Saturday presented overcast and calm, but cleared to become very hot and humid, with well-illuminated targets providing fair conditions for Target Rifle shooters in a Double 500m competition and for Hunting Rifle shooters in a 100m Field Class competition.

In the first 500 metre match Rob Wearne opened the Full-bore Target Rifle (308 cal., non-telescopic, manually-supported) competition with a 5-point centre-bull and picked up another centre and three 5-point bulls-eyes in his last five shots.

However an early string of 4-point ‘inners’ and another late in his pull saw him post a barely acceptable (for him) 45 points out of 50, (10-shot match) with two centre-bulls.

New to the peep-sighted Target Rifle discipline, Jason Phillips started slowly but found consistency mid-match and finished strongly with two bulls-eyes and a centre-bull in his last five shots to post a creditable 34/1.

Ron Schild followed, opening with a centre-bull, an inner, a bulls-eye, and another inner, and continued in this up-and-down manner but nonetheless managed to match Wearne with a 45/2. 

Also new to the discipline, and in fact to rifle shooting generally, Britnee Tulk bracketed the centre with her two sighting shots and then pulled a surprisingly consistent string of 4-point ‘inners’, most of them just outside the bulls-eye ring.

Britnee fell away at the end in the now oppressive heat, to post a very fine 30/0.

Mal McKellar was last down, and he too bracketed the centre with his two sighting shots before planting himself on the centre with a string of bulls and centre-bulls, punctuated with just one 4-point ‘inner’ late in the match, to take a dominant win for the range with an excellent 49/3.

Norbert Schmidt opened the F-Class Standard Target Rifle (308 cal., telescoped and bipod-supported) category, dropping two points in his first three pulls before finding the centre and finishing in impressive style with seven straight centre-bulls, including four straight ‘super’ centre-bulls (the very centre of the centre), for an impressive 58 points (out of 60 this 10-shot match, for F-Class) with 4 super-centres.

In the second 500 metre match Wearne again opened for Full-bore Target Rifle, disappointingly with a 4-point ‘inner.’

But he then found the centre and pulled six straight bulls-eyes including three centres before fading to three inners and one more centre in his final four shots for an impressive 51 points (out of 55, this 11-shot match) with 4 centre-bulls.

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Phillips was next down, and his shooting experience began to show, as he opened with a bulls-eye and settled into a string of 4- and 5-pointers, with just one wayward 3-point ‘bird’ late in his pull to post a very competitive 47/0.

Schild followed, but with the heat and varying cloud cover on the target, he dropped his percentage with a string of inners dominating just three 5-point bulls-eyes and a 3-point ‘bird’, to close with a disappointing 46/1.

Despite her impressive first match shooting debut, Britnee Tulk withdrew from the second match in the overbearing heat, but vowed to return anew.

McKellar was last down and opened with a bulls-eye, but he too found the oppressive conditions difficult, and dropped in three more inners amongst a string of 5-pointers, to post a Wearne-equalling 51 points, but with just two centres, handed the win to Wearne on count-back.

Schmidt’s second range for F-Class Target Rifle saw him confirm his first-range form, again dropping just two points amongst a string of centres and super-centres, and closing with a very impressive 64 points (out of 66 this 11-shot match, for F-Class) and 4 super-centres to take the F-Class match win.

For Target Rifle for the day, in oppressively hot but otherwise favourable conditions, the Full-bore Target Rifle Double 500m Match was taken by Mal McKellar with 100 points (out of 105) and 5 centre-bulls, over Wearne second on 96/6, and Schild third with 91/3.

F-Class Target Rifle was taken by Norbert Schmidt with 122 points (out of 126) and 8 super-centres.

In the Hunting Rifle 100m Field Class competition two sighting shots are allowed, followed by twenty shots in four matches (each match of 5 shots earning a maximum of 25 points) with differing time constraints for each match, and all fired from a standing position.

In the first match of five shots (20 seconds allowed per shot), Darryl Hobson shooting a ‘scoped .308 cal. Rifle, had an up-and-down round which included one bulls-eye for a total of 17 points with no centres.

His second match (60 seconds total for all five shots) included a bulls-eye to start and a miss to finish, reflecting the pressure of time, for a 13/0.

His third match (30 seconds total for all five shots) included two excellent bulls-eyes to start, but then, again reflecting the tight time constraint, a miss and two time-outs, for a 10/0.

His final match (3 seconds allowed per shot) saw two misses followed by a bulls-eye, a ‘bird’ and an ‘inner’ for a 12/0, and a grand total for the day of 52 points (out of 100) with no centres.

Rob Wearne, having brought along his .223 cal. ‘scoped pig rifle joined the competition, and managed, respectively for his four matches: 20 points with 1 centre-bull; a 21/0; a 19/0; and a 16/0, with no misses or time-outs, and winning not only each match but taking the overall Field Class win with a grand total for the day of 76 points with 1 centre-bull.

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

However, please note that the Range will be closed next Saturday 25 February, as members will be attending the Mareeba District Rifle Club Annual Prize Shoot at Mareeba.