Thursday 12th December 2013

Back to the range for more drills. 12 rounds in the morning with the .458 meant that the shoulder is beginning to feel tender but I’m fairing better than some whose shoulders are starting to look a little purple.

First up, three shots at 15m with no time restriction. With my second attempt I really surprised myself with the grouping I achieved, all three holes were connected.

Then we were put under pressure by the addition of a watch. Here we had three rounds to hit all the targets (15m, 10m and 5m) in less than 14 seconds, if not its a fail. Anything between 10 and 14 seconds you lose points.

I was quick with all three rounds fired and a fourth chambered in less than nine seconds.

The 10m and 5m shots were good but I was low for the all important 15m shot.

If this were the real test I would have failed. However, if it were the real thing the first shot would have actually killed the lion as it didn’t miss the circle by much.

“Firing live, ear protection” means put your fingers in your ears.

In the afternoon we had an impromptu photography lesson from Sean before launching into rifle drill dry runs to work on the muscle memory.

After the lion charge yesterday and this mornings timed exercise it became very apparent that you don’t have time to think, everything happens automatically or at least you hope it does.

Not many are feeling confident about the assessments which start tomorrow. It’s going to be incredibly tough with six exercises in total, if you fail one then it’s game over.

On the last course only one in five passed. I’m desperate to pass, only if its so I can have another go at the ‘lion charge’ test which comes right at the end. This time I want to get it right, although its going to be harder with a live round in the chamber.