Roseville Rifle Club Australia

“To be Belmont’d” a verb that means that the Belmont shooting range wind exacted perilous revenge on unsuspecting non-Queenslanders beating them into submission and proving that yes you can score an outer 2 on LHS followed by an outer 2 on RHS even if you are a titan of shooting.  Belmont is certainly not Hornsby Rifle range – and when the Belmont wind gets up you know it. Belmont saved the worst of the winds for the final 1000 yds on the last day and, to say it carved up the field, would be an understatement. Yet some lucky people found the hole and creamed the result leaving others in their dust and upending the order that had been established over the competition. The conditions, particularly at 1000 yds, favoured those that could “machine gun” (mostly F-Standard and F-Open) through it all or who found that proverbial hole or who knew the range the most (home range advantage!).

This was a large competition – one of the largest in recent memory with 276 competitors which translates to 9 people to a target and over 30 targets in use. There were competitors from Japan and New Zealand plus some shooters from WA who all travelled great distances to be at this competition.  In particular, the TR-A grade competition was a beast with over 100 competitors.  Hard to shine in that crowd! The field was 55% Target Rifle which meant a slow progression through the shooting order. It also meant a few late modifications to the shooting program – but everyone took it in stride. The cold mornings were a bit of a surprise (8c!) and most days it was back to shirt sleeves by mid-afternoon (but not on the last day due to the wind).

Our three Roseville competitors in the QRA “Lead up” and QRA “Kings” shot well considering the conditions thrown at them and the calibre and sheer numbers of competitors they were up against….but each were “Belmont’d” at the 1000 yd range. So lets focus on the positives:

Mark Buchanan (TR-A) – across the 15 details in the competition he scored 3 possibles and had an awesome count of 71 V-bulls in some tough conditions

Dmitri Kazakov (TR-B) – three 1^st and three 2^nd places in details, a 1^st and a 2^nd in a daily aggregate, 1^st in the Leadup, 8^th in the Kings and 2^nd in the Grand Aggregate

Janet Beale (FTR) – one 1^st place and one 2^nd place in details, 5^th in the leadup, 9^th in the Kings and 6^th in the grand aggregate.

Great shooting and well done on coming home with some prizes.

Janet Beale

Roseville Rifle Club is proud to have had three shooters who were selected to represent NSW in the National Veteran’s Teams competition held at Belmont Qld in August.

Mark Buchanan was in the NSW Veteran’s TR team,

Dmitri Kazakov was in the NSW Veteran’s FTR team,

Janet Beale was in the NSW Veteran’s F-Standard team.

Note: A Veteran is someone over 60 (no, it does not have to be a defence or police force veteran!). Dmitri only barely just made it into the age bracket!

Each State team had a wind coach, 5 shooters and a team captain. On several occasions this year the respective teams (TR/FTR/FSTD/F-Open) got together to practise in preparation for the big event – which is always challenging as there are no 1000 yd ranges locally and not all shooters are from the same locale.

With the challenging wind that kept the wind coaches on their toes and second guessing themselves, NSW teams did well but Queensland, shooting on their home range, took out 3 of the 4 top spots with North Queensland taking out the other top spot.

• TR – NSW had 2 teams which came 2^nd and 4^th 
• F-Standard – NSW came 2^nd
• F-Open – NSW came 2^nd
• F-TR – NSW came 3^rd

Unfortunately, only the winning team members get a prize in this competition so no “bling” to show for the grand effort and the good shooting. But that does not mean we cant call out here our Roseville members who had some excellent shoots when compared to their team-mates and other competitors:

• Mark 2^nd overall at 300yds in TR
• Dmitri 2^nd overall at 900yds in FTR
• Janet 3^rd overall at 300yds, 900yds and 1000 yds in F-Standard

Great shooting by our NSW reps Mark, Dmitri and Janet who all looked rather schmick in their NSW jackets for the formal dinner.

So look out for the next Veteran’s comp in 2 years time in Bendigo when NSW will try to snatch those top spots away and come home with some 1^st place bling!

Janet Beale

Three Rosevilleans (Alex, Rob and Steve) braved the cold down south to compete in Tumut Rifle Club’s 2026 Open Prize Meeting. It was originally planned as a two-day shoot across the weekend, but an ominous forecast of heavy rain and strong winds on Sunday meant the program was changed to 3 stages (1x 800yds, 2x 900yds) on the Saturday.

Rob, Steve and Alex drove down on Friday morning, arriving in the afternoon. Alex insisted on making a detour to go fishing at Blowering Dam, but the fishing spot was so good, not even the fish knew about it… 🙁

All three shooters stayed at the Reflections Caravan Park, and dinner was a delicious pie, courtesy of chef Rob!

Saturday morning was chilly, but with blue skies and not a cloud in sight, it made for perfect weather. Rob showed off the amenities of his touring van, offering coffee and hot chocolate to keep warm before the shoot.

Alex, shooting against Rob in B-grade, was first down for the 800yds, and after a minor “whoopsie” in calculating elevations, her first sighter was a miss, followed by a 2. Thankfully, her first counting shot was a bulleye, and she wound up with a 50.7—her first possible at a prize shoot!

Rob followed with a fantastic 48.6 that had Alex a little nervous for the next two ranges. Steve, who has only recently taken up Target Rifle alongside Sporter Class, had a fantastic shoot to finish with 44.2, putting him at 2^nd place in C-grade!

The first of the two 900yds was a little trickier. A slight breeze had started to pick up, with some interesting mirage down range noted by the F-Class shooters. Alex scored a 48.3, and Rob followed with a 46.2. Unfortunately, Steve had some issues with his ammunition at the longer range and had to retire halfway through his shoot.

The 2^nd 900yds was another 10 shots with 2 sighters. Alex left the mound smiling with a 50.3, only to be counted out by Rob who shot a stellar 50.4 to win the range by one centre!

At the conclusion of the 800yds, it was time for lunch. Chef Rob made quesadillas!

The presentation was short and sweet, with a total of 27 shooters having attended the prize meeting. All three Rosevilleans came away with a prize (or two)!

