesta red tops (which I still have a good supply of), and proceeded to revisit my youth by trying to skim the pellets off the top of them to light them – all I can say is, much more practice is required!

If you fancy grabbing this new target game for yourself, or any other of the massive range of quality card targets on offer, then head over to: www.airtargets.co.uk