FT Blog: The 2014 BFTA GP Report

By no means does the end of the BFTA Grand Prix series signal the end of the Summer FT season but it does dominate the calendar from April through to August. Changed from nine rounds to only seven (with 5 scores to count) for 2014 the hope was to cut down a little bit on the expense of competing in every round. Also allow some room in the calendar for clubs to host other events, attracting those shooters that would normally be spending all their time doing the GPs.

I welcomed this change and when I looked at the calendar I also realised that I wouldn’t have to miss a round for my family holiday, a real bonus. The first four rounds were separated by two clear weekends and whilst in principal that was great I found it quite hard to get into the swing of the competition. That wasn’t helped by a poor performance in the first round held at Castle FTC knowing there was less room for mistakes than ever this season. The way the rounds were organised also allowed for a summer break, again a fine idea and it meant that the final three rounds were held on alternate weekends. This upped the pace and tension for the climax of the GP series held in the beautiful woodland at Emley Moor.

MICE & MEN

Well they say something about the best laid plans, and despite good weather throughout most of the summer our infamous British weather was to play a big part in the GP series. That isn’t strictly true though as it wasn’t really our weather that was the problem, it was someone else’s weather which they happened to have finished with and thought we might like. The remnants of hurricane Bertha swept across Britain in the few days before the planned date for Round Six which was to be hosted by East Devon. Had the shoot been held at any other ground things may have been different but trees had come down before during previous storms at the East Devon ground and the correct (but difficult) decision was made to cancel the event.

So unfortunately we lost the momentum in the run up to the final round and now with only four scores to count from six the leader board saw quite a reshuffle, to the delight of some and the consternation of others!

Who would have thought then that the weather would have been so kind to us for our final round, especially as it fell on an August Bank Holiday weekend! Emley Moor did us proud with a great 50- shot course and it was a real nail biter as no fewer than five shooters could take the overall title with many top places in the other grades very much open too. Mark Bassett with his Steyr made his intentions clear with a massive 49 ex 50 in the morning session placing him at the top of the tree. This left very little room for error from his main rivals for the title, Andy Calpin and me, in the afternoon.

MESS UP!

I am afraid to say that I made a mess of things with the same mistakes I have been making all summer. I could afford to miss three targets, I missed four, ‘doh!’ Andy Calpin however is made of sterner stuff and despite missing his first shot only missed two targets; all he could afford to miss, to take his second GP series title on the trot by less than a percentage point. So as we have seen before the result of a competition held over hundreds of targets and shot in all kinds of conditions came down to a hit or miss on a single plate.

This summer over the Grand Prix I have missed at least five targets with 15mm kills zones and as well as being a bit rubbish in itself, and not overstating things, it cost me the series. I have found this quite frustrating as I am sure you can imagine and particularly as it was my standing shooting that I was concerned about as the season started which, as it turns out, has been fine. The 15mm are the smallest we shoot, each round can only contain two of these and even then the range is restricted to a maximum of 25 yards. None of which makes me feel any better!

PRACTICE MAKES

Quality practice time is something I find hard to come by (I’m generally talking too much) but even so I did check my rifle and scope settings for these small targets as I became aware of a problem. However everything seemed fine with my equipment but the misses didn’t stop. So after the final GP round and with uncharacteristic resolution I hit the practice range with serious intent. I carefully checked the point of impact at every yard from 8 to 15 and then at 5 yard intervals up to 55. Guess what, they were still spot on, I can’t say I was surprised!

My little bit of practice did show something up though and I am afraid to say that those misses were clearly down to poor technique. I shoot my rifle resting the forend on my knee using my left hand to steady it. From what I saw on the practice range I am tensing up my left hand when shooting the smaller targets (it’s the pressure in every sense) pushing the point of impact high and right. The 15mm targets aren’t forgiving enough for this lapse in technique.

So at least I have established where I might be going wrong and whether I like it or not it looks like it is down to me, not really a great surprise. As for what I can do about it, well that is another matter entirely and something for me to think about. With a bit of luck I’ll have figured it out in time for the 2015 BFTA Grand Prix.