Roseville Rifle Club Australia

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The last Bathurst OPM was held in 2019 – so the Central West shooters were pleased to be able to return to the Bathurst Range to compete. The announcement of the Bathurst OPM meant a compulsory return to the range for Phill to try and defend his title from 2015. Phill, Adrian and Ross met at midday on Saturday on the Bathurst Rifle range for the Saturday afternoon practice at 600 yards. The winds were a very strong 12 to 16 MPH coming in from the left and sometimes dropping and swinging to come in from 1 oclock.

After meeting old friends in the Club House and signing in – the Roseville members joined the Bathurst Club members for a Saturday afternoon shoot. Club Champions Steve Williams and Graeme Bright both set an ominous tone – telling us the wind at this time of year is really tricky and that they were lucky to post 95 or 96 in recent Club shoots. Having never shot on Bathurst Range – Adrian surprised everyone and posted a 50.3 for his first practice shoot – watching the flags intently and making wind corrections that saw him move from 1.5 right out to 5.5 right during the shoot. Phill posted a credible 48.5 losing one left and one right and Ross posted a 44.0 with one of the best water lines you will ever see – but the wind getting a hold of him.

In the second practice match – Adrian experimented with the wind and posted a 44.1, while Phil improved on his first practice to post a wonderful 50.5. Ross had another tough time of the tricky cross-wind again shooting good elevation but shots drifting out the left hand side.

The Saturday afternoon practice was done by 3:30pm and it was a hot day. The Bathurst Council won’t allow visitors to camp on the rifle range – so Ross, Adrian and Phill headed to a beautiful free-camping site called Flat Rock Creek 19km out of Bathurst. The boys arrived at Flat Rock Creek at 4:15pm and a swim in the river was in order followed by a cool crisp Ginger Beer. There were plenty of camping groups set-up in the camp ground – showing how popular this spot near O’Connell is. As the sun went down – Adrian cooked up dinner of Franks and Beans before we turned in for the night.

The next morning the sun came up and the campsite was quickly packed up as a beautiful day beckoned. The intent was to be on the rifle range by 8am for a wonderful day of shooting. Nigel Russell joined Phill, Adrian and Ross to represent the Roseville Rifle Club.
There were only 3 Electronic Targets for the competition and due to popular demand the Bathurst Rifle Club increased the entry to 40 shooters. With this in mind – the competition organisers made the decision to change the programme and shoot 3 matches at 600 yards. Adrian was drawn first down – and the wind was even stronger from 3 o’clock than the day before. He chalked up a 48.2 in the first match was proved to be quite competitive in TRA. Phill posted a 48.2 as well – with Nigel taking the match in TRC with a 47.4 and Ross posting a credible 51.3 – much improved on the previous day.

The wind got tricker at the second match with “holes” showing up in the flags dropping down the pole and the wind turning to 1 o’clock. The smart play was not to fire when this happened – those that got caught chalked up a guaranteed maggot.

Adrian shot first as the order rolled through and posted a 47.3 which again proved to be quite competitive given the conditions. Phill stepped up with a 49.2 – and excellent shoot under the conditions and one that got him on the podium in TRA. Nigel forgot to check his target number and put a centre bull on the target next door – in a shoot that would otherwise have won him the 2nd match. The wind got the better of Ross and he posted a 48.

The final match was a 15 shot match – and Adrian experienced something very strange. In gusty 16 mile an hour winds – his first 3 shots were a clover leaf in the inner 4 ring at 1:30. It was unbelievable and he stopped shooting and protested that the Target was not calibrated properly after the lunch-time repairs made to the target face. The next shooter on the target was called up – an F-Class shooter – to put a couple of shots on the target to test it. His two test shots were a bull at 7:30 and a V-bull at 9 o’clock. The Range Officer requested Adrian re-commence his match – and with on scoring shot on the card there were no sighters. Adrian settled in and shot a quick-fire 71.6 – again posting quite a competitive score in the conditions. Phill shot next and chalked up a 71.3 to hold in 2nd place in the aggregate and keeping his two point lead over Adrian. Nigel won the 3rd match posting a 69.4 and Ross also posted a 69 to finish his day.

The final standings on the day were: Phill Hodder 2nd TRA 168.7, Adrian Bonanni 6th TRA 166.11, Nigel Russell 2nd TRC 157.10 and Ross Webb 3rd in FSB 168.3.
It was a very challenging day – a real rifle shooters day – where supreme wind reading skills were needed to hold the bulls eye. here was not one possible shot in TR over the entire days competition – and the winning score posted by David Brown of Narromine Dubbo was 170.11. It was a great weekend and you can see all the shooters plots here: Club Scores – Plots 2023 | Bathurst Rifle Club Inc. (brc.org.au). We will definitely be going back next year.

