Roseville Rifle Club Australia

Ross W, Nicholas B, Adrian B and Chris S enjoyed a long weekend in the Central West of NSW at Eugowra over the recent June long weekend.  For those who don’t know where Eugowra is – it is 35 kms east of Forbes – about 4.5 hours from Sydney.

Our Captain Adrian with Eugowra Rifle Club President Alan Noble

The welcoming hospitality of the Noble family (on whose farming land the Eugowra range sits) never ceases to amaze. It is a great family weekend away.

Saturday afternoon saw us shoot the lead up at 600 yards with a consistent 12 mph wind running across the range from 3 o’clock.   Sunday saw the arrival of shooters from far and wide for the prize shoot and the winds gust up to 14 mph – again from 3 o’clock. Total numbers were 20 shooters, which was down on previous years. 6 or 7 shooters on each of 3 targets made for quick progress over the 1×500 and 2×600 yard matches.

From all 4 Roseville shooters there were flashes of brilliance over the 2 days, but we will all admit that we were not setting the world on fire. A bright spot was Nicholas first ever competitive match at 500 yards in the OPM on Sunday where he shot a 48.4 to win the match, which was a fantastic effort for his first foray with a .308 rifle. C graders (including the writer) better look out.

Chris Sefton took at second place in each of the 600 yard matches in TRC and Adrian took out second place in the 500 yard match in TRA.

The weather was cold, but the convivial company, warm hospitality and some beverages around the clubhouse fireplace made us soon forget the temperature. I can highly recommend the Eugowra prize shoot as an enjoyable weekend and an opportunity to recharge the batteries in a friendly atmosphere.

Chris S.

Grandfather and Grand Son – Ross Webb and Nicholas Bonanni competing in the OPM on Sunday

11 intrepid Rosevillean shooters made the trek to Wingham for their annual OPM on weekend of 10-12 June.  It was a very fine weekend – with blue skies and sunshine prevailing.   Sighting proved difficult for both scopies and TR with the targets amongst the trees and relatively poorly lit from natural light during much of the course of the weekend.

Wind was there, but I think used as more of a blame thing – overall conditions were quite good.
Our crew was as follows

TR
Pat J
Phill Hodder
Mark B
Komrad K (Dmitri)
Sam H
Tim Walter
Paul Russell
Nigel Russell
Hugo Friend

FS-A
Janet B
Micah Friend

Support Team
Phil J, Anita J.

Sam made a splash in the sweepstake on Friday pm, picking up the cash in TR-B.  The sweep for those who don’t know uses the 300m scoring surface, at 600 yds.  A middling weekend for Sam after that.

Sat
Match 1 400m:  Phill was our best places in TR-A – 5^th with a 50.5.    Janet – topped the range with #1 position in match 1 with a 60.6.
Match 2:  500y: Pat was our best in TR-A – 10^th with a 50.5.  Paul Russell after a stewards enquiry was reclassified from TR-C to TR-B and won the match with considerable margin with a 50.8.
Match 3: 600y: Phill again our best placed TR-A shooter with 49.7.  Paul Russell winning another match in TR-B with 50.4.  Janet again pulled out the stops to conquer FS-A with 59.8.
Day 1 Agg:  Our best TR-A young Mr Hodder just 2 down on 148.18 placing 8^th.  Paul Russell 2^nd in TR-B with 146.15.  Janet sitting 2^nd in FS-A with 174.17.

Sun
Not sure if the hangovers were worse or better:
Match 5: 500y: Mark B slips past Phill on count back for 13^th place with 50.3 in TR-A.
The “Fifty Machine” Paul Russell does it again taking TR-B with 50.5.
Match 6 600y: Pat J is our best placed TR-A with 50.3 for 10^th place.  The ‘Fifty Machine’ Paul R dropped one pushing him to 4^th in TR-B.  Late arrival Hugo took out TR-C with 48.5.
Match 7 600y: Pat J, Phill and Mark all hit form with 50.7s.  Placing joint 3^rd and 6^th respectively on countbacks.  Janet takes FS-A 1^st place with a great 60.7.

Day 2 Agg:
Our leading TR-A light was Pat J – going ‘clean’ on 150.13 – for 6^th
Sam improved a little on day 2 to be our highest in TR-B – but still way down the list in 7^th with 143.8.  Nigel also improved with a respectable 140.9 reaching 5^th in TR-C.

Grand Agg:
Phill was consistent through the weekend and finished our top TR-A shooter 6^th place with 297.34.  Paul had some troubles on day 2, but finished as our top TR-B shooter on 283.22 for 8^th.    Janet finished just outside the medals in the grand 347.34 for 4^th place.

While many including myself were not satisfied with performance, the sunshine, no rain, and great company of fellow Rosevilleans made for a top weekend.

