I must admit I like this shoot I do, it's the final big one of the year but it always has a great atmosphere so I wouldn't miss it for the world. I wouldn't miss it for the world? I nearly had to miss it for the brother-in-law's engagement party, which was on the Saturday night! After much begging and also agreeing to be home by 4 p.m. on the Saturday night Amanda relented and agreed I could go.

Was in the first squad, so should easily be back by four p.m. Arrived to find the normal entrance gate locked and no one around, I always have trouble getting into the ground, so off I drive to the main entrance.

Luckily for me there isn't a queue, well at 7a.m. there isn't likely to be is there, eventually after nearly killing a few pedestrian's I am directed through to a carpark! What the bleedin hell do I want with a normal carpark, speaking to the fat contrlloer, dressed as a carpark attendant he say's oh you're in the wrong area….too damn right I am. So I'm directed to drive straight through the trade stands to the FT course! 10 more dead pedestrian's, a couple of squashed dog's, a few duck's, and two squashed tents later I eventually arrive at our FT encampment! Don't you just love the European's!

Anyway arrived to find it very windy, cold oh and it had forecast rain, course. Do you ever have one of those day's where you know you're going to have a bad old day but you still can't stop yourself from continuing down the road when you'd have been better off going home to bed?

I found out that I was drawn against Little Kev and Tony Cook so at least we could have a laugh whilst we were going round. Tony is one of those guy's that no matter what happen's to him he always just laughs it off, oh a car's just run over your gun Tony, oh well not do my scores any harm hahaha.

Time to start, Kev was pushed into shooting first, then Tony and finally me. First lane Kneeler's, what the f"£$! Who in their right mind want's to start on a kneeling lane? Thinking about it though I'd rather start on a set of kneeler's than an end on one!

Where were we, oh yes, first lane kneeler's, first target was also swaying in the wind! Yes you did read that right, the first target was about 10 foot up a tree and swaying from side to side!

Kev, knocked them both down, whilst Tony missed one and I followed Kev by knocking them both over. Moving to the next lane and again Kev nails them as does Tony whilst I don't. The longer of the two I gave wind to but it didn't need any as the shot went straight, whilst the second just crept in!

It was a weird day, the wind was gusting, but the ones where you'd expect to give wind, didn't want any, whilst the ones that should fly straight were just creeping in the edge of kill.

Moving down through the lanes, it seemed like every time Kev dropped a shot in order to let me catch him up I'd miss one on that lane, whilst Tony stayed two down more than me. It had started to rain, but not just ordinary rain, cold and wet rain rain, I is not a happy bunny.

Reaching the bottom end of the course we were met by people walking to the start of the course saying, we hit one or hit two out of the last six target's, yeah right. After seeing their scorecards though, they weren't lying!

Time to enter the corner of doom, or rather the last six target's, Kev was 2 down, me 4 and Tony 6, so the scores were pretty close. It was now my luck was to change as Kev suddenly decided he didn't like hitting target's and out of these six targets he missed 3 while I missed 1 and I think Tony dropped 2. Who's scared of the corner of doom.

Long walk back to the start, and the rain was disappearing, thankgod, I'm still soaked but we only have a few more lanes to go!

So me and kev are now level and he just seems to go on kamikazee mode, well so did I as well, nothing went right, luckily for me though by the final lane I had just beat Kev by 1 target, to end up 8 down, whilst Tony was laughing at 12 down.

Time is now 12:30, so drop the gun off at the car, give Kev a quick hand spraying the targets, get a bite to eat, meet the trade and home for 4 p.m. That was the pan anyway.

I now know why people don't volunteer for jobs within the BFTA. By 3p.m. I'd been to visit most of the companies that I needed to see, so I walk back to the car, but unfortunately everyone I meet wants to know what's happening within the BFTA about this and that so by 3:45p.m. I eventually manage to jump in my car and exit stage left for a 2 hour trip home! Wifey is not going to be a happy bunny.

Arrived home, yesterday, in plenty of time, honest, it's amazing what a packet of frozen peas will do to lower the swelling from a black eye! Got home at 5:15 p.m. to be honest Amanda expects me to be late so she always sets the curfew an hour before she wants me to get home! Finally got to bed at midnight and then up at 5 to get ready to goto shoot, never again.

Not shooting until the afternoon, so time for a quick walk round the fair with Amanda, Sam, Little Kev and Tony Cook. Was a quick walk round as well, we only made it to the bottom of gunmakers row before we left to go and do what they wanted, whilst we stayed near the gun's!

Speaking to some of the guy's shooting the morning session, it appeared conditions were as hard as the previous day, the forecast was for it to get a lot worse by the afternoon --oh good. Eventually the morning's session was finished, scores weren't bad but compared to previous years they were down right awful!

Thing's were going great for me today until I found out I was shooting with Moses - Terry Ord - and Nathan Reeve. At this event four years ago, moses was christened cos every time he sat down and put his eye to the scope he parted the wind - or rather the wind stopped! Just joking about things going right until I found that I was shooting with these two, don't know if we'd manage to get any shooting done with all the banter going on between us that's all.

Today Nathan was to shoot first, then moses and finally me, if I took the shot's quick enough hopefully the wind would still be calm! Nathan was off to a flyer, well that's a take the p£$$ remark, cos out of the first 4 lanes he was around 50%, me and Terry both clear or maybe one down - writing this two weeks after the event so bear with me!

Then it was like moses had flicked a switch, although he flipped it for Nathan and kept forgetting to leave it off for him and me! Mind you in my defence I had two shot's where as Moses and Nathan had both agreed there was no way I was going to get them as the wind suddenly went crazy! I was thankful for hitting faceplates, it was that bad.

Moving on and we get to the stander's, it's blowing a gail and Nathan loads his gun and the wind disspear's, two shot's taken in 10 seconds. Moses jumps up get's the first but takes his time about it, the wind is starting to reappear, and then nails the second. By the time I get to the lane the winds back upto normal, I also have Bertie, Mark Bassett, chiriping in the background saying you aint gonna get these you useless £$%^. I managed one out of the two so was reasonably happy.

Moving through the course again it was very much like Saturday in that the one's that you'd have thought needed wind, didn't whilst the ones that looked clam required edge of plate. Still it's all good fun, isn't it.

