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As some of you know, the GB Muzzle Loading Team will be heading off this weekend to Pforzheim, Germany for the 29th World Championships.

The GB team consists of shotgun, rifle and pistol shooters and unusually, the competition will take place at just one location just outside Pforzheim. Some of us have visited this range before, as the 25th World Championships were held there in 2012.

For the Shotgun Team, the week will consist of practice days - Sunday & Monday, with Tuesday to Friday competition days. The Banquet and closing ceremony is held on Saturday evening.

There are 4 shotgun competitions of which an individual can enter 2, one percussion and one flintlock. The competitions are called 'Lorenzoni' (percussion) Repro or Original, and  'Manton' (flintlock) Repro or Original. There is also a 3-man (woman) team competition run concurrently for the percussion and also for the flintlock by taking the combined score of the 3 nominated shooters. These are called Batesville (percussion team) and Hawker (Flintlock). Incidentally, the GB Shotgun Team holds the World record for the Batesville Team event of 145/150, shot in Pforzheim in 2012.

For the Blog, I plan to take a few photos of each day, and will forward these to Tosh along with some text. It is likely that the posts will be up on the web site on the following day, so please bear with us.

If you are interested in seeing some videos of previous competitions, Cap and Ball have some really excellent videos on Youtube... https://www.youtube.com/c/capandball)  (2012, 2016 and 2019 are the ones that I have just been looking at). Although rifle and pistol orientated, there are  clips of the shotgun shooting, as well as plenty of film showing the location, the organization of such events and the ceremonies.

Finally, if there is anything specific that you would be interested in seeing, then by all means drop me an email.

After taking the night boat to the Hoek of Holland, we had a nice leisurely drive down through Germany yesterday arriving at the hotel about 6.30pm. The rest of the shotgun team were flying and didn’t arrive until 11pm - as we had their room keys and front door key we thought it best to wait up for them.

The GB team consists of shotgun, rifle and pistol shooters and unusually, the comThis morning it was off for a visit to look at the range, with some of the team trying to remember the route they took 10 years ago!! Thankfully the range is just under 15 minutes away, and has the added bonus of going past a Lidl which is very convenient for our daily food supplies.

I was told by one of the referees, Frank, who is based at the club, that Schützengesellschaft Pforzheim 1450 e.V. is the oldest association in the city of Pforzheim. A first documented mention goes back to the year 1450. With around 900 members it is very active and one of the most successful clubs in the German Shooting Federation (DSB).

The range looks good although not as green as we remember it as the grass is extremely dry and parched. Range 1 is an Olympic Trap (with 15 traps on the bunker), and Range 2 is a Double Trap, which up until recently was also an Olympic event.

This afternoon all competitors received their “Goody Bags” which contain their competitor number, ID and shooting schedule along with a pen, participants medal (everyone goes home with a medal 🏅) and a bit of chocolate!!

After purchasing supplies at Lidl on the way home it was straight off to the ‘Gelateria’ which happens to be about 30 yards away!

Practice day tomorrow.

Regards

Clare

Everyone has a good start to their day as the continental breakfast at the hotel is excellent. There is the usual selection of muesli, yoghurt, cheese, cold meats, German breads and of course strong fresh coffee. For the tea drinkers, they tend to carry their own tea bags absolutely everywhere they go.

Today consisted of practice day and at 2pm, gun scrutiny. Every gun used in the competition is checked by scrutineers to make sure it is within the qualifying rules of the class - be it repro or original. The competitors can shoot the gun of their choice on these practice days and all our team came off both ranges feeling very happy with their performance.

As today is a Sunday when we got back the restaurant in the hotel was closed, so was the Italian, and the bar up the road….. in fact everywhere was closed except for the Gelateria!!! And we were hungry!! Whilst some of the team opted for a ‘picnic’ together in their room, Martin and I together with Steve, Josh & Fred (rifle & pistol shooters) decided to drive back to the range to eat there. That was open for beer but closed for food! By now it was nearly 7.30pm, and the guys all had an early start the next day with breakfast at 6.30am. So the Greek manager of the clubhouse told us about a Greek restaurant, the Akropolis, about 6 minutes away from the range, and he kindly rang and booked us a table. The long awaited food and beer was delicious and we were back at the hotel just before 10 to prepare for Day 3, another practice day.