Full scores can be found at https://www.results.nraa.com.au/wingham-rifle-club-open-prize-meeting-2022-nsw-results/

Sam H

The NSDRA Champion of Champions (CofC) Shoot for 2021-22 was held on 4 June 2022. That’s right – check the date, winter had arrived! Fortunately the really gusty cold days were earlier in the week, but it certainly was still much cooler for the CofC shoot than it had been last week. Less rain during the week meant the ranges had started to dry out a bit underfoot so contending with mud was not an issue – still a bit spongey though. The wind from earlier in the week was still hanging around a bit but not nearly as much as it had been on Wednesday.

Our RRC champions for the competition were:

• TR-A – Dmitri Kazakov
• Sporter Hunter – Rob Trodden
• F-Std A – Dmitri Kazakov
• F-TR – Janet Beale
• Junior TR – Paul Russell >> Acclaimed and going straight through without needing to shoot

The RRC champions were well supported by a host of RRC people who were helping to score, doing range officer duties, helping with set up and removal of scoreboards, helping in Butts etc. And there were some RRC people on hand to just help cheer on their team-mates. This was all very much appreciated by the competitors.

You would like to think this was Hornsby and so it would be a “routine” type of shoot. Nope. The day was non-routine. Here are some examples:

• Shooters could not park at 500m due to boggy conditions so had to walk their gear in; and while parking at 700m was technically allowed, many omitted the 700m parking for the same reason
• At 700m, one competitor started his shoot only to find the computer system had not been adjusted (it was still showing 500m) so he had to restart his shoot
• At 800m, the sun was shining straight into the scopes / sights so people could not see their targets at all. This caused 1 competitor to withdraw mid shoot and another to pull out of the competition altogether (note:  all our RRC competitors toughed it out).
• There was even a protest lodged and so one competitor in SH was disqualified for having a rifle not fitting into the class’s standard.

Dmitri’s scores

Janet’s scores

So, other than Paul who was acclaimed, how did our RRC champions do? Despite the train-wreck at 800m, in the aggregate scores, our RRC competitors came home with two 1^st places (Dmitri in TR and Janet in F-TR) and two second places (Rob in SH and Dmitri in F-STD). But if you look a bit more closely at the scores you will see some juicy details:

• Dmitri came 1^st in two TR details and he scored two possible…he also came 2^nd in one F-STD detail,
• Janet came 1^st in three F-TR details but, due to a tied aggregate score, she only won her division by a single centre,
• Rob came 1^st in three of his SH details and he scored two possibles. But, due to a tied aggregate score, he was only 3 centres from the winning score in his division.

800m was certainly the challenge. For the record, F-Open was also won by a single centre, so, 3 of the 5 divisions were won based on centre count alone – that’s close!

Dmitri: TR-A champion

Janet: F-TR Champion

We are immensely delighted that 3 of our RRC Champions (Dmitri, Janet and Paul) will now go on to represent our district (NSDRA) at the state Champions shoot. Congrats and good luck!

Best wishes to the other non-RRC winners Adrian Hall (F-STD), David Pearsall (F-Open) and Wu Lau (SH) who are also representing the district in their respective divisions.

The results can be found HERE

District Champions: Janet Beale (F-TR), Dmitri Kazakov (TR-A), Wu Lau (SH), David Pearsall (F-Open), Adrian Hall (F-STD)

Janet Beale

What words come to mind to sum up the North Shore District Rifle Association’s (NSDRA) Open Prize Meeting (OPM) which was held on 21/22 May at Hornsby? It certainly wasn’t words like “sunscreen”, “glare”, or “dehydration”. But how to sum it up? The following words might give you a clue:

• Spongey ground
• Mud
• Gum Boots
• No parking at 500m
• Full sets of rain tents
• Intermittent rain
• Fog delays
• Thunder
• Attrition
• Chipping-in to help
• Leeches
• Covid-positive case(s?)

Despite the weather, the event was very well organised and Roseville members (including Adrian’s children) chipped-in ensuring the competition was managed, the targets were up, Butts was manned, computer systems were operational, range officer duties were covered, the competitors & their equipment were as dry as we could make it, the competitors fed, raffle tickets were sold, prizes appropriately awarded & people photographed. NSDRA (including our Roseville members) did a great job in holding the competition despite Mother Nature’s contribution.

There were 17 competitors in the Saturday morning ISSF challenge (8 in TR and 9 in F-Class) and there were 75 competitors in the Saturday/Sunday OPM (34 in TR and 41 in F-Class/SH), but due to varying reasons, 30 of the OPM competitors did not have “full cards” meaning only 60% were present for the full 2 days / 5 details.

ISSF Challenge:

We had 5 RRC competitors in the 300m ISSF challenge (Alan, Dmitri, Eva, Christian, Kees). Congrats to Alan for coming 2^nd in Target Rifle. Dmitri was hot on his tail just 1 point behind but came 4^th. Both Eva and Christian went “clean” scoring 300 out of 300, but didn’t get a prize. Well done all!

