Palma has been decided

I

Ian Robertson

CGN Ultra frequent flyer
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Nepean ON
The Brits have cleaned house showing they are the best in the world kicking all other butts beyond belief. Next closest was SA 25 points behind. USA was 85 points behind and Canada was 145 points behind.Like I said before, irons and slings, no rest, no scopes and no camo! These guys know how to shoot!

Great Britain 14,200.766 200
South Africa 14,175.709 225
Australia 14,172.727 228
United States of America 14,115.724 285
Canada 14,055.629 345
New Zealand 14,030.614 370
Channel Islands 13,835.556 565
Germany 13,691.417 709
Kenya 13,592.417 808
West Indies 13,467.355 933
 
Read the values above as:
Team / Score / V-Bulls (after period for punctuation) / Points dropped from highest possible score

Remember these are teams of 16 (sixteen!) shooters twice each at 700m, 800m and 900m with 15 shots on a V-10-9-8- etc target. Calling it a team marathon is a pale analogy.
 
The South Africans were described to me as a group of older shooters who knew what they were doing.

The Americans had 16 shooters with 16 different highly exotic rifles and 16 batches of ammo, and every coaching decision heard from four voices before someone said, 'Left 2 minutes. Fire.'

The Brits used one consistent load of John Carmichael's HPS brand using German MAN cases. Every rifle was matched to the ammo and no doubt many shooters 'came around to his way of thinking'. Their team technique is just superb, hardly room for error.

The Canadian Palma (and Bisley team members) are invariably whoever is available and whoever gets along well enough with the coaches to be invited to the trials. Not necessarily always the best bullseye shooters, but the most responsive to team coaching principles. The names are listed on the DCRA website, but only as much as Male/Female, Under 18, Under 25 and Over 65.
 
wow, got to say, that's some fine shooting by the brits, too bad the canadians couldn't come up with a top 3 finish on home soil, but it's still an impressive score.
 
WOW. GB sure laid the boots to everyone else...YIKES!

I am really surprised that the US team used different stuff. I read a few postings where they had concluded that consistency within their team was paramount to consistent coaching. Maybe it only applied to F class but it makes sense.

How do you help someone that is using a load different from yourself, the next shooter and so forth? Be off by just a 1/4 Min at that distance/conditions and you are way off target.

Plus coaching by committee must be frustrating to the shooters.

As to being Canadian turf, sad to say it is likely more foreign to the Can then someone offshore who has shoot at Connaught before/several times. I doubt every one on our team lives in the Connaught area nor has trained there often.

Last year, I had the pleasure to meet a few TR shooters at Kamloops who were on the national team living in BC. Great shooters but I don't think they go to Connaught to train at all.

Then there is the problem of 900m ranges anywhere in southern BC. How do you train for 900m conditions when the longest range is 600yds?

Jerry
 
Jerry,
All of the members of the Canadian Palma Team have shot at Connaught. Most have several years of experience with that range. The Palma team did hold a training camp at Connaught for a week in July that most members attended.

Any shooter at this level should come to the line with a rifle and load and firm elevations and wind zero for those distances. Two sighters are allowed at each distance to confirm wind and elevation before going right to score.
While everyone was shooting .308 with 155 gr bullets, Canada decided to used Lapua bullets. Maybe some rifles shot Sierra's or Bergers better who knows?

This years DCRA CFRC being a Palma year had about 600 shooters from all over the world. For off years the entry is about 300 or so. Of this 300 or so shooters about 60 are cadets. We are drawing a team from about 300 people that shoot the National Championship. In the UK they are drawing from about 1500 that shoot their National Championship. I have no idea on how many people the US team has to draw from.
 
maynard, thanks for the clarifications.

I would hope that during the team prep, their decision to use the Lapua was an educated choice through testing.

Still think that having more ranges to train on year round will only help our results. One week a year isn't much.

Jerry
 
Jerry,
Such is this nasty climate we live in. In the UK they shoot about 10 months out of the year. In the southern US they shoot all year. SA, Aus, NZ, same thing. Kenya is year round but I don't know much about their shooting program or what is available as far as ranges go. I did hear that some shooters from the West Indies only have a 50m range to practice on.

With Canada's large geographical area, so few shooters to draw from and a relitively short shooting season, the team did OK.
The other thing the Brits have that Canada does not, is a great coaching program. They shoot a lot of team matches, even if just at the club, or county level. Most of their schools and universities also have shooting teams.
 
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