The trip on the way home was filled with mis-adventure with Phill channelling his inner Brockie and taking a corner too fast on the way back to O’Connell to end up spinning off the road and ending up in a ditch. His trusty Toyota survived the ordeal, and apart from being a bit shaken – Phill was able to call Ross and Adrian for assistance and to organize a tow truck to haul him out of the ditch and drive back to Sydney. We are glad he survived that one – he lived to tell the tale!

Adrian Bonanni

Ross and Adrian support our U/25 Australian Rifle Team – Lockhart Fundraising OPM.
The date was set for the Explorers Rifle Club in Lockhart to host a fund-raiser to support our U/25 Australian Rifle Team as they prepare to head to South Africa next year for the Long Range Championships – the weekend of the 20th and 21st of May 2023. The Lockhart Rifle Range is a lovely 900 yard rifle range in the heart of the Riverina – south east of Wagga. The township of Lockhart is a must see for anyone travelling through the area – with old post and rail shop fronts lining the main street and plenty of murals and art installations – it really is a pretty as a postcard. Better yet the 900 yard rifle range is one block back from the town centre so it makes it easy to head into town for a relaxing dinner or a couple of refreshing drinks after a day of shooting.

Ross and Adrian needed no further encouragement and so they hitched up the A-Van and headed south on Friday the 19th of May. The weather was mostly fine on the drive and after leaving at 10:30am they pulled into the Rifle Range at 4 oçlock with just enough time to set-up the campsite. Then is was off to the local pub for dinner – and who should roll up to the bar? None other than Mal Sharp and his wife Donna who were down from Lyndhurst for the shoot. The four of us shared a lovely Friday evening meal and a couple of beers, and then it was back to the campsite for a good nights sleep.

Saturday morning was time to relax in sunshine – with nothing more to do than read the paper, and listen to the local radio which was going around the grounds with the latest AFL competition up-dates. The friendly fold at the Explorers Rifle Club showed up and set-up a BBQ at the 900 yards mound and provided a sausage sizzle lunch which was most welcome as the wind had come up and it was getting a bit cold. After lunch the 800 Yards Bisley match commenced – with 19 shooters being grouped into 3 shooters – and the target system set to the Bisley Match scoring format. The competition was 2 stages of 2 sighters and 15 counting shots. Adrian was grouped with two F-Open shooters and this was somewhat of an advantage because when they drifted out of the 6 ring – it was a good warning to watch what the flags were doing. For those who don’t know how a Bisley match is run – the 3 shooters each take turns to fire their scoring shot – with the shooter who has just shot scoring for the shooter about to fire and the third shooter getting ready to fire their shot. Each shooter has a 45 second time period to fire their shot or else they have a point deducted from their score. Adrian and Phill Hodder had recently been practicing this type of shooting on the Hornsby range – and so the approach to the match and the set-up for it was familiar. This experience helped a lot – in managing the match and making sure that a good shot was fired in under 45 seconds. The wind was tricky at 800 yards with a head on wind swinging between 11:30 and 1:30 – so you needed to know your zeroes.

At the conclusion of the Bisley Match it was good news for the Roseville members – who both placed in the medals. Ross Webb won F-Std B-Grade with a score of 72.2 + 79.1 = 159.3 and Adrian Bonanni came second in TRA with a score of 72.5 + 74.2 = 146.7.
The presentation of prizes was held before dinner at the Lockhart Ex-Services Club where Scott Brindley thanked everyone for coming and congratulated the winners.

After a good Chinese meal at the Club – it was back to Range for a couple of drinks around the fire and then a good nights rest.

The next morning saw around 40 competitors show up for the U/25 Australian Rifle Team fund-raiser OPM. The programme started at 700 yards for 2 x 10 shot matches and then back to 900 yards to finish with a 15 shot match. Buoyed by the success of the previous day – Ross Webb started brightly with a 51 at the first tricky 700 yards. Adrian had a couple of low shots and posted a 47.1 getting caught on the wind once. At the second 700 yards the wind picked up and started swinging making it tricky (and cold). Ross posted a 45.1 but still placed 3rd in FSB, and Adrian had a 46.4 getting caught on a couple of occasions. No possibles were scored in TRA which was an indicator of the conditions.

Back at 900 yards in the afternoon – and the wind swung through 180 degress and started coming in hard from the left, with gusts. This really challenged the competitors – but Ross held his nerve to come 2nd at 900 yards with a 77 nearly winning the match. Adrian had a target failure as the Silver Mountain targets failed to record his sighters – and when moved onto the neighbouring target with no change to sights – he shot a inner 4 at 3 oçlock for his first scoring shot. There were a number of target failures experienced at the 900 yard match – which put a downer on what was otherwise a good competition.

In the end Ross was the stand-out for Roseville taking 3rd place in FSB and coming 2nd at the 900 yard match. He was presented his prizes and the grin on his face says it all. The money raised from the U/25 Australian Rifle Team Fund-Raiser will help our fellow Club members Adam Beale and Pat Jacombs get to South Africa next year for the World Long Range Championships – and we wish them all the best.

