A total of nine shooters displayed their shooting prowess at the St. Paul Fish and Game Association shooting range on Saturday morning in order to secure bragging rights as a winner of the fifth British .303 Rifle Shoot. The St Paul Legion hosted the event.
Anyone that possessed a firearm that utilized British .303 cartridges was welcome to participate in this competition that celebrates a service cartridge that served soldiers of the Commonwealth countries from the late 1800s to the mid 1950s.
“I don’t know where I got the idea to create this event,” said shoot organizer Russ Whitford. “It just popped into my head. I knew that there were some people I knew that possessed these rifles. I thought this would be a great way to celebrate a part of Canadian military history.”
There were members of the St. Paul and Bonnyville legions that came out to participate in a challenge. Each rifle owner took 20 shots at a distance of 50 meters during the event.
There were three individual categories the rifles could fall under, depending on the stock and configuration.
Taking first place in the Original Condition Rifle event was Ed Kudryntyskyi. He earned a score of 180 points out of a possible 200. The first-place finisher in the Any Stock Any Sight event was Ben Dyck with 154 points. And Barb McCarthy, with 159 points, was victor in the Any Stock Iron Sight competition.
There was a team event as well. Whitford told the Journal that the stipulations for this competition were one team member must be older than 60 and one of the rifles used must be in its original issue condition. Earning the title was the duo of John Gregory and Barb McCarthy. They earned 268 points out of a possible 400.
A majority of the entrants used rifles that were employed during the First and Second World Wars. The oldest rifle used was developed between 1875-1911. It is owned by Martini Enfield. In the history of this shoot there have also been competitors using firearms used in conflicts like the Second Boer War (1899-1902) and the Korean War (1950-1953).
In addition to bragging rights for 12 months, each category winner earned a trophy to celebrate their efforts.
