Friday, July 24, 2009

Before I go into todays news, I would like to make a small correction. In my last blog posting I mentioned that Friday would be the first time I would be shooting on behalf of USA. That was incorrect as I was on the newly formed team that won the gold medal against the European Team in Lodi, Wisconsin, in October, 2008. The level of competition here in Bisley is very different as the best F-Class shooters in the World have gathered here for the World championship that starts next week.

Okay, Friday. Huge day today with back to back matches. Here was the sequence:

8:00 am Int. Team match, 900 yards
9:05 am, Int. Team match, 1000 yards
10:15 am, St Georges Final, 900 yards
11:15 am, Queens 2 Final, 900 yards
12:15 am, Queens 2 Final, 1000 yards.

We got to Stickledown range at 7:30 am and got ready for the big Team match. Jeff Cochran made the comment that the shooters were the only ones concerned the previous night, Thursday night, while the other team members were out having drinks at a few clubs on campus and had no worries for the next day. Traylor was fast asleep by 9:30 pm, Taiter was in some form of zen and I had returned from London and got to bed at 10:30 pm. Of course, Jim Murphy was his usual self – cool as a cucumber.

We were set on target 23 and 24 at 900 yards. I was on the left on target 23, Coach Mead sitting on the ground next to me with his scope and Taiter on his right. Then on target 24 Traylor, Coach Mid Tompkins and Murphy on his right. Mid was in a chair with his scope handy. Cochran was pacing back and forth behind us making sure that no one fired out of turn or did anything stupid. His job was also to clear our guns after we were done shooting. 

An initial wind correction was made for the conditions on my gun and Traylors gun. The firing began with myself and Traylor firing almost at the same time. My first shot was wide. Coach Mead made a second correction on my gun and Mid on Traylors gun and we were off gunning. With several minutes left on the windage on the gun, Bob Mead was asking me to hold anywhere from center to left 4, and also over to the right side when the wind let up. I did not lose any to verticals and ended up with 73 and 7 Vs. I really was not paying attention to my score or how many shots fired. My job was to release the shot perfectly and aim exactly where coach Mead told me to aim. Taiter was up next and he gunned down 74 with 8 Vs. Very nice!

Doc Bock was our score checker and the English had sent over a scorer to score our team. There was another scorer on Mids target and Nancy was the checker there. Then we moved to the 1000 yard line and were up on the second shelf of Stickledown. There are three shelves on Stickledown and the farther up you are the more windage you require on the gun. The wind effect is magnified and unexplained stuff happens. We were not happy with our shooting, but again had no idea what was happening to the other teams. They announced the winners right after the 1000 yard match. And………………………………………………………………………..WE WON! Whoooohoooo.

The team results:

Gold – USA F- Class Open Rifle Team with 569.37
Silver – GB, 557.34
Bronze – S. Africa, 550.25

4. Ireland, 555.25
5. Scotland, 537.26
6. Netherlands, 533.22

Germany, 516.27
USA F-T/R, 512.19
Wales, 514.16
Ireland A/S, 505.18
Canada F-T/R, 487.09

Individual points for US shooters. Remember, this does not mean much because a shooter could be asked to sacrifice a shot for the benefit of the rest of shooters. I was asked to take such a shot and it landed in the 5 ring. That would be our 10 ring in USA. That way the coaches know what the wind is doing or if what they are reading is correct.

Traylor 143.09
Murphy 141.07
Shiraz, 142.10
Taite, 143.11

Then it was the St Georges 900 yard finals. There were 26 shooters that had qualified to shoot in the final of which 9 were US Team members. In no particular order:

Capt Bock, 
Nancy Tompkins,
No-hubcap-Dean
Mid
Jeff Cochran
Downey
Murphy,
Traylor
Shiraz.

Conditions were not bad, about 7 to 12 mph winds with angle changes that needed to be watched. Only 3 shooters get medals. Our members did wel taking second and third place. The winners:

Gold – Adam Brough, GB, 81
Silver – Jim Murphy, USA, 79
Bronze – Shiraz (thank you very much) USA, 78

4. Jeff Cochran, USA 77
5. Mike Downey, USA, 77
6. MP Plug, Netherlands, 77
7. Jeff Traylor, USA, 77
8. JO Wright, GB, 76
9. D. Kent, GB, 76
10. H. Kruger, Germany, 75

Off to Queens finals at 900 yards and then on to 1000 yards. The wind had picked up much at 1000 yards, but not quite as bad as Conan the Barbarian. There were 21 total shooters who qualified to shoot in the Queens 2 finals, and 6 were from USA. Not a bad percentage. The US shooters that qualified, in no particular order;

Bob Mead
Nancy 
David Gosnell
Larry Taite
Shiraz
Murphy

Again, top 3 get the medals and the rest are treated like yesterdays garbage. Does not stink, but still garbage!

Gold – David Kent, GB, 155
Silver – JM De Kort, Netherlands, 152
Bronze – Coach Mead, USA, 151.

Other Queens 2 placings:

4. Jim Murphy, USA, 151
5. Shiraz, USA, 150
6. D. Brough, GB, 150
7. Wolfgang Scolze, Germany, 147
8. Taiter, USA, 146
9. M. Been, Netherlands, 144
10. F. De Castro, France, 143.

Today is Saturday and most of the guys have gone London as it is our day off from shooting. I have other stories to tell, but want to get this long report off. Until the next time…….