The Road to the World Championships
I started shooting in November 2009, and competitively early in 2010. By the end of 2010, I’d achieved a lot in my new sport, by discovering a hidden natural talent for shooting.
As noted in a previous thread on Becsta.COM, I was given the opportunity to qualify for selection to the Australian Shooting Team, heading over to compete in the WRABF Rimfire and Air Rifle Benchrest World Championships being held in Charleston, South Carolina, USA. I had one opportunity to do this, at the 2010 RBA Nationals, and in the end, I prevailed – I received a phone call on New Years Eve with the news that I’d been selected.
Over the following six months, I’ve been busily preparing for the trip of a lifetime, renewing my passport, booking flights, attending to the paperwork required to get a rifle and ammunition over to the USA and back, booking accommodation, seeking sponsorship, and practicing.
Two days ago, I arrived home, worn out, exhausted, a bit sick and emotional, but satisfied that I’d participated in a quite amazing adventure.
With Thanks to My Sponsors
I couldn’t have found myself at the Worlds without the awesome support of some sponsors.
Lapua have been a sponsor since March 2011, and I’ve received support with ammunition and technical advice from them. The ammo I chose to use at the Worlds was X-Act, which allowed me to concentrate on my shooting, and not think about whether the next shot would be a flyer.
Australian Hunting Network, and the many individuals and members of the AHN Forum raised a significant amount of money to help with my costs. If you ever need some advice or information about hunting, shooting, target shooting, black powder etc, or are looking for guided hunting tours, or link to suppliers to the Australian shooting community, AHN is the place.
I’d also like to thank The Shooters and Fishers Party for their support. Without effective representation in our Parliaments throughout Australia, shooting and fishing as we know it would not exist. These guys are at the coal face fighting for our rights to quietly and peacefully hunt, shoot, and fish, stopping the lefties and so-called greenies from taking our firearms, and stopping us from fishing. If you cherish your rights, and your sports, please ensure you vote 1 Shooters and Fishers.
The Paperwork
I’m putting this here in order to let people know what is required to get rifles and ammunition over to the USA and back home. One of the goals arising from participating in such a competition is to let others know what they need to do in order to compete internationally, so this is my little bit.
You need the following papers:
- Your Passport. Important document that should not leave your person under any circumstances. Enough said.
- Airline Tickets. I bought mine from Qantas, because they’re very good with the carriage of firearms and ammunition. Some carriers will not allow firearms or ammo on board.
- USA Visa Waiver Program Authorization, and ESTA. You must pay $14US on application, performed over the Internet before travel.
- Qantas Approval to Carry Firearms and Ammunition. This is a letter from the head of Dangerous Good Operations in Qantas, obtainable by contacting Mr Laurie Willoughby or Ms Toni Farquharson at Qantas.
- B709 (available on application to NSW Firearms Registry at zero cost). This document tells Australian Customs that you are allowed to carry the noted firearm(s) and ammunition. Otherwise, Customs have no way of knowing – they have no link to NSW FAR to check for themselves. This document is used on exit from Australia, and on entry back into NSW from the border.
- Restricted Good Permit (RGP) from Australian Customs. This document should be completed within about 2 weeks of travel. List everything firearms related that you will be carrying – rifle(s), ammunition, scopes, spare barrels, etc. This list will be checked on exit by Customs, and entry back into Australia.
- Export Declaration. This (horrible) document should also be completed within about 2 weeks of travel.
- You will also need a Customs CCID, obtainable by registering as an importer/exporter. This document is lodged at the same time as the EDN and RGP.
- An Invitation to Attend letter from the organisers of the tournament. At least one signature must be originating from the USA.
- An Application/Permit for Temporary Importation of Firearms and Ammunition from the US Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms (Form 6NIA). You need to submit this in duplicate by fax or post at least 3 months before the event, along with duplicates of the Invitation to Attend. ATF will return one of the duplicates with stamps all over it. This is presented to US Customs on entry into the USA.
- A copy of your Firearms Registration Certificate.
Place a copy of each of the above documents in each piece of your luggage carrying ammunition or firearms. Carry the originals with you during travel.
Use TSA locks on your rifle cases and luggage, otherwise you will find TSA will have broken them off, or damaged your luggage whilst trying to gain entry to inspect the items.
Preparations…
Just before I booked my flights, Qantas opened a new route from Sydney to Dallas/Fort Worth. This was fortuitous, as it meant that we could fly from Sydney to DFW to Charleston. Initially, I was looking at flying Sydney to Los Angeles, to Miami, to Charleston. Although the Sydney-DFW leg was long (at about 14 hours or so), it was the most direct route, with less stress.
If I wasn’t flying with firearms, I may have chosen a more circuitous route, simply to experience more of the USA.
