SPORTSKIET

HANDGUN & MULTIDISCIPLINE SHOOTING

Hein Aylward

SPORT SHOOTING COMMITTEE, HANDGUN SHOOTING, MULTIDISCIPLINE

Every article in any newspaper and magazine lately is about how bad 2020 has turned out and how this pandemic has influenced our social, business and political outlooks. It also had a major effect on our sport shooting and hunting families. In the previous edition I indicated to interview some of our shooters after matches and comment on their equipment. Now that the restrictions have eased I will get back to that project.

For some of us this lockdown was a time for reflection, loading match ammo, cleaning brass, cleaning our guns, researching some literature on new firearm calibres and, dry firing. Yes, I would like to know who of you actually did some dry firing in this period, either with your handgun, shotgun or rifle. I’m on a couple of shooting whatts-app groups and a friend of mine was posting videos of his handgun dry firing sessions. Working on his grip, draw and indexing technique. Over and over. It was actually entertaining to watch. It

Handgun shoot at Bellville Pistol Club on 8 August 2020. Members shot the Tyro classifier on timed turning targets. actually brought back memories in the days when I was shooting serious WP-league and attended all national championships. I would dry fire on a Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Live fire practice on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Saturdays would be club matches or leagues. Playing squash was also the best side sport to do, working on reflexes, moving quickly to new positions, and react quick. Sundays would be my rest day. To be familiar with your equipment you need to handle and practice safely with it. When it comes to match day, it is important not to discover that the sitting standing or prone

The Sporting range at Falsebay was of a good and challenging standard and well organised.

position is unfamiliar. Worse still is to try to figure out your grip and shooting stance on match day. Bad idea. On the other hand, shooting sports was a supplement to my Police career and the specialized working conditions that I operated in. Sport shooting assisted me to be a safer firearms owner, operator and trainer. What I did in this lockdown period was to arrange my equipment per calibre and clean all my equipment. I went so far as to prepare my match bags for match days which you should do at least a day or two before the shooting event. I did barrel checking, stripping the pistol and dropping the round into the barrel to check if it is flush and chambers smoothly. Captain Jacques Buckle, my shooting partner in the Police team always said, nothing beats reliability. That is a true story. You can be the best marksman, but if your equipment and ammo fails, it is all useless. A lot of planning went into the preparation of sport shooting during this period of lockdown. There were also, as you were aware, a lot of stop and goes in the hunting arena. One moment we can go and the next moment we can’t go or there are ridiculous directives. As far as the sport shooting committee is concerned, we have Louwtjie Hanekom, Ludy Starke and Llewelyn Loxton that will manage the portfolio. Each of us have a specialized set of skills to make this team a dynamic team that will be to the benefit of Kaapjag. The Sport Shooting committee is there to support all sport shooting activities and to build and develop it. When you serve on this committee, your discipline speciality hat come off.

Sport shooting has also become a marketing strategy for Kaapjag as it won’t only survive or expand on hunting alone. Other sport shooting associations are examples of that. The Covid readiness plan were submitted to Kaapjag management for implementation on 15 July 2020. As indicated in the plan, sports are open with obvious restrictions in place. We have commenced with handgun training matches and rifle events. We have proposed Valley Gun Club and False Bay Sport Shooting Clubs to be venues for Sporting Shotgun. Please keep an eye on email notifications. Our first handgun training session took place on Saturday 8 August 2020 at Bellville Pistol Club (BPC). It involved a Tyro and an NRA Practical event. As indicated previously, BPC has become the official home for our NRA handgun events. We will also be getting involved with their NPA events. I went to visit False Bay club on Saturday 15 August 2020 to represent Kaapjag at a handgun match. Clays were on the go and the ranges in full operations. Compliance officers were keeping an eye on things and all areas were safe in operation with protocols in place. If we all do our bit, we can carry on and enjoy our shooting passion.

Be safe and be healthy. Hein Aylward