THE Central West Championships went off with a bang at the Orange Pistol Club range on the weekend with a host of competitors converging on the small club, some for a shot at the Australian 2002 Commonwealth Games team.

The shoot was one of the qualifying rounds for the squad heading to Manchester later this year, and among those participating for a place was Sydney Pistol Club, Commonwealth and Olympic shooter David Moore.

Moore dominated on the day, taking out air pistol, free pistol, centre fire and rapid fire with respective scores of 575, 555, 581 and 572 all out of a possible 600 points.

Winner of a silver medal at the 1998 Kuala Lumpur Commonwealth Games in centre fire, Moore's career highlight came at the 2000 Sydney Olympics where he scored 14th place in free pistol, the best place for an Australian ever in that event.

Pleased with his result in rapid fire after being criticised during the Olympics for his ability in the event, Moore is feeling confident of gaining a spot in the Commonwealth Games squad.

“Yeah it's looking pretty good at the moment,'' he said.

“At the Olympics I shot free pistol and air pistol and they said right up through the three years before that I wasn't a rapid fire shooter. Today I shot one point under master grade, and that's one of the top scores that's been shot in the last 12-months, so this poor old precision shooter is doing very well in rapid fire,” Moore said.

“But the Commonwealth Games campaign will primarily still be in free pistol and air pistol,” he added.

Orange's Commonwealth Games hopeful Dean Brus was disappointed with his performance in the rapid fire, shooting 288 and 273 out of 300.

But he suggested he could only get better.