The week leading up to the start of this great adventure was very long – I just wanted to be on my way.
I was interviewed by the Saturday sports breakfast crew on SWRFM 99.9, which was a hoot!
I needed to get some US dollars, and bought some USD at Travelex at something like $1.03AUD. The last time I went over to the USA in 2000, the AUD was about $0.60US. A tip: never exchange at the airport – their rates were horrible (especially in the US, who were exchanging USD for AUD at something like $0.85AUD!).
Work held a morning tea to raise some last-minute cash for me, so I created a little movie on what this shooting caper was all about. They seemed genuinely interested, and kept up to date with my progress during the competition.
The day before, it dawned on me that I was about to go fly. I managed some decent sleep, given my excitement at going over, and also more importantly, wearing my uniform on official business for the first time ever. You have no idea how proud I was putting on that shirt and jacket.
After a final flurry of packing, I was off.
Day 1 – Monday – The Journey Across the Pond
I met Brett Wilson and Bill Collaros at Sydney International Airport at about 9:30am. Our first stop was the Customs office behind the Arrivals Hall on the ground floor of the Sydney International terminal. Customs inspected the rifles to ensure they were the ones on the RGP, and that was it.
“Do we need an escort?”.
“No, we trust you guys”. I’d heard that we needed an escort whilst carrying firearms and ammo in the terminal buildings.
We went upstairs and checked in at the Qantas counter. The lady serving us knew what she needed to do, and our bags were soon on their way. Mine were heavily overweight, but she didn’t charge me any excess, but she did warn that I may be charged excess baggage over in the US.
We then had to take our rifle cases to Over-sized Baggage. This became a theme in all the terminals we visited. Get luggage from carousel, then get guncase from Oversized Baggage.
After a quick lunch, and goodbyes, Brett, Bill and I proceeded through Immigration and into the Duty Free shopping. I took over a bottle of Bundy Rum, whilst Bill took over a bottle of scotch. We boarded our flight at about 1pm, and shortly after were in the air on our way across the pond.
The flight was smooth, but very long at around 14 hours or so. It was a bumpy ride into Dallas Fort Worth, as the temperature was about 40 or so degrees, with a sheer layer and wild thermally air. We didn’t get a lot of sleep on the way over, but I discovered that a Bundy and Coke seemed to do the trick to help me start the sleep process.
At DFW, we proceeded through Immigration, grabbed all our luggage (including the rifle cases), and proceeded through Customs. Our experience was pretty good – the Customs officer checked our ATF and invitation forms, and that the rifles matched the ATF form, and sent us on our way. Our bags were loaded onto the transfer belt, but the rifle cases needed to be inspected by TSA. Once that was done, we proceeded through the TSA screening point, and onto the Sky Train to hop across from Terminal D to Terminal B.
We didn’t really know it was hot outside until getting on the Sky Train. There was a 5cm gap in the air conditioning, and didn’t we feel it! In Sydney, it was a cool 15 degrees, and on the plane it was about 20 or so. So feeling the 40 degree heat was like being hit by a brick.
Our flight to Charleston was due to leave at 6:20pm Dallas Time, and get into Charleston, South Carolina at 9:50pm. We were flying an Embraer RJ145, which I didn’t know was so small until it turned up at the gate.
With about three hours of layover, we had a feed, something to drink, and waited for our final flight to Charleston. We’d be getting to the hotel in Summerville at darn near midnight.
This flight was a bit bumpier, with the hot weather in the south USA, with the last half hour or so cruising by a line of thunderstorms. A wet, and very hot and steamy midnight ride to the hotel from the airport, ably driven by Bill, and navigated by Brett, it was time to rest and sleep.
Day 2 – Tuesday – Exploring Summerville
It was easy to sleep, but fitful, tired sleep resulted – headaches and all. My mind didn’t want to sleep, but my body was too tired to agree.
Up around 8am, we had a buffet breakfast, and planned the day’s activities. First stop was to find the Palmetto Gun Club, and do some shopping. Whilst driving south-west down I17, I noticed a pawn shop with the words “Guns… Ammo…” on the walls. What do you do when you go to a gun-loving country, as a gun-nut yourself? Of course, you visit the gun shops!
We eventually found the Palmetto Gun Club, off I61 and Summers Drive, and met Craig Young (the Match Director), who was busily working on the preparations for the World Championships. My first impression of the Palmetto range was “wow”. The range itself was a huge open field, with tall stands of forest on each side, grassed field out to 200 yards, with the last few benches going out down to 800 yards. The contest benches were all concrete blocks, “yes, no rickety SISC-like tables to shoot from!”, I thought.
