The Bianchi – what of it?

Bianchi ShootingI’ve spent the most part of the close season attempting to engage with representatives of the GR&P community about the future of the Bianchi event with mixed response. The Bianchi as we know it consists of 4 events –  barricade, mover, plates and practical. There are only a couple of places in the country (I know of) where these four events can be combined into an appropriate weekend of shooting to offer the Bianchi as the traditional event we have known over the years.

One of these facilities of course is at Bisley and the Butt Zero complex has three quarters of these elements nicely arranged onto a single site. The fourth element is usually the 50m practical event however in the last season or so  range contention means its no longer viable to offer this event as part of the competition.

To some, this is a travesty. However pragmatic decision has to come into play. Over the last 2-3 seasons Bianchi numbers have been declining. Other competition events such as mini McQueen have been proving particularly popular. When decisions have to be made regarding where range facilities are offered at events like Phoenix the numbers do matter I’m afraid.

Just to be clear – at the Phoenix meeting the Practical match will be replaced by the Unsupported Standard Match. This will be run on Butt Zero by the usual crew and will take place on the right hand side over by the plates layout. This offers the advantage of all the matches taking place in the same physical location at least.

The course of fire is 48 rounds (same as the practical match) and consists of four stages of 12 shots onto 3 D1 targets at distances of 10m, 15m, 20m and 25m. Each stage consists of both weak hand/shoulder shooting with timings identical to the barricade match.

Targets are places standard target width apart. All other match conditions are as defined in the GR&P rule book. Some comments as to what  weak hand freestyle means. It means operated (trigger pulled by weak hand trigger finger) and held by the weak hand but can be supported by the strong hand.

 Stage 1 – 10 metres

  • 6 seconds 2 shots on each target, strong hand
  • 6 seconds 2 shots on each target, weak hand freestyle/weak shoulder

Stage 2 – 15 metres

  • 7 seconds 2 shots on each target, strong hand
  • 7 seconds 2 shots on each target, weak hand freestyle/weak shoulder

Stage 3 – 20 metres

  • 8 seconds 2 shots on each target, strong hand
  • 8 seconds 2 shots on each target, weak hand freestyle/weak shoulder

Stage 4 – 25 metres

  • 9 seconds 2 shots on each target, strong hand
  • 9 seconds 2 shots on each target, weak hand freestyle/weak shoulder

 

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