OPM:

We had 11 RRC competitors in the OPM and, collectively, 22 times our RRC people came 1^st/2^nd/3^rd in the 5 ranges with multiple Daily or Grand aggregate placings (due to class numbers they may not have all received prizes). Therefore, special mentions for the OPM as follows:

• The number of Possibles scored: Phill (4), Alan (3), Eva (2), Dmitri (2), Sam (1), Paul (1), Janet (1)
• Daily Aggregates: Phill (day 2 TRA: 2^nd), Sam (day 1 TRB: 2^nd), Paul (day 1 TRC: 2^nd, day 2 TRC: 1^st), Nigel (day 2 TRC: 2^nd), Christian (day 1 FSB: 1^st), Ross (day 1 FSB: 3^rd), Janet (day 1 FTR: 2^nd), Eva (day 2 FTR: 3^rd),
• Grand Aggregates: Paul (TRC: 1^st), Nigel (TRC: 2^nd), Ross (FSB: 2^nd), Christian (FSB: 3^rd), Eva (FTR: 3^rd)
• Special mention to Phill Hodder for not dropping a point over the 4 details he competed in!

With the two day competition completed, we can all say a big thanks to the RRC people and others in NSDRA for the work put in to hold this event – many of these people did not shoot so the rest of us could. We also want to thank the generous sponsors. So now we are left to wonder what next year will bring? Locusts?….

Janet Beale

On Anzac Day, a troop of Roseville shooters travelled out to Malabar for the annul Anzac Day shooting competition. The shoot started with a small speech and minute of silence held by the Malabar club to honour the fallen soldiers.

It was two 15 & 2 shoots, with Mark Buchanan, Dmitri Kazakov and Phil Hodder not dropping a shot in the first detail.

In the second shoot with the sun setting for the last couple of shooters, who were very rushed so they could still see the targets. Dmitri was the only shooter that did not drop a shot in the detail, Adrian coming though and shooting the same score as the first detail with two 74.6. Phil and Mark doing well in the second detail, but not able to stay with the leaders.

In B grade we had the two Sam’s (Atkinson and Houston) with 71.1 and 72.6.

In C grade we had Paul & Nigel Russell and Christie Verney in her very first competition shooting 61.1

In the F standard and FTR we had Peter Walters, Robert Kozminski competing for the CLUB.

Overall, the Club achieved two third places, Dmitri shooting a 150.15 in A grade and Paul shooting 140.9 in C grade.

Nigel Russell

To some it is called “May Day” or just the 1^st of May; but, to Roseville Rifle Club members, the 1^st of May this year was “Richard Lund’s Day”. The rain clouds had finally parted and we enjoyed a barbeque lunch (indoors where the ground was solid) to celebrate the granting of Life Membership to our very own Richard Lund who has been a member of Roseville Rifle Club for 50 years.  Yes, that means he has been a member since 1972 – longer than some of our membership have been alive!

At the lunch there were speeches, a presentation, lots of congratulations, lots of stories and great food and wine.

Richard told us of the old WW2 vets that made up the RRC membership in the old days. He told us how our club has managed to avoid so many issues through good governance of the committee and contributions from all (not just individuals). We also got an insight into his professional life – a varied legal background that has meant he is not afraid of pushing back when required.

Richard told us lots of tidbits about the Hornsby range:

• a bit of the history of the range and his involvement with getting a 50 year lease squared away (a lease being more important than a license);
• how, years ago, we lost 1m to the Hospital due to bad fencing placement;
• how the original plan was for “shared” parking with the hospital when we shot at 800m (that was when it was owned by the Commonwealth – alas that parking is not allowed now as it was never documented and the hospital has changed hands);
• how the recent mound modifications mean the 800m firing point is now actually 800m from the targets;
• he also explained the drainage issues which are affecting us now but that harken back to when the range was a tip.

Richard has, for many many years, been very involved in protecting the range for shooting usage – a service of his that so many may not be aware of. We all owe Richard our great thanks for this work. When you consider the loss of so many ranges in recent times – we are fortunate indeed to have certainty that our range can continue for the next 50 years – this is a testament to Richard’s involvement.

But it was not all backward looking – Richard told us of how he can now see the target better (new adjustable eyepiece on his rear sight) and his new larger tunnel. Yes, these small modifications are working – he scored 121.08 on Saturday!  We got an insight into his firearms collection, and we heard about pistol shooting too.

As we looked around the tables with old faces, new faces, and people that are moving on to new ventures, we could all realise the diversity that is the Roseville Rifle Club. Yet, for one moment in time, here we were celebrating Richard and his contribution to the life and continuity of the Roseville Rifle Club and the Hornsby Rifle range. Cheers and Congrats Richard from all your friends at RRC!

