Saturday's conditions were very hot, humid, and calm, with well-illuminated targets providing good, but demanding, conditions for shooters in the first match of the year at Double 400m.

In the first 400 metre match Neil Attwood opened the Full-bore Target Rifle (308 cal., non-telescopic, manually-supported) competition and quickly found three consecutive 5-point bulls-eyes.

With new sighting and trigger strategies developed during the off-season, he found another bull and a 5-point centre-bull amid a string of 4-pointers just outside the ring to close with a very creditable and challenging 44 points (out of 50, this 10-shot match) with one centre-bull.

Ron Schild followed, opening with two bulls-eyes in his first three pulls, and one more in the next three, but he then fell away with a pair of 3-point ‘birds’ and a 2-point ‘outer’ for his last shot, to post a disappointing 39 points with no centres.

With Rob Gusmeroli bedding-in a new barrel, and visitors Jason and Britney observing, Mal McKellar was the last of the scoring shooters down, and as with previous shooters opened with a 5-point bulls-eye.

He closed with a centre-bull and another bulls-eye, but a string of 4-point ‘inners’ mid-match, just outside the bulls-eye ring, saw him fall short of Attwood by one point with a 43/1, handing Attwood this first range win.

In the second 400 metre match Attwood again opened for Full-bore and once more very aggressively, with a bull and two centres in his first four pulls.

Two further 5-point bulls-eyes and another two 5-point centre-bulls saw him drop just four points for the range, and close with another very good and challenging score of 51 points (out of 55, this 11-shot match) with 4 centre-bulls.

Schild followed and lifted his percentage markedly on this second range, opening with a centre-bull and finding three more 5-pointers in his next five shots.

With increasing patchy cloud cover intermittently shadowing the target, however, he finished with a string of five straight 4-point ‘inners’, just outside the ring, to close with a none-the-less worthy 48/2.

McKellar was last down, and expected to lift from the first match, however he bracketed the centre consistently, finding it just three times, to close with a surprising and disappointing 47 points with no centres, leaving Attwood a clear victor for this second range.

For the day, in generally good conditions, the Full-bore Target Rifle Double 400m Match was taken in commanding fashion and for the first time by Neil Attwood with 95 points (out of 105) and 5 centre-bulls, over Mal McKellar second on 90/1, and Ron Schild third with 87/2.

The Club meets every Saturday at 1pm at the Mossman & District Rifle Club Range mid-way between Port and Mossman. Visitors are always welcome. Please note that the Club Rifle will be available for visitors’ use next Saturday 18 February. 

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