Secunda cop reaps a bronze medal for individual performance and gold for team shooting competition in New Zealand
The competition took on a drastic change in the aftermath of the Christchurch shootings on 18 March. It had to be changed to a bolt action rifle championship, as the New Zealand government banned semi-automatic rifles
SECUNDA – Police weapons specialist, W/O Louwrens van Schaik, brought back a gold and a bronze medal from the Tri-Nations shooting championship held in New Zealand on 20 and 21 April.
Van Schaik is a member of the South African Protea team.
He was one of only 10 marksmen in the country selected to represent South Africa in what was supposed to have been a combat rifle championship between the South Africans, New Zealand and Australia.
The competition took on a drastic change in the aftermath of the Christchurch shootings on 18 March.
It had to be changed to a bolt action rifle championship, as the New Zealand government banned semi-automatic rifles.
With all the logistics already in place, the South Africans decided to stick to their combat rifle team, whereas the New Zealanders and the Australians opted to send their top bolt action shooting teams to compete.
The locals left for New Zealand on 9 April.
In the short time to prepare for the bolt action competition, Van Schaik had to become innovative.
“I researched on the internet about the different sights and sight adjustments, and the bullet speed and bullet drop in the different distances in a .303 rifle shooting competition.
“I memorised the different matches we would have to shoot and I made myself miniature targets to practice on in shorter distances.
“Just before my departure, I went to Slingervel to practice dry fire with a .303 rifle they had in stock, as I do not own my own .303 rifle.
“This practice included rapid shooting in different positions, magazine changes and how to use stripper clips, the different method of rapid fire, different body positions and how to move faster between positions. I also identified different stoppages I might encounter and how to fix them.
“I also worked at identifying different aiming points and different targets at different distances with bullet stop adjustments.”
According to Van Schaik, the sudden change over from combat rifle to bolt action weaponry had a huge influence on the competition and its planning.
The championship was moved from a military base to Rotorua’s Malcolm Perry shooting range.
The teams flying in were not allowed to take their own weapons abroad, and so the competition’s organisers suddenly had their hands full trying to find enough bolt action rifles for everyone, as well as enough ammunition.
The end result was that up to four marksmen had to share a rifle dating from WWII. These included .303 Lee Enfield rifles and 6.5 Swedish Mausers.
The ammunition for .303 rifles were bought from local gun shops and was manufactures between 1943 and 1976.
These were all mixed together in bags and Van Schaik spend an entire day sorting out the usable ammunition for the South African team.
He classified it in batches of manufacturing date to get a more constant speed and trajectory for each shooter in the Protea team and to reduce miss and hang fires of ammunition.
Despite his efforts, the team still encountered miss fires, hang fires, and in some cased rim locks as the .303 ammunition is rimmed on the back of the cartridge and the rims hooked over each other and prevented the next round to be chambered.
“The stock of the rifle also came loose.
“After tightening the assembly screw of the rifle the zero of the rifle shifted and all sight adjustments for bullet drop and zeroing became null and void and needed to be readjusted to hit the target during the following match.”
The competition was held in two classes.
The service rifle class was for any bolt action rifle with iron sights used in military service.
The open class included all bolt action rifles with a scope used in military service or for modern hunting purposes.
Matches were shot on 100 yards, 200 yards and 300 meters with different body positions and movements in the matches, all within the different required time limits.
The South African Protea team won the championship with 1810.156 points, followed by New Zealand in second place with 1633.110 points and Australia third with 1558. `09 points in third place.
At individual level, Van Schaik received a bronze medal for third place in the 300m applications competition.
He ranked 11th overall which includes the open and service classes, fifth in just the service class and overall third within the South African team.
He thanked all his sponsors for enabling him to attend the tri-nations championship.
