Southampton Buccaneers Field Target Club

News for May

Summer Club League

We are hoping to run a series of Club League competition shoots at the club over the summer, possibly starting on 22nd June.

Please could you register your interest either by sending an email to Dave, or in person at the club over the next few weeks.

Entry into the league will cost £5 per person for the entire run of 7 shoots, with your best 5 scores to count (so you can afford to miss two dates). The courses will be 20 targets in 10 lanes, with 1 standing lane and 1 kneeling lane, and the rest to be taken freestyle.

The much-coveted "Hamster's Tombstone" trophies will be awarded for 1st to 3rd place in three categories - Open, Sporting and Junior, and the Club Shield will go to the overall highest scorer (not including handicap points) until next year's competition.

Full rules are available here, but to summarise:

Open Class - allows the use of any sort of equipment permitted by the BFTA.

Sporting Class - as Open Class, but a maximum of 12x magnification setting on scopes, and no adjustment of the scope after sighting the first target on a lane.

Junior Class - as Open Class, but only open to anyone under the age of 18.

Handicap points shall be awarded per round according to your BFTA grade at the start of the competition:

AA grade - 0 points
A grade - 1 point
B grade - 2 points
C grade/ungraded - 3 points

Membership Form

Apologies for not putting this up sooner, but here is the new revision of the membership form for 2008.

John

We would like to wish John a speedy recovery after learning of his accident in November last year. He is on the mend, and hoping to return to the club soon.

Chronograph

As many of you may be aware, our club chronograph is not behaving itself at the moment. We are looking into either repairing or replacing it before the start of the Club League, but in the meantime we would recommend that members find someone with a muzzle-mounted chronograph to check that their guns are not gaining power in the warmer weather.

News for March

Website

Apologies for the lack of updates to the website (particularly to anyone who missed the club day on 30th March as a result) - Robert had been having trouble uploading files to his server, and at the AGM he relinquished the role of webmaster. We had been having a lot of trouble making alternative arrangements, but we are pleased to say that the website has now been moved to a different server, and will be maintained by Duncan until further notice.

I think Robert deserves all our thanks for building and maintaining what is probably one of the most comprehensive Field Target websites in the country, all this in addition to his commitments as secretary over the past two years.

AGM

The AGM took place on Sunday 3rd February, and the following committee members were voted in:

Chair: Steve P
Secretary: Dave C
Treasurer: Andy T
Committee Member 1: Daniel P
Committee Member 2: Duncan J
Committee Member 3: Terry L

Membership fees are to remain the same this year as last (£60 full adult etc.), and the club will continue to subsidise the BFTA membership fee for full members only at the new 2008 rate of £3.50 for 12 months.

Membership Renewals

Membership money has now been collected from the majority of existing members, so this is just a quick reminder to any who have not yet paid that fees are now due. If you haven't shot since the start of 2008, your membership fee will be pro-rata'd at £5 per remaining month in 2008 plus a £5 administration charge.

New Memberships

New members may now join the club at the discretion of the committee (subject to the usual probation requirements), depending largely on the situation with the current grounds and the move to the new site at the time of application.

Bluebells

The bluebells are out in the woods, so we can only shoot on the plinking field until they die back.

News for January

Web site and email
We've had a few issues with updating the club website for the past month, something was preventing updates being uploaded to our FTP server but it now seems to be sorted!  We are still experiencing a huge number of spam emails, sometimes 100 per day so all suspected spam has been consigned to a black hole which means we don't see it at all.  The problem is that spam filters are not 100% accurate, so some spam still gets through but it's possible that some legitimate mails to the club get binned by the software. 

AGM
The AGM will take place after the club shoot on Sunday 3rd February at 1200hrs.  The agenda will be up shortly but the main topics will be the election of club officials, setting of renewal fees and an update on our site at Busheylease Farm.

New Members
We may be in a position to start taking new members from February/March.  The restriction was put in place for 2 reasons, the first was of physical capacity as we were finding that when the weather was nice we had more shooters than we had space (if that makes sense) which caused some frustration and the other was that as a rapidly growing club we needed to maintain a suitable ratio between experienced and novice members to enable us to offer support to novices and ensure safety was paramount.  Membership forms will be available after the AGM for renewals as that's where we set the membership fee for the year by agreement of the members.  The prospect of a new location will have some bearing as the physical capacity will still have a bearing on total numbers of active shooters we can accommodate.