Regards

Clare

Another practice day, again shooting the gun of your choice. Today was just a little bit cooler than yesterday. Range 2 is the hotter of the 2 ranges, being more enclosed than range 1. Above the loading table on range 2 is some corrugated plastic through which the sun burned through!! It was so hot that the coating on Graham’s shooting glasses actually blistered up and melted!! Needless to say today, some shade has been provided by the placement of large black sheets laid across the roof….much cooler, at least for loading anyway!

As we arrived early we were able to park up the track right next to the range - normally this is gated and locked whilst the shooting is in progress. The toilets and all other buildings are at the bottom of ‘35 steps’. All the guns and powder have to be stored  in the “Armoury”  which means the route to the clay range is either pulling your gun case up the track (the longer way round), or carrying it up the ‘35 steps’. Yesterday, the heat was pretty unbearable and Dave C after collecting his gun from the armoury thought he would carry his case to the clay range the quickest way -  up the steps! Dave & Graham had both opted to buy gun cases that are twice the size of the others. Consequently Dave didn’t attempt this today!!!

This evening was the opening ceremony which took place in the centre of Pforzheim. It was a fairly low key affair as these go, accompanied by speeches in German followed by the English translation. Once finished we headed back to the hotel for an early night - competition day tomorrow for the Original Flintlocks!!

Regards

Clare

Today is the first day of the competition - for the shotguns, it is ‘Manton’  Original. We had Jane shooting in the 0900 squad, with Peter and Chris, the defending Champion, shooting at 10.30., both on Range 1. The high gun in Jane’s squad, was a Spaniard finishing on 20.

Chris and Peter next at 10.30am. Chris had a fantastic round finishing on a 23 to take the lead. As we all know with clay shooting, change happens quickly and it’s all about just one clay. Everything now rested on the second round which were at 1pm and 2.30pm on the ‘hot’ range 2.

The Spaniard shot well with a 22…. Chris now needed at least a 19 to equalise and 20 to win. I am delighted to say that after a nail biting round for those watching, Chris shot a fabulous 22 to finish on 45 and win the Original Flintlock World Championships for the 4th consecutive time (over 8 years). What a fantastic achievement…. Well done Chris.

At the moment we are at the first Medal Ceremony of the week with awards to 6th place and lots of anthems to stand up for. Jane managed to put in a very creditable score of 34 and finished in 6th place.

And tomorrow, it is the turn of the remaining 4 shooters in the GB team who will be shooting in the Flint Reproduction class. Once the scores are in, the first 3 places of the Hawker Team event will be known.

Regards

Clare

Today was the Manton Reproduction competition - 20 competitors.  Weather warm and overcast, which turned into light rain showers throughout the morning. Martin & Graham were up first - both scoring 15. Next up, both Dave’s, each on a different range, so the rest of the team were flitting between the ranges to see progress. Dave E shot well with a 19 but Dave C shot magnificently and finished with 23 which put him in joint 1st place at the halfway stage.

Second half produced some good scores, Martin 21,  Dave E 21 and Dave C 20.  After a couple of shoot offs, the final placing results for the GB repro flinters were Dave C picking up the bronze, Dave E just missing out on a podium place and in the team event (consisting of 3 original and/or repro and selected prior to the start of the comp), the GB team took the Gold!!!! Well done everyone!

I feel a word of special merit should be said about Dunc Dawson from the USA. The USA usually send about 6 shotgunners as a team but for various reasons this year Dunc is the only shotgunner within the small USA team this year and he travelled earlier than the others via Paris with Delta Airlines then on to Frankfurt with Air France. Dunc arrived safely in Frankfurt but sadly his guns didn’t!!! It has been a week now, and despite Dunc’s efforts, still no guns, both originals.