One of the club members was there, to sight in his AR15 service rifle, so my curious side came out and I wandered over to have a look at an AR15 for the first time. Not only did I get to hold it, I was invited to have a shoot from it out to 200 yards. This thing was heavy, and I found it hard to get into a decent prone position from which to shoot it, but my 15 or so shots ended up on paper in a decent-enough first grouping.
The owner then said, “Wanna have a shoot of my Remington R700 .308? I’ve only three shots left, but it’s sighted in at 600 yards, and you’re welcome to have a go.” Invite accepted, I lined up on a steel plate hanging from the 600 yard target frame. A dead-still morning, mist weaving through the forest trees down the 800 yard range, conditions were perfect, though hot and steamy. With the bipod so small, it was impossible to “load it up”, so I thought “what the hell”, lined up the target dead centre, and squeezed off a shot, to see the steel gong dance wildly on the frame. Correct elevation, but a tad to the left.
Next shot was slightly low, but centered on the plate, for another wildly gyrating plate and that lovely “ting” sound that echoes back to you.
Final shot was touching the first shot! I couldn’t believe that I’d hit this gong three times in a row with a rifle I’d never seen before! The owner was impressed, and must have been thinking along the lines of “where did this girl come from?”.
Next stop was that Pawn Shop I’d noticed. The weapons were pretty well used, with not much to look at, so I asked the store owner where a “proper” gunshop was. He pointed us back past Summerville to a shop called ATP Gun Store.
It was lunch time, so we called into Walmart. This business was huge, a cross between KMart, BigW, Woolies all rolled into one store. To my surprise, it certainly was possible to buy rifles from the sporting goods section, though these were locked up behind glass, along with the ammo. However, it was possible to buy an air rifle no-questions-asked, paintball guns, or even AirSoft guns, including AirSoft hand guns which look like the real thing. I guess that’s why we’re not allowed AirSoft over here in Australia.
Next stop was a burger shop for lunch, and I was so hungry, I wolfed down the burger, and had two large cokes to drink!
Back to the hotel, and an hour later, we were off to find ATP Gun Store.
It wasn’t long before I discovered that I could hire rifles and pistols, buy the ammo, and shoot them off in the attached range. After a few hours of play, I’d spent $100 on ammo, and shot:
- A Glock 9mm
- A Springfield 1911 45ACP
- An AR15 .223 styled like an M16 with iron sights; and
- An AK47 7.62×39
With the fun over, it was time to head back to the hotel, rest up, and head on out for dinner at the Firewater Bar over the road. Southern Fried Chicken, mashed potato, gravy, and fries, washed down with a Wild Turkey and Cola!
Goodnight!
Day 3 – Wednesday – Exploring Charleston
The next morning, we decided to head on down to Charleston to do the touristy thing, as the range would not be available for practice.
From Summerville, we headed down the I26 into Charleston. Brett noticed that the freeway signs showed the speed limit as 65 (mph), with a _minimum_ speed limit as well. Great idea! Can we have that on the Aussie freeways?
Bill, Brett, and I were struck by the “old school” nature of the architecture in the area, particularly around Battery Point. The other thing that struck us was the proliferance of American flags. The American public are fiercely patriotic, and all the flags certainly add character and colour to the area. Loved it.
After the obligatory photos around the Civil War era cannons and mortars at Battery Point, we headed back into the centre of town, to find the Charleston Market, which had been recommended to us by the hotel staff. This is a strip of indoor/outdoor stalls selling all sorts of trinkets, jewellery, pottery, baskets, toys, and the like. One section had been renovated, which (gratefully) included air conditioning, so a slow walk looking at the hats and toys was mandated whilst escaping the heat and humidity.
We had a well-deserved drink in a pub nearby which was converted from a church – the pulpit’s now the DJ’s station. Their renovations maintained the magnificent stained glass windows.
Once back at Summerville, we hit Dicks Sporting Goods, where (unsurprisingly) I found a corner of the store devoted to hunting and camping. The rifles were all Remington, with a large assortment of ammo, and again, air rifles, paintball, and Airsoft guns for purchase no-questions-asked. Amazing, I’ve never heard of someone being killed/injured by an Airsoft gun.
We headed out to the range, where the big top tent had been erected, along with a number of smaller tents. Some industrial fans had also been set up, which would help somewhat with our measly attempts to escape the oppressive heat and humidity. Every day was somewhere between 40 degrees C and 46 degrees C, with anywhere up to 80% humidity.
The first tasks for the afternoon were assembling the front rests (broken down for travel), and checking our rifles to see if they suffered damage during transit. Mine looked ok – I’d removed the scope from the rifle, and packed it in the riflecase with the rifle. After a quick sighting in, it was shooting fine.
