Roseville Rifle Club Australia

Archive for 2026

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

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

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!

Sam and Marks Haul

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