News for December

Winter league R2 at Newbury
This year we're hosting our round at Newbury on 16th December and need volunteers to help put out the course on Saturday 15th.  It normally takes about 3 to 4 hours and we're planning on a 9am start to finish at a reasonable time.  Any help appreciated, even if you can't stay until we're done (the last hour is usually just checking the targets minor adjustments). If you can make it please bring a small adjustable spanner or two and a thermos full of coffee, we'll bring the pies! 9am start!

Here's the location

http://www.multimap.com/maps/?hloc=GB|chievely#t=l&map=51.44116,-1.29733|17|4&loc=GB:51.44116:-1.29733:17|curridge%20road|Curridge%20Road,%20Berkshire,%20England,%20RG18

The circle isn't in quite the correct place though, the entrance to the grounds is on the Curridge Road opposite Oaklands.

News for October

AGM
Another year has flown by and it's time to think about the AGM.  We'd like to hold it in December, and could be after a club day shoot rather than a weekday evening if that suits better, let us know what works for you.  An agenda will be published shortly, but please feel free to email Robert with any proposals you have that need to be discussed at the AGM.  As usual we'll be holding elections for all club posts which currently are Chair, Secretary, Treasurer and 2 Committee Members.  After 2 years as Secretary, Robert will be standing down as work commitments prevent him spending as many Sundays at the club as he'd like so we're looking for someone to step up to the mark.

Winter League
Dates have now been set for this years winter league series and are up in the Diary.  Same rules and format as last year and we'll be hosting R2 at Newbury.  As in previous years we'll need a hand to set up the course so if you intend to shoot please can you also try to do the Saturday.  We'll organise a car share type arrangement.  It usually takes about 4 hours to set up from scratch and 1/2 hour to take down.  Robert will be chief marshal for the day and we'll need a few volunteers to marshal to help with stuck targets and broken strings.  Note that this year stop watches are mandatory and timing will be enforced so if you've got a stop watch please bring it.

News for September

VCR Bill
The 1st October brings in the new violent crime reduction (VCR) bill in the UK which prevents air rifles and pistols being purchased via mail order as all transactions must now be done face to face.  This is a significant change that makes it mandatory to conduct the sale of air rifles (for trade or business) face to face at a registered firearms dealer (RFD).  This is the end of mail order air rifles unless they are sent to a RFD for you to collect.  Accessories and most spare parts will still be available mail order unless they are pressure bearing parts such as pistons, air cylinders or moderators but replacement main springs appear to be exempted.  It is still legal to sell your own rifle privately without going via a RFD so long as it's not a business.  We would recommend face to face sales unless you know the buyer well (perhaps a competitor from another region that you've shot with or is well known) to make the financials less prone to issues and also to prevent it being sold inadvertently to a minor.

News For May

Club range
We've been advised by Broadlands Estate that they intend to use our current location for stables and we will need to move towards the end of the summer.  Rest assured that they are looking to relocate us to another part of the Estate and hopefully we won't have a break between sites.  Obviously it's always a bit of an upheaval when we move but I think most would agree that whilst what we already have is excellent, it's proving to be a tad on the small side now that we've got approaching 50 members.  Typically we get about 30 - 35 per club day but if all 50 turned up it would be a struggle and isn't large enough to hold competitions such as the winter league.  It would be very nice if we could get an area large enough to hold a GP in a few years time.

No new memberships
Due to the imminent change of location and the rapid growth of the club we've decided to stop taking on new members until further notice.  Once we know where we're going we'll review the decision and hopefully will start to welcome new members again but we felt it was in everyone's best interest to put a hold on new members until we've secured a replacement ground.  If you've attended at least one club day as a visitor in the past 2 months or are currently on probation you will be offered membership subject to the usual satisfactory probationary period but regrettably we won't be able to extend this to anyone else.  Prospective members are more than welcome to pay us a visit to see what it's all about, but you won't be able to shoot.  Sorry if this is a pain, but we hope to be open for new members in the autumn.

Club logo
We've had old 'Peg Leg' for some years now and we thought it might be time for a change?  John has come up with an alternative club logo (click on it to enlarge) and we're looking for feedback from the membership.  If you like it or loathe it send Robert an email.  As it stands the committee are happy to adopt it, but it's your club.  So what do you want, new or old??  Whichever we go for we'll arrange for hats at other garments to be made up using the logo.

