By Steve Cruickshank

With Summer arriving suddenly, a hot Sun, a vigorous mirage, and a gusty breeze made for demanding conditions for a Double 300m Competition on Saturday afternoon. The Full-bore Target Rifle class was taken by Mal McKellar with 98 points (out of a possible 105) and just 2 centre-bulls, over Neil Attwood 2nd on 97/2 and Rick Mischlewski 3rd with 96/1. Norbert Schmidt took the F-Class Open Target Rifle class with an unusually low 109 points (out of 126) and, confirming the difficulty of the conditions, just 1 super-centre bullseye.

Saturday 1st November was the first hot Saturday of the season – with brightly illuminated targets from a Sun now almost overhead in its travel south, a vigorous heat-haze rising from the hot, dry ground and distorting the target, and a gusty breeze into the faces of Target Rifle shooters.

In the first 300 metre match Neil Attwood opened the Full-bore Target Rifle (.308 cal., peep-sight, manually-supported) competition with double ‘inners’ for his sighters, straddling the bullseye. His first-to-count found the 5-point bullseye, and his second the centre-bull – just a little larger than a 50 cent piece; his third, however, was a 4-point ‘inner’, and though he found the bullseye three more times four more inners saw him close with a disappointing 45 points (out of 50 this first, 10-shot match) with just 1 centre-bull. Rick Mischlewski followed and took his second 5-point sighter as his first-to-count. He shot a very consistent string of bullseyes mid-match bracketed by two inners, and despite a wayward 3-point ‘bird’ toward the end moved into the lead with 46 points and no centres. Mal McKellar was last to take the mound, and after a 3-point ‘bird’ as his first sighter took a 5-point super-centre second as his f-t-c. He shot consistently despite conditions, and though he dropped in two 4-pointers toward the end, he took the match with a respectable 48/1. Norbert Schmidt opened the F-Class Standard Target Rifle (.308 cal., telescoped and bipod-supported) category with 4- and 5-point sighters which he confidently cut; his f-t-c was another 5-pointer, but he then pulled four 6-point centrebulls in his next five shots before an up-and-down finish, closing with a respectable, given the conditions, 55 points (out of 60 this 10-shot match, for F-Class) with no super-centres. New member Mark Goulston, awaiting delivery of his new target rifle, tried his hand with a ‘scoped .270 calibre Field Class rifle but found the barrel too light for the competition, handing the match win for the category to Schmidt.

In the second 300 metre match Neil Attwood again opened for Full-bore Target Rifle, this time with a 5-point bullseye frustratingly followed by a 4-pointer for his two sighters, both of which he cut. His steady performance thereafter however, producing a very tight group, and despite an inner for his fifth and a wayward ‘bird’ for his tenth, did not belie his confidence, as he pulled bullseye after bullseye to close with an impressive 52 points (of a possible 55 this eleven shot second match) with again just 1 centre-bull to confirm the continuing complexity of conditions. Next down, Mischlewski opened strongly with two 5-point bullseyes, but then struggled with conditions in an up-and-down round that finished with two 4-point inners for a total of 50/1. McKellar was again last of the Full-bore shooters down, and carried his two 5-point sighters into the match. The 3-point ‘bird’ that came next perplexed him however (he claimed a poor “factory load”), and two following inners put him behind Attwood with six shots still to go. The five bullseyes that followed were marred by another inner on his second last pull, but with 50/1 gave him second place for the match over Mischlewski on count-back, and handed the match to a deserving Attwood. Norbert Schmidt’s second range for F-Class Target Rifle saw him struggle both with conditions and an over-used barrel in maintaining first match form, and he shot an unusually poor round for him to close with just 54 points (out of 66 this 11-shot match, for F-Class) with 1 super-centre bullseye, while Goulston retired from the competition.

The Club meets every Saturday at 1:00pm at the Mossman & District Rifle Club Range mid-way between Port and Mossman, and visitors are always welcome.