Caption: Winners are grinners – Emma Brindley presents Ross Webb with his trophy.
If you want a good weekend away – get down to the Explorers Rifle Club Open Prize meeting later this year. You won’t regret it.

Adrian Bonanni

The NSWRA 146th Annual Open Championships 2022 (the 2 day lead up “McIntosh” followed by the 3 days “NSW Queens”) was held 7 Sept 2022 to 11 Sept 2022. However, half way through, the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II was announced. The news came to Australia in the wee hours of Friday 9 Sept which was the first day of the “NSW Queens” event. The decision was made by the NSWRA Board to continue the competition and to hold it as the “NSW Queens” in her honour as the 5 day Open Championships had already commenced on the Wednesday. A minute of silence was held before shooting commenced on Friday. Later, we were advised that the NRAA will be meeting in the near future to discuss which of the upcoming “Queen’s Prizes” will be held as such and when the changeover to the “King’s Prize” will formally come into effect, but the impact that Her Majesty’s death has had on the shooting world is far-reaching.

On a lighter note – the Roseville shooters tried hard in what can only be described as extremely trying conditions…and the scores were astonishingly diverse across the various details with most people experiencing both highs and extreme lows throughout the competition. Consider that on McIntosh day 2 we shot 2 details at 800m, at the first detail the people had about 9 min of wind, the second detail we had 12 or more minutes of wind. Needless to say, the marquee that was brought in for the presentations on the outside deck disintegrated with Thursday night’s wind. Then, on the last day of the Queen’s we shot at 800m again but with just 1-3 min of wind which was quite twitchy causing a lot of shot scores of 3, and some 2’s even in A grade. It wasn’t just wind, there was also rain, sun, heat and cold and everything in between (and for some of us that was all within the same detail).

Consider also that the winning target rifle A grade scores were Jim Bailey (Queens) on 492/500 and Steve Negus (Grand Aggregate) on 864/875. Needless to say, when these world-class shooters drop that many points in a Queen’s and yet still win, the conditions must be incredibly tricky for mere mortals to figure out.

Our Roseville competitors persevered in the conditions in what was the final “NSW Queen’s” for the foreseeable future:

Target Rifle A-grad

• Adam Beale (Queen’s 98.98%): 600m – 1st place range prize, Queen’s Day 2 – 2nd place, Queen’s Badge #13
• Mark Buchanan (McIntosh 98.66% and Queen’s 98.78%): 800m 1st place range prize, McIntosh Day 2 – 1st place, Grand Aggregate #9 badge.
• Angus Martin (Queen’s 98.17%)
• Alan Patrick (McIntosh 97.32% and Queen’s 95.12%)

Target Rifle C-grade

• Nigel Russell (McIntosh 88.23%): 500m & 600m & 800m Macintosh 1st place range prizes, McIntosh day 1 – 2nd place

FTR

• Eva Patrick (McIntosh 95.87% and Queen’s 93.92%): 500m Macintosh 1st place range prize, McIntosh day 1 – 1st place
• Janet Beale (McIntosh 98.62% and Queen’s 95.48%): 800m Macintosh 1st place range prize, McIntosh day 2 – 2nd place, 800m Queen’s 1st place range prize, Queen’s day 1 – 3rd place.

Janet Beale

On Sunday 7^th August, Gosford District Rifle Club celebrated 75 years at Kariong rifle range with their anniversary Open Prize Meeting. Given the blustery conditions at Hornsby on Saturday, this did not deter 13 RRC members who made the trek up the freeway to test their skills on Sunday at the Kariong range. Mostly clear skies, reasonably cool, but the wind became the kicker from mid morning onwards with flags doing 90 or 180 degree changes mid-shoot for some people. However, as always, there were the occasional steady patches that benefitted a few lucky ones.

Of the 8 discipline/grade combinations on offer, RRC had competitors in 5 divisions. With RRC representing 36% of those division’s competitors it is not too surprising that RRC took home medals in each of those divisions. There were some standout performances but the one that has to be mentioned is young Paul Russell who was shooting in TR-B. At the end of the day, Paul was tied with Darren Crimstor for first place in TR-B on a score of 170-8  so they had to do a shoot-off. What a nail biter! Paul won the shoot-off and as a reward not only did he win TR-B he also was asked to shoot the “lucky bull”. Huge congrats to Paul for his win (FYI Paul moved into B-Grade just before Wingham so this is a huge milestone win!).

In stats below, the accuracy is the shooters score compared to the winner (according to NRAA database). You will notice a theme that 3 Roseville clans (Bonanni/Ross, Russell and Beale) took home the bulk of the day’s RRC prize haul.

