ovenpaa wrote:What do I enter, every time I look I get more and more confused so can someone point me in the right direction. Which are the good F Open ones to start with please?
Here's a brief summary of the TR phase of the meeting, hurriedly from memory.
A typical day involves one short range distance in the morning session, another in the afternoon, and one long range shoot at some point during the day (simple logistics of Stickledown capacity being half that of Century requiring a full day for everyone to shoot). 1st Friday (15 Jul), Mid Saturday, Mid Sunday and 2nd Monday follow the 'typical day' format. Tuesday has just one shoot, the 1st stage of the St George's (2+15 at 300x) in the morning, with county and other team matches in the afternoon (or a chance to spend some time on McQueen). Wednesday is the 1st stage of the Queen's prize (2+7 at 300x, 500x & 600x, taking all day), plus a 900 yard shoot. Thursday morning is the Prince of Wales (2+15 at 600x) which brings the Grand Agg to a close, then there are more team matches, 2nd and third stages, and additional shoots up to the of the Queen's final on Saturday afternoon. There are various extra shoots (non-Grand) that you can enter in the unlikely event you don't progress to the second or third stages of the staged competitions (Queen's, George's, Donaldson Memorial).
Before the Grand Agg starts there's one 'Pre Grand' shoot at each distance. Actually, depending on your squadding you could end up shooting your first Grand shoot, the Telegraph at 500x, just before the last pre-grand shoot (the Lovell at 1000x); the important part is that you'll get an opportunity to shoot each distance before shooting that distance in a Grand Agg competition. For those of us shooting issued ammo that allows competitors to obtain good elevations with the meeting ammo (there are usually several batches in use, but although new batches will be encountered as the meeting progresses there is usually very little variation with the current commercial offering). Pre grand shoots also allow everyone to get back into the swing of the squadded individual competitions (or to pick it up if new to the format).
If you can spare the time I would recommend shooting the pre-grand events (starting 15th July) and the Grand itself, and allow time to enjoy the team matches and finals, whether as a competitor or a spectator. If you can really spare the time then the shoot the MR events as well. Remember, your 'Tyro' status is like your virginity – you only get one chance to lose it, and you want to blow it in style.
I have some meeting guides for newcomers that I can probably dig up – pm me if interested. It;s easy to get the hang of it, and people will be extremely helpful. We could even arrange a shoot sometime to act as meeting preparation, to run through practicalities of finding your target, conduct of shooting etc.
Hope this is useful.
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