Far Coley in Little Haywood Stafford saw this years BFTA Grand Prix round 5 and I was looking forward to this one as id never been there before so didn’t know what to expect. On the journey up we was talking about shooting jackets and what benefits they give to an FT shooter and maybe considering on purchasing one. After a long discussion taking in all the for and against we decided maybe just to think about it a little longer.
We soon arrived at the ground set in very nice countryside and the sound of the burger van generator and wafting fried onions. First things first we book in and do the normal walk the course to find the burger van very close if not sat in lane 8 and silhouettes beside that, very congested but manageable I guess as long as I don’t start there when mass of shooters finished the am session queuing up for burgers while I’m shooting.
Lane 1 starts beside the pond with target 1 being a reducer in a tree and target 2 over the pond, quiet a bit of wind coming across here at times. Moving on around the pond passed lane 8 where we are now in the trees a little bit more sheltered from the wind but to watch out for all those openings, some nice placed target there. Walking to which I called the third part of the course into open field via a small bridge only to find Jack Harris wearing a shooting jacket.! me and my partner looked at each other and laughed as we was discussing just this on the way down. Anyway all looked ok in the open field apart from lane 25 target 49 and I heard someone say it looked like it was in the next postcode and they wasn’t far wrong it really did.!, but you know what it was only 46-47 yards how deceiving.
After some time chatting way we decided to walk back and get some food plus sort out equipment ready for plinking. Plinking didn’t reveal too much other than equipment was working ok so we put our guns away in the shade and stood chatting to fellow shooters just behind where Jack Harris was finishing his AM round only to find out this last two shots was for a clearance which he got with nerves of steel 50/50….well done Jack.! and welcome to the Hall of Fame.
Well after seeing jack clear the course it’s not so surprising two shooting jackets are now on their way to two hopeful just over middle-aged weighted shooters 😉 …. Oh and yes, I did start lane 8.!
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Grade Winners
| AA 1st Jack Harris 50 2nd James Osbourne 48 3rd Dan Eley 47 A 1st Sam Barr 42 2nd Dave Mitchell 41 3rd Keith Hassall 40 B 1st Joshua Vaughan 42 2nd David Gage 39 3rd Andy Watkins 38 |
C 1st Paul Gallagher 39 2nd David P-Starr 38 3rd George Heath 37 Piston 1st Stephen Privett 38 2nd Neil Thorneycroft 35 3rd John Amos 35 Open 1st Ian Challis 43 2nd Jeremy Stamp 39 3rd Tony Fouracres 39 |
The next BFTA Grand Prix will be held at East Devon SWEFTA 17th July 2016…