Roseville Rifle Club Australia

Archive for 2024

Dmitri and Phill decided to spend the Easter Long Weekend at Inverell for their annual OPM. They both went there last year and really enjoyed the experience. Phill left from Sydney and Dmitri travelled south from QLD after doing some important Hex Systems work.

The guys arrived in time on Friday to have a practice at 600y. Phill had arrived a little earlier and spent time getting his campsite set up with his new camper trailer. Dmitri had a dilemma to work out. According to the NRAA Grading he was B Grade, and he was considering entering that as he knew there were lots of ”Hot Shots” competing in A Grade, including the Picton’s (fresh from their South Africa Palma and U25 campaign), and some bloke that just won the Tas Kings! But when he found out that there were only 2 C Graders entered and they would have to compete in B Grade, he unselfishly decided to go in A Grade!

Dinner that night was served at the campsite consisting of marinated chicken and pan-fried potatoes, and the guys enjoyed relaxing and solving the world’s problems.

Saturday’s course of fire was a double 600y then a 15-shot match at 500y. The morning started off cool with little wind. Both guys took advantage, Phill shot a credible 50.7, and Dmitri a 49.5. As the day progressed the wind and mirage started to play up. Phill didn’t have his spotting scope, so Dmitri graciously let him use his. This was very helpful as often the flags were still or pointing in opposite directions, but the mirage seemed to be true. Dmitri was unlucky in the last 2 details, dropping 1 point in each. Phill realized that his recent luck wasn’t holding up, nor was his mental game and dropped 3 and 4 points. Dmitri finished in 5^th for the day, and Phill dead last!

Dinner that night was at the well-appointed clubhouse. Various Inverell and Armidale members cooked a magnificent feast of beef, chicken, lamb, vegetables and salads. Virtually all the competitors stayed and enjoyed the great food and company. A fun time was had by all.

Sunday dawned and the Easter Bunny had paid a visit, dropping off Easter eggs to all that stayed on the range! Sunday’s ranges were a reverse from the day before, with a double 500y then a final 15 shot match at 600y. The boys started off well with Dmitri shooting a 50.6 and Phill 50.5, and for the second stage they both dropped 1 point. By the last range Dmitri decided that using his spotting scope would be an advantage as the conditions dictated it, he finished the stage shooting a 73.4. Unfortunately, Phill ran out of puff and grit and decided to retire near the end of the match.

Dmitri finished the comp in 5^th place, which was very commendable considering the caliber of shooters there. This made his decision to enter A Grade the correct decision.

Dmitri decided to leave for home that afternoon before the presentation. Soon after his journey began, he realized that Google Maps probably needed some enhancements, as it led him down some scary dirt roads in the middle of nowhere. Also, his decision not to fill his car with fuel before he left made the trip more worrying than it needed to be. But not to worry, he found a very helpful farmer in the middle of nowhere that directed him to the nearest fuel station before he needed to use his reserve jerry can of fuel. Phill left the next morning after packing up camp. Google Maps also led him in a similar direction, but he persevered and finally made it home, albeit with a bent jockey wheel handle after going through a deep dip on the dirt road.

The annual OPM at Inverell is a must. The club members are very friendly and accommodating and it’s always a fun time, put it in your calendar for next year.

Phill Hodder

One of Roseville’s long-standing members, Phill Hodder is hanging up his Roseville hat and leaving Roseville Rifle Club for fairer shores….and that would be Tasmania? Yes!  Phill has been a Roseville member since 2000 – so that is easy maths – it is 24 years. What a 24 years it has been. Lets cover off some of his accomplishments:

• Moved through the ranks ending up in Target Rifle A-Grade (TRA)
• Multiple wins at various distances at OPMs across the state
• Roseville Rifle Captain, re-elected unopposed for many years until he chose to step down (leaving big shoes to fill!)
• Coached 3 of our junior shooters so well that they ended up at the World Championships representing Australia (Angus Martin, Pat Jacombs, Adam Beale)
• Coached Shore Rifle Club so that they went from last place to champions within a couple of years (and incidentally helped grow the RRC membership as a result).
• Regular Arn Hammond shooter / coach in Target Rifle and, this year, also in F-Standard.
• He has been Roseville’s top TRA shooter and NSDRA District Champion.
• Tasmanian Kings Champion 2024 (Target Rifle A Grade)

We could go on, but you get the gist. He is very good shooter, a very good wind coach, and a very good performance coach.

More importantly, Phill has been generous with his time; a mentor to many of our shooters and P650s Try-Shooters; and a friend to everyone. It is because of people like Phill that Roseville has become the success it is. We have a huge mix of ages and skills across many disciplines including novices, intermediate shooters, and seasoned shooters. We are probably the most successful club on the Hornsby Rifle Range. A large part of the Roseville success-formula has been Phill.

