Two members of the Pistol squad made it down to Jersey for the Channel Islands Open over the last weekend in May. Beautiful weather and environment made for an exceptionally enjoyable event, and Jersey’s more liberal firearms laws and the friendly welcome from Jersey Pistol Club make this a venue well worth exploring for anyone wanting to try out live fire pistol shooting without the Section 5 limitations of the mainland.
Jess Liddon shot solidly at Air Pistol, winning her event with a score just short of the Gold Coast minimum consideration scores. Lighting on the air range was less than ideal and this was a great shoot by Jess. Alan Goodall also finished within sniffing distance of an MCS, and ended up in silver medal position for Air Pistol.
Alan was more disappointed with his Free Pistol, which just didn’t gel for whatever reason, but he still came away with the silver medal (finishing runner up again to England’s Waldek Mickiewitz).
For the ladies Sport Pistol, there were two events for Jess where she finished as top lady in one and second lady in the other. Alan borrowed three separate pistols and used these to win the Open Sport Pistol, and the Centre Fire Pistol events; but repeated gun problems wrecked his Standard Pistol score which he was leading until that point, and eventually finished 5th.
So a good haul of medals was achieved by the STS pair, and much sun was soaked up. The next open competition on Jersey is in September and this is a highly recommended event to attend as part of a short holiday for anyone who wishes to try out pistol shooting without the difficulties of doing so in the UK.
Report by Alan Goodall