The weekend of March 21 and 22 was probably the end of Western Australia’s long hot summer and conditions were very good for all types of competitive shooting. It was cloudy and virtually windless and over the two days, the group of 35 shooters, scorers, range officers, barbecue cooks and sundry helpers got everything done in a very professional manner. Of special note was the very fine range officer duties by Peter Norgard, plus the scoring and computer magic from Rick Denniston and Franco Della.

Part 1 of Western Australia’s Muzzleloading State Championships is for percussion revolvers and pistols, firelock pistols comprising both matchlocks and flintlocks, flintlock and open muskets, flintlock and percussion shotguns, and cannon. The expected ‘hotshots’ did it yet again, with Kerwin Bee and Geoff Price both winning five gold medals, and Calvin Sheppard hot on their tails with four gold medals. Calvin also won the SSAA trophy for the total of both his Pistol and Revolver Aggregates, and with his bundle of gold medals, he enjoyed his best championships results to date.

Shooting on both days started at 8am sharp and finished in the mid-afternoon. Sunday had a less hectic schedule, with only the five events for muskets, shotguns and cannon. For some inexplicable reason, the cannon scores were well down from the low 90s usually shot, with the winning score of 83 the lowest in recent years. The State Record is 94! Sunday was another windless, cloudy day and rather good for shotgunning, with veteran Leo Laden still shooting in all 18 events and winning both the percussion and flintlock shotgun 25-target Trap competitions.

Overall, it was yet another enjoyable championships to be remembered. Congratulations to both the organisers and competitors.