As we approach the final couple of lanes I sit down and the wind disappears so load the gun and start to rangefind, drop a forty yard target at 35 seconds, but by now the wind is here so decided to wait. We get to the final 30 seconds and the wind is just getting stronger and stronger. 20 seconds and I have to shoulder the gun and try to get the crosshairs to stay on faceplate as the wind pushes me from side to side. 10,9,8,7,6,5 and the wind decides to get even faster 4,3,2,1 snatch the trigger at the lefthand side of the faceplate only to not even strike metal! All Moses can say is that's another one you were never going to hit, not in that wind!

Final lane and Nathan misses one to finish on a 27, awful by his standards, Terry get's both to finish on a 28 as do I, I am so glad to finish! For a reason I can't go into I had to take Nathan down to a trade stand, upon returning I was told to get a move on as I was in a shoot off for 15^th against Terry Moses Ord and Cliff Burt.

Luckily for me the other shooter's were taking their time's at deciding who was the best shot. 30 minute's later Terry is asked to shoot first standing at three target's, unfortunately he missed all three. I was next but hadn't rangefound the targets so the first at 30 yards I shot thinking it was 35 so missed high, luckily the second and third all went obligingly. Cliff went next and missed the first but got the second it was all down to the final target……..it seemed like an age but could only have been a couple of seconds when Cliff pulled the trigger but unfortunately for him struck the faceplate. So I had taken 15^th at the Euro's.

Reflecting on this past year, as arkwright would probably say it's been a funny old year. There's been joy and also sadness but for all the sadness one thing I can say is I'm glad I've got FT in my life as the number of friends myself and Amanda have made this past year have made it all worthwhile, here's to next year.

We'd, me and Amanda, had driven down on Friday night called off at Alex Rowe's house, Napier, to pick up some brochure's, Friday night rush hour ……….nuff said! At least we'd had a reasonable night's kip and also it meant we only had a five minute drive to arrive at the newbury ground, which made a change.

At the ground we were surprised by the number of people actually there, I mean normally you have around 20 no show's, not this year, I think there was only three that didn't turn up!

First round I'd drawn Graham Taylor, oh well at least it meant I could have a go at retaining the plate title, well he was bound to knock me out. Well that was the idea, unfortunately Graham hadn't been reading my thought's correctly, as he dropped a shot ealry on and then missed a stander to finish 2 down from my clear! A clear, what a way to start the day, maybe I'd win the showdown instead of the plate!

This first round was certainly weird this year, Dave Baines had been knocked out as had Tim Finley - although Tim had actually cleared the course he lost out in the shoot off to Dorian Falconer! Strange some of the top shot's not getting through to the second round.

Had a bit of a wait for the next round, up against Des Edwards, so went and helped Amanda and Sam pack some goody bags for everybody.

Eventually it was time to grab the gun and start to shoot, Des went first and promptly missed one of his first shot's, as did I. For me something just didn't feel right, no matter what I changed - position wise - nothing worked and as we reached the final lane I found I was one behind, with a lane that had a 40 yard target a 50 on it.

Des sat down and only went and missed both targets, the prat!!! What to do? Ranging the first target it was missed all over the face plate, oh wee if in doubt give it nought. I was very lucky with the first shot as it just crept in the left hand side of the target.

Next target and it's fifty yards, again splattered all over the faceplate, what to do, what to do? Give it inside right hand edge, it was one of those shot's where you could follow it to the target and it never moved and down the target falls!! I'd beaten Des 14 -13, How do you go from clearing one course to missing 6 targets?

Anyway next round and I've got James Woodhead, this is where I know I'm bowing out - have you seen James's recent form!!

I was three down by the time, we'd fired eight shot's, James wasn't. there was no way I could recover from this and as we approached the last lane, a kneeler I'd lost. James went on to clear this final lane and as I sat down Mick, James's dad said come on Matt we want these in under 10 seconds. Looking at the two targets there didn't seem to be much between them so I thought what the hell. Loading the gun I snatched the shot off, quickly tried to reload but dropped the pellet, so scrabbled around for another pellet, snatched another shot off dropping the second target in the process. Mick stopped the watch on 10.2 second's! I'd even failed at this!

I was now out of the comp, hey-ho and all that, I would have liked to go another round, cos I'd have met up with Dan Eley, but it wasn't to be.

By the time I'd collected my badge it was time to go find our accommodation, we'd booked a cottage for a few day's so were l;ooking forward to a relaxxing couple of day's.

Congratulation's to Cliff Church on winning the plate competition also to John Chopping on taking the showdown and the Burris scope, excellent!

British Master's.

As I am trade Liaison Officer I got called to a meeting to discuss the forthcoming World Championships in England next year. I would have prefered to have shot early to be honest, but alas it wasn't to be!

By the time I had made my way upto the starting line the wind was starting to appear, oh good! Early indications were you needed to keep your wits about you as the scores that had come off so far were very high, Cliff Church 39ex40 numerous on 38. Anyway, I bumped into Dale Gath who was looking for a shooting partner, so we decided to go around together.

The course started one the left hand side as you walked up through the wood, same course as the one I'd put a 14 ex 20 in the previous day, this wasn't going to be fun!

Dale went first and got the first two targets as did I. At the next Dale again did the business whilst I was caught out by the wind! This was repeated for the next two lanes, no matter what I did it was wrong. Mind you it was a hell of a lot windier than earlier on, even the competitors coming off were saying so! Nathan Reeve was just coming off the course with another 39ex40, excellent shooting!

Anyway as we approached lane 10 Andy Calpin came running upto me saying "I don't know what is in that lube stuff you gave me, but it bleedin works!". The day previous I'd given him some Napier lube to try out when he was practising but Andy being Andy decided to use it in competition! I asked how he'd done, it was a 39ex40 and he was well chuffed, I have got to get me some of this lube!

Moving on I was still three down, but then at one of the lanes in the top part of the wood, I never even hit metal, what had happened? As I PA'd backwards the twig I'd hit on the way through to the target was still wobbling! This isn't going to be my weekend!

Dale was a couple down by now, he couldn't win the shoot but a top 10 place was still a possiblity! Anyway onwards and downwards!

Moving on to the end of the course Dale was three down and me six, unfortunately at the last lane Dale dropped another, if he had he'd it he'd have been in a shoot-off, I cleared the final two targets, congratulated Dale and went to put the gun away.

What can I say about the weekend to sum it up, I don't know really I think the whole year for me has been a bit naff, maybe it's because I have become too involved with running the sport? Who knows?