Janet Beale

Mudgee Rifle Club held their 100th Anniversary Invitational Prize Shoot over the Easter long weekend at the picturesque Windermere Regional Shooting Complex just out of Mudgee. Roseville members Angus Martin and Phill Hodder attended and they both camped on the range. The weather for the entire weekend was perfect, with little wind and clear skies. Quite unusual for an Easter weekend.

The format was 3 stages of 2+10 @ 1000y on Saturday and Sunday. Unfortunately there were only 8 competitors, comprising of 5 TR and 3 F Class. The club decided to only use one of the two ETs because of the low numbers and that system used was Konsberg.

Roseville’s own Angus Martin started the shoot posting an incredible 50.9! This proved to be the average score, as other TR shooters posted high 50’s also. Phill shot a 50.10, which he was very surprised and happy with!

The trend of very high 50’s recorded on each TR stage continued throughout the day, with some questioning the results/ET. But as everyone shot using the same target, all scores were kept. Phill finished the day only scoring one bullseye the entire day, the rest were center bulls! Final day scores were Phill 150.29, Angus Bell 150.27 and Angus Martin 150.26! F Class results were P Baskerville 174.12, V McAdam 172.8 and L Milton 166.6.

It was a quite night back at the campsite, with Angus going out for dinner with Chris and Sophia and Phill cooking on the camp stove. The night was very cold due to the lack of cloud cover and the morning presented itself with lots of fog and the local inquisitive cows and bulls roaming around the camping area and range. The fog lifted quite quickly and shooting started soon after 9.30am.

Scores remained high, with Angus scoring a perfect 50.10, Barb also recorded a perfect score with an amazing 7 super centers! Phill could only manage a 50.9!

There were discussions with the Mudgee club members, Angus Bell, and Chris Schwebel about the scores. It was finally worked out that the set-up configuration may have been wrongly set. With this ET system, you need to tell the system what frame size you are shooting on, small frame or large. They had inadvertently selected small. This meant that all shots were recorded closer to the center of the target than in reality. A decision was then made to use the Silver Mountain ET. Scores then became more realistic.

Angus and Phill followed with each scoring 46 and 49’s. Angus Bell showed the way shooting 49.6 and 50.9! Angus Bell won the day with 149.23, Phill 2^nd with 145.19 and Angus Martin a close 3^rd with 145.17.

Angus Bell won the 2 Day Ag with 299.50, followed by Phill 295.48 and Angus Martin 295.43! This shoot was very well run and the folks at Mudgee Rifle Club are a fantastic and friendly lot. It was a bit disappointing that not a lot of shooters attended, but hopefully the word will get around for next year.

While Sydney passed its mean annual rainfall of 1213mm, just over three months into the year and, with the Hornsby complex closed yet again due to rain, we had five RRC members in dry, dusty Bendigo to compete in the Victorian Queens and Leadup events.

Due to the F-Class state teams event in the preceding days the top F-Class shooters from around the country were present. In the Queen’s, there were over 212 competitors (138 in F-Class, 71 in TR, 3 in SH) that started.  A rare occurrence where TR was outnumbered by F-Class by nearly 2:1. The “COVID Queens”? Possibly. There was some attrition over the period as people tested positive or were close contacts. But the event went ahead.

For those not savvy with the Bendigo Wellsford Rifle range:

• Bendigo uses paper targets, not electronic – so yes there were some challenges with the marking.
• There are trees surrounding the range so the side flags are not always telling the whole truth. The flags down the middle of the range help, but they often don’t agree with each other – we hear “oh you were caught in the ‘washing machine’”. The butt’s flag is useful, except when it isn’t. The mirage is changeable, rather a lot, or it can be non-existent. So with all flags pointing in same direction how do you get a random 4 (a bird) out the opposite side? With all flags down, little mirage and the butts flag pointing down, how is it that you get a 4 (a bird) after a string of centres? It is Bendigo and it feels like for some shooters the markers must use a random number generator or just roll dice “here you go – let’s make that a 3”. But some do master it, like Duncan Davies in TRA who took out the Queens without dropping a point.
• The event was not squadded so, with 12 on your board, it could be 90-120 minutes between shooters of the same discipline shooting at a particular distance. The scores at some distances reflected the diversity of start times and resulting variable conditions.
• All distances are in yards and the competition was shot from 500yds (457 meters) to 1000yds (914 meters).

