I ran (ran? walked.) the Manchester Vermont primitive biathlon on the 12th and went back for more shooting on the 13th. The weather was fine, about 18-25F both days and the wind stayed mild till mid-afternoon. There were probably around 100 participants.
I completed the snowshoe course a little faster than last year and shot 6 out of 9 gongs as opposed to my usual 7, so I ended up with the same adjusted time as last year. I came in about halfway down the pack. My shooting buddy Steve did the course with his matchlock rifle, but was plagued by misfires. I'm an advocate of nitrated match, but he won't go there. Maybe now...
The last three gongs are about the size of half a playing card at 25 yards, so everyone comes panting in to the last station and generally misses at least one. All the gongs at Manchester tend to be smaller than those up in Smuggler's Notch, so overall the shooting scores are a little worse.
There were a number of side competitions to keep people busy while they waited their turn on the course. There was a five card draw shoot - 5 shots and a card drawn for each hit, highest poker hand wins. Someone came up with a flush. There was a new option this year. If you don't like your hand you can discard two cards and shoot at a more distant, smaller gong for the chance at two more.
There was the King of the Hill shoot, which is up to five shots at a gong, timed, fastest three hits wins. The guys with the smoothies have a better chance at this. Practically speaking, you have to hit the first three times or you're done for.
There was an "Absolute Marksman" competition with standard paper targets at 25 yards. First place was a tie between two old well-known marksmen - they both put 5 shots in groups you could wrap your thumb and forefinger around. They had a one shot tiebreaker.
I competed in both rifle and smoothbore. My rifle shooting was, er, okay. The fun part was bringing out my matchlock smoothbore. "The Club"was a copy of a 1660s era military point-and-shoot in 66 caliber. I crowned the muzzle, inletted a front sight, enlarged the flash guard, hollowed out a place for my cheek in the buttstock, and forged it a nicer looking trigger lever out of some wrought iron. I managed second place, mostly due to the "no-flinch" attributes of matchlock ignition. I realized that 1F is much kinder to my shoulder than 2F in this bore. (For those who are interested: .684 bore, .662 ball, .025 ticking lubed with rubbing alcohol/neatsfoot mix, 80 grains of 2F)
I had one mishap. I thought that I had gotten snow down the barrel on one shot, so I dumped the charge and started again. What I didn't realize is that some of the charge had stuck in the bottom, so I ended up with ~1.25 powder charges. That shot was a bit high.
The event caters to everyone from the historically clothed flint shooters to people trying out their inlines. There's a non-timed woods walk for people who want to stop and imagine smelling the flowers as they shoot. It's a must-go for me every year.