Was due to be gardening this weekend, she who must be obeyed had instructed me that this is what I was doing on the Friday night - but dear I have a shoot to goto on Sunday, oh come on sweet pea let me goto the shoot.

O.K. it went more like this, "You're not going shooting this weekend because the garden needs finishing!". "But, but, but…..thinking fast….I haven't qualified yet and if I do, you get to goto Monkey World while we're down there.". "O.K. but I'm not going as the garden needs finishing so shoot in the morning and get back before 2 to help and make sure you bleedin qualify!".

I didn't have the heart to tell her I'd already qualified, to be fair I didn't lie as I hadn't heard my name being shouted out at the results at Newbury, neither had I looked at the BFTA website showing the qualifiers…….honest.

So here I am 5 in the morning getting out of bed tripping over everything in the dark trying not to wake t'old cow up, in between snoring she mumbles "So you're going shooting?", Snort, "Be back for two!" S….N….O….R….T. "Yes Dear" I said dutifly.

Arriving at Harriers ground about 8 O'Clock I was greeted by the ever smiling Tony Cook who advised me to park as far away from the shoot as possible if I wanted to get away early, he even guided me into the spot!

As ever it was blowing a gale at Harriers, has anyone ever been there and it hasn't? After the usual meet and greet it was off to book in where I found out there was a Silhouette comp, mini main / vermin shoot and a golden shot as well as the main event, would I like to do them all? Do fat dogs pass wind? That answer fell on deaf ears, well they do speak funny in the midland's you know, so I followed it up with Yep. If I had a quick run round the course I could go straight onto the minimain and finish up with the silhouette's have a bite to eat and a drink and still be away for 2, she did say set off at 2, didn't she?

I couldn't be bothered with the plinking range so it was time for the other duty of taking the P!$$. I was quite happy that people weren't in the mood for p!$$ taking as it just spurred me on some more. Bumped into Holly and Bainesy so discussed the water torture of the rifles that was due to happen later on at the shoot.

Before I knew what was happening we were called to shoot, I'd got lane 18 so had a loooonnnnngggggg'ish walk to the lane. Approaching the lane I could see Carl Davies stood waiting for me to arrive and as I approached could smell his new aftershave, more like could taste his new aftershave. "Jeeeesssuuussss Carl, what's that stink?", all I can say is we were near the bootom pond and this where the ducks obviously go to the toilet, boy it was rank!

Ignoring the smell, Carl wanted to shoot first and it was now that I noticed we were starting on a standing lane. Well I hadn't actually as I couldn't quite focus correctly due to the pungent smell so was thankful Carl was shooting first and noticed the sign.

Two dinks from Carl and it was my turn, you know we pay all this money out for decent optics and it's like money down the drain all because you can't see because your eye's are stinging from the smell of Duck S%"$. Anyway I was happy as I sneaked the first shot high, whilst the second……let's just say that it seemed a good idea, at the time I might add, to pull the trigger with the scope's crosshairs hovering at nine O'Clock outside of the kill!

Moving to the next lane, it was as though someone had sprayed air freshener you couldn't smell a thing or was it that the insides of your nose had been burnt out? Anyway I digress.

Next lane kneelers, someone up there hates me! Think Carl got one of these, on second thought no he missed these as well as they both ended up about an inch below the kill. I was fortunate as the scent of flowers wafted through my nostrils and I managed to get both of these.

We were now facing our first lane of sitters, it was strange as the wind seemed to have disappeared mind you we had started to move round a corner on the course. Anyway we both dropped these targets so it was a good lane.

Moving on through the last few lanes everything was fine as all the targets fell obligingly so little to report here. Time for a long walk back to the start of the course.

The further we walked back to the start of the course the more the wind got up, and as me and Carl faced the first lane we both hadn't a clue where to aim - alright I'm telling porkies here we knew it would be a case of aiming off the left hand side of the kill. Anyway it ended up with Carl giving too much off the left hand side whilst I didn't and split it at 11O'clock.

Another brief word about the course, whilst the bottom of the course seemed fairly open, up at the top we were shooting through gaps in the trees and then out into the open. The wind was strange, cos you could feel it where you were sat but out at the target there didn't seem to be any?

Moving on a few lanes, I hate writing about knocking targets over as it becomes boring and it also sounds like I know what I'm doing when I don't. I'd missed a couple more by the time we'd reached the bottom corner of this section.

We bumped into young Sam Monkman, he was having a good day being seven down, having dropped one at every lane in the section me and Carl were just moving into!

Four lanes togo and we're now back in the Duck Shite smelling section, oh good. I'm still four down whilst Carl is 12 down. Worst case scenario is I'll match his score, that sounds awful!

Anyway the first target is a short one part way up a tree on my left, this one falls nicely. The second is a full 55 yards away with it's string blowing left to right, although the shot is shielded pretty well all the way to the target. It seemed like a good idea to aim just outside the left hand edge of the target. The shot was one of those perfect ones that goes exactly where I aimed, unfortunately I wanted it to move a little to the right! Oh well, five down.

Onto the next lane and again we have another 55 yard target, this time it isn't shielded by anything and again the string is bowing! Learning from the previous lane I aim exactly the same place, slip the trigger and once again another perfect shot that hit's exactly where I aimed. Hey Ho, six down.

Carl was knocking them all down, where as I wasn't. Onto the next lane and thank god I cleared it! As did Carl.

Final lane, one low on the ground the other high up a tree - I'd just watched Carl get the low one and miss the high one. What can I say, should it be that I saw how everyone else's shot had struck about an inch above the kil on the high target so I aimed low to knock it over? Or should I just say that the prat pulling the trigger noticed that everyone else had gone an inch above the kill on the high target so aimed at the centre of the target and missed it cos the pellet struck an inch high above the kill! $%^YHYH%WHEH%^$%

Seven down to Carl's thirteen so quite happy considering the conditions. Walking back upto the start of the course we bumped into Tim Finley who was waiting to shoot his final lane, he was two down!

Got back to the car and it was just 12:30 ish, so still time to do the mini-main and silhouette's! Well there would have been if I didn't spend an hour and half talking about shooting that is.

2O'Clock and I wander across to do the silhouette's, Ian Taylor's shooting them as well as Tim - who finished the main two down the poxy git. Anyway the wind was still blowing and you know you're in trouble when you try to aim at the first chicken and miss it due to the wind. Managed the next four though.

