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Today's Friday and as my regular followers will know that means party time. Weekends are my favourite part of the week; There's just something special about them right? Well, I think so anyway. This weekend is going to prove busy. I am running a shooting event on Sunday and have a lot to do between now and well...the end of Sunday I guess. 

The event is a *practical rifle competition* which focuses on the rimfire rifle, the 22LR to be specific. The style of match is practical which means, well, pretty much anything goes. A couple of the stages are as follows:

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- **Wild Wild West**: This stage is run on a western-style village complex complete with buildings, tumbleweeds, dust and even a well! The shooter starts with a couple of longer range shots on two small targets then has to run to each shooting position (3 of them) and engage 8 falling targets (steel bobbers) and 4 hanging steel targets with the final target being the stop plate. The stop plate halts the timer and gives an overall elapsed time. We have created a wireless hotspot on each stage so the timers all work wirelessly. The scoring is a calculation of hits and time giving an overall score for the stage. Quick shooters will do it in about 62 seconds and a slower shooter maybe 90-100 seconds. The distance they shooter will run is about 45 meters in total. The stage is designed to be shot fast and is more about time than actual accuracy. There is a point deduction penalty for each target missed though. The scoring process is called *comstock* scoring.

- **Yabba Dabba Doo**: This stage is shot from a flintstones car. Seriously! The car runs on a steel track about 30 meters long. The shooter starts in the car and using leg power moves the car backwards on the track shooting at steel plates and steel bobbers as they present themselves. The car also has a cable attached to the front which pulls a couple of hanging targets out from cover to the left of the car and they must also engage them. They are only visible for about 5 meters though so shooters must be focused enough not to miss them whilst being focused on the other targets. The shooter stops the clock by hitting an electronic button on the car which will display the elapsed time. It is scored the same as the previous stage. (Comstock scoring).

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The other seven stages are similar in style using dynamic (moving) and static steel targetry and a lot of movement. One is shot off a platform suspended by chains at four corners to simulate the deck of a ship and one is even shot from the cockpit of a plane. Yes, a plane.

The event is designed to introduce shooters (new and experienced) to practical shooting and to promote shooting and safe firearm handling. It is a load of fun! The day starts on Sunday at 8am and will run through to around 4pm with the presentation of awards. We have shooters from around 14 years old to about 65, both male and female including hunters, farmers, competition shooters, ex-military, police, currently serving defence force personnel and just about everyone in between. The cheapest firearm/scope combination is about $750 and the most expensive around $10,000, and of course, everything in between. The shooters will expend about 150-200 rounds of ammunition during the course of fire. We will be running some 60 or so shooters throughout the day. 

**So, my weekend will go like this:**

- Saturday 7am - 1pm: Set up stages and shoot the entire course of fire to ensure it works properly and timings allowed are correct to give everyone a chance to have fun, hit stuff and generally kick ass. 
- Saturday 2pm: Drive, with my wife 300km north of Adelaide to attend an 80th birthday party.
- Sunday 5am: Drive back 300km to the event.
- Sunday 8am - 4pm Run the competition.
- Sunday 4pm - 6pm: Pack up the event.
- Sunday 7:30pm: Probably die of exhaustion :) 

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We have about 20 support staff for the event: Range officers, maintenance staff, runners, stage helpers (for the range officers), Match Director, scorers, kitchen staff (We are offering lunch and drinks), bar staff (for after shooting concludes), an armourer and a timing/electronics specialist. It's a pretty big process to coordinate and the organisers, (myself and a couple of others) have worked long and hard to put it together. This is our second event this year and we have three more scheduled. Fortunately each one gets a little easier through experience. 

The core group of organisers are all shooters. I shoot this style of match with my long guns (centre fire rifles) all over the country in competition and also practical pistol shooting (IPSC) as do most of the organisers and we compete and practice a lot. This event has taken a lot of our time but as *older* shooters we feel compelled to give something back to the *up-and-comers* and to promote the sport positively and with integrity. We have all invested our own money and time and get a huge buzz out of staging these events. Hopefully this one goes off without a hitch.

So, if you don't hear from me again after the weekend you know I died of exhaustion however I know you'll all miss me so I'll battle on!

[- Design and create your ideal life, don’t live it by default -]