VOTING CURRENTLY:

NEW LOGO     2
OLD LOGO      3
UNDECIDED    2

Training
There is likely to be a BFTA Club Instructor course run at Bisley later in the summer subject to enough people signing up.  It's a 2 day course run on a Saturday and Sunday and is well worth doing.  You don't need to be a 'AA grade superstar' to go on it and it's surprising how much you'll get out of it for yourself.  The club will pay for the course, you just need to get yourself there and back.  Ideally we'd like 4 or 5 volunteers.  Let Robert know if you're interested.

FT coaching
Due to the pressures of a normal club day we've never got around to proper coaching sessions.  It's proposed that from the end of May we'll adhere to the formal club hours of 9am to midday at which point we'll run coaching for a maximum of 10 people who will need to sign up in advance.  It's aimed at those that are intending to or have already tried their hand at competitions so it's not a beginning from scratch how to shoot an air rifle type session but more about improving your technique specifically for FT competition and will also cover many of the technical aspects of shooting.  It will also offer a 'quiet time' for those that are competing to get some serious practice in without interruption.  Speak to Robert if you're interested.

Chronograph your rifle!
The warm weather is here and it's likely that your PCP rifle is starting to gain power.  Use the club chrono to ensure that you're legal on a regular basis.  At GP2 a number of competitors were disqualified for being over the BFTA limit so watch out.  You should aim for under 11.5ft/lb to allow a margin.  Remember that if your rifle is producing over 12ft/lb you are committing a serious offence and may be suspended from the club.  We do appreciate that some rifles have been known to produce more power than legally permitted on the factory settings, so if you need help please ask a committee member to help you sort it out.  For the benefit of someone who shall remain anonymous, but drives a Volvo, you need to shoot the pellet through the 'big hole'!

Otmoor FTC
Dave Newman has advised that Otmoor FTC are now without a ground until further notice.  This is a real shame and we hope they get new grounds sorted out soon.

News for March

CSFTA Showdown
This year the showdown was held on the Isle of Wight and was hosted by Carisbrooke.  They put on 3 really good courses in varied terrain that taxed everyone, especially with a gusty wind.  One minute was only just enough time in many cases and there was no hanging around waiting for the wind to drop.  The winner Was James Woodhead and runner up was Mick Kelly, both from Bisley, but the plate event was an all Buccaneers final with Simon just beating Keith for the trophy.  Daniel just missed out in the semi finals.  Robert and Steve both crashed out in the quarter finals losing to Mick and James respectively.  Click here for pictures.

BFTA Instructor course
Graham Taylor is likely to be running a 2 day course at Bisley later this year.  If anyone is interested speak to Robert.

BFTA Grading
It's that time of year again and the new BFTA grades have been published.  I've extracted ours.  If you think there's an error let the BFTA Grading Officer know.

Winter League
Winter league is now over with the Buccaneers finishing a close 4th and we had some good individual contributions with 4 members qualifying for the showdown.  Robert managed 7th place overall and second to Alan Holloway in A grade (ringer!) and makes it onto the CSFTA team for the inter regionals.  We also had some high scores from recent members such as Lukasz and it's really good to see Simon back in FT.  The other members that shot have shown some really strong progress over the past 12 months and it looks like we could have the makings of an exceptional 2007 team.

Upcoming competitions
Coming up soon are the CSFTA showdown on the IOW and the BFTA Championship and inter regional both at Newbury.  Note that all 3 are by qualification although you can often get to shoot at the BFTA.  After that we've got the start of the GP season and the NEFTA Classic in May.  Full competition dates are in the FT Diary.

Pellets
They're on their way and should arrive with us 21st March.  We've got 250 tins, but if you want some don't hang about as they're likely to go quickly.

BFTA Cards
They've not arrived yet, but should be soon.

News for February

BFTA Cards
We've sent payment for the BFTA cards, so they should be back in a week or two.  Remember that subs are now overdue for full members.  Click here for the membership form in Word format.

Pellets
I've put a bulk order in for JSB 4.52mm pellets which should be here middle of March.  Most have already been allocated to members so if you want some speak to Robert fairly soon.  Please note these are only available to club members on a first come first served basis.