Alex Toth — 1^st place B-grade, 1^st place 800yds + 900yds (1)

Rob Trodden — 2^nd place B-grade, 1^st place 900yds (2)

Steve Bliim — 3^rd place C-grade, 2^nd place 800yds

After the presentation, Rob made his glamorous exit from the range by getting bogged, which served as great evening entertainment for Alex and Steve. He was rescued by a knight in a shining Isuzu D-Max who winched him back out to solid ground. 🙂

Congratulations and great shooting to our Rosevilleans! Thank you to Tumut Rifle Club for organising such a friendly and enjoyable prize shoot… and a special thank you to Rob for the wonderful cooking. 🙂

Alex Toth

How can it already be July and into the start of another shooting year? The 2025-26 shooting year saw some pretty impressive improvements for our members – maybe some of that practising has made a difference? However, it was also a strange year with the awful event at Christmas in Bondi overshadowing our sport but we have all adapted to the new legislation and are keen to show that event does not define who we are as a club and a sport. We support the changes that are necessary. Shooting recommenced after a short break and we have persevered as individuals, team members and club members. As is now customary, let’s do a whip around to highlight our Roseville successes for the shooting year that just finished. Note: we will have our annual presentation day in a few weeks so this recap is a toast to major events.

Roseville members who represented the club internationally:

• Mark Buchanan (Aug 2025 – TR Individual and team shooter at Bisley, UK) = gold medal in Overseas team competition and Dominion team competition. individually won the “Daily Telegraph” 500y competition after a 3-way shoot-off.
• Janet Beale (Sept 2025 – FTR individual and team shooter at Bisley, UK) = gold team medal European Championship, silver team medal America Match.
• Mark Buchanan (Jan 2026 – TR Individual and team shooter at New Zealand) = individual King’s Badge Number 9, (Australian team also has bragging rights for coming first in the team’s event called “NZ Champion Club Teams” – but not eligible to win it).

Roseville members who represented the club in national teams:

• No national team’s events held during the shooting year.

Roseville members who excelled in Kings’ events across the country:

• Queensland Kings >> Dmitri Kazakov TRB – 3^rd in Kings and 4^th in Grand Aggregate
• Tasmanian King’s >>
  • Sam Houston TR-B 2^nd place in the King’s and 1^st place in Grand Aggregate,
  • Mark Buchanan TR-A 3^rd place in both the King’s and Grand Aggregate
• New South Wales King’s >> Alex Toth TR-C 7^th place earning her first King’s badge.

Roseville members who excelled in Open Prize Meetings across the country:

• Multiple – but our biggest wins were at Gosford (congrats to Christian Lemoy, Phill Hodder – honorary mbr, Adam Beale, Allan Humbert, Janet Beale)

Roseville teams who excelled in the Arn Hammond matches:

• Roseville 20X – FTR (1^st place)
• Roseville Rottweilers – TR-1 (2^nd place)

In the list below we recognise individuals for excelling in the club’s internal annual competition:

In Target Rifle:

• Club Target Rifle A Grade: Champion >> Dmitri Kazakov;  Runner Up >>  Sam Houston
• Club Target Rifle B Grade: Champion >> Alex Toth;  Runner Up >>  Rob Trodden
• Club Target Rifle C Grade: Champion >> Richard Lund;  Runner Up >>  Steve Bliim

In F-Class:

• Club F-Standard A Grade: Champion >> Janet Beale;  Runner Up >>  Allan Humbert
• Club F-Standard B Grade: Champion >> Alex Toth, Runner Up >> Ross Webb
• Club FTR: Champion >> Dmitri Kazakov;  Runner Up >>  Ian Palmer
• Club Sporter Class: Champion >> Rob Trodden;  Runner Up >>  Steve Bliim

Best results at each range (Cock of the Walk):

• Target Rifle A Grade: Dmitri Kazakov (300m, 400m, 500m, 600m);  Mark Buchaman (700m, 800m)
• Target Rifle B Grade: Alex Toth (300m, 400m, 500m, 600m);  Steve Tofler (700m), Rob Trodden (800m)
• Target Rifle C Grade: Richard Lund (300m, 400m, 500m, 600m, 700m, 800m)
• F-Standard A Grade: Allan Humbert (300m, 500m), Jon Marriott (400m), Janet Beale (600m, 700m, 800m)
• F-Standard B Grade: Ross Webb (300m, 500m, 800m), Alex Toth (400m, 600m), Greg Thomas (700m)
• FTR: Dmitri Kazakov (300m, 400m, 500m, 600m, 700m, 800m)
• Sporter Class: Rob Trodden (300m, 400m, 500m, 600m, 700m, 800m)

 Special mention goes to our extra hard working behind the scenes people:

• The 2025/26 Club committee: President Mark Buchanan and Club Captain Rob Trodden supported by Secretary Christian LeMoy, Treasurer Steve Tofler, Statistician Ian Palmer and the rest of the committee
• Rob Trodden who works tirelessly for the club beyond his normal Club Captain duties doing those amazing building improvements (roof, grid for under the building, veranda etc), coaching visitors, mentoring Alex, supplying ice blocks in summer.
• Dmitri Kazakov who supports us, the Hornsby clubs and many other clubs with the HEXTA targets
• Every club member that has helped with range duties, helped in upkeep of the clubhouse, dealt with the targets, did kitchen duties, did our shopping, kept the website up to date, or helped with new shooters. You know we cant do it without you!

Overall, another successful year for our club. Well done to the individuals called out above and the new shooters who have improved throughout the year. So, let’s see what 2026/27 has in store for each of us – get ready and aim for your personal target.

Janet Beale

Alexandra Toth (Alex) was the only Roseville member participating in the 2026 NSW 150^th Annual Open Championships.

Alex entered for Target Rifle (TR) C Grade for the Kings Prize.

The First Stage of the Kings was shot over 300m, 600m and 600m.

At 300m Alex shot a fine 49.4 to finish in 3^rd place, and at the next range at 600m she scored 71.3 to finish in 9^th place.

At the second 600m Alex blitzed it with an incredible 74.5 to finish in 2^nd place, being undeterred by an inner on her 3^rd shot to get the last 12 shots in the bullseye or better.

This gave Alex an Aggregate on Day 1 of 194.12 to finish in 3^rd place, 1 point behind the leaders.

Club Captain Rob Trodden and club stalwart and always Statistician Ian Palmer attended the range for the presentation and to show their support for Alex.

What great support.

The Second Stage saw more wet and cloudy weather and Alex had some sighting problems at the longer ranges.

Nonetheless, Alex shot a very creditable 49.6 at 700m, which was particularly notable for the fact that she started with an inner, followed with a bull, and then fired 6 Vs in a row to finish in 4^th place by 1 point, but with an equal highest centre count.

Thankfully, she received some very valuable assistance from Rob Avery of Cessnock Rifle Club who checked her rifle and gave her a look through his Eagle Eye which she liked, and Rob Trodden and Ian Palmer assisted with providing some front rings with a thicker annulus, which Rob Avery had also suggested. Thank you for your help, Guys.

