Saturday 19th October was hot, humid, and dead calm on the range, with an intense mirage presenting difficult conditions for Target Rifle shooters in a Double 600m Competition.

In the first 600 metre match, Ben Purvis opened the Full-bore Target Rifle (308 cal., peep-sight, manually-supported) competition with a 5-point centre-bullseye as his first sighter; unfortunately he followed that with a 2-point ‘outer’, forcing him to cut them both.

He then opened his account with two 3-point ‘birds’ but progressively built towards three straight 5-pointers, including a ‘book-end’ centre-bull to finish, closing with his best result of the season on 40 points (of a possible 50, this 10-shot match) and 1 centre-bull.

Ric Mischlewski followed, and discarded his two 4-point sighting shots; he went on to shoot an up-and-down round that included six 5-pointers, to take a healthy lead with a 46/3 – very respectable given the conditions.

Neil Attwood was next down, and he too cut his 4-point sighting shots; unfortunately he shanked his first-to-count, pulling a 2-point ‘outer’ that upset his composure for the remainder of the range, and he closed with an unexciting 41/1.

Mal McKellar was next on the mound, and, as with Mischlewski and Attwood, also found the inner ring with his two sighters. Cutting those, he opened with a centre-bullseye; he went on to pull six more 5-pointers including three straight super-centres mid-match, but struggled at the finish to close with two ‘inners’, just edging Mischlewski to take the match with a reasonable, under the conditions, 47 points and 5 centres.

Norbert Schmidt opened the F-Class Standard Target Rifle (308 cal., telescoped and bipod-supported) category with two off-centre sighting shots, which he cut. Confirming the difficulty of the mirage, he too shot an up-and-down round, including two 4-pointers to finish, and he closed with an unusually low, for him, 54 points (out of 60 this 10-shot match, for F-Class) with just 2 super-centres, to take the match win for the category.

Cruickshank and Schild coached local visitors Richie, Josh, Ryan and Daniel, who were keen to try their hand at the challenging sport of long-distance target rifle shooting, and who all acquitted themselves well after some initial familiarisation.

In the second 600 metre match, Purvis again opened for Full-bore Target Rifle and, demonstrating his increasing grasp of the discipline, improved his percentage to close with a respectable 46 points (out of 55, this 11-shot match) with no centre-bulls.

Mischlewski again followed, but continued to struggle with the conditions, interspersing five 4-point ‘inners’ amongst his bullseyes and closing with a reduced percentage on 50/0.

Attwood then took the mound, and, despite the difficulty of the mirage and reflecting his improved competitiveness in recent months, shot an outstanding round that included eight straight bullseyes. Dropping just one point, on his ninth pull, he finished with two more 5-pointers including a second super-centre bullseye as his last to count, and closed with an excellent 54/4 to set a significant challenge for remaining shooters.

Only McKellar had a chance, and like Attwood he opened strongly with a string of bullseyes and centre-bulls; the pressure told however, and he pulled three 4-pointers in a row on his 8th through 10th shots before finishing with a super-centre bullseye and a score of 52/3 to hand the match win to Neil Attwood with his well-earned 54/4.

Norbert Schmidt’s second range for F-Class Target Rifle saw him also reduce his percentage and he dropped seven points to close with another low, but match winning score, of 59/3.       

In summary for the day, the Full-bore Target Rifle Double 600m Competition, in a closely fought battle, was won by Mal McKellar with 99 points (out of 105) and 8 centre-bulls, over Ric Mischlewski 2nd on 96/3, and Neil Attwood 3rd on 95/5. Norbert Schmidt took the F-Class Standard Target Rifle honors with 113 points (out of 126) and 5 super-centre bullseyes.

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.