TR-A Grade
Dmitri Kazakov: accuracy 99.99% – 5^th place badge TR-A
Adam Beale: accuracy 98.84% – one 2^nd and one 3^rd place range prize.
Phill Hodder: accuracy  98.84%
Adrian Bonanni: accuracy 95.37%

TR-B Grade
Paul Russell: accuracy 98.26% – one 1^st place range prize, top TR-B shooter

TR-C Grade
Nicholas Bonanni: accuracy 91.32% – one 1^st, one 2^nd and one 3^rd place range prize. Second in TR-C
Nigel Russell: accuracy 87.86% – one 2^nd and two 3^rd place range prizes. Third in TR-C

FS-B
Ross Webb: accuracy 93.26% – one 1^st, and one 2^nd place range prize. Second in FS-B
Christian Lemoy: accuracy 89.42% – two 3^rd place range prizes. Third in FS-B
Skye Russell: accuracy 87.49% – one 2^nd and one 3^rd place range prize, Tyro Prize

F-TR
Janet Beale: accuracy 100%% – two 1^st and one 3^rd place range prize, top FTR shooter, top lady FTR, top veteran FTR
Alan Patrick: accuracy 96.09%
Eva Patrick: accuracy 94.14%

We love shooting with our Gosford friends – great food, great ambiance and a prize table full of things for people to take home. This year’s event did not disappoint even if the range winds were a bit more challenging than anticipated.

Janet Beale

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

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

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

Our RRC representatives did well in this very talented field.

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

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

Lovely NRRA Queens Badge – Adam Beale

A bag of medals – NRAA Queens June 2021

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

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

This year the Wingham Open Prize Meeting, already being one of the largest prize meetings in NSW, was expected to have grown even larger due to the dry period of prize meetings in 2020. 2021 did not disappoint, with well over 100 shooters attending, 19 of which representing Roseville Rifle Club as listed below:

In Target Rifle

• TR-A: Angus Martin, Adam Beale, Phil Hodder, Alan Patrick, Mark Buchanan, Dmitri Kazakov, Patrick Jacombs
• TR-B: Mike Hodder, Robert Trodden, Andrew Martin, Sam Houston
• TR-C: Angus Langsford, Hugo Friend, Nigel Russell, Paul Russell

In F Class

• F-Std A: Allan Humber, Janet Beale, Patrick Eva
• F-Std B: Micah Friend

With Roseville representing almost 20% of the shooting cohort, you would hope some good results would be delivered, and there were.

In the Friday before the competition, a few of the Roseville members to have a bit of practice before the main competition gave the Sweepstakes a crack. Patrick Jacombs won, and Angus Langsford placed top 5. The first day of the competition was highly contested and time pressured with the last 2-15 detail having to be shorted and almost shot in the dark due to the sheer amount of people attending the prize meeting. With this unexpected start to the prize meeting, here are the results that followed:

In Target Rifle:

Patrick Jacombs had some amazing shooting. On the first day Patrick got a 50.4 at 400 metres and 600 yards, and a 50.7 at 500 yards, not dropping a single point during the day one aggregate. Patrick continued this winning streak getting both a 50.7 at 600 yards, 50.8 at 500 yards putting him in 4^th place for the Grand Aggregate in TR-A, shooting the same number of centres as 1^st place, which is outstanding.

Noticeable Mention to Angus Martin for shooting a wonderful 50.9 in TR-A in the 1st 600-yard match on day 2 and Mark Buchanan for winning the 400m match in TR-A with a 50.7. Phil Hodder at 500 yards shot a 50.5, only pacing him in 10^th showing how competitive TR-A actually is.

Sam Houston placed 5^th in TR-B, also getting the same number of centres as 1^st place, being closely followed by Mike Hodder in 6^th being beaten on countback.

In TR-C, Angus Langsford won the Grand Aggregate, being a competitive field as well as Hugo Friend shooting his first possible at 600 yards being a 50.4! Hugo won that range! Amazing efforts all round. In TR-C, Paul Russel showed his old man Nigel who is in charge, consistently beating him at every range. Well done!

In F Class:

Janet Beale in F-Std A grade, being a highly contested field, managed to place 4^th overall, winning match 3 at 600 yards with a 60.4. Micah Friend, although he retired early still managed to place 9^th in F-Std B in his first ever prize meeting!

Well done to all our Roseville Rifle Club shooters, it was overall an amazing effort and a great weekend. See you all next year.

