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[b]Bathurst Rifle Club Inc 16 August 2014 W & J Brown Shield, 900yards[/b]

Bathurst Rifle Club was fortunate to have Ben Emms from Lyndhurst Rifle club visit on Saturday, fresh from a triumphant trip to the United States of America where he became the first Australian ever to win the USA National Full Bore Championship. He also shot in the Commodore Perry teams Match and the Mini Palma both of which Australia won. The team was captained by Lithgow’s’ John Baxter and is a great lead in to the World Championships in 2015.

 The Australian Veterans Team also had success winning the Commodore Perry Teams match and finishing third in the Mini Palma match. Bathurst’ Steve Williams will be a coach for the veterans team next year at Camp Berry, Ohio, USA.

 Emms showed on Saturday why he did so well in the USA with a masterful exhibition of shooting over  900 yards at the Bathurst Rifle Range. With just a whisper of left breeze and a light mirage, conditions were quite good and after a first shot inner four, Emms set about destroying the centre bulls’ eye, recording 99.14 over the two stages.

Graeme Bright was the best of the local shooters and but for a surprise magpie three early in his first stage managed to hold firm and go clear for the rest of his shoot of 98.07. John Coghill mostly managed to avoid the disasters which have befallen him of late and took out B grade with 95.04. The same could not be said of Dennis Lavelle who had ammunition problems which destroyed any chance he had of being competitive. Ron Gibson also had his troubles and magpie threes at the end of each stage put paid to his day.

The F class group, collectively, did not have a good day. Jeff Eppleston had a couple of moderate stages as did Grahame Willis who inexplicably finished his second stage on an inner four. Geoff Willis was nowhere near his best and his group, particularly in the first stage, was particularly large. Bruce Rowlands who took out last weeks’ 800 yard shoot was nowhere near as accurate this week shooting a pair of 55’s and Greg Emms started in disastrous fashion before regaining some credibility with a second stage 57.1.

Coghill won the W & J Brown Shield by 1 ¾ points from Bright. The B Gurdon Cup and A. Pratley Shield commence next week over the split ranges of 300 and 500 yards.  

Scores:
G Bright TRA 98.07 (3 ½) 100 J Coghill TRB 95.04 (5) 100 R Gibson TRB 88.06 (11 ½) 99 ½ J Eppleston FSA 113.5 (6) 99 ¼ D Lavelle TRB 89.06 (8 ¾) 97 ¾ G P Willis FSA 111.8 (3) 95 G S Willis FSA 109.2 (3 ¾) 94 B Emms (Lynd) TRA 99.14 B Rowlands (Lynd) FSA 110.3 G Emms (Lynd) FSA 108.2

[b]Bathurst Rifle Club Inc 9 August 2014 W & J Brown Shield, 800yards[/b]

 An almost perfect winters’ day greeted shooters at the 800 yard mound for the second range of the W & J Brown Shield. The rear fishtail breeze soon swung around to a more westerly direction but never at any time threatened shooters chances of attaining a high score.

Of the target rifle group scores were only of a moderate calibre with not one possible shot on the day. Gordon Shepherd was the best and most consistent competitor scoring a pair of 49’s to win the Cock of the Walk easily ahead of Dennis Lavelle and Graeme Bright both shooting 95.06. 

Lavelle who is consistently nipping at the heels of the A grade group took out the B grade section from John Coghill and Ron Gibson who both had inconsistent and disappointing performances. Gibsons’ chance was lost when he put a shot on the wrong target which coincidentally interrupted Shepherds’ concentration and perhaps cost him a possible.

In F class Bruce Rowlands warming to the challenge of the Bathurst Rifle Range quirks versus his home range of Lyndhurst, showed the locals how it is done with 118.10 including a last stage 60.5 possible. The Bathurst shooters were not up to the challenge, the best of the locals being Grahame Willis who followed a disappointing first stage 56.1 with a much improved 59.6.

Jeff Eppleston seemed to have the post holiday blues managing just 57/60 per stage whilst Geoff Willis put in two quick stages before taking off to work, no doubt the rushed shoot contributing to his low 111.4 score. Greg Emms second stage was surely an aberration as he shot not one but two outers in a stage of 49.1/60.

Darren Crimston returned to his home range after a breakthrough win at West Wallsend last month. Crimston, who commenced full bore target rifle shooting less than twelve months ago, won all three ranges and the aggregate in C grade. It was his first win in any event and he took out the Tyro prize. The A grade went to Alex Davies who honed his skills on the Bathurst range whilst attending Saint Stanislaus college during the 2007-2008 shooting seasons.

