THE Guyana Sport Shooting Foundation’s Practical Pistol Section commenced activities for 2018 on Saturday, February 17, when they hosted the 3rd Annual P&P Insurance Brokers & Consultants-sponsored Practical Pistol Match at the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) Yarrowkabra Range.

The event saw local practical shooters test their skills in four dynamic stages setup by the Match Committee. Shooters competed for the top 3 prizes in two divisions based on their firearm setup, in accordance with the rules of the United States Practical Shooting Association USPSA Handgun Rules, in the Production and Limited Division.

Opening remarks were made by recently-elected president of GSSF, Ryan McKinnon, who reminded participants of the safety rules and the match was declared open by Match Director David Dharry.

On the cool, sunny Saturday afternoon, shooters were placed in two squads and the match commenced. In the first of two stages designed by Mr. Dharry, called ‘Daily News’ and ‘Hello from D Other Side’, the competitor started, seated at a table reading a book with only their unloaded handgun placed on a table. Upon start signal, competitors were required to load the handgun and then engage the targets all while in the seated position.

‘Hello from D other side” saw shooters start by standing in any of two specifically defined areas set out on the course of fire, and were required to face up range while holding a mobile phone against the ear on the same side where their firearm is holstered. Upon start signal, shooters had to turn, make the gun ready then engage targets there were situated in front of the opposing starting area defined then run to the other area and engage targets situated on the other side.

There was a single paper target on this stage which needed to be engaged anywhere outside of the two defined “boxed” areas. The shooters came up with various strategies to engage this paper target so as to beat the clock and register good hits to score.

The other two courses of fire were designed by Rajiv Latchana. The 3rd stage called ‘Step In” consisted of 7 paper targets and 7 no-shoot targets immediately in front of them.
Competitors were required to move along the defined shooting area (marked by a fault line) and engage the targets as they became visible from behind several screens. Competitors deliberately slowed their rate of fire in this stage as the presence of no-shoot targets posed a penalty factor of double the highest score per shot, a whopping negative 10 per shot.

The 4th stage for the afternoon called ‘Both Ends Now” consisted of several paper targets placed at varying angles, distances and heights with their direct visibility also obscured by screens. This stage proved to be the most challenging for the day as it caused shooters to move to various spots on a single fault line covering both ends of the stage to shoot at these targets comfortably. Several shooters were seen warming up for the sprint that was needed to cover the distance in as short as possible time.

There were several speedy reloads on the move, as the frequent sound of double taps pierced the afternoon ambiance on the Timehri Ranges on this final stage of the match.
Scoring for practical shooting is done by recording the competitor’s time with an electronic device which ‘hears’ the shots and records the time from the audible beep which signals the start to the sound of the last shot fired. The targets are then checked, recorded and the total score gained is divided by the time recorded for that competitor, the result of which is termed a Hit Factor. The highest HF will win the stage; the total match points are an accumulation of all of the competitor’s stage points.

All scoring at GSSF pistol events are computed using scoring software specifically designed for the discipline; since this is done atomically it aids in efficiency. Ultimately the scoring in practical shooting rewards the winners who can have a balance of accuracy within the shortest possible short stage times as against other competitors within the division.
The Stats Officer for this match was Mrs. Vidushi Persaud-McKinnon, who released the results in agreement with the Match Director. The prize order was as follows:

Limited Division
1st – Ryan McKinnon – 235.5987 points
2nd – Johan DaSilva – 197.7184 points
3rd – Vidushi Persaud-McKinnon – 105.0355 points

Production Division
1st – Rajiv Latchana – 180.0000 points
2nd – Andrew Phang – 169.9061 points
3rd – David Dharry – 133.5190 points