The next range was 800m and this where Alex experienced sighting problems; this is not uncommon shooting at 800m, especially without using an Eagle Eye! The easterly wind was also very tricky, and Alex shot a 68.3 to finish in 15^th place at the first 800m range and at the second 800m range she scored 67.3 to finish in 18^th place.

This gave Alex an Aggregate of 184.12 to finish in 12^th place in the Day 2 Aggregate.

Day 3 saw more of the same wet and cloudy weather, and at the first 800m Alex copped a few 3’s to finish with 42.3, but at the last range she had her sights to her liking and scored a fine 48.5 at the second 800M to finish in 2^nd place.

This gave Alex a Third stage Aggregate of 90.8 but the Aggregate has not so far been published in the Results so I cannot say where she placed on Day 3.

However, I can say that Alex finished with an Aggregate of 468.32 which was sufficient to put her in 7^th place in the C Grade Kings Aggregate and win her a Kings Badge!

Had Alex dropped just one more point she would not have received a badge, which just goes to show that you must fight for every point and never give up. And Alex did just that.

Well done Alex in your first Kings Prize competition!

Your dedication and training are paying off, and you have shown great resilience during this tough competition.

Congratulations from all at Roseville Rifle Club!

Tim Walter

As we approached the end of the shooting year, we found ourselves in a predicament with only half the Arn Hammond shoots completed. Gosford Rifle Club to the rescue! A special double-header was organised at the Kariong Range with teams shooting 600y in the morning and 500m in the afternoon. It was a small contingent from Roseville with 60% of the Roseville teams doubling up and shooting both TR and FTR disciplines (TR: Mark Buchanan, Alex Toth, Dmitri Kazakov, Sam Houston, and, finally returning after an extended “no sports allowed” medical order, Adam Beale…. FTR: Alex Toth, Dmitri Kazakov, Adam Beale, Alan Humbert, Janet Beale…with mascot Barney (the cavoodle) who came courtesy of Sam).

Highlights & lowlights of the day:

• Barney finding his lead wasn’t secured and taking an unscheduled jaunt through the Gosford Club house with Sam then realising and saying “Which way did he go? Which way did he go?” rather like the beloved cartoon character.
• 600y:
  • Adam coached Mark to a possible (75-10) and Mark returned the favour with coaching Adam to a possible (75-7) … the only two possibles in TR at 600y across all the clubs.
  • Dmitri recording the only “Pin hole” at 600y in TR across all clubs.
  • Alex lying down to shoot from Janet’s rifle with 2 “unrecognisable shots” as sighters (elevation miscalculation by Janet)…then a quick spin of the dial and first counting shot being an X. Phew!!!
  • Dmitri was the top FTR scorer from Roseville scoring a very nice 89-10 coached by Alan.
  • Janet lying down waiting to shoot and watching a swarm of ants on the mound (which then disappeared)….then an hour later Sam lying down waiting to shoot and finding the ants were now swarming on his ammo box and sights box….(Janet quickly got a spray can – which worked a treat!).
  • The 3 FTR shooters using Janet’s rifle all getting the same, unfortunate score of 83/90 … is it the conditions? The barrel? Or the load?
  • The {light} rain showing up just as the last shooters were finishing (“quick – put stuff into cars or under covers”).
  • Roseville’s teams coming 1^st in TR and 2^nd in FTR at 600y.
• 500m:
  • The rain coming and going as it pleased – good thing they put up the tents at 500m.
  • Adam coached Mark to a possible (75-13) and Mark returned the favour with coaching Adam to a possible (75-10) with Dmitri also getting a possible (75-10).
  • Sam recording the only “Pin hole” at 500m in TR across all clubs.
  • Janet swapping barrels so the 3 FTR shooters using Janet’s rifle all got much better scores of 88, 88 and 90 out of 90 … is it the conditions? The barrel? Or the load?
  • Adam was the top FTR scorer from Roseville scoring a possible (90-9) coached by Alan.
  • Roseville’s teams coming 1^st in TR and 2^nd in FTR at 500m (FTR was tied on points, but not on centres)
• Other
  • Mark and Adam both went clean across the day in TR and were the only two to do that in TR! (noting Adam hasn’t been on a shooting range since Gosford’s OPM on 9 Nov 2025 which was 6 months ago)
  • Dmitri was the top scorer for Roseville across the day in FTR with a pair of 89’s but couldn’t quite catch the leader (Eva from HMTRC) who scored 2 possibles.
  • Alex and Adam who don’t usually shoot FTR but who came through for Roseville.
  • Our intrepid wind coaches for the day (Mark & Adam in TR and Alan & Adam in FTR).
  • The efficiency of Gosford RC putting up tents at the club house because of the unexpected rain then moving the tents to the 500m mound.
  • Gosford RC who put on a generous spread at lunch time (sausages, onions, salad etc).
  • After shooting, the cakes, doughnuts, and Alex’s yummy muffins!
  • The camaraderie of all teams – we may be competitors, but we are also all friends.
  • A thanks to the other Rosevilleans who stayed at Hornsby to do “Duty club jobs” to keep the range open for other clubs.

One range to go – 800m….

Janet Beale

Intrepid Rosevilleans – Uncle Mike Hodder (support team), and competitors Mark and Sam made their way to Campbell Town, central Tasmania for the 2026 Kings Series.

Uncle Mike – was on (slightly) early reconnaissance, via a Virgin flight to Launceston.  Sam & Mark, followed slightly behind on a similarly late departure to last year on Qantas.

We ran into John Weigel from Gosford in the Launie airport – who was on the same flight, and had a good natter whilst awaiting the shooting irons to arrive at the surfboard counter.  Mark, Sam and Mike shared a rental car from Bargain Car Rentals – just off airport, but costing significantly less than the mainstream rental companies.  Our pickup bus was there as soon as we got out of the terminal.  Car pickup was straight forward.  We made out way to our very comfortable AirBnB in Campbell Town via Perth for some essential shopping.

We had a pub meal on the first night at the Campbell Town pub – where many competitors stay in the attached motel.  We ran in to several of the Canberrans, and Matt Shepherd and his wife.

A couple of cleansing ales, a greasy meal – then early to bed for the first day of competition – Day 1 of the Tiger Cup.

Now – I must acknowledge the photographers – Rodney (Windie) Winwood – who is a huge supporter of rifle shooting – and was recognised by a TRA life membership award at this years proceedings.  Uncle Mike took a few – and some scraped from the web…

If you follow ‘Tasmanian Shooting History Then and Now’ on Facebook (run by Windie) – you will get a ton of shooting news and history from around Australia.

