Pictures of BPSU Shooting over the Years
(from The Rifleman's Journal - http://riflemansjournal.blogspot.com)
The modern era of historical arms shooting began in the Cape in 1958 when a small group of nine enthusiasts started the Historical Firearms Society of South Africa in Cape Town , the late Barry Berkowitch being the commanding figure.
In 1962 the first triangular postal match between South Africa and the United States of America and Great Britain was held. By 1969 regular organised shooting of black powder arms in the Transvaal gave rise to the formation of the first inland club, the Transvaal Muzzle Loaders. Over the next two decades members of these clubs set impressive national records for various classes of black powder arms.
For example, Free Muzzle Loading Rifle:
GW Spencer 95/100 in 1975;
NAW Richardson 97/100 in 1979;
HT Stanley 98/100 in 1981; and
BM MacDougall 100/100 in 1983.
And Single Shot Pistol:
Michael Elson 96/100 in 1983.
In the late 1970s the Historical Firearms Shooting Union was formed as a separate body to the HFSA to focus on and develop the sport of black powder shooting. A few years later the name of the body was changed to the present Black Powder Shooting Union of South Africa (BPSU).
By then competitive shooting with black powder breechloading arms became popular and in 1978 the Transvaal Breech Loaders was formed. This was the first and only club catering for vintage and classical breechloaders and was based at Zwartkop, subsequently home of the Mariette Black Powder Shooting Club.
South Africa participated in several World Championship Muzzle Loading events (Codogna Italy in 1975, Zurich Switzerland in 1977, Virginia USA in 1980, Bisley UK in 1981, Cape Town in 2001, Bordeaux France in 2007, Cape Town in 2007 and Adelaide Australia in 2008). Regular international matches were held between South Africa and the USA and Great Britain in the 1980s and the national body controlling black powder shooting, the Historical Firearms Shooting Union of South Africa (HFSA) then became affiliated to the Muzzle Loaders Association's International Committee (MLAIC) and adopted its rules for competition with muzzle loading arms in South Africa.
In 1983 South Africa was invited to participate in the MLAIC World Championships in Bordeaux, but due to complaints from certain countries about the racial sporting policy, the team was ultimately banned. The USA was outraged at this and under the leadership of Bucky Malson organised a test match between South Africa and the USA in Colesville, New Jersey. This team was captained by Steve Berkemeyer and the group consisted of Steve Berkemeyer, John Hall, Jack Wittleson, Eddy Stern, Derek Engelbrecht, Malcolm Cobb, Michael Elson, André Malan, Werner Krier and Dave Preiss.
In the Free Rifle Individual event, John Hall won the gold medal with a score of 96/100 and in the team event, Jack Wittleson shot a magnificent 98/100!
In the handgun events, Michael Elson won the gold medal with a score of 96/100 for Single Shot Pistol with his .44 Repro Le Page - this was a new South African record at the time and still stands today! He equalled this score in the team event, followed by David Preiss with a 95/100.
In 1997 the BPSU played a key role in the formation of the World Long Range Historical Rifle Shooting Association. It hosted the first World Championships at Bloemfontein where six nations were represented. It also contributed to the drafting of the rules to regulate this event and which have now been adopted internationally.
The earlier events were mostly held under rules for competition and safety, which had been established by various national and international bodies with similar shooting interests.
Currently, the BPSU regulates the competitive shooting of historical firearms dating from the flintlock era of the 1700's up to and including service arms of the pre 1919 period, and replica's thereof, in a wide range of events. These are hosted either by the BPSU or by the Provincial clubs, under the auspices of the BPSU.
The rapid expansion of competitive shooting of historical firearms in South Africa has prompted the BPSU to publish a comprehensive book of rules to promote safety and regulate the competitive shooting arms in South Africa . This publication is likely to require revision from time to time to adapt to changes in historical arms shooting.
In 2001 South Africa hosted the MLAIC World Long Range Championship in Cape Town. The South African mid range team won the bronze medal in the team competition, while the long range team won the silver. In 2003 South Africa competed in an individual as well as 8 man team matches against Germany in Cape Town . All the Germans shot breechloaders, while the South African team included 3 muzzle loaders. Some good individual scores were recorded, but Germany won the team events. During 2005 the BPSU entered several teams to participate in the 11 th MLAIC Pacific Zone championships in which six countries participated. South Africa won the gold medal in the Rigby event (100m Free Muzzle Loading).
