by Malcolm McKellar

Saturday brought hot sunny conditions with just a touch of variable mirage and well-shadowed targets, making for fair conditions for shooters in a Double 300m match.

In the first 300 metre match Neil Attwood opened the Full-bore Target Rifle (308 cal., non-telescopic, manually-supported) competition with a bulls-eye followed disappointingly by two 3-point ‘birds’.

He then narrowed in on the bull again with a string of 4-pointers just outside the inner circle, and one more bulls-eye, before closing with, a 3-pointer for a score of 39 points (out of 50, this 10-shot match) with no centre-bulls.

Veteran Ron Schild followed, but as during the previous week, suffered equipment failure and withdrew from the competition.

Rob Wearne was next down and opened strongly with a centre-bull and two bulls-eyes, but, struggling with a finicky sight adjustment, lost his way and finished with a string of 3- and 4-pointers on 39/1 to match Attwood on points but take the lead with a centre-bull advantage.

Mal McKellar was last down and was in the centre of the target from the outset, opening with three bulls-eyes, but two late match centre-bulls were peppered by five 4-pointers, reducing his margin but leaving him with a comfortable match win on 45/2.

Norbert Schmidt opened the F-Class Standard (308 cal., telescoped and bipod-supported) category with a 4-point ‘bird’ but quickly found the centre, and reeled off a string of 5- and 6-pointers to post a respectable 55 points (out of 60 this 10-shot match, for F-Class) for the F-Class win.

In the second 300 metre match Attwood again opened for Full-bore, this time with a 3-point ‘bird’ but followed by a centre-bull, a bulls-eye, and another string of 4-pointers just outside the challenging bulls-eye circle (just 140mm at 300 metres).

Unfortunately he dropped away at the tail with three inexplicable 2-point ‘outers’ to close with a disappointing 39 points (out of 55, this 11-shot match) and one centre-bull.

Wearne took the mound, but this time could not resolve his sight adjustment problems and, after two disappointing sighting shots, he too withdrew from the competition.

McKellar was again the last of the contenders on the mound, and once again opened very strongly with a bulls-eye and two centre-bulls; three more bulls and three more centre-bulls were punctuated by two 4-pointers before the finish, leaving him with a respectable match-winning score of 53 points with five centres.

Schmidt’s second range for F-Class saw him again shoot consistently, though two mid-match 4-pointers reduced his percentage marginally, however he closed with a creditable 60 points (out of 66 this 11-shot match, for F-Class) to again take the match win.

The Full-bore Target Rifle Double 300m Match was taken by Mal McKellar with 98 points (out of 105) and 7 centre-bulls over Neil Attwood with 78/1. The F-Class competition was taken by Norbert Schmidt with an improved 115 points out of 126.

The Club meets every Saturday at 1:00pm at the Mossman & District Rifle Club Range mid-way between Port and Mossman; visitors are always welcome.