This sequence was repeated on the pigs. The turkey's however were a different kettle of fish, as I missed the first and third! Onto the rams and it's time to give lots of wind, basicly aim at the next ones backside to hit the first and down all five went, that was easy can't see the problem with silhouette shooting……….God I was glad that was over. Time for another break. Well it was 2:45, and Amanda never expects me to set off home when I say I will!

It was about 3:15 when we started the mini main, well joined the queue of eight shooters. I was shooting round with Russ Spencer for the second year in a row.

The mini main, what can we say about this? Which sick ba$%ard came up with the idea of a mini main. It was set out in an open field with bleeding ridiculously small kill zones - some were square and the longest target set out around 45 - 47 yards!

The least said about this event the better, I started off really bad, picked up a bit and missed the final last lane full sized kill zone twice to finish on a 12, Russ had a 10. I enjoyed it really…..no, honest I did.

Finishing the mini main at around 4 p.m. meant I'd just got enough time to do the Water Torture event between Dave Baines and Dave Hollingdale. Basicly this event started because it was said the Daystate MKIII wasn't waterproof, Mr Baines saying it was whilst Holly said it wasn't, so some sick person suggested we get them both to a shoot and pour water over them and their gun's - see pictures - to see which gun broke first.

All I'll say is in the absence of clean drinking water we had to use our only alternative dustbin's ½ full of pond water!

We started off with chronoing the gun's first, all seemed about even here, then the first bucket of water was thrown over them. The gun's were then re-chronoed and it was found Holly's gun was getting lower and lower readings, had his gun broken, but he then realised he hadn't filled it since doing all the comps.

After Holly refilled his gun and the chrono readings were re done another bucket was thrown over the gun's. Unfortunately the second bucket stopped the Daystate from functioning, whilst the Anschutz kept on going.

To try and revive the Daystate another bucket was then thrown over the gun's but unfortunately the Daystate was no more, whilst the Anschutz was still breathing!

Boy this was fun, but it was time for me to go, well it was 5 O'Clock and I was due to be setting off home at 2:30, oh well no tea for me tonight!

Looking at my results so far this year I realised that I needed to go to Newbury and have a good'un otherwise I wouldn't qualify for the showdown and to be fair I like the showdown / Master's weekend. Amanda was nagging me to have a good shoot so I'd qualify as well, nice to have some encouragement until I realised that she was only wanted me to qualify so I'd take her to Monkey World down on the South Coast!

Arrived nice and early, didn't take a wrong turning this year - which makes a change, even though I didn't intend shooting until the afternoon as there was some world champs discussions taking place in the morning.

Weather wise what can we say, it was bloody windy, no it was worse than that it was f'ing windy. Watching the early competitors shooting the top part of the course there were more dunks than dinks in fact there was quite a few ………. Yes, silence as pellets missed faceplates!

Many of the early competitors were laughing saying have you seen the weather forecast for the afternoon you must be mad, to be fair I hadn't so was expecting the worst! It was bad enough at the moment with the wind but if as people were saying the rain was due to hit as well then it would be……what's the word……. Interesting!

Eventually the first competitors came off the course, scores were low but not too bad given the conditions mid to high 30's were the best then Tim Finley came off with a superb 41 and Nathan Reeves with a 40 - these last two scores were going to be hard to beat. It seemed the only thing people were saying was rangefind two or three times to get the distances right, we'll wait and see.

Waiting at the briefing it was announced that there'd been a few lane changes lucky me had my lane changed from 3 to 19 so that meant a long walk to the end of the course shoot a few lanes then another long walk to the start of the course, oh good! One thing it did mean was I'd have a few lanes to get settled before reaching the harder part of the course.

The course took on it's usual shape, it started at the top of the first hill and meandered it's way across whilst moving down the side of this hill. Due to the fact the woodland part of this is fairly sparse it could never be described as easy, but at least it seemed the course designer had looked at the weather forecast and made suitable adjustments to the distance of it.

Arriving at Lane 19 I was pleased to see I was shooting with Graham Snook of Genesis Rifles fame, I'd never shot with Graham before but had spoke to him a few times so knew we'd have a laugh even if we never hit ought. Even better we were the last shooters on the course which meant 6 clear lanes in front so there would be no standing around and waiting, just shoot and straight onto the next lane.

The start was sounded and Graham was to shoot first, which suited me! Graham's first two shot's struck high and missed the kill, mine connected, again slightly high in the kill but not too high to start knocking any clicks off.

At the next lane Graham again struggled and missed the kill's, I usually like shooting second, but this was starting to unsettle me! I managed both which I was pleased about. The strange thing was with these two shots, whilst it appeared there wasn't any wind down the bottom end of the course these two had gone to separate sides of the kill!?

Unperturbed it was onto the next lane Graham got one of them, as did I funnily enough as one of the shot's exited stage left? Again there was no wind, I even followed the pellet flying away from where the cross hairs were how bizarre, well I wasn't thinking that at the time it was more like you ba$£%rd but on the outside all I could do was laugh!

I was still smarting at missing that target as we finished lane 25, I was still one down and Graham had managed to put some good shot's together to make his score a little more respectable - although he wasn't impressed.

Walking back to the start of the course it was obvious we had been on the easy part of the course as many shooter's were struggling big style, although they still didn't sound as bad as the morning scores.

I can't write what Graham said as he shot the first two targets, he missed the first but got the second. When I sat down and looked at the first target all I could do was repeat what Graham had said as very few people had hit the kill and there was a huge group of misses on the faceplate about an inch above the kill! What to do on this first target? Times running out, winds gusting up the hill so it's bound to lift the pellet, oh sod it dial the range aim an inch below the target and out on the left hand side. Well the inch below the target was a good idea, off the left hand side was just stupid as the pellet ended up perfect height wise but an inch off the left hand side of the kill! Damn, bugger, cowing targets. Onto the second and it sails right across the kill, only just hitting the face plate.

From being one down I was now three down! Not a good way for things to be going. Onto the next lane and Graham drops both targets, it's only when he try's to reset them that he realises he's shot one out of lane. Trying not to make the same mistake as Graham I miss the first but get the second - I'd knocked ten yards off the range and still aimed the bottom of the kill, this was after seeing the first pellet miss high!

All I could make out from the these first four targets was that the wind as it came up the hillside was simply pushing the shots high. The daft thing was we were on the top of the hill so you'd have thought that it wouldn't have affected the pellets as much, but it was.