Winter League
Thanks to Duncan, Dave, Steve, Adrian, Andy and Keith for helping to set up on Saturday, it really was a big help and I really appreciate you giving up your day off to help.  And well done to those that shot on the Sunday, we came 2nd in the team event.  Results are here.  Final round is at Christchurch on the 25th and we're 1 point behind them so if there are any AA or A grade members that are at a loose end that Sunday....  Yes, you know who you are!!  Remember that the top 32 placed shooters qualify for the showdown on the IOW, we can organise car share to cut down the ferry costs, and the top 16 get to shoot the inter regionals.  If you are in the top 32 or 16 can you email Robert and let him know if you intend to shoot or not so I can let Mick know. You need to be sure either way as we'll fill places as required to ensure we've got a full field of shooters.

News for January

Happy new year to all our members!

Winter League Round 5
Due to an inability on my part to read dates correctly the SBFTC round of the winter league is now on 11th February, not March due to Basingstoke running an HFT event on our designated date.  Although we now now have the permission of the landlord to host an event it's not sufficient time to do the preparation and the works currently being performed at our site could make parking a problem.  As a result we've decided to hold our round at Bisley.  I'd be really grateful for volunteers to attend Bisley on the Saturday to help build the course and on the Sunday to bring it back in.  If we can get a few of us it should only take a few hours.  Let me know if you can.  Thanks.

JSB Pellets
We're about to place another order for JSB's same price as before for club members so let Robert know if you want any.  It looks like there may be a 30% price increase coming up shortly so get a few tins on order as the last lot went very quickly.

Membership fees
It's time for membership subs again and you can find the form here.  I've printed off a few that you can fill in at the club. The fee for full adult membership is £35 per 6 month period running from the start of January or a one off £60 payment for 12 months but this discounted cost is only available during January.

Spam and Spoofing
We receive a fair bit of spam email at the club, but recently we appear to have had our @sbftc.co.uk emails spoofed, which means that someone is sending out emails from our domain name.  This is actually quite easy to do, and relatively common, and poses no threat to the clubs information or website but is very annoying.  If anyone is visiting our site to try and find where the junk is coming from please be assured that it's not something we're doing and accept our apologies if it's caused you any distress.  I've spoken to our ISP and unfortunately there's nothing that we can do about it.

News for December

David W Baines
It's with great sadness that we've learnt of the sudden death of Dave Baines on the 17th December.  Dave was the Competition Manager for the BFTA but he was much more than that and was the dynamo behind FT and also HFT in the UK.  He put an enormous amount of time and effort into our sport and is the one person that could truly claim to be the man behind FT, although his modesty would prevent him from doing so.  For those that knew him this is a tragic loss and for those that didn't, you missed out.  He was a thoroughly decent chap that will be missed.

Year end round up
Christmas is here already and the past year has flown by.  The club has grown significantly since the last AGM and the number of members competing in FT has also gone up.  That's good for the club and for the sport.  We've also seen some significant improvements in the ability of those that took part in the summer league.  I'd like to thank all members for their support of the club and helping to make it a friendly and enjoyable environment, without you the club would be nothing.  I hope to see you in 2007 and if you're looking for an escape from cold turkey sandwiches why not do the Bisley almost new year shoot on the 31st.  Entry is a wrapped gift of about £5 value and it's a really relaxed and fun shoot with mince pies, mulled wine and I can really recommend it.  Thanks again everyone and a happy Christmas and New Year to you all. 

Robert
PS, don't forget that subscriptions are due in January, I'll put the new form on the site!
 

AGM
The AGM was held on the 6th December and the following members were elected:

Chairman Jerry Williams
Secretary Robert Montani
Treasurer Andy Tombs
Committee members Duncan Jaques and Steve Privett

We didn't elect a competition secretary, but it's a role that Duncan will probably move into once we start to get ready for the 2007 club league.  Minutes are here.

News for November

CSFTA
Robert has been appointed as treasurer for the Central Southern Field Target Association which is the body that governs our BFTA region.  Joy.

Sunday 19th November
Bring a cheque book with you this coming Sunday as we will have a selection of really top quality equipment including rifles and scopes for sale.  An ex member is selling up his equipment to concentrate on shotguns and this is an opportunity to get your hands on some 1st class equipment.  All of it has been looked after by a real perfectionist who's had modifications carried out by experts to make what was already good into probably the best you can get.  Even Jerry is excited.