Angus Langsford

Roseville take out 4 of the 8 Grand Prizes at the North Shore District Rifle Association Open Prize Meeting

8^th and 9^th of May, 2021

Hornsby Rifle Range

It was a very good weekend for the Roseville Rifle Club on the weekend of May 8 and 9 2021 when the North Shore District Rifle Association held its 2021 Open Prize Meeting. It was a happy return to competition, after the 2020 event was cancelled due to COVID-19. Even though Mothers Day was celebrated on the Sunday, competitors came from all corners of NSW to participate, as well as a good number of competitors from the “home” clubs at Hornsby. There were a total of 95 competitors on the range over the course of the two-day event.  I am pleased to report that the Roseville Rifle Club had four members who took home number 1 badges in the Grand Aggregate:

• Phill Hodder – TRA #1
• Adam Beale – TRB #1
• Janet Beale – FTR #1
• Rob Trodden – S/H #1

It was a wonderful 2 days of intense competition, but camaraderie was also in plentiful supply. The weather was mostly kind, with a few intermittent periods of drizzle on Sunday but for the most part, conditions were perfect for shooting.

Day 1 – Saturday the 8^th May

A fine day greeted competitors and the programme commenced with a stand-alone 300M ISSF match – shot on the challenging ISSF 300M target with a 100mm 10 ring.  There were two divisions in this match: Target Rifle and Scope Rifle with competitors allowed to use any calibre up to 8mm. Each competitor had unlimited sighters and then shot three strings of  10 shots to complete a 30 shot match.  The field was split into two squads with 12 TR shooters competing shoulder to shoulder in Squad 1 and then 9 Scope shooters and 2 TR shooters competing in the second squad.   There was a slight breeze coming in from the south west which would catch you out at 3 o’clock if you did not watch it.

In Target Rifle, the winner was Duncan Davies of West Wallsend Rifle Club, with a score of 296.11, closely followed by David Wright from Goulburn Rifle Club on 295.14 and Matt Shepherd of Endeavour Rifle Club on 295.12. In F-Std, Kris Wilson of Hornsby RSL Rifle Club won with an impressive score of 300.24, just pipping Janet Beale of Roseville Rifle Club by one centre, on 300.23, followed by Chris Hodges of North Sydney Rifle Club on 299.16

There were several impressive scores in the 10 shot strings: In Target Rifle David Wright with 100.6 and Duncan Davies with 100.3 impressed and special mention should be made of schoolboy shooter Angus Langsford with a 99.5. In F-Std Kris Wilson was outstanding with scores of 100.10 and 100.9, as was Janet Beale with 100.9 twice.

So from the ISSF 300m event, the competition moved onto the first of the main OPM matches, at 400m. Traditionally a tricky distance and the gentle breeze from the south west continued to play with the competitors. As it would turn out – these were the only conditions for any of the matches over the two days.  Competitors showed their mettle with some fine scores in all disciplines and grades. Phill Hodder of Roseville Rifle Club got out of blocks early with a 50.7 in Target Rifle A Grade, as did Wu Lau of Hornsby RSL Rifle Club in F-Open with 60.7. Sandiswa Nzimande of Gosford District Rifle Club gave an early glimpse of what was to come with a very impressive 60.5 in F-Std B Grade.

Next up, the competitors moved all the way back to 800m for a 15 shot match and by this time the breeze disappeared and Hornsby unusually became a shooting gallery. The only challenge for competitors was the late afternoon Autumn sunshine – with the sun coming straight down the range.  This is one of the peculiarities of the Hornsby Rifle Range – which faces West North West – the only range in NSW to do so.   Mark Buchanan of Roseville Rifle Club showed his superior group shooting with a superb 75.13 in Target Rifle A Grade. There were many high scores in F Class, including 90.11 from David Li of North Sydney Rifle Club and 90.10 from Bruce Rowlands of Lyndhurst Rifle Club in F-Std A Grade, as well as 90.10 from Greg Emms of Lyndhurst Rifle Club in F-Std B Grade, along with Andrew Beavis of North Sydney Rifle Club in F/Open with 90.10. In Sporter/Hunter, William Davis again excelled with 75.12

 

So the first day finished with the aggregate of the 400m and 800m scores, with the leaders being:

Target Rifle A Grade – Phill Hodder from Roseville and David Morton from Port Macquarie Rifle Club on 125.14. This required a shoot off on the second day, which was won by David.

Target Rifle B Grade – Steve Horvath of Gosford District Rifle Club on 124.9

Target Rifle C Grade – Doug Rawson-Harris of Hornsby Manly Target Rifle Club on 113.7

F-Std A Grade – Daniel Galea of Nowra Rifle Club on 149.16

F-Std B Grade – Stuart Nimmo of North Sydney Rifle Club on 147.10

F/Open – Wu Lau on 150.14

F/TR – Janet Beale of Roseville Rifle Club on 149.11

Sporter/Hunter – William Davis on 125.19

There were four sponsors at the Day 1 Presentation to award prizes and represent their organisations who donated so generously to our Open Prize Meeting:

John Warren – Director of the Hornsby RSL Club

Andrew Martin – Director of Peak Investments

Matt Shepherd  –  Director of the NSW Rifle Association

John Leask – Director of QBN Insurance Services

The presentation was held out on the lawn in front of the Memorial Wall – with competitors enjoying light refreshments while they cheered on their fellow Club mates and competitors who made the podium in the matches and the Day 1 aggregate.