Full scores can be found on the NRAA website – for those who want that detail…

So – I haven’t been to that many full bore ranges in Australia compared to some, but on the ones I have been to, Campbell Town is a close second to Canberra for wind difficulty.

Scores reflected this.

Anyhow – Mark and Sam did well in the Tiger.  No daily aggregate prizes are awarded in the Tiger – just the 2 day aggregate.

Tiger Summary

Mark TRA Tiger Cup # 1 Badge

Sam TRB 600 yds Range Winner Tiger Cup # 1 Badge

The Tiger Cup is only 2 years old, and is made from Huon Pine, and is five sided.  One side for each category of competition – TR, FO, FS, FTR, Sporter.  You can’t see it well in this photo, but there is a bronze Tasmanian Tiger on the top of the trophy.

Tiger Cup winners

Mark # 1 Badge Tiger TR

Sam # 1 Badge TRB

Mostly we had home cooked up meals in the evenings – with take away supplied by our recently minted Taswegian mate Phill on one evening.

Sam led the cooking efforts, ably supported by Uncle Mike.  Mark tried washing up, but due to unsatisfactory performance, we resorted to using the dishwasher. Mark’s focus after a days shooting is cleaning his shooting iron – occasionally in his underwear, wine, cheese and TV – not necessarily in that order.  TV on most mornings immediately on rising which played havoc with Uncle Mike’s hearing aids and ability for any morning conversation 🙂

Pasta Bolognaise, bangers and mash and roast chicken dinner were on the menu.  Sunday night everything is closed for the ‘8 hours day’ public holiday on Monday – so roast beef dinner at the range. – quite delicious.

We did insist Mark turned off the TV while we had evening meals, to which he begrudgingly agreed 🙂

On to the Kings Prize:

Whilst wind was lighter than during the Tiger, it was more changeable – sometimes 3 left to 3 right.  We had 9 minute winds during the Tiger….  On the last day we got a little reprieve.  The 900yds was the best conditions of the meet and again scores reflected this.

 

The 1000 yds was also not too difficult, although Sam managed to somehow pull an outer – which cost him the Kings.

Rosevilleans did not uphold the long held the tradition of cross-firing (at least on their business shots).  Mark did manage to get his first 1000 yds sighters on his 900yds target (2 targets to the left).

I was taught a little about wind – by Ex World Champion Steve Negus – who was on my target.  It resonated – and not to repeat here – but for anyone who is interested – I am happy to share.  It did help me.  Many of my early groups were bullseye elevation (occasionally V Bull elevation), but very wide…:-( so I sought some advice from Steve.

Kings Summary

Day 1 Mark 3rd in Daily Aggregate TRA Sam 1st 600 yds Range winner TRB 2nd Daily Agg TRB

Day 2 2nd Daily Agg TRB

Day 3 Sam 900 yds winner TRB Sam Daily Agg Winner

Kings Aggregate Mark # 3 Badge TRA Sam # 2 Bage TRB

The Grand Aggregate Mark #3 Badge TRA Sam #1 Badge TRB

Lead up and Kings is a big commitment in effort, ammo and money, and is not for the faint hearted, but the fellowship of Rosevilleans and the community make it enjoyable.  Congratulations to the TRA for organising such a smoothly run event.   Thank you to the range staff, kitchen staff and all attendees.  Hope to see you all next year!

Worth noting Phill got #5 badge in the grand

Sam Houston

One of the people in the club that really make things count is our illustrious club Statistician, Ian Palmer (aka Palmtree). What makes Ian a good statistician? Three things:

1. He is at the club house almost every week which means he is on top of every week’s shoot (no backlog!)
2. He keeps the RRC website pages up to date for scores (7 disciplines + the Greenwell Cup) so we all know where we stand all the time
3. At the end of the shooting year (31 May) he compiles the list of handicap winners, award winners, runners up, and pin hole prize money so that the Club is ready for the presentation day  … and those prizes are the things that keep us energised and coming back.

All of this makes Ian pivotal for the good running of the club.

But other than being the great statistician that he is, who is the man behind the role? Let me tell you about Ian Palmer:

1. Ian has been shooting since 1966 – so that means 2026 marks his 60 years of shooting (target rifle (TR) for 48 years then F-Class for the past 12 years)
2. Initially he joined Mosman Neutral Bay Rifle Club at Liverpool – which later moved to ANZAC Rifle Range at Malabar.
3. Ian won his first Range Prize at an Open Competition at Mudgee on the 6th April 1969 scoring 35.5 at 500 yards using his .303 rifle.
4. He won his first Queens Badge in Brisbane in August 1971 (over time, he has won 10 Queens Badges)
5. At the end of the 1971–1972 shooting season he was the Mosman Neutral Bay Club Champion
6. In 1975 he won his first Prize Shoot (Grafton NSW) after a tie and a shoot-off that lasted 9 shots.
7. In his spare time, he would make rifle stocks (teak and walnut) and did bedding of rifles for people. In total, by 1989 he had made 163 rifle stocks for 74 individual shooters (including Queen’s winners).
8. He has been a member of Roseville Rifle Club since 1980 …. Yes, that means 46 years!
9. In his first year with Roseville Rifle Club, Ian became the Club Champion and this was the first of six successive club championships with his new club. In those six years he also managed to win the Champion of Champions match at Hornsby three times. Note: overall he has won RRC Club Champion 8 times.
10. Ian’s proudest moment as a shooter was winning the leadup (The Hunt Aggregate) at the South Australian Queens in 2007.
11. Ian loves team shooting, with his team winning the Merrett Match in Vic in 1971, and he was part of 8 Sargard winning teams (shot at NSW Queens). Overall, he has also been in over 40 winning teams
12. He has been an integral part of the award-winning Roseville Arn Hammond FTR team (he was a member of the team the 8 out of 8 times that we won the competition); he was also in a couple of award winning Roseville FSTD teams.
13. He was in the 2004 New South Wales Veteran State Team

You will often see Ian staying back to score when people are doing load testing; or he is the one helping out a new shooter. It is club members like this that really make Roseville tick. Thanks for making it count Ian.

Janet Beale

Roughly, “to be mentioned in despatches” means when a superior officer mentions, in an official report, a particular person under their command due to that person’s meritorious action(s). That meritorious action is exactly what happened this week on Wednesday morning when Alex Toth shot 3 PIN HOLES out of 10 shots at 300m; and to make things more interesting, she shot an additional PIN HOLE in her second detail (also 10 shots). It was such a phenomenal outcome that the Captain of the Club (Rob Trodden), made note of it to all members in his weekly email (our club version of “despatches”).

