SPORTSKIET

from Die Bontebok Desember 2021

by Die Bontebok

WESKUSJAG-TAK

DIE BONTEBOK

HANDGUN & MULTIDISCIPLINE SPORTSHOOTING

Ludy Starke

The Confederation of hunting associations of South Africa is forty years old this year. It has grown from strength to strength over the years and with the pressure on hunting and firearm ownership in general, has become one of the most active organizations in protecting and promoting responsible firearm ownership and hunting rights. With the growth of the organization, at present having more than 30 member associations, it is natural that in the off season, hunters have been looking for shooting activities to keep their skills sharp and to practice new skills. CHASA offers a dedicated hunter course that incorporates a shooting test, but this was not enough for the members and over time CHASA developed a string of Sport shooting activities. Initially, the focus was on hunting rifles and simulated hunting shoots where competitors competed against each other and the clock at life sized animal targets. These events became so popular that they were expanded to include .22 long rifle shoots along similar principals. Many hunters who engage in antelope hunting are also keen wing shooters and over time a shotgun shoot was introduced. Likewise, when William Smale took over the reigns of the Sport Shooting Committee leader,

CHASA MULTIDISCIPLINE SHOOT ON 25 SEPTEMBER 2021, BLOEMFONTEIN

being a keen handgun shooter as well as a hunter, he introduced a series of handgun shoots. Initially these were based on the NRA handgun events but over time were tweaked and modified until they suited our local shooters and local shooting environment. The handgun shoots still follow fairly closely traditional NRA events.

As with all organizations with different member associations forming the body, there is stiff competition between clubs and individuals. CHASA introduced a national ranking system where shooters from anywhere in the country can take part in standardized shoots and submit their scores to CHASA to be ranked against fellow shooters. The top ranked shooters each year are awarded medals and certificates from CHASA. Along with the ranking system, CHASA introduced an annual shooting competition where each organization would send a team of their top shooters to compete against the top shooters from the other regions. With this the inter-association shoot was born and grew in popularity each year. This year, CHASA chose to hold a multi-discipline shoot. The shoot would comprise of three events and the total score for the team over the three events would then count for rankings. Since there is such a wide variety of events under the CHASA sport shooting banner, it was decided that each year the events included in the multi-discipline shoot would be rotated so that over a five year period all events would be covered. 2021 events were: 22 long rifle Standard range shoot 25 clay sporting range 25 plate handgun shoot The 22 long rifle event consists of four ranges, each with their own unique challenges. Range one is shot from the prone position with either a bipod or standard block as a support and the target, an Egyptian goose, is placed 70 m away. While that does not seem far, the scoring zone on the goose is incredibly small and the 22 lr round is extremely wind sensitive, so this is a challenging shoot. The next range is the sitting range. Here shooters engage a porcupine target at 40m from the sitting unsupported position. 90 seconds are allowed for this shoot. I find this is the most difficult of the four ranges. After the porcupine, shooters move to the standing range where they engage a dassie target shooting freehand and having to make all the shots within 45 seconds, here it is fast and furious and anything that goes wrong can really upend a shooter. The final range for the 22 long rifle is the gong range. Here shooters again shoot from the prone position with front support. The gongs are 100mm diamond shaped plates and are at distances of 50, 60, 75, 65 and 75m. The diamond gong is a deceptive little creature as it looks nice and big but get your elevation a little off and it suddenly becomes very small. Throw in a bit of wind and it is frustratingly easy to miss them.

Sporting clays

The sporting range was set up for 25 “birds” per shooter. The range was set to have crossing birds from both left and right, an incoming bird and a diagonally going away bird. While it looked easy, in amongst the mix of birds was always one that a shotgunner would find difficult. The sequence of shooting was that a competitor would shoot 3 single

DIE BONTEBOK

HANDGUN & MULTIDISCIPLINE SPORTSHOOTING

Die vol span: Wesley White, Greg Sykes, Ludy Starck, Johan van Niekerk en Jaques Buckle

birds, then a pair of birds with the second of the pair being released on the rapport of the first shot. This means you shoot your first bird and as your shot goes off the second bird is set off. This format adds some excitement as you have to recover from your first shot, find the next bird and chase it before it gets too far away.

Handgun falling plates.

The handgun range consists of a rack of 6 x 200mm gongs. They are built in such a way that if hit correctly they fall over backwards, but if nicked will stubbornly refuse to go down. The shooter starts 10 yards away from the rack and the range officer sets him off with a timer. The commands are very similar to an IPSC event. The first rack has an allowed time of 6 seconds for the shooter to move from the hands surrender position, draw the firearm, disengage the safety ( if fitted) and shoot one shot at each plate. Each plate carries a score of 25 points, but if a shooter exceeds the allotted time, he is punished with a 25 point reduction. After completing the first rack, the shooter moves back to 15 yards. Here the procedure is repeated, but with 7 seconds allowed. The shoot is repeated twice more, once from 20 yards and once from 25 yards. The total number of plates engaged is 24 .