 

Day 2 – Sunday the 9^th May – Mothers Day

The North Shore DRA were pleased to welcome a large contingent of shooter from the Sydney Boys High School who turned up to compete in the second day of the competition.  Sunday was even better for shooting than Saturday afternoon – with no wind at all and cloud cover providing the perfect light for getting a brilliant sight-picture.   It was clear this was going to be a day for possibles on an unusual day when the Hornsby Range was more like a shooting gallery.

The day started with a 10 shot match at 500m. Clearly a distance that appeals to many shooters, if the scores were anything to go by! Mark Buchanan showed everyone how it’s done with a perfect 50.10 in Target Rifle A Grade. Daniel Galea in F-Std A Grade and Sandiswa Nzimande in F-Std B Grade were also impressive with scores of 60.9 and 60.8 respectively. In F/Open John Alp of North Sydney Rifle Club led a group of 4 shooters who all scored 60.9 and in F/TR Janet Beale posted 60.5. Rob Trodden of Roseville Rifle Club impressed in Sporter/Hunter with 60.9

At the conclusion of the 500M match, Phill Hodder from Roseville Rifle Club and David Morton from Port Macquarie Rifle Club had a shoot off for the Day 1 Aggregate tied on the previous day. After 5 shots the pair still could not be split – both posting at 25.3 and so an extra shot was fired. David Morton put up a V-Bull to win the shoot-off – with Phill firing a bulls eye – but both shooters till stayed clean showing fine marksmanship skills under pressure. Next up was another 10 shot match at 600m. By this stage many competitors had found their shooting rhythm and more good scores were recorded. Damon Livermore from Sydney Rifle Club led Target Rifle A Grade with 50.9. Jackie Wu from Sydney Boys High School was equally impressive in Target Rifle B Grade with 50.9. Chris Rigby from Gosford District Rifle Club led the F-Std A Grade shooters with 60.8 and Warwick Gordon from Hornsby Manly Rifle Club scored 60.4 in F-Std B Grade. Michael Difford from Cessnock Rifle club led a group of 3 shooters in F/Open who scored 60.9 and Janet Beale from the Roseville Rifle Club led F/Tr with 60.8.

With all the excellent scoring across all disciplines, the final range distance of 700m would prove the difference between a winning aggregate score and a “close second”. A 15 shot match is a great way to finish the competition and the tension was clearly in the air as the competitors went about their business.

Duncan Davies from West Wallsend gave a tremendous exhibition of long range shooting in Target Rifle A Grade with 75.14.  In Target Rifle B Grade, Adam Beale of Roseville Rifle Club showed why he was about to move up a grade with a very impressive 75.13. Special mention should be made of the 3 Sydney High School boys (Jackie Wu, Ruiyu Zhang and Cameron Young) who each scored 75 points in Target Rifle. In F-Std A Grade David Li from North Sydney emulated Duncan Davies’ efforts with 90.14. In F-Std B Grade, Sandiswa Nzimande from Gosford District showed why she is a future star with 90.10. In F/Open, Kris Wilson from Hornsby RSL also matched Duncan and David with 90.14 and Janet Beale closed her excellent campaign with 90.11. Rob Trodden from Roseville Rifle Club finished the weekend with 75.12 in Sporter/Hunter.

So from beginning to end, competition was intense and incredibly close. In the final reckoning, consistency across all range distances would prove the difference.

The Sunday 3 match aggregate for Day 2 winners were:

Target Rifle A Grade – Duncan Davies from West Wallsend Rifle Club with 175.28

Target Rifle B Grade – Jackie Wu from Sydney High School with 175.24

Target Rifle C Grade – Cameron Young from Sydney High School with 172.15

F-Std A Grade – David Li from North Sydney Rifle Club with 210.30

F-Std B Grade – Sandiswa Nzimande from Gosford District Rifle Club with 209.23

F-Open – Evan Aspiotis from Kempsey Rifle Club with 210.30

F/TR – Janet Beale from Roseville Rifle Club with 210.24

Sporter/Hunter – Rob Trodden from Roseville Rifle Club with 173.30

 

The winners of the Grand Aggregate, and therefore the Open Prize Meeting Champions for 2021, were as follows:

Target Rifle A Grade – Phill Hodder from Roseville Rifle Club with 300.40

Target Rifle B Grade – Adam Beale from Roseville Rifle Club with 297.38

Target Rifle C Grade – Melbourne Lucas from Coonabarabran Rifle Club with 273.10

F-Std A Grade – Daniel Galea from Nowra Rifle Club with 359.45

F-Std B Grade – Sandiswa Nzimande from Gosford District Rifle Club with 355.35

F-Open – Wu Lau from Hornsby RSL Rifle Club with 360.38

F/TR – Janet Beale from Roseville Rifle Club with 359.35

Sporter/Hunter – Rob Trodden from Roseville Rifle Club with 295.39

In addition, there were special presentations to:

Top Under 25 Target Rifle competitor – Adam Beale

Top School Target Rifle competitor on Day 2 – Jackie Wu

Top Under 18 competitor – Sandiswa Nzimande

The presentation was attended by Paul Britton – Director of Terry Hills Gun Shop – one of our sponsors – who was on hand to give out some of the prizes.  There were many proud Mums in attendance at the presentation and every lady present was given a beautiful single stem flower in celebration of Mothers’ Day.