Now, Alex has been shooting for only 1 year and shoots in Target Rifle B grade. That is the absolute definition of “meritorious”. But in that year, she hasn’t been idle; according to HEXTA, Alex has clocked up over 150 details across TR, FSTD and some FTR in that year. Her form has definitely improved. But her secret sauce is attributable to 3 things:-

1. Perseverance (practice, practise, practice)
2. The various people in the club that have helped coach Alex along her journey
3. The extra shooting she is also doing at North Sydney Small Bore and Air Rifle Club (NSSBARC) at the neighbouring 50m range using a .22cal rifle.

Congrats to Alex for being “mentioned in despatches”. Keep up the good work – you wont be in B grade for much longer with scores like that!

Janet Beale

It was a horror end to 2025 with the awful events at Bondi. The community was rocked to its core – and collectively we have said “no” to extremist violence. However, the repercussions are that there is now new gun legislation at the State and Federal level that has now been passed. We all need to understand and work with the authorities to support that new legislation to ensure we survive as a sport and help keep the community feel safer.

One outcome is that we took a long break over Christmas in sympathy with the community and our neighbours. However, Roseville Rifle Club is now back on the range. Roseville is Duty Club this month; therefore, this post is to highlight how the club has pulled together at this time to support the other clubs on the range for the shooting activities.

Whether it is helping with set-up (range flags, range servers, etc) or range officer duties (flouro vests, briefings, safety checks) or helping with pack up (range flags, ranger servers etc) the Rosevillians were out in number lending a hand. There were also the usual Saturday jobs to be done too (targets up, tents up, monitor set up and then packing up all of that afterwards). And of course, where would we be without Dmitri and his trailer skills?

Thanks to everyone that has been helping with “Range Duty” month. We couldn’t do it without you – and it was good to see so many people back after the break. Check out the photos!

But what about the shooting you ask? Sydney has thrown our way some weird weather in January (wind / rain / heat) that meant the cancelling of one of the shoots and some pretty tricky conditions.  For today at least, the best part of the shooting was the ice blocks delivered by Captain Rob Trodden. Just don’t ask anyone about our scores over the past couple of weeks.

Janet Beale

Chris	Alan	Rob
Alan	Nader	Sam
Alex and Christie	Steve	Rob

Sam and Richard

Alex and Christie

Gosford had something special planned for us this year – lots of wind – right from the first detail at 8:30 the flags were pretty full (3-4 minutes worth). In the morning the flags were {mostly} pointing left, at lunch time they were undecided and by afternoon they were pointing {mostly} right. The range officer had this to say “at lunch time we turned the wind machine off to recharge the batteries but they are back on now”…but some lucky people had some good patches in the middle (or was it their skill?) and their scores proved it.

Roseville Rifle Club turned up in style.

• 50% of the Target Rifle shooters were from Roseville
• 33% of the FTR shooters were from Roseville
• Roseville also fielded competitors in Sporter Hunter and F-Standard.

Unfortunately not everyone was able to stay for the Roseville picture at the end of the day – but clearly there was a good turn out.

Standout performances would have to be

1. Christian Lemoy winning back to back FTR titles and relegating Janet to second place (again) with his masterful 90-10 in the final detail.
2. “Tyro” shooter Alex Toth who managed to win her first medal (1^st place at 500m) in her very first competition (and on her birthday too!)
3. Phill Hodder (Honorary member who now lives in Tasmania, past RRC Captain) winning Target Rifle A grade with a perfect 175 out of 175.
4. The Beale’s who took home the “Lucky Bull” prize plus THREE door prizes (but they did buy $25 worth of tickets!)
5. Steve Bliim – another Roseville Tyro shooter for whom this was also his first every prize shoot. He really improved throughout the day.

Podium finishes by Rosevilleans (range prizes then grand aggregate or other prize):

• TR-A: Phill Hodder(2^nd, 1^st, 2^nd, 1^st in grand), Adam Beale (3^rd, 3^rd, 1^st, 2^nd in grand), Dmitri Kazakov (3^rd, 4^th in grand), Mark Buchanan (1^st, 5^th in grand)
• TR-B: Chris Sefton(2^nd, 3^rd in grand), Sam Houston (2^nd), Alex Toth (1^st plus Tyro prize), Rob Trodden (3^rd)
• F-Standard: Allan Humbert (1^st, 3^rd, 2^nd in grand)
• FTR: Christian Lemoy (1^st, 1^st, 1^st in grand), Janet Beale (1^st, 3^rd, 2^nd, 2^nd in grand plus top lady prize)

So now we wait for what Gosford 2026 will bring…. A cyclone?

Janet Beale

Or a funny thing happened on the way to the rifle range

 Dmitri and Tim headed off from Dmitri’s about 7.15am on Friday 31 October for about a 5 1/2-hour drive to Armidale, stopping at Oliver’s at Wyong for a much-needed coffee.

Tim’s TomTom took us via Bucket’s Way which saw some beautiful scenery along a constantly winding road with frequent climbs and descents.

Arriving at the Hideaway Motor Inn at Armidale about 1.00pm, Reception was not attended so Dmitri and Tim drove into Armidale for lunch at the Whitebull Hotel.

After lunch Dmitri and Tim took a wander around the centre of Armidale and were saddened to see so many empty shop units and other shops which were closed. Tim took the opportunity to get an overdue haircut.

After returning to the Hideaway Motor Inn, they discovered that their booking was for a Budget Queen Room which only had one double bed. Fortunately, another room with two beds was available.

After settling in, Dmitri checked all the entries for the prize meeting as the shoot was to be conducted on four HEXTA targets.

Later in the evening Dmitri and Tim booked an Uber to take them to the centre of Armidale for dinner, however Google maps placed the centre of Armidale at a different location to the Town Centre and our Uber driver, whose name we later discovered was Habib ^{name has been changed}, spoke very little English and did not seem to understand what Town Centre meant!

Eventually, we made it back to the Whitebull Hotel and had a good steak upstairs at Manny’s Restaurant. The steak was cooked very differently from the traditional recipe and had a delicious, original flavor.

After dinner we booked an Uber and who else but 1our friend Habib arrived, this time with his 11 old son to act as interpreter!

Next morning saw some fine weather following some rain overnight.

The rifle range is about 40 k from Armidale and our intrepid travellers turned off too soon and found themselves in Oxley Wild Rivers National Park. Dmitri’s sharp eyes observed a waterfall in the distance, but more of that later.