Four down after 14 targets, not exactly the start I was looking for but hey-ho. Moving down this section I dropped another two targets, Graham also shot the wrong target again unfortunately although he hadn't missed much else. To add to all this the rain had started to come down, bnot the best of shooting conditions I hasten to add.

I soon regained composure and started to hit targets again along with Graham and we soon found ourselves approaching the last couple of lanes. It was noticeable now how the wind had slowed right down was it because of the rain, Who knows?

One of our last lanes was a set of kneelers, after watching Graham nail them both I steadied myself on the furthest of the two - only about 35 yards - just out the top of the kill aiming to bring the crosshair down into the centre before releasing the shot. As with all good intentions thing's don't exactly go to plan and I pull the trigger about half inch above the kill - now that was a good shot Matt!

Onto the last lane and Graham misses one of them, due to wind. Now what do I do, there doesn't appear to be any wind but Graham's just missed because of it. Oh sod it just give it inside edge on the kill, the pellet never moved, thank god! I finished 7 down, this was the result I needed, surely I'd qualify with this! Graham, had a disaster, although he had picked up towards the end to finish on a 22 - excellent considering the start.

Walking back up to the start line it seemed that I was on for a good result as a lot of people were 10 or more down, John Noon was 6 down with 3 lanes to go and Dan Eley was 7 down.

As the final shooters came off I realised I had finished joint second, but as I'd just cleaned my gun down I didn't want to get it back out again for the shootoff, so asked Dan if we could use his gun and let him dial for me. I was onto a looser by opting to use his gun, but to be honest I was more happy to know I'd qualified than owt else. Anyway Dan won the shootoff.

To sum up it was a good shoot, I always enjoy shooting at Newbury as it's always been kind to me in the past. It was nice to see a few more people staying for the presentation at the end of the shoot as well, if the sport is to progress any further people do need to stay until the end for the presentation.

Oh well there's always next week to return back to the usual 20 ex 50.

Little Kev, Bobby Banks and Dave Harrison were coming to pick me and then we'd drive to Hull to catch the overnight ferry to Rotterdam and then the idea was the next day we'd make our way slowly to the barracks where we were stopping in Germany.

First thing's first, upon arriving at Hull, before any of the other competitors, it was time to Chat the lady up who was putting the cars on board the boat and tell her not to let any other shooters on board. It was around an hour later, after we'd been on board that Dave Penman came up saying "you £$%^, that woman who was organising the cars wasn't going to let us on you know!", "Nothing to do with us Dave…………honest."

Arrived at the Barracks after an 8 hour drive, christ what a drive - I thought the Italians were bad drivers but they've got nothing on the German's. Initially shocked at the accommodation very basic, but it's cheap and we didn't expect to be spending much time in there anyway. Word to potential sponsors of the England team or indeed sponsor's of shooter's going abroad any chance the trade could fund accommodation whilst we're abroad? Just thought I might as well ask.

Met up with some of the other competitors in a little restaurant then it was off to the local ice cream shop, quick discussion about what we were expecting to be faced with at the shoot and it was off back to the barracks.

After being surprised at having a decent nights sleep, we all met up at the practice range. It was a field with cards placed at different ranges, not a real lot you can say about it other than at the back was a large grassy mound that provided us with fun and games with regard wind!

First problem, after all the problems I've been having with the Daystate over the past three or four months Nick Murphy of Zenith Rifles managed to fix it, so I arrive in Germany and somehow I'd managed to strip the thread on my butt hook. Luckily I had a spare in my toolbox.

I was fine with all ranges apart from the 55 yard board. The pellets were striking high above the mark you were aiming at, they'd then catch the wind and either move left or right, you'd then drop 8 or 9 clicks off and the pellets would then drop six inch or so! I was starting to panic but then spoke to Andy Calpin who was experiencing the same so I decided to concentrate on re-checking the shorter ranges. Little Kev was having no problems at all, drilling some superb groups also hitting the spinner at 55 yards standing - one to watch over the weekend me thinks!

There was a civic reception held in the town of Ebern to make us all feel welcome. It was time to meet up with the many friends I've made over the past two years when travelling to Northern Ireland and Norway it was also a time to make new ones as well!

Bobby Banks, England Team Captain, had told me he couldn't pick the person for the final position in the team so he was going to put the four names into a hat and draw it out this way. The names were Nick Murphy, Daniel Eley, James Osbourne and Matthew Hirst. I was well chuffed to be asked to be a reserve even if I didn't get picked!

Anyway the final team was announced, see below, and Daniel Eley had been selected.

Name: Dave Harrison

Club: Millride

Region: MFTA

Profile: Veteran World Champion 2003, 2004

4^th Individual World Championships 2003

Midland Masters Champion 2004

Showdown Plate Winner

Represented AirArms, Ripley

Combination: AirArms EV2, BSA 10-50, Daystate Pellets.

Thoughts on Being Picked for the team: Always considered it a honour to be picked to represent England at my chosen sport. Just hope I as well as the team do well at the championships.

Tips on which team will win: England

Tips on individual to win: Andy Calpin

Captains Thoughts: He's been a top 10 shooter for the past 10 years, a regular team member and has always done what was asked of him as a team member.

Name: Andy Calpin

Club: Anston FTC

Region: NEFTA

Profile: World Champion 1999

European Champion 1991, 2002

International Shoot winner 1987

Represented Ripley team for the past 20 years

Combination: Ripley AR5S, Deben, Ripley Pellets.

Thoughts on Being Picked for the team: Nice to be chosen to represent the England team, even though I haven't shot as much this year.

Tips on which team will win: England

Tips on individual to win: Ian Taylor

Captains Thoughts: What can I say about Andy that can be printed in a family magazine? He's probably the most naturally talented shooter there has ever been. He's won everything worth winning, more than once and is a superb ambassador for the sport. Finally, he can be counted on to perform whenever shooting as an individual or as part of a team.

Name: Ian Taylor

Club: Pontefract

Region: NEFTA

Profile: World Champion 2003

European Champion 2003

BFTA Champion 2003

NEFTA Classic overall winner 3 times

Represented Ripley team for the past 6 years

Combination: Ripley AR5S, Leupold 20-50, Daystate Pellets.

Thoughts on being picked for the team: Proud to represent England

Tips on which team will win: England

Tips on individual to win: Andy Calpin

Captains Thoughts: Current World Champion also first FT shooter to hold all three major titles at the same time.