South Africa hosted the 4 th WORLD LONG RANGE HISTORICAL RIFLE SHOOTING ASSOCIATION Championship in Cape Town during April 2006. South Africa entered 16 shooters and official Protea colours were awarded by SASCOC. Thirteen breechloaders and three .451 muzzle loaders were used by the South Africans. Several individual medals were won by the South Africans and in the 900 meter team event our team showed character in extremely strong wind conditions and won this distance with an astonishing 63.20 points over the Americans who came second. That secured the silver medal for the South African long range team.
Shotgun shooting (muzzle- and breechloader) is also well established with several Protea Teams who represented South Africa at International events, i.e. the 22 nd MLAIC World Championships in Bordeaux , France in August 2006. For this event South Africa awarded Protea colours for the first time to a flintlock muzzle loading shotgun shooter. A total of 26 countries participated in the world championships and two of the South Africans, Dr Corena de Beer and a shotgunner, Zappi Lupini did us proud with good scores shot.
In April 2007 the BPSU also entered a National Team to participate in the 12 th MLAIC Pacific Zone Championships that was shot during the BPSU SA National Championships in Bloemfontein. Some very good scores were recorded and South Africa won 17 medals.
On 1 September 2007 the top 45 shooters from France , UK , USA , Switzerland , Norway , Germany , Sweden and South Africa met up at the Good Hope Shooting Range in Cape Town for the 6 th MLAIC Long Range Muzzle Loading World Championships. The MLAIC rules acknowledge the first six places in each event (gold, silver, bronze and certificates for 4th, 5th and 6th places. At the end of the individual events we stood proud securing 31 awards (medals and certificates) for our Country.
Japie Maritz shot a new world record of 48.3/50 at the 500 meter individual event. Kobus de Villiers won five of the six original rifle events, all with new World Records (metrics). After the individual events, four man teams competed in the mid and long range team events. South Africa won the mid range team event with a huge margin of 31 points and 9 v-bulls, with France in second and the USA in third places. After trailing by 24 points after the 800 meters the South Africans shot magnificent in blistering wind conditions at the 900 and were crowned the Long Range World Champions as well again with the same huge margin of 31 points. Switzerland was second and the USA third. South Africa was the undisputed DOUBLE WORLD CHAMPIONS with an overall aggregate win of 81 points.
Welcome speech, 6th MLAIC World Long Range Muzzle Loading Championships, Cape Town
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The 23rd MLAIC World Short Range Championships took place in Australia in September 2008. South Africa sent team of 4 seniors, 2 shotgunners and 4 juniors to this event. The juniors excelled by winning no less then 14 medals, while there were some good individual performances from all team members.
During the 2009 pacific zone championships the South Africans again secured 14 awards.
During September 2009 South Africa again entered a team of Protea shooters to participate in the 7th MLAIC world long range championships, hosted by the USA at the Camp Butner Range in North Carolina. The South Africans performed well in the midrange events and secured several awards. Gavin James, Eugene Kuisis, Tertius Smit and Merwe van Rensburg represented South Africa in the mid range team event and secured the 2nd place, only two points behind Germany.
During the long range events, the South Africans really excelled and showed superior marksmanship over the rest of the world. In the 900 yards event Ronnie Blake took the 9th place with a score of 60.1/75, Merwe van Rensburg took the 3rd place with 65.3/75, Eugene Kuisis the 2nd place with 65.4/75 and Tertius Smit the first place with 67.2/75. Merwe, Eugene and Tertius broke the world record in this event, with Tertius Smit now holding the new world record. In the 1000 yards event South Africa again showed superior marksmanship with Merwe van Rensburg securing the 4 th place with a score of 59.4/75 and Eugene Kuisis the first place with a 62.3/75. The South African Long Range team consisted of Ronnie Blake, Eugene Kuisis, Tertius Smit and Merwe van Rensburg. South Africa secured the gold medal with an unbelievable score of 477.18 breaking the previous long range record by 68 points and 9 v-bulls. Great Britain took second place with 427.1 – trailing the South Africans by 50.17 points.