Our loss will be Tasmania’s gain. We are excited for him in his new “overseas” adventure. We will watch and cheer him on to new heights from a distance. To help send him on his way, Roseville came together for an evening at the Curry House in Thornleigh. He was presented with a parting gift and notification that he was made an Honorary Member of Roseville.

Before he goes, Phill has some unfinished business, the last Arn Hammond of the shooting year and maybe (hopefully) representing Roseville again as our top TRA shooter to compete at the District Championships.

Adieu Phill, but not goodbye – you may hang up your “Roseville Hat”, but you will forever have Roseville DNA.

Janet Beale

Two Roseville target rifle (TR) shooters have just returned from competing at the World Championships in Bloemfontein, South Africa. This competition was supposed to be held in 2023 but was delayed due to Covid (previous TR World Championships were in 2019 in New Zealand).

Roseville is extremely proud that Mark Buchanan and Adam Beale were representing Australia in both the teams and individual events. Mark was in the Australian Veteran’s Team and Adam in the Australian U25 Team, but they were also up against 320 of the world’s best shooters in the individual competitions.

In the 3 teams matches:

• The Australian U25 team (which included Adam) came home with 2 gold medals and a 4^th place;
• The Australian Open-age team came home 1 gold medal and 2 bronze medals;
• The Australian Veteran’s team (which included Mark) came home with 1 gold, 1 silver and 1 bronze medal.

Overall, Australia came home with 8 medals out of 9 team competitions. There were many individual and team records broken at this championship. It was the tightest final round in the Open-age (Palma) match.  The Australian Open-age team defended their title as World Champions as did the Australian Veteran’s team. What a tough competition.

Highlights for our Roseville competitors:

• In the second teams match (Protea Match / Tony Loughnan Memorial Match) Adam was top U25 scorer overall.
• In the World Championship matches shot at 300m, 600m, 800m, 900m
  • Mark Buchanan was 4^th in the veteran category only dropping 4 points;
  • Adam was 8^th in the U25 category
• In the Grand Aggregate for the World Long Range Championship (Individual):
  • Veteran’s grand aggregate >> Mark was 30^th in a large field of 102 vets / supervets
  • U25 grand aggregate >> Adam was 2^nd (and 36^th overall).

As Roseville Club Captain Rob Trodden said “our club has 2 members in the top 100 shooters IN THE WORLD, something most of us can only dream of”.

Roseville congratulates our own world class shooters on their international success and all their Australian Team mates who dominated the various matches.  You Did Us Proud!

More photos and details can be found at >>
https://www.facebook.com/ausrifleteams
https://www.facebook.com/AustralianU25RifleTeam
https://nraa.com.au/nraa-news/australia-defends-world-champion-fullbore-target-rifle-shooting-title/

Australian Veteran’s Team – Mark Buchanan (middle row far right).

Australian U25 team – Adam Beale (back row – left).

Janet Beale

On Sunday the 17th of March, Nigel Russell, Skye Russell, Ross Webb and Adrian Bonanni entered the North West New England DRA Open Prize Meeting. There were 54 entries for this one day prize meeting at Spring Ridge Rifle Range, showing that long range target shooting is strong in this part of New South Wales.

Adrian waits to shoot at the first match

We recongnised a couple of familiar faces who also made the trip from the North Shore District – Matt Paroz from Hornsby RSL and Gavin Mitchell from Hornsby Manly TRC. With only 4 HEXTA targets – the competition organisers were keen to get going so the first 500 yard match started at 8:30am.

Skye Russell was forced to enter TR B-Grade because no C-Grade competition category was offered. She was the first of our Club to shoot at the 15 shot match at 500 yards and she posted a very credible 73.4. Not wanting to be out-shot by his daughter Nigel shot next and was relieved to notch up a 74.8 continuing his good form from his recent Tasmanian Kings win. Ross got down and learned the wind at 500 yards posting an 80.2. Last to shoot at 500 yards was Adrian Bonanni. The mirage started to play-up by this time as it was mid-morning and Adrian dropped on inner 4 more than he would have liked posting a 72.9 – with two inner fours only just out at 3 oçlock – one where he had wound a quarter right. Doh!

Ross relaxing while he waits to shoot at the last 600 yards

It was back to 600 yards and the combination of wind and mirage in the middle of days had everyone spooked. It did not look like the flags and mirage were doing very much, but you really had to be careful as the flags shifted from 12:30 to 1:30 – across zero. Skye maintained her focus and racked up and impressive 49.2 in the 10-shot match – coming 3rd in TRB. Ross got down and was pleased with his 54.4. Nigel let Skye get around him getting up with a 48.4. Adrian new he could not afford to drop any more points, given his bad start, and he got down and shot the only possible in Target Rifle posting a 50 with no centres. The combination of mirage and wind plus some wind reading kept him in the bullseye and he won the match in TRA.