The rifle range proved to be only about 7 minutes away and we arrived just before 8.00am and completed our entries.

By this time the weather had changed to rain and the first range at 500 yards was delayed until 10.00am.

The wind conditions at Armidale are very tricky with frequent left and right changes over zero and varying in strength. Scores at the first two ranges were as follows.

Range	500 Yards	500 Yards
Dmitri	48.5	49.2
Tim	43.1	46.2

 

After a break for lunch the first 600 yards match was shot. By this time the rain had intensified into a thunderstorm and shooting had to be halted when lightning came close.

Dmitri shot in pouring rain and got mag pie after being called first down and shooting was halted after his 7^th shot. He resumed shooting after the break to finish 5, X, 5 and a score of 46.2.

The rain proved intense and with about 13 shooters on each target it was clear that we would not finish the range in time for dinner and to shoot the second 600-yard match around 7.30pm, so the first 600 yards match was abandoned, and Dmitri’s great effort proved to be in vain.

Following the first 600 yards match, we had dinner on the range provided by Armidale Rifle Club and waited until around 7.30pm for the second 600 yards shoot which was conducted at night under lights.

Shooting target rifle at night is challenging as you cannot see your rear peep, although you can see the front ring highlighted on the target very well.

Some shooters went to the firing point with torches on their heads so they could see their sights and their head movements caused the lights to flash around which caused Tim difficulty when the lights flashed in his left eye as he was on aim. After putting his third shot on the wrong target, Tim decided to retire from the match. Dmitri handled the challenging conditions well.

Range	600 Yards (Night)
Dmitri	49.3

After packing our wet gear into Tim’s car, Tim drove back to Armidale at a somewhat slower pace than the trip out to the range when Dmitri was driving, and back at our Motel we decided to dry things out as best we could and set our rifles up for the two final ranges at 700 yards scheduled for Sunday. One bottle of red was shared before we went to sleep after a tiring day.

Next morning, after grabbing a coffee and a pie at Ampol Foodery, we arrived at the range 10 minutes after the scheduled starting time of 8.00am and quickly prepared our gear for the first 700 yards match.

Dmitri was surprised that his first sighter was a high outer and his second sighter a high magpie, but he found the bullseye for his first counting shot.

Although the weather was now fine, the wind still proved very tricky for the first match and the final match which was 15 counting shots.

Following completion of the shoots we again had lunch on the range and waited for the presentation. Although missing more than a few in wind, Tim was quite pleased his elevation at the final range, so he showed his plotting sheet to Dmitri. This showed that Tim’s shoot was shot at 500 yards, not 700 yards, and Dmitri then discovered that Target 1, which Tim had shot on, was set at 500 yards instead of 700 yards and none of the shooters or scorers had noticed this!

The presentation was suspended while Dmitri made the necessary changes and Dmitri then noticed that the shoots on Day 2 were recorded as 600-yard shoots not 700 yards. Raising this with the organisers, Dmitri was told that Day 2 was shot at 600 yards, not 700 yards as originally intended.

Apparently, this change to the program was made just before Dmitri and Tim arrived a little late to the range so they were unaware of the change and thought they were shooting at 700 yards! Scores on Day 2 were as follows.

Range	600 Yards	600 Yards
Dmitri	46.0	72.6
Tim	42.2	68.2

This explained Dmitri’s high sighters at the first 600 yards range!

Following the presentation Dmitri and Tim decided to have a look at the waterfall Dmitri had spotted on our drive to the range on Day on our way back to our motel.

These turned out to be the Wollomombi Falls. With a drop of over 200m, these falls are some of the highest in NSW. We found a lookout with a fantastic view of the falls and the vast gorge below.

Later, at our motel we booked an Uber to take us into the White Bull Hotel for dinner and Mourad, our faithful Uber driver, duly picked us up for the third time and took us to our destination where we had a great steak.

You can guess who took us back to our Motel!

We slept well after what Tim at least, found to be a fairly tiring couple of days shooting and departed the motel about 7.30am stopping for breakfast at the “Alternate Route Café” in Uralla, which not only has excellent coffee and food but a very interesting, printed tin ceiling, which was only discovered recently whist refurbishing the building.

Tim had insisted we return by the New England Highway rather than through Thunderbolts Way, as he did not like the winding road, but we struck roadworks and later heavy traffic, which was unfortunate, although it gave us the opportunity to stop at Wallabadah to see Hugh Bloore, who did some repairs to Dmitri’s shooting jacket.

Great country hospitality and a well-run meeting by Armidale Rifle Club in challenging conditions made for an enjoyable few days away.

HEXTA performed perfectly in the wet and windy conditions.

TR-A Grade was won by Kathryn Sweegers with an incredible 274.28/275, one point ahead of her husband, Rob Sweegers with 273.23/275.

I don’t know how they do it!

Tim Walter.

Mark Buchanan and Tim Walter attended the 53rd National Rifle Championships held at Belmont Rifle Range, Queensland from 15/19 October 2025.

Mark and Tim both arrived about 11.30am QLD time on Tuesday 14 October, Mark having spent the previous night with friends at Cumbalum, near Ballina, and Tim spending the night at the Windmill Motel at Coffs Harbour.

HEXTA electronic targets were used exclusively throughout the Championships and performed perfectly, shooters being assisted with any difficulties by the magnificent small team of ET Assists led by Bob Cramp.

HEXTA made it unnecessary to have scorecards, blackboards, or check-scorers and in addition HEXTA entered the scores for each range and calculated the top 3 scores and the Daily Aggregates.

Two monitors were provided for each target which eliminated the need to swap monitors after each shooter finished shooting.

Wind conditions were variable during the lead-up President’s match and even more difficult during the Kings competition, with fairly quick changes from left to right occurring throughout, with top shooters being caught out at various times.

Good cloud cover made for quite pleasant shooting conditions during the Presidents, and Gazebos were erected in the afternoon which made shooting in the Kings bearable when it became hotter.

The targets are very close together at Belmont making it easier to fire at the wrong target which Tim did for his fourth shot at the opening 300 yards range!

Mark and Tim’s scores on Day 1 of the Presidents were as follows.

Range	Mark	Tim
300 yards	48.5	43.3 ☹
500 yards	50.7	47.1
600 yards	49.6	43.3
900 yards	50.5	44.2
Day 1 Aggregate	197.23	177.9

Mark had a good day finishing in 15^th place, his opening 48.5 keeping him out of the top 5.

Tim finished in 48^th place which was second last in Target Rifle.