I was worried about the excessive heat affecting the ammo, so I’d made the decision before leaving Sydney to keep the ammo as cold as possible. That meant keeping it stored in the fridge in the hotel room, and only taking out enough for the day’s shoot. The ammo on the day was stored in a drinks cooler in ice, and only taken out at the start of the detail, and shot off.
I sighted in at 50m, and practiced well with high 240′s, so I was fairly confident I’d do well.
Back at Summerville, we had dinner at the Cracker Barrel restaurant. Very nice food, very filling, and fairly cheap too. All the meals were cheap, at around $10US + drinks.
We expected the Queenslanders to turn up very late that evening, as they were due to fly Brisbane/Sydney/Dallas/Charleston. We also expected Dal Larsen, and some of the Victorian team members as well.
With a quiet drink with some of the Great Britain and Czech team members, it was off to bed. I was tired, but felt pretty much in sync with the timezone.
Day 4 – Thursday – Un-Official Practice
At breakfast, I commented to Brett that I woke up around 4am, and couldn’t get back to sleep, so I jumped on my iPad to read my mail, browse the Internet, and get news from back home. Funnily enough, he said he woke at 4 too! Later, we discovered that the Queenslanders all went through the same stages (with some of them wandering across the road to Walmart to do some shopping (at 4am!)).
The Queenslanders turned up ok, though had some horror stories of broken locks, and invasive Customs. Annette (one of the Victorians) also told me that they’d lost her bags, so she was wearing what she flew in with (her bags arrived later in the day).
Dal was not with them, so the theory surfaced that he’d gotten the shits with Customs, and was locked up somewhere in LA, as he was flying through LA on V Australia, and connecting on across to Charleston. This was later proven incorrect when he eventually surfaced the next day.
The plan of action on this day was to head out to the range again, and do some more practice.
I decided to bring the target board in to 25m, and practice for that distance, given I’d never shot RBA at 25m before. It’s the same 2mm centre dot as that out at 50m, but this centre dot is the 10-ring. Touch that, and a 10 results. Completely obliterate it, and a 10X results. Word was that in order to do well at 25m, all 75 targets need to be 10 or better, with the positions determined on the number of centres scored. So I was happy when I shot some clean cards. The rifle could do it, so it would all be up to me for the 25m Heavy Varmint early in the next week.
Whilst I was inspecting my rifle, I noticed that the tuner body had moved position, and was now about 3mm away from the witness mark I put on the barrel when I took the tuner off to clean it. I’d noticed the creep a week or so before leaving Australia, but thought nothing of it. This additional creep was a bit alarming, but at the same time, I felt the rifle was shooting better with it further out than sitting on the witness mark. After consulting with Brett, I decided to nip up the grub screws, and left it in the position I knew it was at the previous day. The results during practice were still the same. Which made me wonder, “had I always been shooting with the tuner in too far?”
Brett had a bit of a disaster with his Hall-actioned Rimfire HV rifle during practice when he broke the main spring in his Jewell trigger. One of the locals remarked that the Halls had a reputation for breaking Jewell trigger springs, as they cam over during bolt closure just that few thou further than normal, putting increased tension on the spring. It was pretty funny when Brett walked over to Dan Killough’s tent, bought a new Jewell trigger, and after a bit of a fiddle, it was back to shooting.
However, he wasn’t happy with the result, as he had to break the glue bedding to get the action/barrel out of the stock to repair the trigger. We stopped off at Lowes on the way home (Lowes being the US equivalent to Bunnings here in Australia – a massive warehouse-styled hardware store) to get some glue, so Brett could re-glue his action into the stock that evening, but the end result was a rifle that wasn’t happy, so Brett ended up using borrowed US guns.
I was happy with the progress of my rifle, and Bill was happy with his. The Croc (Bill’s Calfee Sporter rifle) was shooting well, as was the Air Arms EV2 LV air rifle. Bill commented that it looked like he would get to use “The Duke of Earl” (a Calfee Rimfire LV rifle built around a Turbo action) during the competition.
Dinner that night was at Ruby Tuesday, and this food was the best we’d had so far. Just divine stuff.
Day 5 – Friday – Official Practice Day
To our surprise, Dal turned up rather bleary eyed, but otherwise ok. No he hadn’t been locked up, but just hadn’t told us that he was gonna get in on the Thursday evening. With that, the whole team had been formed.
The plan for today was to head out to the range for further practice, do the Equipment Checks, and pay our entry fees.
Another bloody hot day, with no respite from the heat. Either we were shooting, or hanging around the industrial fans trying to cool down.
Dal had lots of problems with his FWB rifle, which really set the scene for the competition proper. On opening his rifle case, he noticed that one of the lugs on his scope rings had sheered off. So, off to Dan Killough for a replacement pair of scope rings. Once fitted, he took the rifle to the line, and started to notice that it was “shotgunning” all over the place. After a period of shooting about a box of ammo, he decided that the scope was busted. Another walk over to Dan Killough, and a new Weaver T36 was acquired. The rifle began to settle down, but Dal was already rattled.
