Saturday was calm, overcast, and warm, with threatening showers and well-shadowed targets providing challenging conditions for Target Rifle shooters in a Double 400m Competition.

In the first 400 metre match Neil Attwood opened the Full-bore Target Rifle (308 cal., peep-sight, manually-supported) competition with a 4-point ‘inner’ followed by a 5-point bullseye.

However, with darkening conditions and a short but heavy downpour towards the end of his pull, that was the last 5-pointer he found as he knocked up four more ‘inners’ and several 3-point ‘birds’ to finish with a disappointing 36 points (out of 50, this 10-shot match) with no centres.

Rob Wearne was next down, and he too struggled with the varying light conditions, bouncing between 4-point ‘inners’ and 5-point bulls-eyes, though with a ray of sunshine in the form of a super-centre-bull mid-match, to close with a 44/1.

Mal McKellar was last down for Full-bore and accepted a 5-point second sighter as his first-to-count. He went on to pull eight more 5-pointers, including two centre-bulls and one super-centre for his last shot, to close with an excellent 49/4 to take the match win.

Norbert Schmidt opened the F-Class Standard Target Rifle (308 cal., telescoped and bipod-supported) category with a 6-point centre-bull, and in typical fashion pulled seven more centres including three super-centres in his next nine shots.

He dropped just two points for the range to close with what proved to be an unbeatable 58 points (out of 60 this 10-shot match, for F-Class) with 3 super-centres.

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Steve Cruickshank, with new Mastin-built rifle in hand, struggled with both the conditions and his new weapon, and though he found one 5-pointer mid-shoot he was no match for Schmidt, closing with just 37 points and no centres.

In the second 400 metre match Attwood again opened for Full-bore Target Rifle, and struggled with the changing light conditions in an up-and-down round that saw him steady mid-match to take four 5-point bullseyes, including one centre, but fall short of a winning score despite a percentage improvement, with 42 points (out of 55, this 11-shot match) and 1 centre-bull.

Wearne again followed, and after a slow start with two 4-point ‘inners’, found consistency mid-match with a fine string of six 5-pointers, including 2 centre-bulls, to post a challenging 49/2.

McKellar was again last down and he opened well, with four bullseyes and one centre-bull, before adjusting his rear peep the wrong way in the fading light and dropping in a string of 4-point ‘inners.’

A bullseye and another ‘inner’ to close saw him ease out Wearne by just one point to take the match win with a 50/1.

Schmidt’s second range for F-Class Target Rifle saw him crash from his first-match form, opening with an unheard-of, for him, 4-point ‘bird’, and following that with a string of six 5-pointer ‘inners’ before finding the centre towards the end with three 6-point bullseyes in his last four shots, and closing with just 57 points (out of 66 this 11-shot match, for F-Class) with no super-centres.

Cruickshank was last down for F-Class and, to his great credit, came to grips with his new rifle, shooting a consistent string of nine 5-point ‘inners’ with a 6-point super-centre interspersed, and closing with a challenging and relatively impressive 54/1.

Summary

In challenging light conditions, the Full-bore Target Rifle Double 400m Competition was taken by Mal McKellar with 99 points (out of 105) and 5 centre-bulls, over Rob Wearne second with 93/3, and Attwood third on 78/1.

F-Class Target Rifle was taken by Norbert Schmidt with 115 points (out of 126) and 3 super-centres, over a fast-improving Steve Cruickshank on 91/1.

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’s Annual Prize Shoot will be held this coming Saturday 26 May commencing at 9.30am sharp. We expect around 40 nominations from around the region and from interstate and interested observers are welcome.

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