The W & J Brown Shield concludes next week at 900 yards

Scores:
J Coghill TRB 92.04 (8 ¾) 100 G Shepherd TRA 98.06 (1 ¼) 99 ¼ D Lavelle TRB 95.06 (3) 98 G P Willis FSA 115.7 (2 ¼) 97 ¾ G Bright TRA 95.06 (2) 97 G S Willis FSA 111.4 (4 ¾) 96 ½ J Eppleston FSA 114.5 (1 ¼) 96 R Gibson TRB 86.04 (8 ½) 94 ½ D Crimston TRB 44.0-Rtd B Rowlands (Lynd) FSA 118.10 G Emms (Lynd) FSA 106.3

[b]Bathurst Rifle Club Inc 2 August 2014 W & J Brown Shield, 700yards[/b]

  A magnificent winter’s day with bright sunshine and little or no breeze camouflaged a force which no one was able to overcome until the very last stage of the day. With a seemingly easy path to a good score, shooters one by one, fell victim to the unseen foe. Was it the light breeze which didn’t seem to know which direction to blow from, or the mirage which seemed quite innocuous most of the time, or some other unseen weather condition?

Whatever, the result was that scores were exceptionally low and great mutterings were heard from the mound as shots flew high wide and handsome. The 700 yard range is affectionately known as the birds and bulls range. It was far worse than that on Saturday as anything better than an inner four was almost greeted with a cheer, as outer two’s became quite prevalent with even the occasional one (rest of target) , appearing on some score cards.

Even regulars from Lyndhurst both very experienced rifle shooters were astonished at the degree of difficulty present on the day, adding to the ranges’ reputation as one of the more difficult rifle ranges in the state.

Greg Emms (Lynd) was the F class high scorer with a 107.2, thirteen points down and with the just two super centres. Geoff Willis followed in his wake with 106.5 and Bruce Rowlands could manage only 103.2. In target rifle, frustration boiled over resulting in the retirement of Ron Gibson after just one stage and the total capitulation of all bar Graeme Bright.

With visitors from Dubbo, David and Ben Hey, experiencing f-class shooting for the first time the scores being racked up were less than intimidating. David Hey shot a 50.2 and Ben a 46.0 in their single stages, scores which were on a par with the regulars.

The only “bright” spot was Bright, who confounded everyone to shoot a 50.06 possible, final stage, prompting some wags to suggest that the conditions had suddenly died just prior to his shoot. Whatever, Bright easily took out the Cock of the Walk with Dennis Lavelle getting B grade by one point with a miserable 84.02, just ahead of John Coghill with an even more

miserable, 83.02. Willis, as the only eligible shooter, was awarded the F-class COW.

The W & J Brown Shield continues next week at 800 yards

Scores: G Bright TRA 94.08 (4) 98 J Coghill TRB 83.02 (13 ¾) 96 ¾ D Lavelle TRB 84.02 (12) 96 G S Willis FSA 106.5 (4 ¾) 89 R Gibson TRB 40.0- Rtd G Emms (Lynd) FSA 107.2 B Rowlands FSA 103.2 D Hey FSB 50.2-Rtd B Hey FSB 46.0-Rtd

[b]Bathurst Rifle Club Inc 26 July 2014 J Sibera Trophy, 600yards[/b]

The south westerly change which swept across the range just prior to the start of shooting brought with it a heavy shower of rain followed by a strong south westerly wind. The wind however moderated and the sun emerged leaving conditions, if not perfect then at least readable.

Grahame Willis was the first shooter down and he copped the worst of the softening breeze but following shooters were able to get on top of the conditions, and whilst only one shooter was able to go clear in the first stage the loss of just one point was an acceptable option. Graeme Bright and Steve Williams both shot 49’s and Gordon Shepherd a 48 all with good centre bulls eye counts. Dennis Lavelle was uncomfortable with his new rifle at first and dropped several shots but John Coghill had no one else to blame but himself for poor quality reloads. Both competitors were out of contention from the first couple of shots.

Lyndhurst pair Greg Emms and Bruce Rowlands didn’t handle the gusty breeze all that well but it was left to Jeff Eppleston back from a European sojourn to show how it is done with the days first possible, a 60.5.

The weather became a little cooler in the second stage as the sun disappeared behind light cloud cover and good scores seemed harder to achieve. Willis however relished the rather benign breeze and matched Epplestons’60.5 possible, but from then on scores generally reached a plateau.

Bright had visibility problems in the diminishing light but most of the rest hung in with scores at least equal to or better than their first stage efforts. Williams second 49 enabled him to win the Cock of the Walk from Shepherd by one point with Bright a further point back. Lavelle won B grade from Coghill with both contestants well below par on the day. F class was all Eppleston despite Willis’s fight back but Emms and Rowlands, although showing good improvement, were never in the hunt.

Coghill by the very reason of his inconsistency unintentionally manipulated the handicap system to win the J Sibera Trophy.

Scores:
J Eppleston FSA 119.7 (1 ¾) 100 G Bright TRA 96.07 (3 ¼) 99 ¼ G Shepherd TRA 97.06 (2) 99 S Williams TRA 98.08 (3/4) 98 ¾ J Coghill TRB 89.03 (9 ½) 98 ½ G P Willis FSA 115.8 (2 ¼) 97 ¾ D Lavelle TRB 91.06 (5 ¾) 96 ¾ G Emms (Lynd) FSA 112.7 B Rowlands (Lynd) FSA 111.5