With their boots sturdy on the ground, firmly and unwaveringly, two Bega gunslingers secured the stock of their chosen firearms, under-and-over shotguns, into their shoulders before shouting "Pull."
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The pair were competing at the NSW Clay Target Association's 2023 NSW State Deauville Doubles Championship, at Canberra International Clay Target Club.
Released into the sky, two bright orange clay pigeons took flight - known in the sport as a double rise.
B grade Chris 'Browny' Brown carefully aimed using his beautiful walnut-bodied Blaser F3, a one-of-a-kind competition shotgun, before pulling the trigger when the projectile was on-target.
He missed, and what he described as "the sturdy and strong, yet soft and brittle" orange clay pigeon kept flying.
Simultaneously, his team mate, AA grade Charlie Smith shot his own, before autonomously spinning around and successfully hitting Browny's.
It was a move that would take the pair into the finals for the 2023 NSW State Deauville Doubles Championship, a title they would walk away with.
Charlie angled his gun slightly away from his body, and upon breaking open the gun, the now empty shell flew out of the barrel with a trail of smoke like a rocket capsule taking off.
"I missed one and Charlie shot it, and it saved us," Browny said, "then we had a shoot off and whoever misses, loses."
"When you win the shoot off, it's an unreal feeling, because that's our sport.
"[You shoot because] you don't want to let your mate down."
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Each 12-gauge shell contains small spheres or pellets, often made of lead called shot, and if your shot hits the clay and even a small fracture or chip breaks off, it counts, as long as you see a piece come off it.
Charlie started when he was 16, 45 years ago with his father Bryan in Buckajo as a kid, bush shooting anything from rabbits and fox on the farm, before getting into the sport of clay target shooting and investing in a trap.
"We bought our own trap, which is a little old hand-thrown thing that you used to put a clay on and pull a string, and it would fly out, and you would shoot it as it went out," Charlie said.
Charlie and Browny both agree that guns get a bad rap, and are intimidating to those that have no idea on how to handle a shotgun, or any gun for that matter.
"People are scared of guns only because they have no idea. See, that gun could just be a stick, lying there, a couple of sticks, it's just the bloke behind it," Browny said.
"We are very strict about safety, and you've got to be, if you're not you're stupid.
"We're only clay target shooters."
For further information of Bega Gun Club, click here
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James Parker
I am a regional daily news journalist on the Far South Coast of NSW aiming to immortalise the stories of everyday people through narratives. Have you got a story? Contact me on 0437 166 441 or at james.parker@austcommunitymedia.com.au
I am a regional daily news journalist on the Far South Coast of NSW aiming to immortalise the stories of everyday people through narratives. Have you got a story? Contact me on 0437 166 441 or at james.parker@austcommunitymedia.com.au
