Roseville Rifle Club Australia

The W.S. Josephson Shield, affectionately known as the “The Joso”, is an annual event held at Hornsby Rifle Range on the weekend following the NSW AAGPS Schools competition. This is where the 12 best shooters within the NSW GPS schools compete against the adults. The format is 6 people per team (coach + 5 shooters). This year the Joso was shot as 4 details being 2+10 at 600m twice, then 2+10 at 800m twice. This year there were 6 Target Rifle (TR) teams and 3 F-Class teams.

Now, those that know Hornsby well, can attest to the fact it is generally docile and not too windy. Mother Nature decided to have some fun with the Joso wind coaches and kicked up some decent wind which was often barrelling up the range when it wasn’t shifting left-to-right or right-to-left. “Its unreadable” said one coach…until it was readable…then unreadable again. But we got there in the end; even if our egos and scores took a little battering.

Mike Hodder as Range Officer

School shooters competing on equal terms with adults.

Janet Beale talking strategy with her wind coach John Leask.

Congrats to

• North Shore District Rifle “Emerald” F-class team who won their division by 6 points (there was a small 1.3% difference between the top team and the bottom team in F-class)
• Hunter Valley District Rifle TR team who won their division by 7 points (there was a 4.9% difference between the top team and the bottom team in TR)

Special mentions

1. to the GPS school competitors, many of whom had never shot at 800m before and who were using factory loaded ammunition. They were competing against seasoned shooters, many of whom have represented their country at world championships. The GPS competitors represent the future of our sport and they are very talented indeed.
2. to the 2 Roseville shooters who were in NSDRA teams (Dmitri Kazakov in TR and Janet Beale in F-Class)
3. to the many helpers who helped make the day run smoothly (from Roseville this was Mike Hodder, Dmitri Kazakov, Janet Beale)
4. to Roseville Rifle Club for supplying three of the targets for the day.

Results can be seen HERE

The 2 F-class teams that represented NSDRA

Janet Beale