Combat shooters target UK
Volume 11, No. 41, April 20, 2006
By Cpl Andrew Hetherington

Sights set: WO2 Jim Dixon and Lt-Col Ian Robinson prepare to represent Army at the CENTSAM meet in England in July, where they’ll compete against about 300 other shooters. Photo by Bill Cunneen.

THE Australian Army Combat Shooting Team (AACST) have their sights set on shooting straight at the Central Skill-At-Arms Meeting (CENTSAM) to be held in England during June and July.

AACST coach WO2 Jim Dixon said the team will be competing against about 300 shooters from teams from England, Canada, Ireland, South Africa, Netherlands, New Zealand and Oman.

“We’ll be competing against a mixture of teams from amateurs like us, because in this competition we are amateurs compared to professionals like the Omani team,” he said.

“The Sultan of Oman’s shooting team is a full-time professional team that has a 300m indoor range that the Sultan built for their use.”

WO2 Dixon said the 12 shooters of the 16-member AACST were selected after AASAM in November last year, with an additional four members added as support staff.

“Six of the firers are the top six shots from the Champion Shot of the Army competition, which was held before last year’s AASAM, and the other six were selected from the winning brigade team at AASAM,” WO2 Dixon said.

The team will compete in two competitions, with the first being held at the Pirbright range (run by the British Army Rifle Association) on June 21 until July 2.

“This will consist of 16 different competitions, with competitors wearing gas masks, helmets, running two miles as part of the shoots, and a whole number of events which you would class as combat shooting,” he said.

The second competition is a civilian National Rifle Association event, which will be conducted from July 3-6 at the civilian Bisley range where the team will compete in eight traditional shooting events.

After the Bisley event, the Queen’s Medal will be presented to the wining British team member, and WO2 Dixon said that, although the Australian team was not eligible to win the Queen’s Medal, they would participate in a parallel competition.

“Training will be conducted in a way that the top six firers from the Champion Shot of the Army competition are paired-up with the six firers from the brigade team to pass on knowledge and to give them practise,” he said.

“When we arrive in England, the team will have one day of zeroing and three days of international practice to get used to the competition format. And then the competition begins.”