Two of the German referees who live locally to the range, have very kindly loaned flint & percussion guns for him to use until his guns turned up. What is so amazing, is that after a 4-way shoot off today with repro flint (including our very own Dave E) Dunc picked up a 6th place.  We are all hoping his guns will be reunited with Dunc in the near future.

Tomorrow is the turn of the original Percussion - should be another good day.

Regards

Clare

Well, it was another exciting and nail biting day today - Percussion Original with Jane, her father Peter and Dave C starting the proceedings in the earlier squads. Jane finished with an unusually low score for her of 18, but more than made up for this in her second round where she shot a fabulous 23.  Peter, Jane’s Dad, shot 21 in the first round and 22 in the second round to finish in joint 7th place - not bad for a guy who will be 86 next month. Dave C shot 20 and 18 to finish on a 38.

Graham and Dave were in the later squad. Graham, he had an amazing start on Range 1 with 22. This is Graham’s first international as although he qualified 3 years ago and every year since, because of Covid, the events had been cancelled up until this one. On his second round, things didn’t go quite so well for Graham and his final score was 39 - a fantastic result for first time. Well done Graham- better get practising now for France next year.

The ‘Elvinator’ was our GB Team high gun for today - only missing one on his first round for a lovely 24 which put him in joint first place with an Italian and an Austrian shooter (similar age to Pete C) after the first half.

In the second half we were all on the edge of our seats watching. Sadly three clays slipped away, but the Italian was a hard act to beat as he shot the first 25 straight of the competition to win it. The Austrian shot a 20, so Dave was tied second place with a Spaniard, which means a shoot off!!!! But not to be, Dave shot 4/5, and the Spaniard 5/5. Really great effort Dave, and a fab team score. It’s going to be another ‘edge of your seat’ day as Martin,the third member of the percussion team with Jane and Dave E, will be shooting his percussion repro.

Earlier today, Martin asked one of the German referees about the rules at a junction - he replied “Martin,  no one in Germany knows the rules….”

Regards

Clare

At about 7.30pm at dinner last night, Chris who was shooting today thought he had locked his gun case keys in the case itself - a problem!! Off he went to a nearby supermarket to buy a hacksaw. Martin meanwhile, suggested that if I contacted one of the scorers Rosie (who I was in touch with in between competitions) and contact one of the referees who lived nearby and ask him to bring an angle grinder. Alexander was more than accommodating and brought the ‘winkelschleifer’ to the range.

In the meantime, after a very restless night, at 5am Chris remembered that he hadn’t looked in the pockets of his Skeet vest which was in the battle bus. Sure enough… there they were!!!

As for today…..What a day!! The individual and team positioning was forever changing!!!

Chris & Martin were shooting repro Lorenzoni - Chris shot a 22 and 20 to finish on 42. Considering his fantastic performance earlier in the week, he did really well to achieve such a score.

Martin had a terrific first round shooting 24 and was placed in the top 3 after the first round (they were 25, 24,24). In the second round Martin dropped 2 clays, which gave him a great score of 47 but at the time it wasn’t thought quite good enough to be in the medal placing.

The last squad started, the Frenchman on 25 missed 2 clays to tie with Martin, and the Spanish shooter Willem (a Dutchman living in Spain, shot 22 in first round and 25 in second round tying with Martin & Frenchman. So now it was  3-way shoot off for positions 1,2,3. My nerves were becoming very frayed, after having sat through 50 clays, now had a shoot off to sit through!!!

The Frenchman missed his first clay, and Martin missed peg 5, and the Spaniard clinched the Gold medal.

A great day, a great competition and great people, as Martin says over in a flash and finished too soon!!!

Regards

Clare

DAY 1 Saturday 13 August

DAY 2 Sunday 14 August

DAY 3 Monday 15 August

DAY 4 Tuesday 16 August

DAY 5 Wednesday 17 August

DAY 6 Thursday 18 August

DAY 7 Friday 19 August

29th World Championships 2022 Pforzheim, Germany