Nigel, Skye and Adrian were in the hunt and it was going to come down to the last match. Skye made it look easy at the 15 shot 600 yard match – effortlessly racking up a 72.7. Nigel was feeling some match pressure and tried his best to move up the ladder – but he was only able to post a 71.3. Ross was a bit tired by the afternoon – given we were up at 6:30am and on the road by 7am to make start-time and he shot a 78.2. Adrian was up for not dropping any more points, and posted the highest score in TRA at the match with a wonderful 75.8

No smiles – all business – Skye prepares for the last 600 yard match

Half a smile – she must be pleased with her shooting at the last 600 yard match

So in the wash-up at the end of the day – Skye Russell our TRC shooter rose to claim Number 3 badge in TRB at the competition with an aggregate of 194.13 – only two points behind the winner in TRB.

Nigel and Adrian’s shots at the 2nd 600 yard match

Adrian picked up two wins in TRA at each of the 600 yard matches staying clean at that distance. Nigel and Ross enjoyed the shooting – with some things to reflect on and experience at Spring Ridge under their belt. It was an great prize meeting with two 15 shot matches in the mix – and I would encourage more Roseville Members to head north to the competition next year.

TRA Scores

TRB Scores

FSB Scores

Adrian Bonanni

Nigel and Ross and the welcoming committee at Scone – with the new Ute in the background.

Ross Webb and Adrian Bonanni were looking forward to a good weekend of shooting and camping starting on Friday the 15^th of March.  The plan was to head off from Sydney at midday and drive into the farm gate at Scone to meet Nigel on his front porch for beer by 4:30pm.  Ross was keen to stretch the legs of his new Isuzu D-Max 4WD and so he took the first shift on the drive.   The trip north on the New England Highway was very un-eventful – but we did discover that Singleton and Scone have some of cheapest fuel prices in NSW – so it was great to top-up there.   We arrived with caravan in tow at Nigel Russells farm as expected and enjoyed a quiet drink before we headed off to the Thoroughbred Hotel for a delicious steak.   Most of the discussion over dinner centred around shooting as you would expect, and we finished our social at around 9pm and went back to the farmhouse to watch the Sydney Swans flog the Collingwood Magpies in the AFL.

There is something about country life – the fresh air, the sounds of nature – that means you always have a good night sleep – and that night was no exception.

The next morning we had a decision to make:  Head to Spring Ridge to practice on the day before the Prize Meeting, or go 15 mins down the road to Aberdeen and experience Nigels local range.   When Nigel informed us that the Captain of the Aberdeen Rifle Club was going to change their range programme from 300yards to 500yards so we could get practice at the same distance we would be shooting first up the next day at Spring Ridge – the choice was easy.

Having never shot on the Aberdeen Rifle range before – I can say I was very impressed with the range as soon as we drove in the front gate.  It is very well maintained range with 50m and 100m firing points and the firing points from 300yards all the way back to 600yards. It has 5 target lanes – and the Club has 4 Silver Mountain targets.

Looking downrange from the 500 yard firing point at Aberdeen.

We met Kevin Muffet – Club Legend – at the 100m mound where some morning shooting with .223 Centrefire and .22 Rimfire was taking place.  They were finishing off the morning shoot so we signed in, and when shooting ceased – we headed to the butts to put the Electronic Targets up.  Looking back down the range from the elevated stop butts was a pretty sight – and there was a tricky Southerly wind coming in at 6 to 8 MPH so it was going to be a challenge.  We met some familiar faces on the range including Rod Davies from Cessnock – who regularly goes to Aberdeen to practice wind reading.

3 Electronic Targets were installed and we headed back to the 500 yard mound for the afternoon shoot.  There were about 8 shooters that afternoon and I am told that is a big day for Aberdeen.  Nigel, Kevin and Adrian had Target 1, Ross paired up with Rod on Target 2,  and a number of locals shot on target 3.

Adrian had recently installed a new barrel using his standard load and was getting over 3,100 fps at the muzzle – boy does it shoot flat – but maybe a bit too fast for .308 Win

Nigel shot his first stage and was 4 shots in when someone accidentally reset the target.   He started his stage again and posted a credible 49.1 in tricky conditions.    Adrian followed suit and notched up a 49.6 with one drifting out at 3 o’clock due to a wind drop-off.   Ross shot one 15 shot match and recorded no shot less than a 5 to post an 83.2

In the second practice, Nigel had two batches of ammo, and at the changeover one fired low giving him one more inner 4 than he would of liked.   He posted a 48.3.   Adrian shifted over to Target 2 and shot his second stage in trickier wind conditions and was pleased to get up with a 49.5

Nigel on-aim during the second practice.