Name: Daniel Eley

Club: Kent Woodsmen

Region: SEFTA

Profile: BFTA Showdown Winner twice

Runner up at European's 2000

4^th World Championships 2004

Represented Anschutz team for the past 4 years

Combination: Welham Anschutz 2002, Leupold 20-50, Daystate Pellets.

Thoughts on being picked for the team: Surprised, Delighted, Proud

Tips on which team will win: England

Tips on individual to win: Ian Taylor

Captains Thoughts: He's always been on the brink of the big league and as of late is showing great potential.

Name: Terry "Moses" Ord

Club: Bisley

Region: CSFTA

Profile: Welsh GP / Open 2004

Sophia Trophy 2002

6^th Europeans 2002

Semi-finalist BFTA Showdown 2002

Combination: Feinwerkbau P70FT, Hydrographics white Leupold 20-50, JSB Pellets.

Thoughts on being picked for the team: Made up, well chuffed. My dad's so proud which really makes me happy

Tips on which team will win: England

Tips on individual to win: Andy Calpin

Captains Thoughts: A shooter showing tremendous form of late and deserves his place because of this.

Name: James Woodhead

Club: Bisley

Region: CSFTA

Profile: CSFTA Showdown Champion 2004

Sophia Trophy 2004

Twice finished in top 5 at World Championships

Represented Anschutz team for the past 2 years

Combination: Welham Anschutz 2002, Burris 8-32, JSB Pellets.

Thoughts on being picked for the team: Pleased, Very Happy

Tips on which team will win: England

Tips on individual to win: Andy Calpin

Captains Thoughts: Same as Terry, showing great form in the recent GP series.

Name: Tim Williams

Club: RoughWedge

Region: MFTA

Profile: British Champion 2000

Welsh Open Champion twice

5^th NEFTA Classic

Emley Moor GP winner 2003

Combination: Zenith, Deben, Daystate Pellets.

Thoughts on being picked for the team: Surprised, because I don't feel I am good enough.

Tips on which team will win: England

Tips on individual to win: Andy Calpin

Captains Thoughts: Always performs well in big competitions and currently showing good form.

Name: Nathan Reeve

Club: Abbey FTC

Region: Fenlands

Profile: Junior World Champion 2002 - 2003

BFTA GP Series A grade Champion 2003

Highest score at Inter-regionals 2004

Fifth overall world Championships 2003

Combination: Ripley AR5S, Deben, Daystate Pellets.

Thoughts on being picked for the team: Over the moon to represent England team, my grand dad's very proud as well.

Tips on which team will win: England

Tips on individual to win: Andy Calpin

Captains Thoughts: Although only very young his recent form has shown he deserves his chance in the England Squad.

Team Captain

Name: Bobby Banks

Club: Harriers

Region: MFTA

Combination: Ripley AR5S, Bausch&Lomb 8-32, Daystate Pellets.

Tips on which team will win: England

Tips on individual to win: Andy Calpin

Captains Thoughts: I've picked a side that has great depth and I hope one that reflects the healthy position of FT in England - a mixture of youth and experience

Whilst getting ready for this competition a couple of us had read on the web that the Germans had intended to use a few small kill zones, 15mm upto 15 metre, 20 mm upto 25 metre and 25mm upto 40 metres. It sounded like the Anglo-American competition held at Redfearn's so we weren't too bothered…..boy, how wrong we would be.

Whilst on the subject of the course we also heard rumours that the course was a three mile hike, stupidly we'd envisaged the course to be held in a line, so shooters with a high starting number would be at a disadvantage - afterall they'd have to walk the furthest. Upon arriving we found the course to be laid out in a huge circle thus meaning the ones starting in the middle section would have the longest to walk, guess where I was starting from, Lane 16 day 1, Lane 13 day 2 and Lane 6 day 3.

Course terrain run down, generally the wood was made up of a mature woodland dense in places whilst thinly populated in others. Lane 1 started on the side of the hill next to the trade tents, the shots were both downhill. The course then moved round and up to the top of the hill and once again the shots were set steeply downhill.

You then made your way down concrete steps built into the hill shooting lanes 3, 4 and 5 into the centre of the shoot only then to cross over and shoot out of the circle for lane 6 - this for me was the hardest lane as no matter what I did I just couldn't get comfy at all.

As you carried on walking down, lane 7 was again set so the shot was taken downwards, the second shot on this lane proved very difficult for a lot of people and many had to take it kneeling just to be able to see the kill. At the bottom of the hill lane eight was found, the dreaded stander's!

After a short walk round the back of the wood you were faced with the first uphill shots, again uncomfortable to take. Another short walk took you to what many thought was the start of the hardest parts of the course Lanes 10 to 19. These tended to be set at steep angles uphill, which made breathing very difficult.

Lanes 20, 21 and 22 were set on the opposite side of the road and reminded me a lot of Newbury, mature but slightly thinly populated woodland and the wind was going to be a law unto itself in here, Shots were slightly downhill. Lane 23 swapped over the road again, once more your feet were above your backside so breathing would be made difficult.

Guess what now, another walk and we are approaching the last couple of lanes, Lane 24 was again set quite steeply downhill whilst 25 was shot on the flat.

Time to start shooting, I was glad to have two morning shoots as the previous day had been way too hot for me, even though it was 8 in the morning the car was showing 18 degrees C! Off to Lane 16.

Walking to our respective start lanes surely was an eye opener, it appeared that 40 mm kills were very few and far between in fact many of the lads would come off later on swearing that they'd only seen seven or eight.

Arriving at lane 16 I was shocked to see I'd be finishing on a standing lane, never a good end, well not when they are reduced stander's - 15mm and 25 mm respectively. I was shooting with Ernst Hoober of Steyr, very nice bloke he is. Changing subjects completely, it was nice to speak to him as he explained they are only a very small company but were heavily committed to FT and were only there to see how they could change the LG100 into an even better Ft gun, excellent commitment on their part.

All too soon the start was sounded and I was put into to shoot first, never good on my part but hey-ho. I was surprised to clear the first lane as the cross hairs were dancing all over the place. I knew it wouldn't last long though, as at the next lane I didn't engage my brain as the pellet struck at three O'clock - my only excuse was the kill was one of those that had two reducing plates fitted to it and was off centre. Ernst was struggling slightly but I was trying to help as much as I could on telling him what I was doing and why - I think he was fifty percent.