The North Shore District Rifle Association would like to thank all our sponsors and partners whose generous support made for a wonderful presentation of prizes.

Major Sponsors

	Hornsby 300M ISSF – Shooting every Wednesday @ Hornsby Range
www.magnumsports.com.au 19 Babbage Rd Roseville Chase Phone:  (02) 9882 2689	Contact Fritz Welschinger (02) 9476 4434	NSW Rifle Association www.nswra.org.au Shop: (02)9311 7485

 

www.rosevillerc.com Contact Adrian Bonanni 0400 055 101	https://peakinvest.com.au/ Contact Andrew Martin (02) 8274 5800	HMTRC on facebook Contact Sandy Mansfield 0414 290 613

 

Delivering Promotions with Impact
www.patricksmarketing.com.au Contact: Alan or Eva 1300 728 831	hornsbyrslrc.com.au Contact: Heather Smith 0411 131 345	hornsbyrsl.com.au 4 High St Hornsby (02) 9477 7777
John Alp – Member – North Sydney Rifle Club	Steve Wilson – Member – North Sydney Rifle Club

Partner Sponsors

Coffee Shop		Accuracy Matters Gun-Smithing
Mt Wilga Private Hospital Call Angus to pre-order M: 0430 381 028	www.northsydneyrifleclub .com.au Contact John Alpnorthsydneyrc@gmail.com	Find on facebook Contact Darren Bradley M: 0448 895 104

Associate Sponsors

gdrc.centralcoastsports.com.au Contact: Darren SmithM: 0408 430 594	www.thgs.com.au Ph: 9486 3221Open Mon-Sat	QBN Insurance Services Contact John Leask Ph: 0428 875 683

 

Jeff and Cathy Burnitt – Members – Gosford District Rifle Club	Adrian Bonanni – Member – Roseville Rifle Club	Michael Cuda – Member – Roseville Rifle Club
Len Brown – Member – North Sydney Rifle Club	Andrew Martin – Member – Roseville Rifle Club

So ended a very successful Prize Meeting, with some exciting new talent having been discovered, new sporting friendships made and plans already being made to return in 2022 and enjoy the friendly hospitality (and range conditions!) offered at Hornsby Rifle Range

Saturday 27 Feb 2021 and the NSDRA Arn Hammond participants gathered on the lawns to celebrate the previous shooting year 2019-20 in the much anticipated – but COVID delayed – presentation BBQ.  We were lucky that the weather was amenable and the NSW Covid safety protocols were relaxed the night before to allow the BBQ to go ahead.

Our first winners to be announced were the Roseville Target Rifle Team #1 (Mark B, Adam B, Dmitri K, Angus M, Stephen T, Patrick J, Rob T, Phill H). They took home 3 prestigious and very old range prize trophies and the overall 1^st place in the Arn Hammond 2019/20. They were 5 points ahead of Hornsby/Manly.

Our F-Standard was next up to the podium (Peter W, Adam B, Dmitri K, Allan H, Michael C, Graham C, Janet B). They also took home 3 range prize trophies and the overall 2^nd place in the Arn Hammond 2019/20 just 5 points behind Gosford.

Our FTR team (Allan H, Robert K, Ian P, Rob T, Janet B, Adam B, Eva P, Alan P, Michael C) also took home 3 range prize trophies and the overall 1^st place in the Arn Hammond 2019/20 and dominating the field.

It is interesting to see how many of our shooters above were in more than 1 team. This shows a broad range of skills in the club. Unfortunately Roseville did not leave a lot of team trophies on the table for other clubs or the other Roseville teams. But our congrats go to Gosford TR for their range prize; Gosford FSTD for winning the division and taking home a range prize; and, Hornsby/Manly for their range prize.

Special congrats go to Dmitri who received the trophy for the top-off-rifle score fired over the duration of the Arn Hammond Teams match – recording 296.30 over the four stages that were able to be completed.  Given the number of competitors and the high calibre of shooters this was a well-earned award!

The district’s Proficiency Award which was well earned by our own Allan Humbert. He earned this for his shooting, his support of the club and, the support of the district. Well done Allan!

Finally, there was the recognition of champion of champions. Roseville had two great outcomes in this individual category – Angus Langsford the Target Rifle Junior Champion for the district and Adam Beale the F-Standard Junior Champion for the district. Well done to our junior champs! Thanks should go to Phill Hodder who continues to support our junior shooters.

