As the ranges dry up and access improves, it's hard to spend a nice day working around the yard but there are things more important than shooting. The "Honey-do" list for the yard has high priority this time of year as I clean up the broken trees and winter mess. I'm still recovering from what has been my longest experience with the flu and the warm sun is restoring my strength and endurance.
It's going to be a great summer of Fullbore target rifle shooting! The rifle I put together last year on the Eliseo stock has been upgraded with a new wood grip for my trigger hand and initial impressions are positive, the 2156 Sierra bullets fly well and I've got lots of them on hand.
Unfortunately due to limited vacation time I had to withdraw from the Canadian team to Bisley. This is the first time that I qualified for the team despite coming close a few times years ago. I believe that Bisley is likely the Mecca of Target Rifle shooting and I certainly hope to qualify for the team again when I can make the three week commitment in July to represent Canada at the Imperial championship.
My withdrawal from the Bisley team has opened up the opportunity to shoot the Individual World
Long Range Championship held just before the the International Palma Team Match. This world championship is held every four years in different location around the Globe. This year it will be held at Camp Perry in Ohio. The last time was in Australia and the 2019 match will be held in New Zealand. I'm fortunate that the dates this year line up well with my vacation availability in August and I will be able to compete there and drive directly to Ottawa and compete in our National Championships. Three weeks of shooting broken only by a couple long drives will be exciting, challenging, tiring, and expensive but that is the addiction that I share with a select few people world wide that are also long range competitive Target Rifle shooters. They come from all walks of life and share a common passion that transcends everything else. The self confidence, pride, and respect demonstrated by these people is uplifting and inspirational.
I don't live in a fancy house, drive a fancy car or have a powerfully influential job but I think I'm one of the luckiest people alive to be married to a woman who accepts and encourages my addiction so that I've been able to come back to the sport that continues to challenge and engage me.
In order to help promote all types of shooting and try to bring unity and cooperation to our provincial shooting community, I've spent many hours working for the RNBRA in the last couple years. Thanks to the commitment and support I've received from many members I'm proud of what we have accomplished. The RNBRA must adapt to the changing dynamic within our provincial shooting community or become ineffective in its purpose and goals. Late last year, I communicated to all the gun clubs to ask if they were interested in committing to meeting with the RNBRA to discuss ways we might better serve and help the clubs in the province. The overall response was limited, and somewhat disappointing, given my personal passion for shooting sports.
This limited response has led this Shooting Bum to accept a couple facts. Most firearms enthusiasts enjoy shooting as a hobby not a sport and most do not understand shooting as a sport. I could ramble, (and often do), to firearms enthusiasts about the great benefit of participating in shooting sports - for hours, but in the end, unless they are personally driven by a desire to excel, they cannot understand and prefer to go to their club range and do a little shooting while talking about the hockey playoffs or some "real" sport. I fully understand how they feel as my eyes generally glaze over when I hear people talking about many sports. My point is that shooting sports are about personal excellence and personal commitment and should be recognized by all firearms enthusiasts, because if the sport recognition dies then the hobby will soon follow as it will be deemed unsafe for the public good.
It must be difficult to understand the idea of strength in numbers and support and promotion for all shooting sports collectively. This idea has been the primary reason the RNBRA has lent it's 149 years of experience and commitment to try to organize the NB shooting community. For some reason many people in our provincial shooting community prefer to not support and promote the RNBRA as the provincial umbrella organization. I believe the cause to be a combination of apathy, procrastination, ignorance or lack of trust. All the real shooters that I know are good intelligent people, as are most of the firearms enthusiasts that I know, so I'm at a bit of a loss to understand why the voting membership in the RNBRA does not number in the thousands. It's cheap, it gives you NFA insurance and you can participate in growing shooting sports in NB.
Anyway, that is the end of my ramble but I'm going to include below a description of a lifetime involvement in DCRA postal matches and how things have evolved over the years.
Thanks to Al Mutch, a lifelong competitive shooter and a friend, for providing the below as it illustrates how competitive shooting is a lifelong sport.
GOOD SHOOTING
Michael Lutes
From Al Mutch:
Some history on the DCRA Winter Matches.
When I started shooting in the late 40's I used to hear older shooters talking about DCRA postal matches in the 1930's but I have no idea when they started.
I started shooting Winter DCRA matches as a cadet in grade school in Charlottetown in 1947. I loved those competitions and they got me involved in a lifetime of shooting activity. I joined the Reserve Army in 1951 and from about 1954 to 1961 I ran the small arms training for my unit. We had an active winter training program and the DCRA matches were a part. I had more fun with those matches than with anything I’ve ever done in shooting before or since.
The DCRA used to conduct three winter competitions each year. They would mail us three sets of targets to be completed. One set came for January, one for February and one for March. The teams were for five shooters with the best four targets counting. Each person shot one target per match. The primary interest of those competitions was to identify the best military teams in the country. However, DCRA used to issue individual badges for the different classes such as Sharpshooter, Marksman, Expert and Master. Many military units in Canada, both regular and reserve, in the three services participated. Our unit had a lot of competitive interest and we used to do quite well in the national competitions.
We shot the #7 rifles with the issue rear sight and we used military issue .22 ammunition. Our range was 25 yards as were most of the other military ranges across the country. The targets had “Tin Hat” aiming marks. PCMRA use them today for #7 Rifle competitions.
When I moved to NS in 1966 I got our AVSSC club involved in the DCRA matches. We initially shot in the High School in Wolfville which had a very nice range. We later moved to the present AVSSC clubhouse when it was built.
The matches were structured more or less like the ones we shoot now although DCRA used to send targets rather than stickers. There were more individual matches than there are now probably because they had more interest. For example, there were a number of disciplines such as a three position match which have since been discontinued. By the late 60's most of us were using match rifles and “boughton” ammo in the competitions. We used the best rifles and ammo we could afford or find. Ranges by this time were often civilian, and usually 20 yards such as the ranges at AVSSC and PCMRA.
The scoring method was the same as it is now. The clubs did a preliminary scoring and sent the targets to DCRA. The final scoring was done by DCRA. I always scored the shot targets I had anything to do with “ by giving the competitor the benefit of the doubt.” All the other teams and units I knew of did as well. We were (and are) not allowed to insert a gauge in a shot hole. (In fact, it is easy for a DCRA scorer to see if a shot hole has been probed with a plug gauge.) When you think about it, you do not want to know if the shot is in or out since you can’t do the official scoring anyway. We always made DCRA mark our targets down, and we still do.
No comments:
Post a Comment