The Christchurch Pistol Club held a match over the first weekend in May but, as this was also opening day for the duck hunters, there were a few names missing.
Christchurch Club has been around a while and again put on a very good shoot, which ran to time and made us think, which to be fair isn’t my strong point. As I compete in the Open Division, which in short means I can add almost anything to my pistol I think will make me go faster, this leads to some very flash looking pistols, so again less thinking on my part.
This match I think the organizers were mucking with us Open shooters as they had also put two revolver shooters in with us. This is a bit like having a Toyota Corolla SW in a Formula 1 car race; yes, they finished but damn the times! They were not in the same race, in fact they barely finished in the same weekend.
Brain fades were common as a lot of the courses of fire could be competed in several ways, with the smart positioning of penalty targets, which caught more than a few.
One of my not so good runs meant I hit all bar one and Johan, the Range Officer was laughing by the time I finished. Pushing too hard was costly and the penalties and misses adding up for some by the end. All in all, most had good and bad stages and the cheek being given to each other in my squad proved that, while we are all there to do our best, having a good time was also very important. Face it, if you are not having a good time, why would you bother.
One stage had a fast-sliding target cut in half with a penalty target with it, so the misses and penalties sure added up for some poor souls. There was a lot of the small targets used, these add a real spin to a course as while they may not be far out the scoring zones are halfsize. This means you need to give them more respect but go too slow and your times blow out, so thinking about speeds and risks is very important. I only missed the big easy targets this trip, not great, just the way it went.
My thanks to all those that helped with so much of the set-up, so much is done before we get to compete. Special note to those in charge of the meals, they were great and a challenge for the North Island because they are being well outclassed.