Without going into too many details, below we list the highlights of the 5 days where RRC members excelled:

• Mark Buchanan (TRA) was the standout success from RRC. In the Leadup Mark scored 50-5 at 500, 50-8 at 500. He was 11^th in Leadup out of 34 in TRA. Then in the Queens he scored 50-4 at 500, 50-7 at 500, 49-5 at 800, 50-4 at 900, 50-4 at 900, 49-6 at 1000. He was 6^th on day 3, 7^th in the Queens, 9^th in the Grand Aggregate. Overall, Mark scored 97.98% for the Leadup, 98.74% for the Queens.
• Tim Walter (TRB) – his notable scores were 49-3 at 500, 49-2 at 500, 48-3 at 500, 49-3 at 600. Overall, Tim scored 88.25% for the Leadup but did not finish the Queens.
• Alan Patrick (FTR) – did not shoot the Leadup, but in the Queens his best scores were 60-5 at 500, 60-2 at 500, 59-3 at 600, 58-7 at 900. Alan was 5th on day 1 of the Queens out of a field of 33, and scored 96.81% for the Queens.
• Eva Patrick (FTR) – across the Leadup and the Queens, Eva nailed the 500 yd distance scoring 58-3 at 500, 59-5 at 500, 60-7 at 500. Eva scored 93.76% for the Leadup, and 94.90% for the Queens.
• Janet Beale (FTR) – her notable scores were 58-4 at 500, 60-6 at 500, 58-5 at 600. On day 1 of the Leadup she was 5^th out of a field of 26. In the Queens, her best achievements were 59-5 at 500, 59-5 at 500, 59-4 at 800. Janet scored 94.90% for the Leadup and 95.32% for the Queens.

Congrats to our RRC members that bravely ventured to Bendigo. You each achieved something notable on a very challenging range. Special congrats to Mark for his badge winning placing in TRA.

Janet Beale

The Nationals F-Class Teams competition was due to be held in Canberra in 2021 but due to COVID lockdown it was rescheduled. Thus, it was Bendigo in 2022 that hosted the F-Class National teams match. From RRC we had 2 participants – Alan Patrick (well supported by Eva) in the NSW FTR team and Janet Beale in the NSW F-Standard team.

Despite the rain in Sydney that has kept us all off the ranges for a good part of the last 5-6 weeks, at Wellsford Range in Bendigo, it was dry and dusty with some occasional cloud cover and lots of mirage.

The NSW FTR team came 2nd on day 1 (2+20 at 1000 yds) and 2nd on day 2 (2+15 at each of 800yds, 900yds and 1000yds). At the end of the competition NSW FTR came 2nd over the 2-day event one single point behind the winners (SA) and one point ahead of 3rd place (QLD). A very tight competition indeed! Our RRC rep on the team (Alan Patrick) was the 2nd highest shooter in his team at 1000yds on day 1 and in day 2 detail 1 at 800 yds he scored a phenomenal 90-8. Well done Alan!!

The NSW F-Standard team came 4th on day 1 (ranges as above) and 3rd on day 2 (ranges as above) and coming 4th overall. Our RRC rep on the team (Janet Beale) was the top scorer in her team, and the top scorer on day 2 across all F-Standard teams. Also in day 2 detail 1 at 800 yds she scored a phenomenal 90-9. Well done Janet!!

No Roseville members were in the NSW F-Open team.

RRC is proud of our F-Class NSW team reps and we look forward to 2024 when the competition will be in Canberra and we hope to see our f-class members nominate to represent our state.

The 2021 NSW Queens scheduled for Sept 2021 was postponed to Jan 2022 due to COVID-19 lockdown in September.  Despite the COVID-19 Omicron troubles (virus circulating everywhere) the event went ahead with masks and “social distancing” visible. But it was hot under masks and, as an outdoor sport, most mask wearing was ditched as the days went on.

The field was large with over 130 competitors across the 5 disciplines, however, there were some notable withdrawals due to COVID-19 and it felt like fewer interstate participants due to travel complications.

But what an event! NSW dispensed with the “easy” early ranges…the leadup was 6 details of 10 shots at 500m x2, 600m x2, 700m and 800m….the Queens was 10 details at 500m x2, 600m x2, 700m x2 and 800m x4. Going clean with a high centre count was what was required at every range as Mitch Bailey (Holsworthy RC) proved, winning the Queens with 500-78 (which is not dropping a point and averaging nearly 8 centres at each detail).

Weather was sunny for each of the 5 days with the breeze coming across the water and onto the shore consistently (most of the time) – you still had to watch for “drop offs” and on day 2 we had “pick ups” to contend with in the afternoon. Then we were all surprised by what we found on day 3. At 800m first range the flags were totally limp. Nothing. Nada. But that was 2 to 3 minutes of wind – NOT KIDDING – unbelievable but that is the windage we had on our scopes/sights. And there was no mirage either at that particular range/detail. Hard to read when there are no indications.

Before we go into the details, note that unfortunately Angus Martin had COVID-19 so was unable to attend and some RRC members were not able to be there for the whole 5 days….but we did have a good cross section of people from RRC representing Target Rifle A & B Grades and FTR.

Phil Hodder, Adam Beale, Eva Patrick and Mark Buchanan each pulled off an astounding possible with 9 centres (50-9 or 60-9) but didn’t earn a range prize. Similar story for Sam Houston and Janet Beale  who each pulled off a 50-8 or 60-8 without a range prize.