News for October

Club Championship
The 2006 club league is now finished and congratulations to Steve Privett for taking the overall title. It was a closely fought tournament with close scores and a bit of jostling for position over the last couple of rounds.  For full results click here.

Winter League
This kicks off on the 12 November.  The new format is outlined on the winter league page and dates are in the calendar.  Have a talk with Robert if you're interested.  We need a minimum of 3 team members per round to compete, but you don't have to do all of them.  The dates are up in the diary so have a think about which you can do.  The competition is along the same lines as the club league, but 40 targets, with handicap points in the team event so you all know more or less what to expect.  We'd like to draw up a provisional list of who's shooting what to make sure we've always got at least 3 going but you won't be held to it if you need to drop out.  Ideally at least 5 per round would be a useful minimum.

JSB Pellets
We've still got a small quantity (1 tin!) of 4.52mm JSB exact's left.  If you want to try some out talk to Robert and if they work we'll get another order in.  These have tested out to be a very good batch.  They're available exclusively to club members. 

BFTA grading list
The new list has been published on the BFTA site, but it's posted here to save you the trouble.  I've sorted all of the SBFTC ones to make it easier.

If you're not listed it's because you may not have competed in a graded competition that was submitted by the host club to the BFTA.  Not all regional competitions (for example the Christchurch Open) are submitted but GP's always are.  Anyone not on this list from the club will be a 'D' grade as although you've got a valid BFTA card they only list those that have taken part in graded competitions, looks like Steve and Duncan have gotten away with it, which will be good for the Winter League!  If you think you should be graded contact the Grading Officer (email address on the BFTA website) as I'm unable to do anything about it.

News for September

Winter League
We've just agreed the format for this seasons CSFTA winter league, and there are some significant changes.  One of the problems we've had to overcome is that not all of the clubs in the region can consistently field a full team so it was decided that the series would be run as opens, but with a team element.  If you want to turn up and shoot, anyone with a BFTA card can do so, the course will open at 9am and the last registration will be at 11am which should allow us to get away before it gets dark.  Each entrant has a fee of £4 to pay.  The scoring will consist of two separate competitions in one, an open (but only CSFTA member scores will be recorded, all other entrants shoot for fun) which will be split into grades with no handicap points.  At the end of the season trophies will be presented by grade.  The team event differs from previous years as there will be only one team per club, but all club members shooting are members so you could have a team of 3 or 30.  Handicap points will be awarded to shooters scores in the team event (C=3, B=2, A=1, AA=0) and only your top 3 members scores count towards the club total, everyone else is a drop score.  The club with the highest 3 scores including handicap points wins the round.  At the moment it looks like 7 clubs will enter which will give the winning team 7 points, 2nd place 6 points and so on down to 1 for last.  In addition, the highest individual scorer will get their club an extra bonus point.  At the end of the season the highest score wins the league.

The rest isn't especially new and to summarise.  All shooters will feed on in lane 1, 40 targets, stop watches to be used with 2 minutes per gate, rifles to be chronographed and be at least 5fps below 12ft/lb, BFTA rules to be used throughout.

Confirmed dates and venues will be posted soon.

Email problems
Our ISP is having problems again with their email servers.  This means that mails are taking up to 24 hours to arrive, and it seems that some never made it.  I've currently responded to all emails received, so if you've not had a reply please can you resend your message.  Generally I respond to all emails in no more than 48 hours.

News for August

Christchurch Charity Open
Congratulations to Daniel Privett on winning the junior class at Christchurch.  It was a brilliant day with sunshine throughout, but an evil wind that caught many out.  Well done and thanks to everyone at Christchurch for putting on an excellent shoot.  Click here for photos.

Website
The website has been in existence for almost a year and it's been more successful than I anticipated.  In the past 11 months we've had 13000 visitors from all over the world generating 321000 hits.  Our ISP tracks the countries of our visitors and we've had them from just about every European country as well as places as diverse as Japan, Brazil, Bermuda, NZ, USA (including US military!), South Africa and many others.  Fortunately not all of them have joined. 

Tony Pond
Congratulations to Tony and Katie on their wedding on the 18th August from everyone at the club.  Click here for photo's.