Closely inspecting the rifle, he discovered a crack in the body of his barrel tuner. What had happened to this rifle in transit? I suspected that it had been taken out of the case and dropped by either TSA or Customs.
So Dal burned through a lot of ammo getting the rifle settled and shooting, but his competition was effectively over before it started, as he had to go into conservation mode with his ammo supply, and deal with the emotional aspect of being stressed by a broken rifle.
All was not lost, however. His FWB LV rifle was shooting beautifully, and I did a bit of practice with it using my Lapua X-Act batch. It was shooting consistently, which allowed me to shoot some 250-point clean cards at 25m, and a 249 at 50m. Dal and I were going to share this rifle for the Rimfire LV 25m and 50m days.
I did some more practice with mine at 25m, setting it up for when I’ll be shooting it at 25m later the following week. I would be using my own rifle in the Rimfire HV 25m and 50m competitions.
The Equipment check was pretty minimal, which surprised me for a competition of this nature. My FWB was only checked for weight. Air rifles were checked for average muzzle velocity to determine their foot/pounds rating, and the International Sporters were checked for weight and scope power. My rifle wasn’t checked for foreend width, nor were front rests/rear bags checked for compliance to the rulebook.
Back at the hotel, it was time for dinner, a beer or few, and much needed rest.
Day 6 – Opening Ceremony and Air Rifle LV
The competition opened proper with the Opening Ceremony first thing in the morning, followed by the first detail of Air Rifle Light Varmint. Australia had entered two teams of three shooters, plus one reserve shooter. Bill Collaros, Brett Wilson, and Annette Rowe made up Australia A, Patrick Wolfe, Richard Lightfoot and Martin Lee, with Joy Harrison as the reserve.
I did not shoot this day, but went along to spectate and take photos. Not shooting, it was a very long and very hot day, and I couldn’t wait to get back into the hotel to escape from the heat.
The end result was that American air rifle shooters won the individual places, but Australia A won gold, and Australia B won bronze, so we were able to hear the Australian National Anthem at the Worlds. It was exciting, and very motivational to succeed later on.
Dal continued to practice with his HV and LV rifles, and trying to find the confidence he’d lost in the previous practice days.
Day 7 – Air Rifle HV
As I wasn’t due to shoot, I decided to take the day off, and went shopping instead with Dal. We walked across the road to Walmart, and bought some drinks and washing powder.
Late that afternoon, whilst watching some mindless show on the TV, the sound cut out (which I thought was strange), followed by an automated tickertape message from the National Weather Service, advising that a severe thunderstorm was in the area. Ok, now that’s interesting. The storm cell was in the district across the I29 freeway. Close, but no cigar.
About 20 minutes later, I woke up wondering where the light outside had gone to, looked at the clock, 4:30pm or so, looked out through the window, and it was getting quite dark, with massive thunderheads nearby.
Grabbing the camera, I headed down to the lobby to take some photos and video. The video doesn’t show the speed and scuddiness of the cloud formations but, gee, they were moving rapidly around the sky, certainly faster than I’d ever seen them. Next thought was whether the stuff I’d left out at the range (my front and rear bag, and cleaning kit) were gonna get wet. What was weird was that the air was quite still down at ground level.
Five minutes later, the wind picked up, the heavens opened up, and the rain smashed down. No hail, but the temperature dropped 10 degrees in a heartbeat. After it was all over, the temperature began to pick up again, and the humidity stayed high, so no real respite.
Out at the range, the Americans again mostly won the day. The Australians didn’t do as well. Bill’s Air Arms suffered a failure that went undiagnosed for a while, so Bill and Brett suffered. Richard Lightfoot took a shot about a second after the whistle and was disqualified as a result.
So, not a very good day for the team results.
Day 8 – 25m Rimfire International Sporter & Magnolia Plantation
Only a few of the team were due to shoot the International Sporter. Bill, Brett, and Dal were all due to shoot out of my crew, but it was another day off for me. I was offered a seat to head out to Magnolia Plantation with Annette Rowe and Colleen Wolfe.
Whenever you hear about the colonial deep south, you think the dominant crop produced at the time was cotton. But not around Charleston. Magnolia Plantation was famous in its day for producing rice. The Plantation has been in existence for 300 years or so, produced some of the finest rice around, employed slave labour, and suffered as a result of the American Civil War, when the confederates came through and burnt the place down.
