I am puzzled. As I recall the large matches in the late 1800dreds were target matches in one form or another. They were not gong matches. Even so, crunching those numbers may be deceiving compared to population size in the mentioned time frames.
The Desert International IRONMAN Match in number of rounds fired to win is by far the largest Black Powder Target Rifle Match on earth with the Q the King of gong shooting.
Interestingly, the same rifleman, (Dave Gullo), won both the IRONMAN and the Quigley in 2022.
Which begs the question of which one is the more difficult? Hard to say as comparing target to gong in 2022 is more like the apples to oranges comparison.
However one slices the facts though in 2022 Dave Gullo is the top BPCR Rifleman on the planet as decided in competition. If, that is, one focuses on results and outcomes.
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