The Club Practice at Aberdeen was all done by about 3:30pm and so we helped pack up the targets and said our goodbyes to Kevin Muffet and the Aberdeen boys – with a promise to return sometime soon.   There are rumors that they will host an OPM – so we pledged our support and are keen to return.   It was a great afternoon on the Aberdeen range and it is a wonderful range to shoot on if you are ever in the New England area.

The next day we were heading to the North West New England District Rifle Association OPM – so read the next article for more on that.

Adrian Bonanni

KATOOMBA RIFLE CLUB Inc. SINCE 1893
2024 FULLBORE OPEN PRIZE MEET MATCH REPORT 9^th-10^th March 2024

The Katoomba Rifle Club Inc (“KRC”] held its first Open Prize Meeting in 5 years last weekend, the 9th-10th March 2024, to contest the historical Paterson Trophy (since 1938) and Peacock Cup (since 1906). This OPM was a grand occasion, as it was also the first sanctioned Fullbore competition for the KRC since being reopened by the NSW Police Firearms Registry, after significant capitol works and an agreed bi-partisan risk assessment, in November 2023.  To mark this return to competition, the KRC have created a new perpetual trophy called the Katoomba Phoenix. The Katoomba Phoenix trophy marks the dawn of a new era, with new range works, new club works, new club philosophy but an absolute goal of maintaining the KRC competitive traditions and achievements (that include over 90 years of perfect safety).

Saturday 9th March — Paterson Trophy (since 1938).

Competition started on Saturday after a briefing by the CRO David Waters, and an introduction to the KRC range and club executive Robert Logue (Capt) and Daniel Moore (Vice Capt). The crowd were made up of shooters from many ranges in NSW, stretching from Wagga to Tamworth and many ranges in between.

The Saturday event was to contest the Paterson Cup. Mr R.J.(Bob) Paterson was a member of Katoomba for 60 years, popular and longest-serving Captain, then President and Patron. He was also elected to the NSWRA (1921), Vice President (1947) and was made a Life Member.

All seemed a perfect start to weekend competition – the weather turned on a magnificent day for all shooters, to the delight of the hosts who had planned for wet weather with many tarps, ropes and poles at the ready. This meet was going ahead no matter what…

At the morning sign-on, we were blessed to have Chris Roberts in attendance. Chris has made a significant contribution to KRC by recording the club’s long history and has published a book on this subject. Chris is an expert on the clubs ancient trophies, origins and the personalities involved. He was instrumental in tracking down Paterson’s involvement and actively promoted the club recognising his achievement. Chris stayed on for whole of the weekend event. It was wonderful to have Chris participate in our presentation ceremonies.

The Paterson course of fire was:

• 300 yards TR (2 and 10)
• 500 yards TR (2 and 10), F-Class (2 and 15)
• 600 yards TR (2 and 15), F-Class (2 and 15)

The 600 was originally set for 2 and 10, but little was it realised that TR 2 and 15 was the 600 tradition at Katoomba, so 2 and 15 it was, after all the competitors agree to the 5 round increase. The shooting and match structure history of the KRC on this picturesque Leura based range goes well back. Some may balk at the 300 stage, but 300 is of significant historical importance to our club foundation, as part of an aggregate 300, 500 and 600 competition. The KRC is dedicated to, at least for these historical trophies, keeping this historical 300, 500 and 600 course shot well into the future.

Saturday placings for the Paterson Cup were:

PATERSON Target Rifle
Winner Alan Patrick – Roseville Rifle Club – 169.10
Runner Up David Xuereb – Explorers Rifle Club – 168.11
3rd Place Robert Logue – Katoomba Rifle Club – 167.11
PATERSON F-Class Winner Chris Davis – Tamworth Peel Valley Rifle Club –  176.14
Runner Up Ryan Urguhart – Tamworth Peel Valley Rifle Club – 174.10
3rd Place Rowan Uguhart – Tamworth Peel Valley Rifle Club – 172.08

The Paterson medals were presented by Robert Logue and the trophy cup was presented by Chris Roberts, and long-time member of the KRC and a considerable benefactor as he personally wrote about the great Katoomba Rifle Club history in the book “From Cascade to Wentworth Creek” L Alan Patrick, R Chris Davis, Winners of the Paterson Trophy.

