G.S.S.F. successfully hosts Guyana’s first 3-Gun Match

Just a few weeks ago the Guyana Sport Shooting Foundation received a National Sports Award for the Most Improved Association for 2015 and there is no question that merely a few months later, Sport Shooting has once again been taken to an even higher level in Guyana after Saturday’s successful hosting of Guyana’s first 3-Gun Match.

There was a time when “shooting competition” meant firing at targets from a fixed position at your own pace, but in the last few decades sport shooting has evolved by leaps and bounds to become complicated adrenaline-fueled drag races full of challenging obstacles and difficult shots that test a shooter’s ability like nothing else can.

3-Gun gets its name from the fact that you use three different types of firearms over the course of the competition: a shotgun, a rifle, and a pistol. You score points by hitting designated targets, which include clay targets, cardboard targets and steel targets of varying sizes.

On Saturday 28^th May, 2016, the Practical Shooters of Guyana were given a chance to display their Accuracy and Speed while managing Power at the GSSF’s Inaugural Multi-Gun Match sponsored by Secure Innovations and Concepts Inc. , in continued celebration of Guyana's Golden Jubilee of Independence at the G.D.F’s Timehri Range as new and experienced shooters alike showed up to test their skills against each other in four challenging courses of fire.

Built around safety, the sport simultaneously measures the ability of the competitor to shoot rapidly and accurately in the GSSF’s Inaugural Multi-Gun Match which was sponsored by Secure Innovations and Concepts Inc. in a fun, fair, and competitive environment.

The Match Director Mr. David Dharry welcomed participants and spectators to the Match. The safety element for this match was monitored by Range Master, Mr. Ryan McKinnon.

Scoring uses the competitor’s total points divided by the time it takes to shoot those points on the targets in each stage which results in a Hit Factor. The shooter with the highest accumulated points from all stages in a match wins overall. Courses of fire in the practical shooting sport are often designed so that the shooter must be inventive. Shooting was under the USPSA Practical Shooting Handbook Rules.

For example, Stage 1 called ‘Steel Drops’ comprised 11 Pepper Poppers and 8 Plates which were placed behind cover forcing shooters to move to various strategic positions so as to have visibility of the targets. This stage was the most melodic stage as shooters created the distinctive ‘pinging’ sound of lead hitting steel.

Stage 2 named ‘Lil Bit’ required the shooter to start standing in a crouched position with hands on knees facing uprange. The unloaded handgun was placed on a mat covered as demonstrated and all magazines were on the shooter. Upon the start signal of the electronic buzzer, shooters had to turn and engage the target with 2 rounds, perform a mandatory reload and engage the same target with 3 rounds.

Stage 3 was named after famous Guyanese dishes to commemorate its independence: ‘Cookup or Metemgee”. Shooters had to stand relaxed in the box corresponding to the dish they chose and upon start signal engage all targets from within corresponding boxes for the target arrays specified. There were 4 separate arrays of 4 targets each totalling 32 rounds needed minimum. Procedurals were awarded per shot for any fired at an array not corresponding to those pointed out in stage brief. This stage in particular tested shooters’ fitness levels as they ran the long distance from the various array layouts.

Stage 4 was adjudged the best stage for the afternoon and was named ‘GT Gun Fun Run’. The start position was “standin’ wid hands pun de fence gyaffing wid yuh fren”, handgun loaded and holstered. On start signal the shooter had to retrieve the shotgun from a table and engage 4 clay targets with the shotgun. A broken clay was considered an A. However, the pistol was allowed to be used after firing at least 1 shot with shotgun if desired. The shotgun then had to be placed  on the table with muzzle in safe direction and safety engaged before moving to Area B where the shooter was then required to engage three targets with the pistol. The final part of this first-ever stage to be set up in Guyana, required the shooter to retrieve a rifle from another table further uprange after holstering the pistol and engage 2 steel targets and 2 paper targets with rifle only. Thereafter, after unloading and leaving the rifle on the table, the shooter had to proceed to Area D to engage remaining four targets with Pistol.

Scoring was tallied by the scoring software for the sport and managed by Stats Officers Dr. Pravesh Harry who released the results as follows:

Present at the Range to present the beautiful trophies to the Prize Winners was the Managing Director/CEO of the sponsor company, Secure Innovations and Concepts Inc., Guyana’s Premiere Aviation, Land and Sea Security Services and Licenced Firearm Dealers, Mr. Harold Hopkinson.

Special Stage Medals were presented by the President of the Foundation, Ms. Vidushi Persaud-McKinnon to the 1-3 Winners of each division:

At the closing ceremony, thanks were extended to the Match Officials for ensuring the efficiency and high safety standards with which the match was run and for this big step in sport shooting in Guyana to commemorate the nation's 50th Independence Activities and to the Match Sponsor. 

The Foundation also thanks Chief of Staff of the GDF, Brigadier Phillips, Colonel Doodnauth, GPF Commissioner Persaud, Asst. Commissioner Ramnarine, Commander Hicken, OC TSU Superintendent Dehnert, Corporal Dunn and the ranks of the Armoury and TSU. More information on the GSSF is available on its website www.GuyanaSportShooting.com

Photo below: Prize Winners pose with their trophies