Club Rifle
We've recently acquired an Air Arms S200 as a club gun that will be made available on club days. There is a small charge involved of £1 for 50 shots which includes the air and pellets, it should also prevent anyone from monopolising it's use and also help to fund a second rifle.  We're getting quite a few juniors coming to the club and this is an ideal rifle for a budding target shooter to try out FT.

Pellets
After the JSB fiasco, 4.52mm pellets are in short supply from Daystate, Air Arms and JSB themselves with none due in the country until late this month or early September.  Robert has an order in for 150 tins which will be available at the club.

Handleys
Handleys have withdrawn their offer of 10% discount to club members, we're not sure why but apparently there's something in this website that's upset them.  If anyone finds it, please let me know where it is as I don't remember writing it and certainly there was no intent to upset anyone??  Obviously a sensitive lot.  It's possible that someone may have posted on the BBS or Forum, but the club has no control over contributors to the on line forums.  I've searched the 2 main boards for any reference and was not able to find anything of a derogatory nature so I'm at a loss on this one.

Club League
We're now almost half way through the league so if you intend to shoot you will need to cough up the £5.  From round 4 onwards priority will be given to competitors on league days so they will have access to the plink to ensure they're guns are set up OK and will be the only shooters allowed to shoot the course.  Once it's complete, everyone can have a go, but during the shoot only competitors may be on course to allow the competition to be completed sooner and ensure that everyone is allowed to shoot without distraction.

Membership
Memberships are now overdue and you must either rejoin or leave.  The terms of our insurance means that all shooters that have successfully completed their probationary period must become a member of the club or in the case of existing members renew their subscription and hold a valid BFTA card in order to be covered by the clubs insurance.  If you've not rejoined, you're not insured which means you don't get to shoot.  I know it's harsh, but it's insurance and there's nothing we can do about it.  Note that you must be covered under the BFTA scheme and we're unable to accept your own (i.e. BASC, NSRA or BASA etc) insurance as an alternative.  For those recent members that don't have a BFTA card, don't fret.  We notify the BFTA of new members details but wait until we've got a few before we send the money as it makes it a bit easier on postage and the admin side.

News for July

Hot Weather
We've had some really hot weather recently and PCP rifles will start to gain power on the really warm days.  This was illustrated at GP5 at Newbury where a number of accomplished shooters were disqualified for having guns that were overpowered.  The BFTA ruling is that all rifles must be 5 feet per second under the 12ft/lb legal limit so a .177 rifle using Air Arms, Daystate or JSB pellets must not exceed 795fps.  Ideally aim for about 770fps and that will give you a reasonable safety margin with no real downside.  Robert was only saved as the night before he had a concern over the heat and tweaked the power down by about 10fps giving 782 at the chronograph the following day.  The adjustment was made without putting the rifle through a chrono so it could have been more.  792 would have been OK, but 3fps under the limit would have been a bit too close for comfort and using another pellet from the pouch may have taken it over due to the slight variations in pellet weight and fit.

Membership renewals
Membership is now due for all members.  We've got forms at the club or you can download one from here in Word format.  The cost is £30 for adults £15 for juniors for both 6 month full membership or annual range membership subject to the usual probationary period of 5 paying visits.  For those that don't already have a BFTA card there's an additional £3 fee to obtain one for you from the BFTA (no discount for juniors).  Note that to be covered under the club insurance you must hold a valid BFTA card or still be within your probationary period.  We'll be scheduling a half year meeting shortly to bring members up to date on what's happening behind the scenes at the club.  It's likely to be immediately after one of the club league shoots and should take about an hour.  We'll share information about the club finances, what we plan to purchase as well as this seasons winter league and you'll have the opportunity to ask questions or make proposals.  It's your club, not ours so please try to make it if you can.  Date will be posted soon.

Club League round 3
Round 3 of the club league is on the 23rd July and both will be a similar format to round 1.  If you want to compete in the championship fees will be payable at round 2 and entry costs £5 for all 7 shoots, so less than a quid a shoot.  All of the entry money raised through entries will go towards prizes and trophies.  If you felt that last time you didn't do well enough to compete, don't give up.  Doing competitions is the best way to improve your shooting, and doing it for real is the best way by far.  When you're plinking it's very easy to become complacent and forget about the shots you missed, in a competition you get to recognise exactly what your weaknesses are and can then address them.  No one at the club can consistently compete against the likes of Ian Taylor or James Osborne, but we still go to the national and international competitions to have a go, and it's not inconceivable that one day we could have a World Champion at the club.  Probably not this year though and next year may be a bit optimistic as well.  Also, bear in mind that the team based winter league series is not far away and members who compete in the club league are more likely to get selected.

