After a winter break, with team members undertaking their own individual training regimes, this weekend saw the whole team back together for a final practice before departing for Bloemfontein in 3 weeks’ time.
Saturday morning was spent finalising the complicated logistics involved in getting the team, rifles, and ammunition from Bisley all the way to Generaal de Wet ranges in Bloemfontein. Always a mammoth task, with our logistics team having to carefully review the airline and hire car rules to allocate team kit appropriately.
One of the more experienced shooters gave us a reminder of his collected experience of the weather conditions at Generaal De Wet, complete with meteorological maps. Those team members who have never yet shot in South Africa either felt much more prepared, or left wondering whether they were back in geography class at school.
But the weekend was really about getting back on the range after winter, and practicing both individual and team drills. Saturday afternoon was a chance to warm up our shooting brains with some range time, and make sure all our equipment was present and correct. A couple of individual shoots on a crisp February afternoon certainly blew the cobwebs out, and gave a few of us a chance to correct our wind zeroes after winter equipment changes.
Saturday evening was spent catching up with teammates over a delicious meal courtesy of the Surrey Rifle Association before our Sunday morning team practice. Heading out to the ranges in February is always a brave decision, but as it turned out the rain stayed away, and we dusted off our team drills to practise shooting and coaching in a match format. Our coaches got an opportunity to try out the phenomenal combination of 3 Legged Thing tripods and Kowa Highlander scope to great effect.
A welcome post-shoot cup of tea and hot lunch preceded our weekend debriefing, leaving just 3 week’s anticipation before we next meet to leave for SA.