After the first early miss I was pleasantly surprised when thing's started to go my way, even the first set of stander's fell obligingly. The competition was very intense though, there appeared to be no let up at all, every lane made up of reducers and like I said earlier 40mm kills were few and far between. You had no conciliation that it may get easier as you made your way around the course as everyone you bumped into, who wasn't shooting, kept on about lane such and such with the 15mm kills, standing and kneeling lanes with reducers it was relentless.

I was still one down as we made our way up round to Lane 25 a short 15 mm kill and then one about 20mm at 37 yards'ish. Dialling a complete turn on the turret I got the first but then for some reason kept on dialling and as soon as I released the trigger I knew what I had done, still two down and well chuffed with how the gun was performing.

Now for the long walk upto lane one, medic fetch me an oxygen cylinder!

Lane one was reasonably comfortable as we were shooting downhill seem to remember it was a 15mm kill around 17 yards and then a 50 odd yarder but full size. I can't tell you how weird it was looking at a full size kill. Nailed the both of them, as did Earnst.

Time for a walk to the top of the hill. This again was a very similar lane to the first in that it had a very small reduced target at 20 yards and then one set at around 50 I managed the first but have no idea on the second, it felt a good shot but came out to the left with all the other shot's.. Ernst nailed these.

In fact Ernst nailed all the lanes at the top of the hill whilst I had disasters at every lane to finish this section six down, I was still happy as the gun was surely doing it's stuff - many thanks for fixing it Nick of Zenith rifles - it's the shooter who was over heating a little.

It was then as though someone had flicked a light switch and targets began to fall again, the same as my pellets as I proceeded to spill them everywhere. We had now made our way round the back section of the course and were heading back upto where we had started, this is where I must have blown a fuse cos no matter what I did nothing worked.

We only had six lanes to go and I was six down, I was well happy, the only thing I did notice was how slow the gun felt I think that you definitely needed a fast action on this course, this would certainly allow better pellet placement. The CRX is a damn accurate gun but is woefully slow once the trigger is pulled, well compared with any of the newer robo-gun's and I definitely felt that maybe it's time to move onto something new.

Anyway to cut a long story short I double dunked the kneeling lane, I was all over the place to be fair - just couldn't hold the gun still and snatch the trigger at the correct time. I then proceeded to get fifty percent over the next two lanes and stay clear right up until the final lane where another double dunk sealed my fate to finish 12 down. Ernst had finished on a 22 not bad at all for his first competition.

After the first session it was Ian Taylor who showed his intention of trying to retain his title putting in a superb 43, closely followed by Dan Eley - he's shooting well at the moment - Dave Harrison was also showing the potential of his AirArms EV2 by putting in a respectable 41. You had to feel sorry for James Woodhead, after knowing he was in the England team his reg went down during the competition but he struggled and against all odds still turned in a stunning 35. Nathan Reeve had struggled, maybe it was the pressure of being selected for the team who knows and he came in with a 27 - one day this boy will take the overall title I assure you.

You had to feel sorry for the guy's shooting in the afternoon, no honestly you did it was hot, very hot, I was certainly not looking forward to shooting tomorrow afternoon. Doing the good Samaritan routine a group of us walked the course asking if everyone was ok for water and basically fetched and carried for them.

At the end of this session scores were very high again, Tim Williams took the top score away from Ian with a stocking 44 whilst Andy Calpin put in a 42 and soon to be crowned top Scot - Dave Penman put in an excellent 41.

All I can say is bring on the dancing girls!

There was plenty of food and drink to go around and then later on out came the dancing girls, it was funny to watch the audience edge closer and closer to the stage as the girls finished off with the Can-Can.

Let's just hope that next year in England we can put on as good if not better show for all the visiting countries!

Up at six in the morning, time for a shower then off upto the practice range.

The morning started off very wet, as a torrential shower hit. I was glad to be shooting in the afternoon. Once it had cleared though it was time to walk the course and all I can say is Oh my god, they'd pushed the mini kills even further out we were now talking shots of 15mm right out at 35-40 yards with one or two of these on kneeling lanes! Whoever said the Germans don't have a sense of humour!!

To start us off this morning a horn band was used, this was different but at least it gives you an insight into their culture and history and made the event feel special.

Whilst the day had started off with heavy showers it had soon cleared and the scorching temperatures had returned, not my favourite conditions at all,. Also by the time the first session was nearly at a close the wind started to get up and both myself and Ian Taylor were saying the afternoon was all about Damage Limitation!

Anyway the wind didn't deter many of the morning's competitor's as the scores came rolling in Andy Calpin and Tim Williams finishing one less than the previous day whilst Bobby Banks had beaten his by four.

I was starting on lane 13 and shooting with Andies Sluiter of the Netherlands, after a long walk we found we were starting on a nasty standing lane, the first being 15mm at around 25 yards the second was a 25mm at 35-40 yards - no problem.

Andies shot first and missed both targets I struck at twelve just out of the kill - it's funny the amount of times on the small kills you find the pellet splitting edges and not falling over, well actually it wasn't funny but you know what I mean. The second connected cleanly with the Kill.

The pattern of hit one miss one ensued for me, I was struggling big style. The stupid thing was the shot's felt good there didn't seem to be much wind around the targets - although you could hear it in the tree tops - but the pellets were moving about an inch the other side of the kills!

We bumped into Ian Taylor at Lane 18, he wasn't best pleased at the course but he was still only two down both due to the wind. After speaking to Ian I realised there was no way I was ever going to get anywhere by being cautious so the stupid head was fitted and then the targets started to fall.

I left lane 18 five or six down and as we made our way up the road section whatever I did just worked, oh it's at 52 yarder give it a couple of inch and down she falls, excellent. Andies fairing better in this section as well and he pulled off some remarkable shots.

As we got to Lane 25 all I was thinking was don't make the same mistake as yesterday and over dial, I was thinking this right upto the point where Andies sat down at the lane and I realised both targets had been put out to around 35 yards but then realised they were 15mm kills - at least we could take them sat down!

I was still doing well as we got to Lane 1, well if you think about it I was only half way round the course, think I was still six down. Moving down the steps I felt relaxed, only dropped one more, and started to think forget the damage limitation just enjoy the shoot, oh I speak too soon!

At the bottom of the steps were a pair of stander's 15mm at around 10 yards and a 20-25 very dark pellet splattered kill 37 yards, I missed the first but got the second! Eight down.

