Reproduced, with their kind, permission from Target Sports April 2001
A Shooter's Diary by Philip Winnall
Part XI: If you want to take part in some United Kingdom practical shooting events but don't know how, then read on.
IN ORDER to take part in UKPSA competitions you have to do two things. One is to be a member of the UKPSA and the other is to take their Basic Shotgun Safety Course. Successful completion of this will enable you to enter mini rifle competitions as well as shotgun events. Even if you think you don’t want to do shotgun events but only mini rifle, believe me, it is worth doing the course. Even if you don’t have a shotgun you can borrow one from the range. When I was there, there were three people who didn’t have shotguns and one had never even fired a shotgun before, taking part. The course consists of 14 hours of instruction in the safe use of shotguns, it requires about 350 rounds of bird shot ammo and takes a weekend to complete. The emphasis is on safety. If you cannot demonstrate that you can handle a gun safely to the instructors, you will not pass. This is not one of those courses where, if you turn up, you have passed, you will have to listen and absorb what they have to say and only then will you pass. In other words you have to work for it and when you have your certificate you will consider it to be an achievement.
I think most of us were a bit nervous the first day. We heard of strict courses that seemed to terrify the participants, but this was not the case at all. What you have to appreciate is the need to teach safe gun handling. If it isn’t safe, serious injury — or worse — could result. They were firm, but you realised that what they were telling you was right. And if you did something wrong they would correct you and repeat the exercise until they thought you were confident in your own ability to do it right. The emphasis over the whole weekend is very much one of safety.
The course was held at Harlow Town RPC, which is set in a small area of woodland not far from Junction 7 on the M11. We had to be there at 8:30 for a 9:00 o’clock start. After signing in and introducing ourselves, we all sat in a Portacabin for a two-hour talk on safe gun handling and general do’s and don’ts. The main topic was how to handle the shotgun, on the range and at home. For example muzzle direction. Always assume the gun is loaded. Some organisations specify muzzle up but the UKPSA require muzzle down at all times. I have to agree that if the rifle or shotgun is dropped with the muzzle up and goes off as it is falling, the gun would be pointing at the upper body with terrible consequences. However, if it is pointing down and it’s dropped, it is pointing at the ground or at worst your foot. Now I like my feet, but if I have to lose my head or my foot, the foot would go.
On the Range the course is run over a weekend, so most of the training you do is on the range. After the talk, we were split into groups of about five people, and then it was out on the range for the practical experience. One thing I would suggest — it is best to forget any shooting experience you have and listen to what the instructors have to say, because we all have bad habits. It is best to start afresh. My problem was my trigger finger was too close to the trigger when changing shooting positions. The finger must be out of the trigger guard and clear of the trigger.
All of the shooting is 100% supervised by a range officer. The first lesson was how to un-bag the shotgun. Simple enough, but there is a safe way and that is muzzle down at all times, even when bagged. Upon opening the bag, open the action of the shotgun and apply the safety catch, at the same time saying "opening the action, safety is applied". This is so everyone knows what is happening. The clunk of a bolt opening or closing ‘when the gun is not on the firing point’ does make everyone stop and look if you haven’t warned them as to what you are doing. When on the range, you will hear the range commands too — which you must follow to the letter. When on the firing point you will hear "load and make ready", then "are you ready". If not shout "not ready" so the range officer can give you more time. Provided no one has shouted "not ready", the next command will be "standby" and within five seconds, a verbal, audible or visual signal to commence firing will be given. When you have completed your course of firing you will hear the command "if you are finished, unload and show clear". You must unload the gun and apply the safety catch. The range officer will inspect the firearm and shout "gun clear". When the gun is in the gun slip or rack then the command "range is clear" is given so you can reset the targets. These commands you will hear at all the open shooting events, whether run by the UKPSA or not.
The equipment you require are eye and ear protection (compulsory). No red clothing, only range officers wear red for identification. No camouflage to be worn either, a UKPSA and Harlow RPC rule. And some decent boots. Gun and ammo can be supplied provided the organisers have enough notice. You will need about 350 rounds of 12 gauge shot size to be no bigger than 5’s if you were going to bring your own.
Shotguns.
Most of the practical shooters on the open circuit use Remington 1100 or 11-87 semi-auto shotguns with magazine extensions, but there were people with standard 3 shot semi-auto shotguns taking part in the course. If you have a standard gun you will not be turned away. Safe gun handling are what they want to see and not that you can hit eight steel targets in 3 seconds.
Things you will learn.
Throughout the duration of the weekend they will teach you how to shoot a shotgun from various positions, through apertures, around obstacles and the general techniques that you can use in a practical shotgun match. These techniques can be used in mini rifle events; three gun matches and steel challenges that require multiple position shooting. How to hold the gun for speed shooting, reloading from a belt and ‘load one shoot one’ stage. They will also teach the correct and safe way to change shooting from the strong side to the weak side, with the gun pointing down range at all times. We even did some blindfold shooting, this isn’t as bad as it sounds. As I said before you are totally supervised by an RIO. Load the gun and take aim at a steel plate. You would have about 10 steel plates in a row in front of you, close your eyes and shoot the steels. If you have a good shooting position you should hit quite a few or be very close, if not then your position or hold on the gun is at fault. The R/O would give suggestions as to how to correct this.
Throughout the 14 hours you would have been instructed by at least three R/Os — so they can judge your ability. There is a test on the second day which involves demonstrating what you have learnt by means of a small practical stage. If you pass this and the other range officers are happy with your performance you will be successful in the Basic Shotgun Safety Course. They will then give you a certificate of completion, which is useful when applying for a Shotgun of Firearms Certificate.
Conclusion.
Well worth doing. It was a long weekend and you have to work hard because of the time constraints. There were 14 people on the course I attended and all passed. A credit to the R/Os instruction. I must mention that the R/Os gave their time for free and the R/O s to thank are Dave Clegg, Alan Phillips, Ken Trail, Simon Baker and last, but not least, Roger Carter (one of six UKPSA instructors). Also Les Bailey, who is well known on the practical shotgun circuit, he demonstrated how to do a very fast reload.
To contact the UKPSA for information on courses or membership there is a hotline on Tel: 07010 703845 — contact Alan Phillips. Or by post at UKPSA, P0 BOX 4478, HARLOW, CM17 0RS or for more information than we can print, see the web site at http://www.ukpsa.co.uk
Back to Home PageABP 10/5/2001