The First Great Cariboo Shootout

[PJ Hardtack]

Due to the wildfires, road closures and smoke, all summer CAS events were cancelled in the central interior of BC this summer.

Once things stabilized, the Quesnel "Rope Burn City Bounty Collectors" and the Williams Lake club (all two of them) combined forces to host a shoot on their range. We had 27 shooters from Alberta and the lower mainland of BC.

In the Cariboo, the only homage we pay to SASS are the safety rules. We do NOT shoot pistols at 7 yds or rifles at 10 yds. Pistol targets start at 10m and go out to 20m. We have done 50m pistol long range as well, shoot offs at 100m. Rifle targets start at 15m and go out to 75m in main match stages.

We shocked and offended many pop gunners whose loads barley made it to the targets. Some said they would never return. We shed no tears over this news. There were may ricochets over berms due to lightly loaded rds not breaking up on hard ground or steel.

I was surprised to hear that some of these pop gunners don't even aim, they just point and shoot. Many loads were less than 500 fps, the legal limit for determining a "firearm" in Canada.

That would explain the lack of interest in the side matches like the man-on-man pistol (10m) and the 100m rifle speed & accuracy event. I won the former and my wife the latter.

Fewer yet shot the "Mini-Quigley" (28 oz. tomato cans at 100m off hand with rifle calibre) and the 200m big bore events. Both of these had to be shortened by 15m due to range baffles.

I won the 200m event after over shooting the with the first round, holding centre with my #1 Shiloh Sporter. After that I held at 6 o'clock and made the hits. I attribute the miss to the difference in elevation between their range and ours and the shortened distance.