Back to the competition, as a member of Cape Hunt, the largest single organization under the CHASA banner, it was an honour to be selected to be in the team. Ludy Starke who heads up the Sport Shooting Committee for Cape Hunt had the difficult task of evaluation our competitors in order to select the teams. As it is a competition comprising the 3 shoots, it is a fine balancing act of selecting a shooter who is good in all three aspects of the shoot. I think Ludy lost many a night’s sleep trying to figure out who would make up the best team. The final team selection comprised: Ludy Starke- team captain, Greg Sykes, Wesley White and Jacques Buckle All four of us are strong shooters with the 22 rifle. Ludy and Jacques are old IPSC shooters and are both masters of the handgun, while myself and Wesley can carry our own with a handgun but are not expert class. The shotgun was the concerning event as none of us are really good with a scatter gun, but we figured if we did well enough in the other two events we could maybe scratch a place. As the Friday before the event was a public holiday, CHASA decided to hold a “Vlakteskiet” as a curtain raiser to the main event. Here too Cape Hunt entered a team, only this time Jacques stood back to allow JC Van Niekerk, a top shooter in the rifle, to take part in the shoot. The competition was held in Bloemfontein. Arriving early Friday morning on the range, we were met by the friendly range officers of the Freestate hunters.

A quick briefing by Lois the competition organiser, the Vlakteskiet was on the go. The Vlakteskiet is basically a veldt shoot, but hosted on a shooting range where life size animal targets and gongs are engaged from various positions all under time pressure. The Vlakteskiet was not the main event of the weekend, but after a long, hot and dusty day the results were in and the Cape Hunt team had finished in 5th place, quite disappointing as we felt that we had posted a strong team. Congratulations must go the Freestate A team who took the first place in the Vlakteskiet. The next morning had us up early and again on the range, this time checking the 22 rifles out. Our team started out shooting with the 22 rifle on the Egyptian goose target. With the wind just starting its daily routine of blowing first from the East, then swinging around and picking up speed as it later blew from the

HANDGUN & MULTIDISCIPLINE SPORTSHOOTING

West. Conditions were a bit tricky. With all four of us prone, I took the first shot to serve as a sighter. I landed nicely in the 30 zone but with a little too much wind on the gun, I made a quick adjustment and sent the next four shots down range. While by far not the best team on the shotgun we had posted a really good score and more importantly we had really enjoyed the shoot.

After a quick shower we all dressed up in our fancy clothes for the evening function at Summerwood Country Estate. After dinner it was down to the prize giving and we were all eagerly awaiting the results. Third place overall was Bushveld Hunters, second place went to Border Hunters A team. It was now down to first place. Either we had dropped the ball somewhere and were not in the first three or we had done well and had taken the overall first place. The tension was high as William Smale took his time in making the final announcement. ‘And the first place goes to Cape Hunt Team’. I could not believe it. We had done it! After a disaster the previous day, we had managed to pull it together, work as a team and put down a really good series of shoots. What an honour to be able to represent our hunting organization and to return such a super result. We were ecstatic. Our final scores reflected an outright win in the 22 rifle, a second place in the handgun and a third place in the shotgun. Once combined, we were over 500 hundred points ahead of the next team.

Our thanks go out to William Smale and his team from CHASA for all of the work that they did in getting this shoot arranged. Thanks to Louis and his team of dedicated shooters from the Freestate hunters who put in the weeks of work to make the event such a success.

Thanks to Cape Hunt for giving us the opportunity to represent the organization. It is truly an honour to belong to Cape Hunt. Wenners met trofee: Jaques Buckle, Wesley White, Greg Sykes en Ludy Starck (Span Kaptein)

Skut in die sit-skiet posisie met 3-poot vir ‘n rus

HANDGUN & MULTIDISCIPLINE SPORTSHOOTING

Chasa Handwapen en Baanskiet gehou te Rustenburg

Op Vrydag 22 Oktober 2021 het Chasa sy handwapen skiet aangebied by Waterval, 30 km vanaf Rustenburg. Chasa lede verenigings van regoor Suid Afrika het kom deelneem met heelwat spanne wat ingeskryf het.

Die kompetisie het bestaan uit ‘n bewegende papier teiken wat 6 keer geskiet moes word in ‘n beperkte tyd. Daar is van verskillende afstande op die teiken geskiet. Dan was daar die “falling plates”waar 6 plate wat op ‘n rak gemonteer is geskiet moes word, ook teen beperkte tyd vanaf verskillende afstande. Daar was ook ‘ standaard en “barracked” shoot gewees wat soos die afstand groter geword het beslis moeiliker geword het. Kaapjag se span het hulle goed van hul taak gekwyt en 4 goue, 4 silwer en 3 brons medaljes gewen in die verskillende dissiplienes. Daar was op die 23 Oktober, Saterdag ‘n Chasa baanskiet en die Kaapjag span het vierde gekom. Wesley White is na afloop van die kompetisie opgeneem in Chasa se amptelike skietspan. skuts wag hulle beurt af om deel te neem aan dag se kompetisie