Again the South Africans (Gavin James, Eugene Kuisis, Tertius Smit, Merwe van Rensburg and Ronnie Blake) took it a step further by winning the overall team aggregate with 976.44, followed by the Americans in second place with 898.27 and Germany in third with 888.31.
Individually South Africa ended with 5 shooters in the world top ten ranking, being Eugene Kuisis, Tertius Smit, Merwe van Rensburg, Kobus De Villiers and Gavin James. Eugene Kuisis was crowned the world mid- and long range champion in the replica class and Kobus de Villiers successfully defended his 2007 world title by being crowned the world mid- and long range champion in the original class again.
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Japie Maritz acted as Captain and wind coach of the team and could unfortunately not show the results of good team work, as the individual scores of the shooters was used because all the team events rained out. He however showed that he knew the ability of the South African shooters and selected the correct names for the team events before the first individual shots were fired. Overall the South Africans outshot the rest of the world in the team events by 78.17.
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For the first time the South Africans participated in a long range muzzle loading world championships in yards distances. The top scores shot by South Africans in each distance will also constitute new South African records in the mid- and long range yards distances.
During August 2010, a team of 4 senior shooters (Hennie Grobler, Colin Twine, Corena de Beer and Willie de Beer) accompanied by 6 junior shooters (MJ Dippenaar, Wim Steyn, Willem Steyn, Chris Twine, Bart Keet and Frederik Jacobs) and team manager and captain Merwe van Rensburg attended the 24th MLAIC World Short Range Championships hosted by Portugal at the Fervença range in Barcelos.
Thanks to the absolutely outstanding shooting by some of our juniors in the senior 100 meter Free Rifle (Whitworth) event, we now have the world 100 meter title secured in South Africa.
In the youth events juniors from five other countries participated (Poland , Austria , Spain , France and Australia). None of those countries had the required three shooters per team to enter a team of their own Nationalities. We then arranged and agreed that the top three scores of any of the juniors from any of the other countries might be entered in a team event against our selected junior teams. This exposed our junior shooters against a combination of the world's best juniors.
In the 50 meter Offhand (Vetterli Youth - individual) event Frederik Jacobs took the 2nd place and MJ Dippenaar 5th place. In the 100 meter Whitworth (Youth event - individual) MJ Dippenaar came 3rd, Bart Keet 4th and Wim Steyn secured the 6th place. An unpleasant incident by one of the other countries' competitors shooting between two of our juniors distracted our shooters severely, resulting in substandard scores they normally do not shoot. In the youth teams events (50 and 100 meter) the South Africans secured both the 2nd and 3rd places.
After consultation with all parties involved following the incident at the 100 meter junior event, the team manager and captain Merwe van Rensburg decided to enter four of our juniors in the 100 meter Whitworth (free rifle) senior event for exposure and to give them another opportunity to perform within their known standards. The juniors entered were Frederik Jacobs, Chris Twine, Bart Keet en Willie Steyn. The other two juniors unfortunately had to return home before this event was shot. Because we already entered a senior team in that event we could not enter another team on behalf of South Africa.
Shooting shoulder-to-shoulder with the best shooters in the world, Frederik Jacobs shot an absolutely outstanding 99/100, winning the world title in the senior event. Chris Twine followed with a 97/100, giving him the 4th place in the senior event. Bart Keet followed with a 93/100 in the 37th place in the senior event.
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Making it even more outstanding is the fact that these three juniors shot a combined score of 289/300. If we could have entered them as a team in the senior event, they would have secured the gold medal with three points in the Rigby team event for us against France (286/300) Germany (285/300) and Switzerland (284/300).
The 100 meter Whitworth event is generally referred to by especially South Africans as being the ultimate event in world short range shooting. It is certainly the event drawing the most entries at each short range championship. Our vision to expose junior shooters timeously, to one day win us that title and the team event, realised much sooner than any of us would have thought.
Proudly now in 2010 we hold the 100 meter world title in the replica class, the mid- and long range world title in the replica, as well as in the original classes. What more can a country ask for?
It is clear that the standard of Black Powder shooting is increasing rapidly and competition and spirit are very healthy within the BPSU. Black Powder shooters have excelled in the past few years on provincial, national and the international scene. The records reflect South Africa as one of the main forces in Black Powder shooting in the world.