Welcome Motorhead
I used to do long range shooting here in South Africa called Bisley shooting.
Everybody use 7,62 (308) caliber to even the playing field.
I used a single shot rifle that was built by Musgrave and this rifle was (and still is) super accurate.
You are shooting from the prone position and have a spotting scope standing next to you but your rifle is fitted with a peep sight (circle on the front sight and circle on the back sight).
The target is a large black circle and you line up the black circle with the two circles on your sights.
Distances were usually 300, 500, 600, 700, 800 and 900 meters but occasionally we shot 1000 meters. For some reason we never shot at 400 meters?
The biggest challenge is to "read" the mirage and the wind.
Sadly the sport is not growing.
It is just too expensive for youngsters to join and the equipment is expensive and competitions are usually spread out all over the country so involve lots of travelling and expenses.
Nowadays me and my son are into "field shooting".
It is a more practical approach where you use your normal hunting rifle and shoot at life size targets of warthogs, impala, springbucks, baboons, etc. at unknown distances. The heart is 30 points, lungs 20 points, brain 30 points but if you shoot the "animal" in the mouth or stomach or leg it is - 15 (minus 15 points).
Some of the ranges will have 3 courses set up with animal targets and 3 courses set up with steel gongs for the day's competition.
All the points are then added up at the end of the day and big prizes can be won as there are a lot of companies that sponsor this type of shooting.
Shooting distances can range from 50 meters to 450 meters with the occasional competition focussing on longer range shooting.
With this type of shooting they try to simulate hunting conditions as you are shooting from different shooting positions like shooting from a tree stump or tree or shooting sitting down over your knees or from a bale of hay or over a tyre or shooting sticks and sometimes offhand (at close range - 50 meters).
The challenge here is to judge the distances as well as wind and to know your rifle.
You are sometimes also shooting against time so do not have all day to make a shot.
It is very exciting and luckily this sport is growing rapidly in South Africa.
If you are interested in combining a hunting trip with a day of competition shooting we can take you with us to one of our shoots. It is a lot of fun and the guys are so friendly at our club and welcome any new people.
Usually we braai (barbeque) afterwards and have a few beers while we wait for the ceremony to announce the winners and to hand over the prizes.
The hunting with us is also very good.
See all the hunting reports about us.
Sincerely
Hans de Klerk
