Clear, hot, and calm conditions with well-illuminated targets and just a mild mirage provided deceptively good conditions for shooters in a Double 600m Match on Saturday.

In the first 600 metre match, Neil Attwood opened the Full-bore Target Rifle (308 cal., non-telescopic, manually-supported) competition and, with a new rear peep-sight to adapt, struggled to find the centre, posting his most inconsistent round for some years.

An up-and-down string of 2-, 3- and 4-pointers, with one 5-point centre-bull thrown in, saw him close with a surprisingly low and disappointing score of just 34 points (out of 50, this 10-shot match) with one centre-bull.

Rob Wearne followed, and though he opened with a centre-bull, he too struggled to hold the centre pulling five 5-point bulls-eyes and centre-bulls (the latter used to break a tie on count-back) through his shoot but with each of these interspersed with a 4-point ‘inner’, resulting in another surprisingly low score of 45/3 given what looked like friendly conditions.

Veteran, Ron Schild, was next down and opened slowly with two 4s and a 3-point ‘bird’ in his first four pulls. But then, paying more attention to the slight mirage, found the centre consistently to finish with five centre-bulls in his last six shots, moving into the lead on count-back with a 45/5.

Mal McKellar was last down and was immediately in the centre with a 5-point bulls-eye, but then lost his way and shot a string of 4s and 5s, with a 3-point ‘bird’ mid-match, to fall to third in the match with a miserly 43/1 behind match-winner Schild and second-placed Wearne.

Norbert Schmidt opened the F-Class Standard (308 cal., telescoped and bipod-supported) category and, with his ‘scope pushing through the slight mirage, dropped just one point to close with an excellent 59 points (out of 60 this 10-shot match, for F-Class).

In the second 600 metre match, Attwood again opened for Full-bore and confidently cut his two 4-point sighting shots. Unfortunately he fell away thereafter, finding the centre only on his seventh and eleventh pulls. He posted a string of 2s, 3s and 4s to close with an unchanged percentage on 37 points (out of 55, this 11-shot match) with no centre-bulls.

Wearne followed, and ominously pulled a 4-point ‘inner’ followed by a 3-point ‘bird’ as his two sighting shots, hinting at a repeat of the day’s first match form. His first-to-count however fell in the 5-point bulls-eye ring, and then, defying both prior form and apparent conditions, and amazing onlookers, pull after pull found the bull or the centre-bull for his remaining ten shots to conclude with a very impressive perfect 55 points and 5 centre-bulls.

First-match winner Schild saw the mountain but gamely opened with a 5-point bulls-eye. Three more bulls-eyes followed, however four ‘inners’ and surprisingly, three 3-point ‘birds’ saw his challenge collapse. He closed with a reduced percentage on 45/0.

McKellar was last down, and knowing that a Double Match win was unattainable, set his sights on second for the day and a tie with Wearne in this second match. His first sighter was a 5-point centre-bull, but a surprising 3-point ‘bird’ second-sighter forced him to cut both.

He then opened his account with three straight bulls-eyes, but knew the game was lost when he dropped in a 4-point ‘inner’ on his fourth pull and though he found the centre three more times, three additional ‘inners’ saw him close with a 50/1 to confirm Wearne as a deserving second-match winner.

Schmidt’s second range for F-Class saw him lose his earlier form, and he dropped a surprising five points to finish with a score of 61 points (out of 66 this 11-shot match, for F-Class) to nonetheless take the F-Class match win.

Overall, in deceptively difficult conditions, the Full-bore Target Rifle Double 600m Match was taken by Rob Wearne with 100 points (out of 105) and 8 centre-bulls, over McKellar second on 93/2, and Schild third with 90/5.

The F-Class competition was taken by Norbert Schmidt with 120 points (out of 126).

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

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