The Saturday finished with a good presentation, out front of the refurbished and clean clubhouse thanks to the hard work of Roman Copot, Gordon Stephens and Frank Gasparini, and a few others, where medals and prize money were handed out to the deserved winners and place getters. Ray Wilson gave some history of the Paterson Trophy to the shooters, and some of the stories that have lived on in regards to competition many years ago through the Blue Mountains region and Katoomba’s place in that Paterson Trophy history. Paterson Trophy was awarded and appropriate down-range photos were taken.

The day concluded with a bite to eat, some important hydration and lots of chatter amongst many new friends…it was a grand occasion for the KRC…but there was more to come…tomorrow…Sunday…

Sunday 10th March — Peacock Cup (since 1906).

Sunday morning came, and the KRC cook Gordon Stephens was on the job satisfying the hungry bellies of those that would soon do battle against and a decent northerly headwind with some slight fishtailing providing some tricking points of left and right of movement, that it seemed to affect some less than others over the course of the day.

Up for grabs on this day was the Peacock Cup. Arthur Peacock joined the Katoomba Rifle Club on 17th January 1899, from Wentworth Falls Rifle Club. In 1906, he donated a silver cup (minted 1868) to the KRC for competition — the most well-known trophy in KRCs 131-year history. Peacock was a President, Patron and life member in 1912, a year before he died, a great benefactor.

A repeat of Saturday’s course of fire for Sunday took place, continuing with the KRC tradition.

The Peacock course of fire was a repeat of Saturday:

300 yards TR (2 and 10)
500 yards TR (2 and 10), F-Class (2 and 15)
600 yards TR (2 and 15), F-Class (2 and 15)

Sunday aggregate for the Peacock Cup placings were:

PEACOCK Target Rifle

Winner Damon Livermore – Sydney Rifle Club – 170.15
Runner Up Alan Patrick – Roseville Rifle Club – 170.14
3rd Place  Adrian Bonanni – Roseville Rifle Club – 167.10

PEACOCK  F-Class

Winner Chris Davis – Tamworth Peel Valley Rifle Club – 175.15
Runner Up Ryan Urguhart – Tamworth Peel Valley Rifle Club – 175.11
3rd Place  Bruce Rowlands – Lyndhurst Rifle Club – 173.09

The Peacock Cup medals presentation was made by Chris Roberts, again with his extensive knowledge of the KRC and this incredible trophy. Chris gave us some stories of the Peacock Cup, and expanded into talk about the Explorers Trophy that Chris wishes to track down (great for KRC).
For the Peacock Cup trophy presentation, Graeme Bright from Bathurst Rifle Club was asked to present the trophy to the top TR and F winner. Graeme kindly accepted, recognising his long affiliation to the Blue Mountains district for rifle shooting competition and his association with the Peacock Cup, and how he had contested in many times, and at the KRC range, and shared his recollection of breaking C grade as a youngster (a lot of ands, but…there is just so much history). Graeme provided some interesting anecdotes on the history of the Peacock Cup and the hard-fought competition with his Bathurst Rifle Club and other clubs, and the many individuals that was a hallmark of its long history.

Adrian Bonnani receiving 3rd Place in the Peacock Cup. 167.10
L Damian Livermore, R Chris Davis, Winners of the Peacock Cup.

Sat-Sun agg — KRC Open Championship — The KRC Phoenix Trophy.

KRC’s new Phoenix Trophy was for the grand aggregate of Saturday and Sunday, and presented to the top of both TR and F. David Xuereb of the NSWRA was present to make this presentation, which was only fitting given Davids continued interest and support of Leura range re-opening and his understanding of the greater sport of target shooting.

PHOENIX target Rifle
Winner Alan Patrick – Roseville Rifle Club – 339.24
Runner Up Robert Logue – Katoomba Rifle Club – 334.20
3rd Place David Xuereb – Explorers Rifle Club – 332.21

PHOENIX F-Class
Winner Chris Davis – Tamworth Peel Valley Rifle Club – 351.28
Runner Up Ryan Urguhart – Tamworth Peel Valley Rifle Club – 349.21
3rd Place Rowan Urguhart – Tamworth Peel Valley Rifle Club – 343.15

L Alan Patrick, R Chris Davis, Winners of the Inaugural Phoenix Trophy.

At the close of the presentation, David Waters put the offer to the shooters to change the program for the KRC second 2024 OPM to be held in September. After some consultation with shooters and subsequent calls, the September OPM is set, for Saturday 7th Bronger Shield (since 1900) for a 300, 400, 500 and 600 course. Sunday 8th will be the Carrington Cup (since 2005) to be a double 500 followed by a double 600. Both matches open to TR and F, again…and, pending numbers, F may break up into multiple classes.

This shoot was a major success, for all in attendance and for the KRC. The KRC members stepped up and did well to put this event on in 10 weeks — helped by Danny Van DyWs excavator to fill and level the newly topped 500 and 600 mounds just 2 day before the shoot.