The camaraderie (and the snags) were terrific. Thanks to all that had a hand in bringing the day together.

Janet Beale

Good Afternoon Rosevillians,

As there is a lot happening at present, I thought I’d send an update about various matters.

This Sat 20/6 – Hornsby Range Shooting Arrangements

NSDRA had a committee meeting on Tuesday evening, so amongst the matters discussed, it was decided that Covid-19 protocols needed to continue for the foreseeable future. As such the new range calendar for 2020/21 is still being worked on, so in the interim we will be shooting in two groups. One full bore club will shoot in the morning @ 300m along with the Schools and the other three full bore clubs will shoot in the afternoon at a longer range with duties broken up into morning and afternoon sessions.

The good news is, this week RRC will be shooting in the afternoon starting @ 1pm  but we will not have any range duties –  we will be shooting along with Nth Sydney and RSL @ 800m and located in lanes 6,7 & 8.

Next Sat 27/6 we will also be shooting in the afternoon, but @ 700m in lanes 6,7 & 8 but we will be responsible for RO and BO duties from 2.30pm till finish, as well as packing up at the end of the day. Of course Covid -19 social distancing protocols will need to be observed at all times, so please ensure that your chairs are spaced accordingly. We will also be introducing a few new minor protocols on the mound, but nothing too intrusive.

As soon as we have more information about the range calendar for 2020/21, we will let everyone know.

Breach Flags

It is understood that the use of breach flags is going to become a new mandatory requirement for all NSWRA members – we believe a new rule has been introduced that will require a breach flag to be inserted into a rifle’s breach when not in use, irrespective if the bolt is in or not. We are awaiting further details and will advise accordingly.

 

 

New Member – Adrian Bonanni

I am pleased to announce that we have a new member – Adrian Bonanni, previously with Hornsby RSL Rifle Club, has recently joined RRC and bings a wealth of experience having been an active full bore Target Rifle shooter at Hornsby range for over 30 years and being a distinguished A Grade shooter for most of that time. Adrian has held a number executive roles at both a district and club level, including Club Captain, Vice Captain, Statistician, Secretary and Treasurer, so please join with me in welcoming Adrian.

 

 

 

 

Arn Hammond, EM Nye & AJ Leighton 2019/20 Results

Final results for the 2019/20 Arn Hammond, EM Nye and AJ Leighton Championship have been tabulated and it gives me great pleasure to advise that once again Roseville distinguished themselves. In the Arn Hammond series (O/R) Roseville TR 1 came 1st, with Horn/Manly coming 2nd and Roseville TR 2 taking 3rd place. In O/R Roseville also took first place in FTR, but came second in FS (I reckon due to the series bing cut short 🙁 ).

A complete wrap up including Arn Hammond H/C results, EM Nye and AJ Leighton series is contained in the attachment below – special thanks to Allan Humbert who complied this so efficiently in his capacity as NSDRA Statistician.

 

2020 AGM – Sat 27/6

Just a reminder that our 2020 Annual General Meeting is being held next Saturday June 27th, 2020 @ 10.30am at the RRC Clubhouse. Phil Jacombs sent out formal Notices sometime ago, so if you can make the meeting it would be good – as all office bearer roles will be declared open, please let either Phil J or myself know if you are interested in nominating for a role. As mentioned in my last update, I will not be standing this year, as I have to focus on my business as well as family issues.

 

Annual Awards Presentation Day

Ian Palmer has recently complied the results for the RRC 2019/20 Club Championship (thank you Ian), so we will be setting a time soon for our Annual Presentation Day. For those who have never been before it’s a great day where we present awards to all those members who have distinguished themselves at a club level in the shooting year just passed. As is customary, we will be having a big BBQ lunch, together with refreshments, so I’d encourage everyone to attend if possible.  We’ll be sending a notification about this soon.

If anyone has any queries in respect to any of the above matters, please feel free to let me know, otherwise I look forward to seeing as many members as possible this Saturday….

Fellow Members,

As a result of new directives from Federal and NSW Governments, Hornsby range has been closed completely due to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) emergency. The governing body that manages Hornsby shooting complex (NSRTSCMA) has advised that all shooting activities for all Clubs (in all disciplines) shall cease from March 25, 2020 until further notice.

Roseville Rifle Club has subsequently ceased all shooting and any other activities until further notice.

Of course this crisis will pass, (hopefully in the not too distant future) and restrictions will be lifted, however until such time as we advise otherwise, members are asked to refrain from visiting the range. As further developments unfold, we will update you accordingly.

If any member has any queries, please feel free to touch base with myself or Phil Jacombs at any time.

I wish everyone all the very best during this difficult time, please stay well and keep safe…

Kind Regards,

Michael Cuda
Captain Roseville Rifle Club