Congrats to Adam and Alan who both came home with Queens Badges in their disciplines! RRC is very proud of you both!

Janet Beale

Attendees TR F-Class Mark Buchanan Christian Le Moy Phill Hodder Ross Webb Andrew Martin Angus Martin Sam Houston Tim Walters

Ross Webb setup camp early and awaited our arrival, unfortunately the big C got in the way and Adrian could not make the trip.
Phill Hodder shot on Saturday at Hornsby and before we knew it was ringing us from Lithgow well on his way.
Tim travelled solo on Sun a big trip for one day
Sam &Chris travelled together on Sun (Sam did most of the driving while Chris slept)
Mark, Andrew and Angus travelled up on Sun together.

Congrats to all attending Rosevilleans almost a quarter of all entries!

32 entries in total during CoVid Times – including 8 from RRC.
Congratulations Ben Em’s and the team for such an excellent OPM well organised and run.

Conditions:

Hot & Steamy – with tricky winds and plenty of Cows to shoot over the top of.

Results:

Sam won each range and the aggregate in TR B with aggregate of 146.13. An excellent effort well done mate.
Andrew got second in each range, and aggregate in TR B. Another excellent effort
Angus finished with a possible 50.6 – the only possible from a Rosevillean during the day. Very nice Angus well done.

Prizes:

The prize ceremony was fast and efficient which travellers were happy with. Only prizes for first place in ranges/ aggs which meant folks could get on the road sooner for the long trip home.
Sam took home a stack of great prizes including – Camp Chair, Charcoal BBQ, LED Rechargeable Spotlight, and a Dash Cam
F Class
Christian Le Moy
Ross Webb

Full results at https://www.results.nraa.com.au/central-west-district-rifle-association-open-championship-2022-nsw-results/

Sam, Phill and Chris.

Dear Gosford Rifle Club

Thanks for hosting so many of us from Roseville Rifle Club at your OPM on 5^th December. All 9 of us (Adam, Mark, Phil, Dmitri, Angus M, Sam, Andrew, Christian, and Janet) had a great time shooting on your Hexta targets. We were grateful for the pre-registration system allowing RRC to represent nearly 14% of all registrants. We were interested to see the split of disciplines at your competition (32% TR, 29% FSTD, 20% FOpen, 10% FTR). Thanks for pushing the date back due to COVID and we appreciated the work you did to make sure we were all vaccinated and well looked after (including making the presentation outside but under cover).

Yes the weather was very cloudy with some light drizzle at times, but that added to the challenge as the winds still needed to be reckoned with so we all watched the flags across the gully. But RRC all appreciated that you anticipated this weather and had covers for the mound + for the chalkboard attendants + undercover places for everyone’s gear (Frankly, I think we preferred that almost rainy weather to 40+ degrees and heavy mirage so thanks for arranging such suitable weather in December so that we could all score so well).

At the end of the day, we were thrilled that all but one of our RRC members took home prizes; you gave us lots to clap about at the ceremony. We certainly appreciated the comment from the Master of Ceremonies when he said “I think we need to go to train with the people at Roseville – they are doing very well!”.

Lots of love, see you at next year’s 75^th Gosford OPM….

Your friends from RRC

Adam and Mark were stoked to go clean on the day (150 out of 150) on your range and they will forgive Damon Livermore (Sydney Rifle Club) for his 50-8, 50-10 and 75-15 because it was so good to watch someone do a PB. Christian wants to thank you for understanding this was his first ever OPM and for letting him score a possible (90-8) in the last detail. Janet is sorry she messed up the first detail, but was glad to show you that yes she really can shoot. Despite not going home with any prizes, Angus M was happy to participate using factory loads to give everyone else at the competition half a chance of beating him. On your behalf, Angus will give his dad Andrew some ribbing over Andrew’s donation to the next door target in the first detail.

For the record – here are the prizes taken home by RRC members:

TRA:
Adam Beale: three 2^nd place range prizes, and then 2^nd in grand aggregate, top Junior in TR
Mark Buchanan: two 3^rd place range prizes, and then 3^rd in grand aggregate, top Veteran in TR
Phill Hodder: one 3^rd place range prize
Dmitri Kazakov: 5^th in grand aggregate scoring a badge

TRB:
Sam Houston: one 1^st place and one 2^nd place range prize, and then 2^nd in grand aggregate
Andrew Martin: one 2^nd place range prize

FSTD-B:
Christian Lemoy: one 1^st place and one 2^nd place range prize, and then 4^th in grand aggregate, top Tyro FSTD-B

FTR:
Janet Beale: one 1^st place and one 2^nd place range prize, and then 2^nd in grand aggregate

