Saturday was clear and calm, but very warm and with a vigorous mirage to challenge Target Rifle shooters in a Double 400m Competition.

In the first 400 metre match Ron Schild opened the Full-bore Target Rifle (308 cal., peep-sight, manually-supported) competition with a surprising 2-point ‘outer’ after cutting both of his 2-point sighting shots.

He then worked his way towards the centre, but the mirage held him to a string of up-and-down 4-point ‘inners’ and 3-point ‘birds’ before a sole bulls-eye closed out his match with a disappointing 36 points (out of 50 this 10-shot match) with no centre-bulls.

Neil Attwood was next down with his new rifle, and pulled a 4-point ‘inner’ as his first ‘sighter’ and an impressive 5-point super bulls-eye as his second. What was this about a mirage?

Frustratingly, his next two pulls were both 3-pointers well out of centre. However, two bulls-eyes and three 4-point ‘inners’ followed, only to be let down by two more 3-point ‘birds’ at the close, leaving him with a leading, but none-the-less disappointing 39/1.

Pictured above: Cooya Beach local Janelle Hayward trying her hand with Neil Attwood's .308 calibre Full Bore Target Rifle, while Attwood checks the fall-of-shot through his spotting scope.

Mal McKellar was last down and he too struggled with the mirage with shots falling in unexpected places as the target danced in the heat waves.

He cut his 3-point first-sighter but kept the bulls-eye second, and then fell back into the ‘inner’ ring before again finding the centre for a super-bull and two centre-bulls.

A disappointing ‘bird’ and two more wayward 4-pointers finished his match, but still he took the win with an unspectacular 43/3.

Norbert Schmidt opened the F-Class Standard Target Rifle (308 cal., telescoped and bipod-supported) category with a 6-point centre-bullseye followed by a surprising 4-point ‘inner’ reflecting the difficulty of the mirage.

He found the 6-point centre only twice more amidst a string of six 5-point bulls-eyes to close with a surprisingly low 52 points (out of 60 this 10-shot match, for F-Class) with no super-centres.

Robert “Gus” Gusmeroli, still experimenting with his new rifle, opened slowly but then found the centre with one 6-point centre-bull and two 5-point bulls-eyes, before fading to a mix of 3s and 4s to close with a reasonable, under the circumstances, 41/0, handing the match win to Schmidt.

In the second 400 metre match Schild again opened for Full-bore Target Rifle, this time more strongly with 4- and 5-point sighters which he kept, and an early 5-point super-centre.

But the mirage was still at work and he dropped his percentage in the latter half of the match, closing with a disappointing 39 points (out of 55, this 11-shot match) with one centre-bull.

Attwood again followed and in a mirror of his first match opened strongly before fading to a mix of 3s and 4s. As with Schild, he dropped his percentage marginally and posted a barely acceptable 42/0 for the match.

Once more McKellar was last down and, with the impact of the mirage on match scores in mind and in a display almost of surrender, accepted his 5-point bulls-eye/4-point ‘inner’ sighting pair as his first-to-count.

His call was somewhat vindicated when he pulled another 4-pointer as his third on-target. However, he then rallied to claim six bulls-eyes, though no centre-bulls, from his next 8 pulls to post a tolerable match-winning 51/0.

Schmidt’s second range for F-Class Target Rifle saw him also lift from his first-match performance pulling five 6-point centre-bulls and five 5-point bulls-eyes, with just one 4-point ‘inner’ to spoil the party, and closing with another match-winning score of 59 points (out of 66 this 11-shot match, for F-Class) but again with no super-centres.

Gus Gusmeroli continued to improve his form, pulling five 5-point bulls-eyes, five 4-point ‘inners’, and just one 3-point ‘bird’, to post a credible score of 48/0 in difficult conditions.

In summary, in mirage-effected conditions the Full-bore Target Rifle Double 400m Competition was taken by Mal McKellar with 94 points (out of 105) and 3 centre-bulls, over Neil Attwood second with 81/1, and Ron Schild third with 75/1.

F-Class Target Rifle was taken by Norbert Schmidt with 111 points (out of 126) and no super-centres, over an improving Gus Gusmeroli second on 89/0.

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