The NRAA decided not to have a B Grade in this competition for either Target Rifle or F-Standard, and Sporter/Hunter were excluded entirely, so Mark and Tim were competing with the best of the best and Tim was happy just to keep out of last place!

Consequently, there were only 85 entries for the President’s Match which consisted of T-Rifle-A (49), F-Std-A (10), F-Open-A (14) and F-TR-A (12).

Tim thought he might have a chance of beating Mark at the first 1000 yards match after Mark scored a 39.1 but it was not to be, with Tim scoring 35.1!

Mark bounced back at the second 1000 yards range, winning the range with 73.6, again showing that conditions were tough.

Mark and Tim’s scores on Day 2 of the Presidents were as follows.

Range	Mark	Tim
900 yards	47.1	43.4
1000 yards	39.1	35.1
1000 yards	73.6 First	57.0
Day 2 Aggregate	159.8	135.5
Presidents Aggregate	356.31	312.14

 This placed Mark 35^th in the Day 2 Aggregate and Tim in 47^th place.

Mark was placed 29^th in the President’s Match and Tim in 47^th  place.

Meals were available on the range to shooters in the evening and were provided by our old friends Colleen and Susie Morgan and Peter Turner. They aimed to show that three people could prepare food for the shooters at low cost and high quality, and they were successful in providing for about 38 people on Wednesday and Thursday nights, 50 people for the Friday night roasts and 47 for Saturday night. And they did it for nothing!

They also provided rolls and sandwiches for lunch which was most welcome with the under 25 Teams providing soft drinks.

Day 1 of the Kings Prize saw equally difficult conditions and our scores were as follows.

There were initially 64 shooters in TR-A Grade.

Range	Mark	Tim
300 yards	49.3	47.4
500 yards	48.4	46.4
600 yards	50.5	46.1
600 yards	50.5	46.3
Day 1 Aggregate	197.17	185.12

This saw Mark finish in 23^rd place and Tim at 62^nd, Mark showing once again how good he is at the 600 yards range.

At one stage the Chief Range Officer reminded us that the rifle range is a nature reserve and to drive accordingly. Here is proof!

Former Roseville Captain and clubmate Michael Cuda finished 2^nd in F-TR-A with 237.14 with former clubmate Gary Faulkner finishing in 4^th place with232.17.

Day 2 of the Kings saw similar conditions but shot over the challenging 900 yards and 1000 yards ranges. Our scores were as follows.

Range	Mark	Tim
900 yards	48.5	48.6
900 yards	50.3	36.2 ☹
1000 yards	48.4	45.3
1000 yards	47.3	42.3
Day 2 Aggregate	193.15	171.14

Tim’s 48.6 at the first 900 yards was his best score of the meeting, finishing in 29th place with Mark just behind in 30^th place.

Tim colour co-ordinated with the great James Corbett who kindly posed for a photo with Tim!

At the second 900 yards, Tim lowered his rifle to rest on his 9^th shot and accidently caught the trigger resulting in another miss! So always remember to open your bolt before you rest your rifle! ☹

At the first 1000 yards range Tim finished with a 3 and resolved not to repeat that at the second 1000 yards range, and finished with a 2 instead, in both cases spoiling what would have been almost reasonable scores.

Day 3 of the Kings was hot, and we were glad we only had to shoot two ranges.

Our scores were as follows.

Range	Mark	Tim
900 yards	47.6	40.2
1000 yards	43.4	39.1
Day 3 Aggregate	90.10	79.3
Kings Aggregate	480.32	435.29
Grand Aggregate	836.73	747.43

This saw Mark finish 49^th in the Day 3 Aggregate and Tim finish 60^th, but not last!

In the Kings Mark finished 28^th and Tim finished 58^th.

In the Grand Aggregate Mark finished 25^thand Tim finished 43^rd.

Effectively, there were 60 shooters completing the Kings TR and 44 shooters completing the Grand TR.

The Kings was won by Duncan Muller with an incredible 497.48, a 20-year-old from Mount Gambier Club and the Grand was won by well-known Alex Davies with an equally incredible 932.101 from West Wallsend Club.

Congratulations to both.

Tim Walter

On Friday 3 October at 7.00am, Dmitri and Tim headed off to Mungindi to attend the Mungindi Prize Meeting held over the October long weekend.

This was a result of a personal invitation by Ben Picton, the Captain of Mungindi Rifle Club, that we both attend the meeting, and we were honoured to accept it.

Mungindi is a town and locality on the border of New South Wales and Queensland, and even with Dmitri driving, it was a 9 hour drive to get there, taking us through the Hunter valley, Singleton, Muswellbrook, Quirindi, Gunnedah, where we stopped for lunch, Narrabri, Moree, and eventually to Mungindi.  In the 2021 census, the locality of Mungindi had a population of 487 people in New South Wales and 124 people in Queensland, a total of 611 people, so it is not big!

Ben had booked us a room at the Jolly Swagman Hotel situated at the end of the main street just south of the Queensland border.

We went straight to the rifle range when we arrived at 4.00pm and first John Cooper, then John Kent and then somebody else commented that they had seen us overtaking semi-trailers at great speed!

Many people were camping on the range in caravans and there was much activity setting up for the forthcoming prize meeting.

We then went to our hotel and after 3 schooners of Great Northern we had a rather disappointing rump steak for dinner accompanied by one bottle of Jacobs Creek Shiraz, which was the only red wine available at the Hotel.

Prior to going to bed, we had a small tasting from a bottle of Chacha Dmitri had brought with him. Chacha is a Georgian pomace brandy, clear and strong (40% alcohol) which is sometimes called “wine vodka“, “grape vodka”, or “Georgian vodka/grappa“. Very nice!

Next morning, after grabbing a bacon and egg roll and coffee from the service station, we arrived at the range about 8.30am. Dmitri immediately went to his laptop and checked that every shooter had their SID number correctly entered in the HEXTA system. Entries were capped at 52 which meant 13-15 shooters on each of the 4 HEXTA targets Mungindi have recently purchased thanks to a Government grant.

Dmitri found that he had no Internet through his service provider, but Tim did, by having Telstra, so Dmitri worked through Tim’s phone and Tim effectively became the service provider for the rest of the meeting!

Shooting started at 10.00am on Saturday with 2×10 shots at 500 yards.

The wind was tricky coming briskly from the left from 7.00 o’clock at about 8 knots but varying slightly in strength and then quickly changing to come from the right and then back again from the left.

Dmitri opened with 50.2 to be placed 2^nd in A Grade while Tim finished with an inner for 47.2.