Another winner was the Blue Mountains region, to host an incredibly prestigious and historical cup event, in their backyard, with shooters from around NSW bringing support to local cafés, restaurants and services, doing a bit of sightseeing and leaving the place as they found it, safely.

One of the take-aways is how great the shooter attention to the competition was, while remaining a very light a vibrant atmosphere. Maybe it is the wonderful fresh Blue Mountains air, or perhaps it was because the shoot was run the way a shoot should be run…who knows…but we are grateful for all the wonderful feedback and correspondence we’ve received since the event. The KRC thank the encouragement we’ve received for the works done on the facility, the work to be done, and the pledges for the coming September OPM. All shooters will be made welcome.

Regards, Dave Waters.

Most of you will have heard, as good news travels fast, that Phill Hodder won both the Kings Prize and the Grand Aggregate in TR/A Grade shot at Campbell Town Range Tasmania over 7 to 11 March 2024. Not only that, but Nigel Russell won the B Grade Kings with a convincing performance as you will see from the table below.

It must be a unique occurrence for two members from the same Club to win a Kings Prize in both A Grade and B Grade at the same competition. Go Roseville!

Phill Hodder and Sam Houston shot the Lead-Up Priory Ridge Wines Series as well as the 1,000 Yard Tasmanian Championship to gain experience for the main event. Phill finished in Third Place in TR/A Grade and Sam finished in Second Place in TR/B grade.

In the 1,000 Yard Championship Phill came 4^th shooting in difficult wind conditions with 68.4/75, only 3 points behind the winner.

Nigel Russell and Tim Walter entered for the Kings Prize Series only.

The First Stage of the Kings was shot over 500, 500, 600, and 600 yards. Conditions for the first two ranges were reasonable with some cloud cover keeping the temperature down a bit but became more difficult after lunch for the two 600 Yard ranges.

Phill signaled his intentions by opening with 50.3 and a 50.6 at the 500 yards ranges to win the second range. At the 600 yards ranges Phill did not let up, scoring 48.4 to place third at the first 600 yards range and a 49.5 to again win the second 600 yards range. This gave Phill a score of 197.18 to win the First Stage of the Kings Prize!

In B Grade, Nigel shot a fine 49.6 to win the first 500 yards range with Tim just behind on 48.5 and Sam on 48.4. Nigel was consistent, scoring 47.2 at the second 500 yards range to finish third and a 47.2 and a 46.3 at the 600 yards ranges finishing in second place at both ranges.

Sam picked up second place at the second 500 yards range with a 48.4.

Day 2 was hotter and provided all competitors with the most difficult wind conditions of the competition over the 700, 700, 800, and 800 yards ranges. Conditions were not too bad for the first 700 yards range.

Phill showed perfect form to win the first 700 range with a staggering 50.9 followed by a 49.6 to maintain his high scoring consistency. At 800 yards the wind was coming from the right with shooters needing up 7 points of wind, but Phil managed a 48.5 at the first 800 yards range. Phill’s main challenger, Michael Millen from the Mosman-Neutral Bay Rifle Club, threw down the gauntlet at the second 800 yards range with a 50.7, which could have been a tipping point, but unfazed, Phill replied with a 50.7 of his own finishing the shoot with a 5 to finish in the range third place. This gave Phill a score of 197.27 to finish in third place in the Second Stage Aggregate. At this stage of the competition Phill was equal leader in A grade with Michael Millen, both on 394/400, but with Phill having a handy lead of 9 central bulls.

Meanwhile, Nigel continued to wreak havoc in B Grade, shooting 50.3 to win the first 700 yards range, 47.3 to win the second 700 yards range, 50.5 to win the first 800 yards range and 48.3 to come third at the second 800 yards range. This gave Nigel a 10-point lead over his nearest competitor in B Grade, David Phippard from Murwillumbah. I don’t think Nigel was worrying too much about his 5 central bull lead! Not surprisingly, this gave Nigel First place in the B Grade Day 2 Aggregate.

Sam shot a 48.2 at the first 700 yards range to finish second and Tim shot a 46.2 at the first 800 yards range to finish third.

We all packed up just before it started to rain, which continued moderately through the night.

Day 3 dawned cloudy and overcast with a few drops of rain. At least it was cool and there was little in the wind.

At 900 yards Phill was heard to say he was going to do what he enjoyed and proceeded to post a 50.8 to win the range! At 1,000 yards Phill kept his cool to shoot a 49.4, unfazed by an inner on the 7^th shot. This gave Phill an aggregate of 99.13, sufficient to win the Day 3 Aggregate by 2 central bulls. It also gave him the Kings Prize with 493.58 and the Grand Aggregate with 784.89. A truly momentous win! To say well done Phill is an understatement!