Today, it’s a tourist attraction, with magnificent stands of forest, 700 year old oak trees, restored slave huts, and a magnificent mansion house. Annette, Colleen and I took some of the tours around the gardens and property, took lots of photos, and enjoyed the company and surrounds. A very peaceful place, heavily steeped in history.
The Croc did ok this day, with the Americans scooping the pool of prizes, with Brett placing 8th overall and the best of the international competitors.
Day 9 – 25m Rimfire Light Varmint
This was my first day of competition, using Dal’s Light Varmint rifle. I’d practiced well with the LV, so was pretty confident I’d do well with it.
The day started out ok, with a 248 card. I knew that I needed 250′s to be up there. Dal shot a 242, and thought the rifle wasn’t shooting. So we lined up one of Malcolm’s Eck guns as a backup. With Dal shooting before me, and scoring a 236 on his second card, he alerted me to a problem with the rifle, so I took it up to the line for my second card, only to see it shoot to two different POI’s with my own ammo.
So I quickly swapped it over for Malcolm’s black-stocked Eck gun. It’s not good to swap a rifle during the detail, as it upsets your rhythm, but more importantly, takes up precious time to get set up and on target. Added to this, the rifle was zero’d to 50 yards, so I would have to zero it to 25m, focus it to my eye, and learn how to shoot it, all in the space of 20 minutes.
In the end, I grew to like this custom rifle immensely. I dropped 5 points on the middle card, and only 2 points on the last card, to place 48th out of 67 competitors. Not good for my liking, but fairly decent given the change of rifle in the middle of a detail.
Clinton Sondergeld was the standout shooter for Australia, scoring an individual bronze medal, with Richard Lightfoot in 5th place.
Day 10 – 25m Rimfire Heavy Varmint
This was to be the first day I’d shot with my own rifle in the competition.
It started well, with 24 great shots, followed by the last shot that went low right just off the 10-ring. It so surprised me, that I gasped in horror. My left eye was telling me that the near flag was still moving from right to left as I’d let off the shot, so it was my own fault that it went there. I knew it as soon as I’d let the shot go too. Still, a 249.13 was pretty good going.
Lesson learnt: “wait for the flags to settle”
To me, the shooting felt pretty easy – wait until the breeze was left to right from about 10:00 to 11:00, and aim at 6:00 on the 10-ring, and watch the shot print high but in the middle of the 10-ring.
I knew I needed a 250, and ripped one out for my next detail, scoring a 250.12. Same strategy as before for the shooting.
As the day wore on, the breeze was picking up a bit, but I felt the predominate weather were the booming thermals. When the breeze dropped off, the flags would go limp, and the air became (at times unbearably) hot. The shots would have a fair amount of vertical in them, such that a high 10-ring shot would be a high 9-ring shot.
As the thermals drifted by, the breeze would pick up, the air grew cold, as the downwind inflow gusts hit, and the shot would go low.
My last card I wanted another 250, but shot a 249.15 for an aggregate of 748.40 for 25th place. I was pretty happy with that result, as the rifle was shooting perfectly, with both dropped shots my own fault – impatience mostly at getting the shot off rather than waiting. I had plenty of time left over, so that wasn’t a factor.
Lesson learnt: “be patient”
Richard Lightfoot was the best Australian, shooting a 750.44 for 5th place. The Americans scooped the pool yet again, but Australia won a 25m teams bronze medal. Bill placed 13th, Brett placed 40th, and Dal placed 69th.
Day 11 – 50m Rimfire International Sporter & a bit of Fun
As I wasn’t shooting International Sporter, I had another day off. Annette, Colleen and I went out to ATP Gun Store, so Annette could order some Pelican cases for the new front rests the Victorian contingent were taking home, and for me to have some more fun on the range.
Over about four hours, I shot:
- Springfield 1911 .45ACP semi-auto pistol
- Glock 19 9mm semi-auto pistol
- Glock 34 9mm long-slide semi-auto pistol
- Smith & Wesson M&P R8 8-shot .357 Magnum double-action Target Revolver
- AR15 with red-dot sight
- Hechler & Koch USP45 .45ACP semi-auto pistol
About $200 later, I’d shot some great rifles and pistols, and took the taxi back to the hotel happy, but with my arms and legs bursting with tiredness. My arms certainly told me that they’d performed some admirable exercise trying to keep those pistols steady.
And guess what? Noone was harmed in the production of having fun at the range. The employees were having fun showing me what to shoot next. It was a pity that we couldn’t go back a third time on our last day in country, as I would have loved to shoot that AK47 one more time, and even the Thompson sub-machine “tommy” gun. I walked away from the shop with a cap, some beer stubbies, a pen, a shirt, and a lifetime of memories.
Thanks ATP Gun Store!
*thumbs up*
As for what happened across town at Palmetto Gun Club, Brett Wilson did well with a 7th place, but it was once again the Americans showing us all how to shoot.