More photos here: https://1drv.ms/u/s!AuryNbs88GBf1nn5GRbPsVfLqt6S?e=cbvW93

Competition results are here

Janet Beale. Photos Phill Hodder

Roseville Rifle Club Members traveled afar with generosity in their hearts, ammo in their bag and equipment aplenty. Members, no not just any member, but our esteemed Captain Adrian Bonanni, Ross Webb, Phill Hodder and Alan Patrick drove that great distance from Sydney to Lockhart in the Riverina. A glorious geographical location with a bit of rain, mud, wind and wind. Wind from the left, wind from the right, wind from the front and no wind. But rest assured there was wind, and did I mention mirage, but we’ll get to that later. And have you ever been on a range with 5 targets but number 5 never appearing and when was target 1 ever called zero?

The countryside looked a picture and after so long in lockdown it was a pleasure to escape the city and head south to regional NSW.

Well, the generosity of all shooters was clear from the start. Following the tradition of that intrepid group who unselfishly shared as many shots as possible with their fellow competitors in Armidale our group did their best, but the wind would not let that overwhelming generosity be shared. It did not matter what we tried the shots remained on the target. But then that is what happens when wind blows here and there and then no where and then repeats itself. So, it is my melancholy duty to let everyone know that we failed to share a shot with any other competitor. To this extent we apologise but the silver lining is everyone had a remarkably great time and full scores were recorded

From the moment the first shot was fired we progressed through five ranges. There was 500, 600, 700 800 and 900 yards not metres. The mounds were new, and the range had been repositioned to ensure full compliance with all sorts of rules and problems. This unfortunately meant they (we) have lost a 1000 yards range.

Day one on Saturday saw 500 yards given a good workover. Adrian posted a solid 75.6, Phill a credible 73.8 in TRA, Ross Webb an 81.4 in F Standard B and Alan an 87.7 FTR. This was almost Ross’s first competition. Conditions were testing with wind and a bit of rain.

Second match at 600 yards – The Lockhart – saw Phill and Adrian tussle with conditions posting scores that did not show how hard they tried. Both competitors tried to share shots but did post a the odd 3 and 4’s. Ross showed how to put in an X in the middle of his shoot just to show Adrian how it was done and finished 4/7 for the day. Alan finished the day with an 87.6 which concluded with a 4^th for the day 5 points behind.

The weather was always on everyone’s mind for day 2 but before that Explorers Club put on a great dinner and presentation on Saturday night with the day’s award for wins announced. TR always seems to take the highlight and the shoot off for target rifle between father and son Jim and Mitch Bailey could not be determined so the result was finally announced after a darts comp between the two happened in the Lockhart Ex-Servicemen’s Club. Jim won conclusively. Jim scored a 25 off 3 darts and Mitch put up 18 off 3 darts which only draws us to the conclusion both should stick to long range target shooting.

Day 2 saw commencement before 8.30 am as we had three ranges to get through with about 74 enrolled competitors.

At the 700 yards range – The 61st Battery – was conducted in cloud and sun with a mirage to make a grown person cry. The wind went a minute one way and then a boil and then the other way all in a flash with everything in between including sun, cloud, global warming symptoms soon to be thrown at us. But our intrepid group were not giving up. Phill posted a 47.3 to jump to 16^th and Adrian a 48.3 for 14^th place. Ross in F standard B stamped his mark with a 48.0 to place 3^rd just to show everyone how it is done. Alan shooting FTR posted a 58.6 to head off 9 others to place 1^st at this range. Alan was clearly not in a shot sharing mood.

At 800 yards – The Ex Servicemans – saw the jockeying between TR shooters was tough. Phill was not to outdone and put up a well earned 49.4. Adrian posted 44.3 but he was just trying to share his last two shots being Captain. Ross in FSB made sure his 46.0 kept him competitive. His first shot was again another sharing opportunity gone wrong and his 2 was not good enough to share with anyone else. Alan was toweled up with a 56.3 leaving him at 7^th and his last shot although a valiant attempt to share with his nearest competitor was not good enough for them to accept.

At 900 yards – The Explorers – the weather was hot, the wind was taxing, and the 4 intrepid members had their heads down, their butt’s up and were ready to attack this always difficult country range stage. Phill and Adrian went neck and neck. Phill put up a very good 48.6 (13/22) and Adrian a 47.3 (15/22).

Ross Webb made his mark with a 54.0 (2/7). A great result.

Alan shot a 54.2 (4/9) with more 5’s than he cared to remember.

Day 2 AGG saw Phill with 144.13 at 14^th, Adrian 139.9 at 19^th, Ross with 148.0 at 2^nd and Alan with 168.11 at 2^nd.

The Grand Aggregate gave us the final picture after a taxing two days, 2 cars, one caravan and four keen competitors shooting in a part of heaven’s own country.

