TargetTalk

My friend William and I, and our wives, just returned from five days in Toronto for a mini vacation and the Canadian Airgun Grand Prix. While the primary purpose of the trip was air pistol competition for the guys, we found it easier to sell by bringing the women along. And a good time was had by all.

As you recall there had been a lot of concern and discussion on TT about potential difficulties bringing our AP's into Canada. Before leaving the US we faxed in our applications to the Chief Firearms Office-Toronto. Within 24 hours we each had our Authorization to Transport (ATT) faxed to us. At the border W. and I declared our pistols and were advised to stop in the office. We were greeted inside by a friendly customs officer who saw that W's pistol was not a 'restricted' firearm and said nothing further was needed. My pistol is a Steyr and needed a Temporary Firearms License which I quickly received. In less than 10 minutes we were on our way.

Before I describe the Match I'll tell you a little about Canada. Canada is officially a bilingual country. This means that they must speak both Canadian and American. Residents are very friendly, and are willing to speak American to put you at ease. To ensure that you understand them they often add "eh?" at the end of a sentence. For example: "The CN Tower is taller than anything you've got, eh?"

The country itself can sometimes be a little confusing. In the spirit of atonement for having burned Washington during the Revolutionary War, they will give you more Canadian dollars for your US dollars. They also give you more miles; 100 miles US is 160 miles Cdn. Unfortunately you get fewer degrees in exchange, 45 US is only about 7 Cdn. That may account for the colder Winters.

Toronto, the capitol of Lake Ontario, is a large and modern city. It's a lot like Paris but with nice people. The city is divided into quadrants by two main roads, Bloor Street (pronounced 'blore') and Yonge Street (pronounced 'young' as I learned 5 seconds too late). Yonge St. turns out to be the longest street in the world. If you stand with your back to Lake Ontario you will have a frost bitten butt and a view all the way to Santa. There's an efficient subway (pronounced subway, eh?) system that goes everywhere you want to. And where you don't want to if you're not alert.

The Toronto economy is based on selling Cuban cigars to Americans, and is thriving. Half the haze on the East Coast originates from the stogies being puffed in Toronto. If you are with US Customs of course I neither purchased or smoked any Cuban cigars. I swear on a well aged stack of fine Habana Maduro leaf.

For the tourist the city is a great destination. Museums, ethnic neighborhoods, impressive architecture, restaurants and shopping are in abundance. We arrived at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) two days before a new Ancient Egypt exhibit was due to open. Fortunately the curator took pity (or got sick of our whining) and allowed us to see it with the 'press'. In return I had to agree to write about how fantastic the exhibit was. And it was! It's on loan from the British Museum 'whilst they tidy up' and is a heck of a lot cheaper to see on this side of the Atlantic. On display are many artifacts such as papyrus scrolls of The Book of the Dead (which isn't my training notebook wiseguy) and many statues. From studying them closely I have learned that many early Egyptians did not have noses. In another gallery there was an interesting exhibit of ancient arms and armor. There I found, and I am not making this up, pellet crossbows! Who knew our sport went back to the 1600's when the Germans and Italians were were already launching 'pellets' downrange. For other purpose I'm sure.

Oh yeh, the Match. The CAGP was held in the main ballroom of the Doubletree Hotel in part of Toronto called Etobicocacola. We had preregistered and went right to Equipment Check. My pistol fit in the box and the trigger met the minimum pull force. Actually the certifier had to sharply bounce the gun three times to get it to fire. He looked up and said "Stiff trigger, eh?". They affixed a nifty CAGP sticker to my pistol and checked out my Champion glasses. Uh, oh. Side shields too big and the occluder was oversized too. In the lobby there were a number of vendors displaying all sorts of equipment and I was able to buy the proper size parts. It is surprising what a few little pieces of plastic can cost. That's OK, I paid with plastic. Ha!

Seventy eight shooting positions were set up on carpet under chandeliers the size of Rhode Island. Quite posh. Competition consisted of two 60 shot matches, fired on either Friday Saturday or Sunday depending on the squadding requested. Because we faced a long drive home it wasn't possible to stay for the Final, so I graciously resolved to shoot a score which would ensure I wouldn't make it. Instead I entered the Veteran Class, my first year eligible.

Targets are numbered and only one shot is put onto each. They are sent forward on individual target runners which take 7 1/2 turns end to end. I found that 8 turns will cause the carrier to slam into the receiver, causing adjacent shooters to get a little finicky. I call this "basic strategy" but in the interest of international relations I hardly ever did it. Each time you accumulated 10 targets an RO checked them and a runner placed them into a briefcase. He took them to the stat office where about half the population of the city scored them.

My first match was on Friday evening. I shot my best ten count ever, but it was all aces and eights. Try as I might I couldn't stop the fliers. I had a great string of tens going and then shot back to back a 6 and 7! Arggghhh. I did manage to get it under control, better late than never, and scored 547.