Day 12 – 50m Rimfire Light Varmint
With the World Championships winding its way to a close, the penultimate day was for the 50m Rimfire Light Varmint. Dal and I decided to continue to use Malcolm’s black Eck LV rifle, as it shot well at 25m. He commented to me at the start of the day that his daughter used to shoot that rifle using Lapua ammo, and did well with it. But it’s hard to find Lapua ammo in the US, so they were shooting Eley through it.
My first card was a 244.9 in the switchey breeze using my Lapua X-Act. The rifle continued to shoot well, but the droppers were all mine, purely though lack of planning and waiting for the conditions to be favourable.
My second card was a 242.10, as the breeze picked up.
My third and final card was a 245.2 – a lot of shots just touching the 10-ring. In the end, I was happy with the result, a 25th place overall. For both 25m and 50m combined aggregates, I placed 25th again. Not bad for a shooter with less than two years experience!
Dal did quite poorly, placed at the back of the field. He wasn’t particularly happy with his shooting, but the positive was that he was finally shooting with flags – yes, he’d bought his own flags and a probe!
Brett shot a very respectable 9th place, and Bill shot to 14th place. The standout shooter though was Carl Boswell from the UK, shooting “The Duke of Earl”, to win the overall placings. To do it, he exhausted the ammo supply for that rifle, which meant that the following day, Bill had to use his own ammo through “The Duke”!
Day 13 – 50m Rimfire Heavy Varmint
This was it, the day I’d long been working up to, the day for me to truly shine as an international shooter.
But it wasn’t to be.
My first card was an awesome 249.13 for a new Personal Best. After the first detail, I was in 8th place overall, and pretty happy with my shooting, and the way my ammo was performing.
My second card was the beginning of the nightmare, with a 243.9. It would be a respectable score in Australian RBA, but didn’t do anything for me on the day. As a storm was building up downrange, and we could see the thunderheads getting closer and closer, the breeze picked up, and the flags went mental.
I can handle any breezey conditions, so long as it is fairly consistent. If the flags are dancing across all points of the compass, in seemingly random fashion, I get quite flustered, because I’m forced to rely on guessing holdoffs for shots where half the flags are showing red (left to right breeze), and half are showing green (right to left breeze). On the RBA card, I habitually think about holding the 10-ring in the same way as holding the 10-ring on the TRA card. Except the 10-ring on the TRA card is 10mm, and the 10-ring on the RBA card is 6mm, so I actually needed to hold on the 9-ring or further out, but lacked the confidence to do that.
Of course, the shots were shooting high right, or low right, with a few 8′s the result. I began to think that if I hit the 10-ring, it was a lucky shot.
So panic sets in, I plug away at the sighters, with the shots forming no real groups at all, and I find myself with three targets to go, and less than a minute to shoot them.
A shrug of the shoulders, recognition that I’ve failed, and an attitude of “oh well, no time, I have to guess”, so I load a round, watch the flags, choose a hold-off position, squeeze the trigger, and an 8 results. Load another, watch the flags change position, choose a different hold-off, squeeze the trigger, and a 10. Load another, watch the flags change yet again, choose a new hold-off position, squeeze the trigger, and another 10.
Not happy, Jan, as I stormed off the firing line.
The third card, I can’t really describe it, except to say that it was disastrous. I shot a 234.4. By the end, with 10 minutes to go in the detail, I was a shattered mess. I ran off to the car, and cried. I rang mum, and my sister that night, and cried some more.
As the storm approached, the flags were dancing a merry tune, and to me, were a wild random mess. At no stage did they all settle, so I’d shoot a sighter or two, select a hold-off position, only to watch the flags shift a full 180 degrees in the time I took to reload. How do you shoot that?
The answer is, and with hindsight being a wonderful tool, you wait for the conditions to present themselves again. And they did. Multiple times, as I found out half way through the card. But by then, it was too late.
Surprisingly, every shot I dropped, I could explain it. So the rifle was shooting perfect shots, but I was aiming it in the wrong spot, or timing my shots wrong. Those dropped shots weren’t the result of ammo. I know the Lapua X-Act shoots in breeze, because all my great wins have been in heavy breeze. With that, I should have blitzed it.
Right at the end of our detail, the heavens opened up, and the grounds were near-flooded by the drenching we received. They had to delay the second squad for an hour as the storm raged overhead. There was talk of abandoning the third card, due to time pressures on closing the competition, but they proceeded ahead with the second and third squads. These squads had the best air of the day, as the temperature had notably dropped, and the breeze was gentle.