South Coast league
I bumped into Sarah from Christchurch at the NSRA and picked up the conversation we started some months ago regarding a South Coast league with Weymouth, Christchurch and Fareham.  Rob and I had a chat about it, and running a formal league may be difficult as we're well into the summer and there are lots of weekends already with competitions on.  Something we thought could work is a competition that follows on from a club league shoot on a Sunday afternoon.  We could move the targets around a bit, put out another 10 to bring it up to 30 targets in total with a golden shot.  Entry of about £1 with half going to the overall winner and half going to the golden shot winner (in the case of more than 1 shooter getting it, the winner is plucked from a hat).  The good thing with golden shots is that the vast majority of shooters are capable of hitting it so everyone's in with a chance of walking away with some cash.

News for June

External competitions
There are a couple of locally held national events coming up shortly that members of the Buccaneers who hold a BFTA card can compete in. The NSRA is being held at Bisley on the 25th June and the 5th GP of the season is being held at Newbury on the 2nd July.  Both are 50 target courses set to a national standard that should provide quite a challenge if you fancy a go.

Club League R1
The first shoot of the Buccaneers league has been completed and there was an excellent turnout of 26.  Rob Cawte took the Open, Steve Palmer the Sporting and Cat the junior.  Well done.  There's a further 6 to shoot throughout the year and remember that it's your best 5 that count.  The next round will be July 9 and will be a similar format, although the targets will have moved around a bit.  For the scores click here.  As this was the first competition that the majority of members had taken part in we've deferred the entry fee until round 2 to give you a chance to try it out first.  Entry fee is £5.

Membership renewals are due at the end of the month
Membership renewals are due at the end of June and we've got membership forms in Word format that you can download.  We've also got loads of them at the club, so pick one up next time you're there.  Note that these are slightly revised forms from last time round to incorporate the new Range Membership that's available at the next lot of subs.  If you're not sure of the difference between a member and a range member here's a short explanation.

Full membership costs £30 for adults and £15 for juniors and lasts for 6 months starting in January and again in July.  If you join mid term we pro-rata the cost to £5 per month or part month remaining, £2.50 for juniors.  Full members do not pay any range fees.

Range members pay the same amount (£30 and £15) but it is for a whole 12 months starting from the beginning of the month you join so are not pro-rata.  At each club day you attend you pay a range fee of £2 for adults and £1 for juniors.  This means that for occasional shooters who attend fewer than 15 club days the annual cost will be lower than by being a full member whilst ensuring we are still in compliance with our insurance obligations. 

Both types of members still require you to hold a current BFTA card which is currently £3 for both adults and juniors and run for 12 months starting in March each year.  These are not pro-rata.  If you've not got one speak to Robert.

Visitors still have their first visit free and thereafter 5 paying visits at £3 per adult and £1.50 per junior.  After 5 paying visits membership is a requirement in order to continue attending club days.  BFTA cards can only be obtained for full members and range members.

News for May

Bluebells
The woods are now absolutely full of bluebells and their scent.  It's worth having a look.

Club competition
It's time to get it underway.  There will be 2 classes, open (which is effectively full FT rifles and scopes) and a sporting class.  The sporting class is open to any air rifle and scope, but the highest magnification you can use is 12x.  In addition, once you look through the scope for the first time on a lane you are not permitted to adjust it in any way whatsoever.  This means that whilst you're waiting for your turn you can change the magnification, the focus or even dial the turrets, but once you've looked through it, that's it, no more fiddling until the next lane.  So you shoot 2 targets with the same settings.

20 targets per course, scoring 1 for a hit and 0 for a miss with 2 standing targets, 2 kneelers and the rest off the bean bag or prone.

Out to 55 yards, but most will be at a maximum of 45

Shotgun start commencing at 10.  If you're late you may not get a slot!  20 targets should take less than 1 hour if you aim for 2 minutes per lane.  We won't time you, but if you're taking ages you will be!

7 competitions with your best 5 scores counting

£5 entry fee payable on your first shoot (this goes into the prize fund)

At the end of the series there will be a plaque for the overall winner which comes back each year, and trophies for the best open, sporting and Junior.  We'll probably rustle up some prizes as well.