My second match was Saturday at 12:30. Mindful of my random poor shots the day before I resolved to keep my right eye glued to the front sight. Super Glue was a poor choice, though, and this time I couldn't buy a ten! My 'bad' shots were 9's but so were my good shots. A top shooter had been in my position in the previous relay and had left very few tens for me. This was the only incidence of unsportsmanlike behavior I encountered. Next year I will show him what 8 cranks on the target trolley will do! Anyway, I ended up with a 546.

Later I found that I was in the running for leader of the Vets. When all the scores were posted on the CAGP website I was listed in First Place. It was a very happy moment indeed.

In summary, when the CAGP is held next year, go! Bring your significant other and make a holiday of the trip. Toronto is about the same latitude as Hartford, CT and is on the not-so-snowy side of Buffalo. Although it's not exactly what Jimmy Buffet had in mind it is one change in latitude worth a big change in attitude. And if you happen to run into Alberto at Thomas Hinds, Tobacconist, tell him I'm still waiting. He'll know what you mean.

This story is hopefully indicative of the new TT format. Positive, well written and informative.

Roly,

Excellent report! Just a few miles from Canada (Ann Arbor, MI) I found this a great informative read. The good lady had been pushing for a trip to Toronto, so maybe this is a good idea. They have a very good theatre district too.

I found it interesting that paper targets were used. Did you find it hard to keep a rythm going while changing so many targets? You would thinkg that an electronic target manufacturer would have a lease program for such an event. Since the whole range was temporary - you could lease the targets and tech services for a week. I hope they recycled the paper - as Toronto ships its trash to Michigan.

Jim

Roly,

Glad to hear you had a good time up here. I'm also pleased to find out that you took home an appreciation of the fine Canadian art of satire!

Jason

:As Roly’s traveling buddy I can attest to everything he wrote, and I have a few things to add.

Gasoline is sold in something called liters (pronounced leeters). It should be pronounced lighters, because they will lighten your bankroll considerably to fill your tank.

Canada has no dollar bills. They have been replaced by a large, heavy coin called a Looney - that’s what you have to be to carry many of them in your pocket. There is a two dollar coin called a Toonie, but you have to hold it VERY close to your ear to discern what tune it plays. The folding money is all in very pretty colors. If you’re color blind, too bad; just use your credit card.

There are a bunch of additional charges disguised as taxes. They are added in random order to the price of everything. All are known by initials only (PST, DDT, LS/MFT, etc.). I think their sole purpose is to make sure you never know how much anything really costs.

Some personal advice may be in order here. You will not make any friends by asking: “How much is that in real money?” And - very important - if the Paladins of Polka are playing at your hotel’s bar, do not, over a couple of drinks, say to your new friend, “Does your wife know you’re out with this lovely young lady?”

Finally, have you noticed how much more impressive the Canadian Niagara Falls are than the US part? Do you think that when they’re through in Iraq Pres. Bush and his nice army could do something about it?

Ann Arbor is only a hop, skip and a jump from Toronto. Maybe we'll see you at the CAGP next year? I'll agree that Toronto would be a good 'destination' city to visit. For those traveling from the south there is supposed to be a ferry service beginning this Spring which originates in NY. It could easily cut several hours off the trip.
Although there just wasn't enough time for us to see any shows I did notice during a walkabout that several theaters are 'home' to productions. In addition 'The Producers' was showing, as was 'Rome and Jewel' a modern adaptation of Shakespeare's tragedy.
Though I mentioned NYC and Paris in my story the truth is that Toronto is much more like Boston with straight streets. By that I mean it isn't overpowering, it is accessible and livable.
As for the targets-only the finest German stock, must have used over 20,000 of them, a significant expense. Getting used to shooting one at a time was easy. During practice each shooter decided whether to put the gun down and crank, change targets, then reload as normally done. Or you could maintain your grip and do everything with your other hand. (There were hours long open practice opportunities before the matches so you could sort out your best approach.)
I was more comfortable maintaining my grip, but my friend put the gun down between shots. Either way it did not really increase the match length significantly. A rhythm is quickly developed. The thing that had me most worried on my first trip was the carpet. I didn't know whether it would accentuate the wobble factor, didn't seem to.
Good idea about the electronic targets but it would greatly increase match expense. Not only do they tend to be fragile but set up and calibration time would be critical in a rented hall. That and the fact that challenges would tend to be dicier and a real 'certified' expert would be required to resovle human vs. equipment issues. This is from me who knows very little about electronic targets except when I shot at the Olympic AP venue in Atlanta, and from what I've read.
I'd like to hear from anyone knowledgeable about electronic targets and JPM's suggestion.

Further on the paper vs. electronic target costs,

There were 78 shooting positions, that would require at least 90 electronic units to cover for field failure. I figure that the targets and their displays along with the computers bring the cost to US $10,000 per position. That's $900,000. Now toss in transportation, handling, set up and insurance, and the profit margin for the leasing company. Make it an even million bucks. Yowch. How much would you charge per use to recover a million dollar investment?
The targets cost, my guess, well under $2000. Enough said?