The Notts RA BP Open Championship Meeting 2013

Organiser's Report

Friday - Day 1

The sun beamed down on the righteous. It would not always do so. On the morning of Friday the 21st of June a party of eager black powder shooters and their partners gathered at the Thorpe Pastures rifle range deep in the Derbyshire Peak District to compete in an annual round of competitions spread over three days.

Having assembled in the car park most of the ladies launched their expedition to hunt bargains while the rest of us trekked up to the range to worship the unkempt god of black powder.

Friday afternoon is taken up with a patch ball competition at 200 yds, 10 shots off hand and a further ten standing resting the wrist on a tripod. The target shows a picture of a 19th century Russian Grenadier over laid by a 36" circle with an 8" diameter black aiming mark. All the hits within the circle are counted with the bull used as a tie-breaker; hits outside the circle are classed as a "miss on target" and again can be used as a tie-breaker. This competition can be quite challenging as the change from one of the two positions to the other can require your point of aim to change.

The rifles used are muzzle loading and of either flintlock or percussion ignition using a cloth patched lead ball. The majority of the rifles are either modern reproductions or originals; but of late several people have been experimenting with the military Pattern 1853 Enfield rifle which has shallow rifling and was originally designed for the elongated Minie bullet and have had good results. The weather was good to us although the wind can be a challenge at Thorpe. Target 1 proved to be a good one to be on as Tony Fuller, Graham Player and Mike Alexandre all had good scores whereas target 2 was less kind to Martin Tebbs, Mike Mott and David Plewka.

Come the second detail and the party coming out of the butts could appreciate the uncertain nature of the wind. It had been noticeable in the butts that a string of good shots would be interrupted by several wild ones. Target 1 now proved to be unkind to Len Jackson while target 2 provided A Russell and Jerry Womble with near identical scores. After the score cards had been collated a slightly surprising picture emerged. The two people using Pattern 1853 Enfields both put up very good scores with Anthony Fuller scoring 16 without hitting the bull for 1st place whilst Jerry Womble scored 12 with one bull for fourth place; Mike Alexandre from Jersey came 2nd with 13 (again not hitting the bull) and A Russell 3rd with 12, but one more bull than Jerry. On such trifles may a bottle of wine rest! Graham Player was 5th with 11 and two bulls, David Plewka scored 7 with one bull, Mike Mott just behind with 6 and Len Jackson with 4. Martin Tebbs was unfortunately forced to retire.

The winners were not informed after shooting had finished as we have a prize giving dinner at the Coach & Horses in Fenny Bentley after shooting the Saturday Free Rifle competition. It is surprising that so many of those shooting original patch ball rifles did not keep up with the Enfields which were not designed for a patched ball but the distance of 200 yds is unusual and the rifles are not used a great deal so creating the right combination of powder, ball and patch would require some experimentation.

Having put the rifles away and the butts party brought back to the 200 yd firing point we had the great pleasure of a demonstration of Len Jackson's cannon which he very kindly brought up with him from Dorset. It is a most impressive sight in full roar.

Saturday - Day 2

The weather for the Free Rifle competition on Saturday was going to play tricks and keep us guessing but the course of fire was of a more familiar nature being shot over the three distances of 400, 300 and 200 yds in descending order using muzzle loading rifles of .451" or .461" equipped with aperture sights after the fashion of the latter half of the 19th century when these rifles were introduced. In contrast to Friday, Saturday was overcast and threatened to become damp. The details for the butts and firing points set out for their respective stations and the competition got under way.

Anthony fuller had asked to be on the first detail because he suffers from hay fever and so he was. Unfortunately no sooner had he set up to shoot than the low flying clouds released a steady light rain which forced him to retire after only a few shots! He was not alone as Graham Player also retired at the same time. There were times when the rain let up but the threat was always present although Jerry Womble powered through the three ranges to be the top scorer at the close of the first detail closely followed by Len Jackson and then David Minshall with Bill Parnham not far behind him. Mike Hunting also shot on this detail using his .577" military pattern Enfield but did not enter the competition and so returned no score which is a pity as he is very good with this rifle and has made scores on a par with .451" rifles in other competitions.

The second detail had the advantage of no rain but the wind was a challenge, Ken Watson set the pace at 400 yds, David Plewka and David Craven both putting in good scores whilst A Russell using sight settings for a different rifle was suitably baffled by the failure to trouble the markers. Martin Tebbs pointed out the blindingly obvious but that was the whole competition knocked on the head for one shooter. 300 and 200 yards passed off without incident with Ken Watson shooting strongly.

Dinner and Prize Giving

At the conclusion of the match every one scuttled off to their accommodation to clean up for the evening meal at the Coach and Horses where the prizes for the Patch Ball and Free Rifle competitions would be awarded. After a fine meal Mike Mott presented the awards for the Patch Ball to Mike Alexandre in 2nd place a bottle of wine and also a bottle to Andrew Russell in 3rd place, Tony Fuller the richly deserving winner was not at the dinner so his special beer glass and bottle of fine ale had to be presented the following day. The Free Rifle was won by Ken Watson with a total of 111.5 who received the fine ale and glass, 2nd was Jerry Womble with 99.2 for which he received a bottle of wine, 3rd was Len Jackson with 94.3 again a bottle of wine for him. 4th was David Plewka 92.2, 5th David Minshall 91.1, 6th David Craven 84.2, 7th Denis Chambers 72.0, 8th Bill Parnham 70.2, and last and decidedly least A Russell 9th with 49.1. As mentioned above Anthony Fuller and Graham Player were forced to retire and three more did not return a score.

Sunday - Day 3

Sunday should have been a Minie competition for Muzzle loading military rifles shot on replica square targets of the first Notts Rifle Association Volunteer meeting in 1861 with a splendid silver cup for the top Notts shooter. But it rained: it rained with no apparent likelihood that it would stop and no one felt like getting their rifles soaked or themselves, particularly those with a long way to travel home. Bill Parnham won the cup last year so he will have to keep it clean for some time yet. The black powder breech loader competitions for large and medium bore rifles planned for the afternoon also had to be cancelled.

It remains for me to thank Mike and Muriel Mott for their usual invaluable contributions of prize finding, food providing, and range officering without which the meeting would not be the success it is. Mike Hunting was also a tower of strength and provided invaluable help with the running of the range and also Graham Player who's love of hill climbing to put up and take down the warning flags is astounding. For all those who helped with flags and in other ways, thank you. Thanks also to Ann Vause for the help in the butts and scoring. I hope that next year we shall all gather together again at Thorpe and the weather will look a little more kindly on us.

A Russell

Detailed Scores

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