You can share guns if you need to as well.

The competition is also open to non members, but their scores do not count towards the competition and their range fees will go into the prize pot.

The object is to add a bit of friendly competition to the clubs activities and it's an excellent way of charting your improvement or to identify specific problems that you wouldn't pick up on a normal club day.  We also intend to organise formal coaching for small groups (no more than 5) after the competition to help you improve.  It will also help to select the 2006/7 winter league teams.  Don't worry about being competitive, do it for the fun. 

There are a few more rules, but let's talk about it at the club in one go.  BFTA rules will generally apply.

The first round is the 4th June, other dates TBA and as soon as the bluebell season is over we'll move to the woods.

News for April

Range Officer
Both of the Rob's have completed and passed the NSRA Range Officer course.

Air
If you're buying your first precharged rifle you'll know how expensive it can be to get all of the equipment in one go so we've come up with an idea to help you get going.  On club day's Robert will make his divers tank available to all for 20p a fill (assuming he's there) and the money this raises will be used to refill it and anything left over will go to the club.  The tank is fitted with both Air Arms and Daystate filler adaptors which are the 2 most common types, but if yours is different we've got some adaptors to go from an Air Arms connector to the one supplied with your rifle.  These are available at the club for £10 and when you get your own bottle we'll buy it back for £5.

Chronograph
Now that we're into spring and temperatures are rising, so will the power of your PCP rifle.  Use the chronograph to ensure you stay below 12ft/lb.  Aim to be a full 1ft/lb below the limit but check it on a regular basis as we go into summer.  Remember it's a 5 year prison sentence and/or a fine if you go over even by a small amount.  When using the chrono, get a committee member to help you set it up and to sight the barrel for you as it's surprisingly easy to end up shooting the equipment.

News for March

Winter league
The 2005/6 winter league is now complete with the Buccaneers finishing in 5th place.  We actually drew 4th on points, but lost out on total hits.  For a new team we did well and the position doesn't really show how much we improved over the season and that we actually recorded a higher score on a few shoots than Otmoor1 and Newbury.  Unfortunately we weren't shooting against them on those occasions, but next year will be different!  I'd like to thank Andy W, Barry, Keith, Melv, Tony, Rob C, Andy N, Jerry and Andy T for their shooting and enthusiasm over the 7 shoots.  We've also raised some additional interest from other club members so next year we may have 2 teams!  It all starts again in November, so get some practice in.  Well done to Barry for qualifying for the BFTA championships.  For final positions click here.

Chronograph
The club now has a new Skan chronograph and we would encourage all members to use it on a regular basis to ensure their rifles are running consistently and in compliance with the legal requirements.

New Sporting class format for competitions
The BFTA have agreed on the format of a new sporting class for GP's.  The rules and scoring is exactly as FT, the only difference relates to the scope which may only be shot on a maximum magnification of 12.  Higher mag scopes can be used, for example a 6-24 but they must only be used at 12 or below.  At each lane the competitor may adjust the scope in any way they wish  so the parallax, turrets or mag (to a maximum of 12 mag) can be altered but both targets must be shot using these settings.  No adjustment is permitted for the second target.  At the next lane adjustments can be made again prior to looking through the eyepiece.  If a full FT shooter is buddied with a sporter, the sporter must shoot first to avoid reading off the distances from their partners scope.  Not that any of us would ever do that!  Sounds good.  Bear in mind that this is as yet an untested format and may not become a permanent feature of FT if there's a low uptake, so think carefully before you spend £300 on a new low magnification scope!  Then again, if only 5 people compete, the worst you can do is finish 5th in the country and that's got to be worth £300 to be able to brag about.

Club Instructor Qualification
Robert has now completed the BFTA Club Instructor course held at the Chesterfield LNER club and has a new hat.  The qualification is for the benefit of the members, so make the most of it.  It won't transform you into a world champion overnight, only practice will do that, but it will get you closer.  Robert would like to thank Dave Froggett for the excellent course and Beryl and Mike Noon for the grub, endless coffee and their help.  It was a good opportunity to network with other clubs that hopefully we'll get to beat in competition!

Send mail to Duncan at webmaster@sbftc.co.uk with questions or comments about this web site.
Last modified: 12-May-2008 19:55