I had a quiet trip home in the car, and a quiet dinner. Only later that evening did I open up a bit and enjoy the company once more, as we gathered in the lobby for after-dinner drinks with the Brits, some of the Americans, the Czech’s, and some of the Finns. The Brits were due to leave the next day, so we got stuck into the drinks, and reminisced the events of the World Championships.
Day 14 – Our Final Day in Charleston
The last day we spent as tourists once more. Dal hadn’t been into Charleston yet, so Bill drove us into town to buy goodies for back home. I had full bags, so couldn’t take much back. A walk around Battery Point, some shopping in Charleston Markets, and a lunch down on the water with most of the rest of the Team (arranged quite by accident), with the others of a like mind and spending their day in Charleston too.
That night, we had an Australian Shooting Team Dinner, with lots of drinks and talk, some more drinks back at the hotel, but it was time to pack the bags, and get some sleep.
Day 15 – Home Bound
I consider flying to be part of the great adventure, so it hadn’t really hit home that it was time to depart the US. Dal and I were driven to Charleston airport by Bill (who was able to navigate his way back to Summerville without getting lost). Dal was flying Delta to some other airport, hence to LA, and then V Australia direct to Sydney. I was due to fly back to Dallas/Fort Worth on the little American Eagle Embraer, along with the Queensland contingent.
They turned up to the airport about a half hour after I did for the flight I was on, along with Geoff Knight, who was due to fly out on the 6pm flight, but was hoping to get on our flight at 12pm. Alas, it wasn’t to be, so he was at Charleston from about 9am to 6pm!
Our flight to DFW was fairly smooth, but the approach on final was bumpy with the wind sheer and roiled superheated air. It was about 110 degrees F that day. Once at the gate, there was a bit of confusion as to whether we needed to collect our bags and rifle cases, but we were assured that they were checked all the way through to Brisbane and Sydney.
Aussie Bob Mulder had arranged with a local friend (Steve) to meet up at DFW, so we were surprised when Steve suggested he take us all out to lunch in Dallas. In an ironic twist, we had lunch at the Australian Steakhouse. The food was very welcome, along with the drinks. Steve was an amazing host, describing all the gory stories of life as a Texas cop and sniper. I didn’t want it to end, but we had to get back to the airport for our flight home.
Lazing around the terminal, waiting for our flight, I look at my iPhone clock: 1830. A few minutes later, I get an SMS from Bill – their flight from Charleston has been delayed due to a maintenance issue. We were due to start boarding QF8 at 9:30pm for departure at 10pm. Greg goes off to the counter to enquire about Bill, Brett, and Geoff boarding late. The only way the plane would be delayed would be due to the plane being too hot to board.
The announcement is made – the plane was too hot to board, so we were delayed. I SMS’d Bill, telling them to jump straight onto the Sky Train.
We started boarding about 30mins later, I get another SMS – “just landed”. It was gonna be close.
We board, I sit down in row 70 – a two-seat row against the windows down the back of the plane, with Bill booked next to me.
Another SMS – “Seeya Bec, flight closed”.
With that we were off. Bill, Brett, and Geoff had missed the flight home by a couple of minutes. They’d closed the flight as their bags wouldn’t have made it onto the plane.
Whilst waiting at the terminal, Greg and I watched them refuel the big Boeing 747-400 ER jumbo, and it took them nearly two hours to complete the job. So as we began our roll down the runway, I could see the engines get hotter and hotter, and glow a deep orange as we rotated, and the bird gracefully ascended out of Dallas, banking to the right to give us a final view of downtown Dallas, and American soil.
Bill, Brett, and Geoff would have been waving goodbye, and wondering how to get home.
I was rejoicing!
I had two seats to myself, so I kicked off the shoes and curled up across the seats in a sitting foetal position to enjoy some decent sleep on the long 16.5 hour trip home.
A straight descent into Brisbane at 5am, followed by an hour and a bit of layover in Brisbane for the plane to be refueled. I bid farewell to the Queensland shooters, and suddenly found myself alone for the first time on the entire trip. Back onto the plane, now only half full or so, we took off once more, and headed south down to Sydney, landing at about 8am, to a chilly, but sunny Sydney winters day.
On the way down into Sydney, I realised that this was the end of a great adventure. I only had Customs to look forward to to truly complete the amazing ride. They took my B709, checked the RGP, and bid me good day. It was a tiring ride home in the car, all I wanted to do was sleep, but I forced myself to stay awake until 7pm or so.
And that was it. Standing out in the backyard watching the dogs, and enjoying the sunshine and coolness, I look up at the blue sky, thinking “wow, what an adventure. What a lifetime achievement. What a rush.”
Postscript
I heard a few days later that Bill, Brett, and Geoff were put up in a hotel that night, and flew off to Los Angeles, and the big Airbus A380 home direct to Sydney, so they got to spend another day in the good ‘ole US of A.