Walking round to Lane 9 I was still feeling happy until I met a 50 odd yard target, full size kill. I don't know if it was due to the shock of seeing a full size kill or the fact I was too relaxed on the shot but I never noticed the wind coming across left to right and I only just managed to strike the faceplate.

9 down with three lanes to go, one set of kneelers and one set of stander's. I think the less said about the last few lanes other than Dunk….Dunk. I finished the course 12 down, I was very happy with this as the conditions were harder than the previous day as well as the course being harder. Andies finished on a creditable 21!

After day 2 there was quite a few still in with a shout of the top position although Tim Williams had made it very hard as he was now leading by three targets over Dan Eley and four over Andy Calpin, Ian Taylor and Dave Harrison.

Had to feel sorry for some of the Daystate boys as they had suffered at the hands of the weather and their gun'' had packed up, I made a quick call to Dave Baines to see if he could help out with fixing them but alas it wasn't to be.

There was a bit of a shock as we made our way to hand our cards in as an ambulance had been called and we heard Dave Sargent had been whisked away, he had been bitten by a horse fly and suffered an anaphylactic shock.

There was a music festival being held in the town of Ebern, basically there was a band at each end of a very long road with numerous beer tents and food stands in between.

The highlight of tonight's entertainment was whilst watching a band singing, a song in German, I glanced round to see Bobby Banks singing along to it!

Glad to be shooting in the morning again, once again it's very much like the first day flat calm day but it's gonna be a warm'un.

Starting Lane 6 today, but before we start Volker has a special surprise for us, he then get's his walkie-talkie and says "OK now" and bleedin hell the first of three humongous bangs goes off, poor old Ian Taylor nearly dived for cover under the Walther tent! Now our hearts are racing it was time to walk to Lane 6.

I was shooting with another Austrian today Gerd Mannel, we had a good old chat before the start but before long it was time to start shooting.

The course today looked very similar to the previous days, we were expecting it to be harder still but we were in for a bit of a surprise.

Gerd shot first nailing the first short target but missing the second. I was lucky to get both and this is how we stayed down to Lane 8 the short stander and the long one set at 37 yards. I had just watched Gerd miss both and he was asking my advice on how to take standing shots all the time I was thinking I hope to god I get these. I missed the first short one and did my usual trick of continuing to dial round for the second, it seemed like a good idea at the time, honest! So there I am two down to Gerd's three down.

Lanes 9 and 10 came and went easily enough but I managed to drop a couple more shots as we made our way round the back of the course and up the road section. The course today felt a bit easier and it was during the time I felt the course was getting easy that I ended up six down! Reality struck as I realised I missing big style we'd probably only shot 14 or 16 targets and if I didn't sort myself out today was going to be a disaster!

Moving through towards lane 20 things were getting better, Gerd was very inquisitive about how to deal with wind - on the course that is - luckily for me everything I suggested seemed to work. As we made our way up the road section things on the course seemed predictable although the bit of wind that there was seemed to be getting stronger.

Targets were still falling and it was nice to see the German's had been listening to all the comments raised the previous days by putting targets at sensible ranges and with reasonable sized kills. I was still six down as we made our way upto Lane 1 where I bumped into Dave Sargent. He had just come straight from the hospital to the shoot and he said he was a lot better - I don't know the thing's he'll do just to see a woman in uniform!

Lane 1 I managed the first but the wind got up on the second and the pellet ended up well out of the kill on the right handside. Gerd had nailed them both though. I was now seven down, still respectable.

At the next lane I again nailed the first but missed the second, time to try and work out what was happening afterall I am now eight down with three lanes to go I could end up worse than the previous two days - not a good thought!

Moving to the next lane and again disaster strikes, nine down, Gerd is still getting them though, is he giving wind or going straight down the middle? Luckily at the next lane both targets fall, so that leaves me 9 down potential 11 if I have a disaster.

Richard Moore is just leaving my final lane saying "get the second target sorted cos it's lent forward and I've just hit it and it hasn't gone!". I ask Gerd if he'd like the target checked and he's happy to continue and drops both of them.

After seeing Gerd manage them both I settle on the first and down it goes. PA'ing the second I can see it is lent forward but decide to go for it and guess what…….I miss the damn thing, Hey-Ho and all that! A stupid thing to do Matthew.

To be honest I was well pleased to beat my previous day's scores so the fact I missed the last target didn't bother me, yeah right, I was well peeved! Gerd managed a 28 so it his highest score of the competition as well.

James Woodhead, with his knackered reg had shot like a demon - god only knows how to finish today 7 down, so that meant over the weekend he'd beaten me by one. At the top of the board was Daniel Eley, followed by last years champion Ian Taylor. Speaking of Daniel, everyone was busy working out what had to happen on the course to stop him from winning. Basically if Tim Williams Finished on a 8 Tim would win, if he had a nine he would have a shootoff with Dan and any worse Dan would be champ!

Walking back to the cars the wind was picking up for the afternoon session would it be enough to upset the scores only time would tell.

The wind had picked up for the afternoon session and it looked as though it would be hard for anybody to put a good score in. Walking the first section of the course I bumped into Little Kev who was four down and his was the best score I'd heard as everybody else had a blow out - but there was still a long way to go.

The next person I bumped into was Tim Williams who was on a bad one I think he was eight down and Andy Calpin six, again they had half the course to go so could this be Daniel's year?

It seemed like an age for them to get to the final two lanes, god knows what it must have felt like to Dan? Tim sat down at this lane and missed one of the targets so now it was down to the final lane, Tim needing both to get a shoot-off. Andy Calpin had finished six down so he held it together superbly however it meant no matter what happened the best he could finish was second.

I walked upto the final lane just as Tim sat down to take the shots, the tension was immense glad it was him taking the shots not me! Unfortunately it wasn't to be as Tim had missed one, however fortunately for Daniel Eley he now knew he had taken the World field Target Championships 2004 title.

It still wasn't over for Tim as he now faced Andy Calpin in a shoot-off for second and third place. It was a double blow for Tim as his first pellet struck just low and left of the kill zone so he ended up in third spot, true gent that he is Andy was the first to shake Tim's hand.

Presentation

GunMart/Shooting Sports Team England had taken the team title and the individual positions are laid out below

Open

Spring

Ladies

Juniors

Veterans

Teams

I'd like to thank Gunmart / Shooting Sports for sponsoring the Team England Hat's also Nick Murphey of Zenith rifles for stepping to fix my rifle the week previous to the competition and finally the BDS for the hard work that went onto making this one of the best ever.