As the sounds of shotguns cracked and targets exploded, Army dominated with a clean sweep of all team shields in the Combined Services Clay Target Shooting Championships from September 15-22.
Held at the National Clay Target Range in Wagga Wagga in high winds, 50 competitors shot disciplines from trap to skeet and sporting, with individual scores contributing to the services' overall totals.
The top five from each were selected for the ADF team to compete at the national championships.
Taking up shooting at the age of 13, winner of the event Corporal Chris Barber has been competing since he was 15.
"Having previously been the runner up four times, finally coming away with the win for Army and ADF has been awesome," Corporal Barber said.
"I have wanted that win for a while, I was sick of coming second."
Winds peaking at almost 60km/h tested all shooters.
Growing up in Corowa, Flight Lieutenant Chris Whyte got into shooting at a young age through hunting and vermin control.
After NSW banned duck shooting he transitioned to clay targets and was hooked.
He finished as this year's Air Force Champion shot for the fourth consecutive time, with a score of 966 out of 1075. He missed out on ADF Champion Shot by 16 points.
"It's a very equitable sport," Flight Lieutenant Whyte said.
"There's no difference in standards that are required to be met between male and female, and our annual carnival caters for all clay target shooters of differing abilities to compete."
Lieutenant Commander Glenn Blizzard was Navy's top shot with a score of 944 out of 1075.
From a rural area in north-west Tasmania, Lieutenant Commander Blizzard took up clay shooting at a young age.
After joining the Navy and not shooting for a long time, he started competing again in 2015.
"I have always loved playing sports. After breaking my leg playing rugby I needed another sport so I got back into shooting," Lieutenant Commander Blizzard said.