Back in B Grade, Nigel shot a 48.4 to win the 900 yards range and Sam shot a 48.3 to finish second.

Tim shot a 47.2 to finish third, dropping his last two shots which he need not have fired if he had set his elevation correctly giving him sighters of 0 and 1! A 50 gone begging!

At 1000 yards, Nigel shot a 47.4 to come second at that range and to win the Day 3 Aggregate with 95.8. This gave Nigel the B Grade Kings Prize with 479.35. Altogether, Nigel won 5 ranges, came second in 3, and third in 2, thus placing at every range. Nigel also won the Day 1, Day 2. and Day 3 Aggregates in B Grade. Well done, Nigel!

Sam shot a 47.3 to come third at 1000 yards.

It was a great honor and pleasure to Chair Phill to the presentation with bagpipes played through an iPhone as there was no Piper!

Nigel, Sam, Tim, Bill Ballantyne, Tony McGuigan and Bill Naismith formed the Chairing party. Don’t miss the Video!

A most unforgettable and enjoyable time was had by all.

Tim Walter.

The lifeblood of any club is the membership. While some of our club members choose to go to various competitions and are recognised in the website writeups, quite a few don’t do competitions or they take a break from competitions. But, whether you compete or don’t compete, we all have one thing in common, the Saturday afternoon shoot at Hornsby. It is not mandatory…. so we do it for the fun of it, to seek a personal best, for load testing, to learn new skills/disciplines or really any other reason. But what really keeps us at Roseville are the friendships and comradery; particularly in the clubhouse after a day of shooting on a Saturday whether it happened to be hot / cold / wet / windy.

So looking at this year’s club shooting, according to the stats, we have 20 shooting in Target Rifle (equally split in A/B/C grade), 7 in F-TR, 6 in F-Standard (A or B) and 6 in Sporter Hunter. But, as Mark Twain once said “Facts are stubborn, but statistics are more pliable”. By which we mean:

1. at least 7 people shoot in 2 disciplines so are double counted in those numbers
2. not all of these are regular shooters in that discipline
3. we have some club members who were unable to attend in the first half of the year but who are looking to come in the second half of the year
4. we have some regular visitors who may not be counted in those numbers because they have not yet taken out a membership.

Overall we have a good healthy mix of males / females / U25s / veterans / long-time members / new members / stalwarts and occasional shooters. Basically a good bunch of people who are at various stages of their shooting career.

We are the “Duty Club” this month which means covering the duties of range officer / butts officer / set up / knock down for the full bore range. This is where the club spirit shows the most. Thanks to everyone in the club that pitches in to help make sure the range is set up and runs (almost) like clockwork. Everyone helps when they can – and we appreciate the time people give to the club particularly in “Duty Club” months.

So lets talk about this week’s shoot which was a typical Saturday afternoon with this week’s distance being 500m. It was hot, dry and sunny so we put up the tents to help relieve the heat on the mound for shooters and scorers alike. Overall we had only 17 shooters completing their normal details of 2+15 and 2+10 (noting unfortunately some others didn’t complete both details due to various reasons). There was a bit of wind and some changeable mirage which took a few people by surprise. But some people showed their mettle sending in some solid scores and some Personal Bests (looking right at you Christie Verney!).

To show how the afternoon changed, we had only 2 “possibles” (75/75 or 90/90) in the first detail, but we had 5 possibles (50/50 or 60/60) in the second detail. There were also 2 possibles in the training part of the day. We had 2 highly coveted pin-holes this week (Phill Hodder and Ian Palmer) in the business end of the shoot. For something a little bit different, the range officers had a good chance to practice their “cease fire” drill as a late-in-the-day gust of wind took 2 tents on a bit of a ride (tents were secured at the front but in the haste of putting them up, the rear anchors were not properly secured – oops). But this slight inconvenience was well handled by our trained range officers.

Associate member Michael Cuda (aka “The Baracuda”) dropped in for a visit but couldn’t be convinced to shoot – so, as the saying goes “he didn’t drop a shot all day”.

For those that stayed to the end, Phill Hodder and Adam Beale did a Bisley shoot where there are 2 shooters on the same target doing shot by shot one after the other. Talk about a nail biter –> 49-5 to 50-4 with only one dropped shot between the two of them and unfortunately that one was the last counting shot for Adam. Well done to Phill – the coach prevails!

See you next Saturday!

