NRA Journal - Spring 2007 - National Rifle Association

SHOOTING DISCIPLINE MATTERSChristmas Fun for the Gallery Rifle Range Crewsby Andy LoweDespite the miserable weather that had passed earlierin the week, Saturday 2 December was a fine, stillday – just right for a bit of fun shooting. Butt 0 waswet under foot but a good pair of boots providedappropriate protection from the mud and water.The jolly band of 38 shooters started to gather for ashoot with a difference. Brian Thomas had spent theyear organising gallery rifle competitions but to makethese work he needed a band of willing and able rangestaff. Times are hard so we got roped in instead! Thisday was a thank you from Brian to the volunteers thatmake the gallery rifle competitions happen.The shooting was unlimited re-entry for as many timesas you wanted to pay for at four courses of fire forindividuals; log chop, Christmas puddings, bobbingturkey and speed steels and a team log chop event.The bobbing turkey was the best fun I have seen ona range for a long time. The target was mountedon the Bianchi mover system. The turkey was ona pivot and as the trolley moved across the range,a pole sticking out from the pivoted turkey wouldcatch on the rail supports and make the turkeylurch in an unpredictable manner. The scoring areaswere designed to tempt shots at high value scoringsrings, which were more likely to disappear as thebird gyrated. The winner concentrated on the lowerscoring areas, which were more likely still to be therewhen the bullet hit. Well done Gaynor who won thefree entry to the Autumn Action Weekend.At the same time the Blue Team had set up ademonstration shotgun layout. This consisted of anumber of different types of reactive targets. I had theopportunity to see some of these being shot and myfavourite was the target that fell backwards when itwas hit and in the process launched a standard clay afew feet into the air as a secondary target. I am lookingforward to the NRA adding this to its competitionrepertoire.After shooting had finished we had time for a restbefore gathering at the Artists clubhouse for the ThankYou ROs part of the evening. Unlike some of theNRA’s other competitions where markers and ROs getpaid for their time, gallery rifle range staff are unpaid.In recognition of this fact Brian Thomas had organiseda social for us - depending on how many shoots youhad helped at governed how much of your dinneryou got for free. If you had volunteered for all fourshoots during the year you ate for free. Three shootsgot you three quarters of a meal and you paid for theother quarter, and so on. Accommodation was alsoprovided at a discount. Having rested/washed/hada few beers we gathered at the Artists for a few morebeers. Prizes were on offer for those that donned thebest seasonal costume. Jane, Brian and John seemedto have cornered the market in Santa outfits.After dinner came the prize giving. Brian and Janehad organised a lengthy list for the winners but itwas made clear that each competitor could only takehome one prize. So those that won additional prizeshad to choose between keeping the one they alreadyhad or swapping it for the latest one on offer. The“spare” prize then moved down the score sheet untilit arrived with somebody who had not yet won aprize. Audience participation on the lines of “stick”and “swap” was in much evidence and the processgave rise to much hilarity but then I suppose that isthe effect that Christmas spirit has on revellers. Afterprizes there seemed to be an outbreak of testosterone(even amongst the ladies) when various feats ofendurance were attempted which reminded me of theTV programme where Japanese presenters practisetorture on gullible members of the public. I stayedin my seat.Even Santa helped out with the shoot.Christine and Mandy getting in the mood.15