Wednesday 17^th July was a bright, sunny day with a stiff breeze blowing which would make long range shooting a little tricky. The usual suspects plus one or two new faces convened at the Short Siberia range for a picnic and chinwag followed by the (not so) serious business of competing for the silverware. The top five from this competition would make up the team for the Inter Schools Veterans’ match. The trophies up for grabs were the Squires Cup (best at 200 yards), the Sanders Memorial Cup (best at 500 yards) and in addition this year, new silverware for the best first sighter, best V bull and a wooden spoon.
 
The 200yd range is sheltered by trees so becomes a test of pure skill, accuracy and in our case luck, the bull being only 4cm across. Half the club have to mark the targets in the butts while the other half shoot, and then roles reverse. After two sighters and ten shots to count (with a maximum possible score being 50.10) the scores were
David Pote                   47.3
Wakefield Carter        45.4
Nick Dennis                 43.3
Mike Baggs                 42.3
Chris Wilson                42.1
Kevan Cornfield          41.2
Alistair Assheton         40.1
Terry Curtayne            33.0
 
Wakfield Carter collected the best first sighter with a V bull, and Alistair Assheton collected the best V bull with a perfect dead centre shot.
 
The top five were selected to represent the school at 500 yards however Mike Baggs ruled himself out due to worries about actually being able to see the target (target rifles use iron sights not scopes). As next best Kevan Cornfield stepped up to take his place. The shoot at 500yds was difficult, the gusty wind pushing each shot up to 30cm left or right with the bull only being 10cm across. Half the skill comes from the marksman, half from the wind coach estimates the wind and adjusts the sights just before each shot making it an entertaining team game. The 500yd results were
 
Dave Pote                    46.3
Chris Wilson                44.0
Nick Dennis                 42.3
Wakefield Carter        39.0
Kevan Cornfield          34.0
Total                            205.6
 
Placing us 47^th and beating Blundells which is always the target! Those not in the team also shot individually at 500yds with Alistair scoring 39.1 and Mike 38.1 and therefore the wooden spoon was awarded to Mike Baggs for magnanimously ruling himself out of the team and then beating the man who replaced him!
 
The WBSVRC would like to see more faces both at Bisley and at the school. No experience is necessary, all are welcome to come and have a go to see if shooting is for you. Experienced marksmen will coach you to ensure you have a safe and fun experience, and if any ex school shooting team members are reading this, we really need your skills to raise the standard! Please get in touch if you are interested to [email protected] so I can add you to our mailing list.