Written by Mitch Hogan
When August comes around it’s that time of the year when shooters trade in their jumpers and beanies for singlets and stubbies and head north to Darwin for the Horus Heatstroke Open for 2023.
The weekend saw 26 shooters make the trek north to take part in the fun yet challenging COF with some familiar stages seen in previous Heatstroke matches and a PRS Australia first, a couple of night stages. A strong contingent of competitors from WA and SA made up the majority of the field with a number of shooters from other states making up the rest.
The night stages including the spinner were a great addition and proved to really test shooters abilities with minimal lighting on the firing line and tough low light conditions downrange. The Trace Adv illuminated RMG reticle allowed Team Zerotech to really have that competitive edge over other shooters.
Team Zerotech shooters finished in strong positions at the end of Day 1 with Adam Piromanski sitting in 6th and myself in 7th. Some great stages shot throughout the day with both shooters full of confidence going into Day 2.
Day 2 saw Team ZT start strong with a couple high scoring stages for both shooters. I continued to shoot well throughout the day with consistent scores in a number of stages however a couple of easy mistakes late on Day 2 saw a number of points left out on the range. In these matches I always say that they’re marathons and not a sprint and being consistent across both days is what will keep you placed relatively well on the leaderboard. A number of low scoring stages and a couple of sequence errors can knock you down the ladder pretty quick. Consistence is key.
Overall it was a great weekend up in the heat with some exceptional shooting taking place from a number of competitors. I managed a match best finishing 7th overall and taking out the Marksman award. Just 4 points separated competitors who finished 4th to 7th. Ads finished up in 14th overall
Massive shoutout to Zerotech Precision Optics, Warne Scope Mounts and TSA for the ongoing support throughout the 2023 PRS Season. With one more match to go all eyes will turn to the ACT to see who finishes in the top 40 and gets an invite to the 2023 PRS Australia Finale at Hilltop in NSW in mid October.
Author: Mitch Hogan