On a final note all competitor’s worked well together, the target system delivered it’s best to deliver the results expected including phantom shots which made us appreciate home on the range.

For all the results go to https://www.results.nraa.com.au/explorers-rifle-club-open-prize-meeting-2021-nsw-results/

But here is all you need to know.

Phill Hodder TRA – 289.30

Adrian Bonanni TRA – 283.18

Ross Webb FSB – 310.7 and 4^th

Alan Patrick FTR – 342.24 and 2^nd.

Adrian Bonanni

The Armidale OPM was held on the on the 6^th and 7^th of November with 5 members attending. First up was a sweepstake, the target was at 500yds with the computer set at 300yds. Mental calculations of adjustments were the major handicap of the range for the shoot, it was a 10 and 2, with an Armidale shooter taking the winner’s purse. Dmitri started the generous ways of the club members for the weekend by donating a high scoring shot to the next target.

The first shoot of the competition was 500yds, starting at 7:30pm, the shoot was in the pitch black with targets lit up with LED lights. The shooters had some trouble as they had to adapt to shooting with barely any light and the frog’s lit up next to them, note to Dmitri, backlit screens please?

Nigel and Sam where kind enough to give their V and Xs to the nice shooters in the adjoining lanes.

The winner: Peter Tollis from Inverell R.S.M.

Paul’s younger eyes helped him stay on his target, getting a 47.4, Dmitri getting a 50.6 with the help of all the Roseville team by being the last to shot on the night gaining tips and advice from the others when they finished, and Mark getting a highly ranked 49.5.

The first shoot of the second day was at 500yds and the star of the range was Mark, getting a 45.9, with the generous Roseville club again donating an X to other competitors. Nigel and Sam making up for their lost shots with 46.1 for Nigel and 47.4 for Sam. Paul with a 45.2 maintaining his lead in the C Grade.

The final two shoots of the day were at 600yds. In the third detail the wind started to pick up and some of us didn’t do as well as we hoped, with Dmitri and Mark both getting 48.4 and Sam getting 47.4.

The final shoot of the competition was a 15 and 2 at the 600yds, with Nigel shooting the best score in C grade at this range, trying to make up the points he lost in the first shoot, but couldn’t catch Paul. Mark and Dmitri getting 73 but Dmitri getting 3 more centres in the shoot. Overall Paul came first in C grade with Nigel close behind in third, Sam placed narrowly into second in B grade, and Dmitri and Mark coming third and fourth in A grade.

Our Roseville representatives flying the Club Colours. Mark, Sam, Nigel, Paul and Dmitri

Paul Russell

2021 and Covid was at bay long enough for the comp to go ahead. It was sunny for 4.5 of the 5 days with a thundershower disrupting day 2 of the leadup. Very very cold in the mornings, sunny and warm in the middle of the day, and very long shadows at the end of the day which comes early this close to the winter solstice. Winds varied from very light to 24km/hour. Distances over the Leadup and Queens comp were 300yds x 2, 500yds x 3, 600yds x 3, 800yds x 2, 900yds x 4 and 1000yds x 3 (i.e. 17 details of 2+10). As one person puts it, all the other ranges just creates the handicap for the 1000m where anything can happen….and anything did happen.

Janet had a trigger failure, got caught mid shoot when the thunderstorm struck and then had a wet breach at the next range. Dmitri copped an earful from a disgruntled shooter who blamed his bad shoot on Hexta when it was in fact a few seconds delay due to maximum capacity of the network being used (3 monitors at each of 22 firing points). Adam tried out the “lets bleed over one eye” trick (due to rear sight)…an eventful time.

Overall, it was a talented field of 180 competitors (70 in TR-A! and 25 in each of FTR/F-STD/F-Open). The State teams TR competition coming just after the Queens ensured that most of Australia’s top TR shooters were present (including a large percentage of the National TR teams
(Palma/Vets/U25/U21) and a large percentage of the National FTR and F-Open teams were in town for a team practise.

Our RRC representatives did well in this very talented field.

In TR-A:
• Adam Beale scored 6 possibles, and took home a 20th place badge in the 3 day Queens with a 98.1% accuracy over the 5 days of competition
• Dmitri Kazakov scored 4 possibles with a 97.8% accuracy over the 5 days
• Mark Buchanan scored 3 possibles with a 97.2% accuracy over the 5 days

In FTR
• Janet Beale took home 3 first place range medals and a 3rd place daily
aggregate medal with a 96.1% accuracy over the 5 days

Lovely NRRA Queens Badge – Adam Beale

A bag of medals – NRAA Queens June 2021

Congrats to our associate member Gary Faulkner who took home 3 first place range medals and a 1st place daily aggregate medal and 2nd place in the 3 day Queens.

The Roseville Gang enjoying Pizza June 2021

Roseville’s good friends Ben Emms and Matt Paroz won the Queens (TR and F-Open respectively) and we congratulate them both.