Range	500 Yards (1)
Dmitri	50.4 (2nd A Grade)
Tim	47.2

The second range was also shot at 500 yards but was 2×15 shots.

Conditions were like the first range.

Dmitri shot a 71.4, but Tim caught a consistent left wind for most of his shoot to finish with a possible 75.5 to win the range in B Grade.

Range	500 yards (2)
Dmitri	71.4
Tim	75.5 (1st B Grade)

 

Tim’s score of 122.7/125 was sufficient to win him the B Grade Day 1 Aggregate by one point.

Day 1 Aggregate	Score
Dmitri	121.8
Tim	122.7 (1st B Grade)

Following a very enjoyable presentation, we had dinner on the range only having a couple of beers before the short drive back to the hotel where we both felt the need for some red wine. After sharing one bottle of Jacobs Creek Shiraz, we felt like a little more, so we inquired as to the cost of a glass, which was $8.00, whereas a bottle cost $17.00. Dmitri observed that it would be cheaper to buy a bottle, and we would only drink half of it.

But the red wine slipped down easily and after we had finished the whole bottle, we went to bed, but not before having a sip or two of Chacha!

Ben had announced that Day 2 would commence at 8.00am and we were mindful that the clocks would be put forward in NSW that night so we would have to be careful not to get confused and be late.

Dmitri woke Tim about 6.45am and Tim checked his phone which showed 5.45 am so he decided to get some more sleep, but Dmitri relied on his phone, so we got up shortly after and after again getting some breakfast at the service station, we headed to the range. We had plenty of time to get ready as we were shooting around 14^th position on the board, but we were surprised when shooters were called to the mound at about 7.30 am by Tim’s phone.

We discovered later that although we were staying in NSW, we were so close to the QLD border that Tim’s phone had failed to correct for daylight saving time!

We concluded it must be confusing for the locals to decide what time to leave the pub at night!

Day 2 saw even more difficult wind conditions than Day 1. Although mainly a fresh left wind from 7.00 o’clock, it was dropping off to zero quickly and then just as quickly coming on again. This was reflected in the scores and Ben Picton later commented that they were the hardest wind conditions he has ever seen on Mungindi range.

Our scores on Day 2 were as follows.

Shooter	300 yards	600 yards	600 yards	Day 2 Agg
Dmitri	47.4	48.4	48.0	143.8
Tim	44.3	45.2 (2nd B Grade)	45.1	134.6

 

This gave us Grand Aggregate scores as follows.

Shooter	Day 1 Aggregate	Day 2 Aggregate	Grand Agg
Dmitri	121.8	143.8	264.16
Tim	122.7	134.6	256.13 (3rd B)

Tim was disappointed with his scores on Day 2, but he felt a bit better when he discovered that his site plate had come loose during the day, which may have explained some of the inners, and even better when Dmitri told him he had finished 3^rd in the B Grade Grand Aggregate.

The A Grade Grand Aggregate in TR was won by Matthew Shepherd from Endeavour Rifle Club with a masterful 274.35/275.

Zyden Wild from Natives Rifle Club won the B Grade Grand Aggregate in TR with 261.20.

It should be noted at this point, that in a magnanimous gesture, Dmitri decided to enter A Grade when he could have shot B Grade, to give Tim a chance to win B Grade. Had Dmitri entered B Grade, he would have come 1^st at the first 500 yards range, on Day 1 and 3^rd in the Day 1 Aggregate. On Day 2 Dmitri would have come 1^st at the first 600 yards, and 1^st at the second 600 yards, thereby winning both the B Grade Day 2 Aggregate and the B Grade Grand Aggregate by 3 points!

Dmitri sacrificed a lot in trophies and cash by doing this and it is acknowledged with gratitude. Please don’t do it again Dmitri!

After the presentation we headed back to the Jolly Swagman and had no hesitation in knocking off two bottles of Jacobs Creek Shiraz with our pizza! Chacha of course!

Next morning we left the hotel about 6.15am NSW time and were pleased to find the service station open for a bacon and egg roll and coffee.

Our drive home was uneventful until about 100k from Sydney after which the heavy traffic crawled and occasionally stopped almost all the way to Pennant Hills Road adding an hour to our journey (9 hours) and a lot of frustration.

Overall, it was a great weekend, and Mungindi Rifle Club are congratulated on running a highly successful competition. All Mungindi members helped, either by setting up shelters and seats on the range, sorting score cards, serving food and drinks and preparing and serving dinners on two nights.

Ben Picton was instrumental in obtaining sponsorship from many local businesses and shooting members and there was something like $18,000 worth of prizes and cash for those who won, including a barrel for the successful winner of C Grade Grand Aggregate in TR, Catherine Guy, who shot a very impressive 257.15.

Of course, HEXTA performed perfectly and there were no issues with misses or ghost shots.

Dmitri and I will go again next year, and if you want to also, get in early as entries need to be capped at about 52 unless Mungindi RC install a 5^th target in the meantime.

Tim Walter

Janet Beale from Roseville Rifle Club shot in her first international competition (Australian FTR team) at Bisley (UK) in the European Championships.

So how was Bisley? Very wet. Mildly wet. Sunny. Heavy wind. Some wind. No wind.  Mirage. Cloud cover. Basically, one of everything. It was so windy that on two different days one of the targets broke. Shooting through heavy rain was also a challenge until they finally closed the range due to visibility. When the rain let up a little, the shooting was back on with 1 non-convertible sighter – but it was still raining hard.

The F-class European Championships had nearly 400 competitors (57% FTR, 43% F-Open) with competitors from 20 countries. Shooting was in “Bisley-3s” (3 to a target shooting each shot in sequence with 45 seconds to fire), with 3 squads per distance across the 46 targets. The shooting was on the infamous Stickledown Range with multiple details at 800yds, 900yds, 1000yds but no short distances. There were 5 days of individual competitions and 3 days of team competitions.

Janet’s best placing as an individual was tied for 21^st at 800yds with 74-7 (out of 75-15) at 800yds. Note that means there were about 200 people in FTR with a score lower than that. Overall, Janet scored 88% in the European Championships which is lower than she wanted but higher than a whole lot of other people given the conditions.

After the Individual competitions were over the Teams competitions began. Overall, the Aussie teams excelled and came home with:

 

F-Open
o   Gold in the Rutland F-Open Match
o   Bronze in the Euros Teams F-Open Match (8 person team)
o   Gold in the America Match F-Open (8 person team)

 

FTR
o   Gold in the Euros Team FTR Match (8 person team)
o   Silver in the America Match FTR  (8 person team)

 

Janet Beale