Janet Beale

McIntosh

Two Roseville competitors (Mark Buchanan in TR-A and Janet Beale in FTR) decided to compete in the McIntosh (2 day leadup) at the picturesque ANZAC Rifle Range at Malabar. Day 1 was an early finish on a hot day after having shot 2+10 at 500 twice and 2+10 at 600 twice with 100 competitors across 10 targets. Too bad one of the Konsberg targets acted up with stray “1”s appearing, meaning first 4 people on Target E9 (Janet’s target) had to reshoot the first 500m over on F block on a hastily set up new target. On Thursday (2+10 at 700 twice and 2+10 at 800 twice) there was a bit of a southerly around lunch time that eased up in the afternoon.

On the 2^nd day of the leadup Mark was on fire, scoring 50.8 @ 800m, 50.7 @ 800m and 50.9 @700m.  It is not surprising Mark came home with the Day 2 daily aggregate 1^st place prize as he was the only one in TR-A who went clean for the day. Huge congratulations to Mark Buchanan who won the leadup in TR-A having only dropped one point. He scored 399.54 beating 2 other competitors (C Schwebel and M Shepherd) by one “V’. Talk about a close finish!  Overall, Mark came home with the McIntosh 1^st place, and two 1^st place range prizes.

Janet’s best placing was 4^th on Day 2 of the leadup and two 2^nd places (600m and 800m). It is easy to see that taking nearly 6 weeks off shooting doesn’t help! Proof: oops, Janet put a shot (it was a “6”) on the wrong target turning what would have been a 59-1 into a 53-1. This one mistake meant she came 6^th in the McIntosh instead of 2^nd (and, for the record, she would have come 3^rd in the Grand aggregate instead of 6^th).  Lesson learnt!

The NSW Kings

Eight Roseville competitors representing 4 families (Buchanan x1, Beale x2, Patrick x2, Russell x3) took on the heat of Australia Day at Malabar.  Roseville had 3 in TR-A (Mark, Adam and Alan), 2 in TR-B (Nigel and Paul), 1 in TR-C (Skye) and 2 in FTR (Eva and Janet).

I think the weather won the day.  It was very very hot, even the breeze was hot. Everyone tried umbrellas and plenty of water, but it got hotter, and hotter. The breeze kicked in a bit more, and then it got interesting. Everyone wilted in the heat but then the southerly buster lived up to its name delivering the cool change and reversing the direction of the wind. Alas, that meant three targets were broken in the strong wind, so the 600m shoot was paused for safety and resumed 2 ½ hours later and the 700m detail was cancelled outright. What an interesting day.  In the carnage of the day, our best Roseville placing was Skye Russell who, having retired from the first detail due to the extreme heat she managed a 2^nd for one detail.

Day 2 of the Championships was completely different. The day started in a fine light hint of rain on a cloudy day courtesy of the previous day’s southerly buster. For the rest of the day, the cool change stayed put and the winds were far lighter but occasionally fickle. It can be hard to read the flags when they aren’t doing anything and there is no mirage yet the bullets are moving from the X ring to a 5 for no apparent reason. SOMETHING is happening. A puff? A whiff? Just enough to make a difference sometimes…or not. And sometimes the breeze was just enough and consistent to land a terrific score to too many people. Just ask people who scored great 50’s only to see their hopes and dreams dashed…try scoring a 50-8 and coming 14^th (Alan) or a 50-5 and coming 37^th (Adam) or a 50-7 and coming 24^th (Mark) – Target Rifle A grade can be cruel on days like that. But we did have a range prize go to Paul Russell scoring 50-7 at 500m in TR-B. Well done Paul!

Day 3 was only 2 details at 800m. The sun had returned but without the big heat. Sun means mirage, but it wasn’t too bad. The early shooters had the advantage of the day as the wind continued to pick up successively every hour.

The most notable outcomes from the 3-day Kings competition for each of our Rosevilleans:

• Adam Beale: 2 possibles, 6^th on Day 3 in TR-A, plus 7^th at 800m, won the ADF trophy
• Mark Buchanan: 2 possibles, 8^th in the Grand Aggregate TR-A
• Alan Patrick: 2 possibles, best placed Rosevillean in the Kings (top half of the TR-A field)
• Paul Russell: 2 possibles, 6^th on Day 3 in TR-B, plus 6^th at 800m, won the very unofficial Russell Family competition beating Dad (Nigel) and sister (Skye)
• Skye Russell: 3^rd on Day 3 in TR-C, plus 3^rd at 800m
• Janet Beale: 1 possible, 6^th in the Grand Aggregate FTR
• Eva Patrick: a pair of 59’s at 500
• Nigel Russell: a 4th place at 600m and a 5th place at 800m

Maybe next year…..?

Thanks to Christian and Ross who showed up for club moral support on day 3. Also thanks to Phil Beale and Heather Beale for coming to watch Janet and Adam on Day 3.

Janet Beale