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[b]Bathurst Rifle Club Inc 7th December 2013 Diggers and George James Cups Final[/b]

   The first trophy of the year the Diggers and G James Cup was completed at the weekend with little enthusiasm as the 2014 season started with a whimper. Attendances have been down and the performances on the home range have been below par.

Whether it has been the weather conditions, the heavy travel schedules of the top shooters or just plain poor shooting will be shown in the coming weeks. The poor results have been accentuated by the handicaps which have blown out to unprecedented levels.

Saturday was no exception with nobody able to come to grips with the westerly breeze which rose and fell in intensity whilst flicking up and down the range. Graeme Bright made the best of the conditions with a 48.02 and a 47.02, the lack of centre bulls eyes pointing to the difficulty he encountered. Steve Williams found even more trouble with a magpie three landing on his card, a very rare occurrence for him. Bright won the Cock of the Walk comfortably although Williams almost doubled Brights’ centre count.

Port Macquarie visitor Bob Barnett, in Bathurst for the air cadets gliding camp, enjoyed the challenge of a very tricky breeze and had a solid first stage before falling to the whiles of the weather. Even for an experienced shooter he found the conditions a good test of his ability. John Coghill for the third week had case ejection problems finally acknowledging he needs to fix the ejector pin on the bolt. His pair of 43.02’s was no more than could be expected with numerous sticking shells destroying his rhythm and concentration completely.

The F class pair Grahame and Geoff Willis fought out the COW with Geoff taking a slight lead into the second stage. Grahame then shot a moderate 55.0 leaving the door open for Geoff who proceeded to drop four points in his first two shots throwing away any chance of being competitive. Grahame Willis excelled at the Lithgow Open Prize Meeting last weekend finishing second to Brett Bond of Lyndhurst whose hot run of form sees him winning almost everything he enters lately. A near record number of F class shooters competed.

Williams won the Diggers Cup with a low final score of 288.24 from Gordon Shepherd who failed to turn up for the final two ranges. Coghill won the G James Cup by 1 ¼ points from Williams.

The next three weeks will be one day events starting with the W Northcott Memorial Cup at 700 yards which is also a Championship range.

Scores: G Bright (TRA) 95.04 (3) 98 J Coghill (TRB) 86.04 (11) 97 G P Willis (FSA) 109.1 (7 ¼) 96 ¾ S Williams (TRA) 93.07 (3 ½) 96 ½ G S Willis (FSA) 106.2 (9 ¾) 96 ½ B Barnett (TR) 91.03

[b]Bathurst Rifle Club Inc 30th November 2013 Diggers and George James Cups[/b]

The weather finally settled to a mild sunny day with a smidgen of breeze and a variable mirage. Whilst the conditions were much better than the early weeks of the season it seemed competitors had forgotten how to handle a swirling breeze and a fluky mirage. 

It was a tight competition with the two best club shooters fighting it out for the Cock of the Walk. Steve Williams set the pace in the first stage but was unable to capitalize losing a point when the mirage swapped sides suddenly. Graeme Bright fell for the two card trick when he landed either side of the bullseye on consecutive shots as the mirage jumped about. 

John Coghill and Darren Crimston did well to limit their losses to three points, the latter unfortunately being twice wound out of the bullseye by an overzealous coach. Ron Gibson got out of sync with the tricky mirage and dropped six points. 

The F class group was led by Geoff Willis with a 57.3 but he started with two bull’s-eye sighters and three counting bulls before peppering the centre on his remaining seven shots. Lyndhurst’s Bruce Rowlands was competitive with a 57.1 as were Grahame Willis 56.5 and Jeff Eppleston 55.3. Greg Emms also from Lyndhurst was all at sea scoring just 49.0

The second stage was similar to the first with just two points separating all target rifle competitors. Bright turned the tables on Williams with their first stage scores reversed. Bright won the COW on count back with both shooters finishing on 97.10. Gibson got the hang of the mirage returning a 46.04 whilst the best Coghill could offer was 46.01. The surprise was again Crimston who repeated his first stage 47 to win his second B grade COW in just two weeks of competing in the target rifle discipline.

Rowlands put the locals to shame with a 59.3, Grahame Willis the best of the rest with 58.3. Eppleston blew holes in the centre of the target scoring six super V’s but dropped too many points to be a challenger. Geoff Willis spoiled his stage with a rare inner four early on, but Emms gained six points on his first stage for a comfortable 55.3

The return of Williams and Bright and the form of newcomer Crimston were the highlights of the day. The progress scores in the Diggers and G James Cups sees Gordon Shepherd leading both competitions with Williams his major threat. The final stage will be shot next week at the 600 yard mound.

Scores: S Williams (TR) 97.10 (2 ¾) 99 ¾; G S Willis (FA) 113.5 (5 ¾) 99 G Bright (TR) 97.10 (1 ¼) 98 ¼ J Coghill (TR) 93.05 (5 ¼) 98 ¼ G P Willis (FA) 114.8 (3 ½) 98 J Eppleston (FA) 112.9 (2 ¾) 95 ¼ R Gibson (TR) 90.05 94 ½) 94 ½ D Crimston (TR) 94.03 B Rowlands (FA) 116.4 G Emms (FB) 104.3

[b]Bathurst Rifle Club Inc 23rd November 2013 Diggers and George James Cups[/b]

Bathurst Rifle club members have again shown their prowess at the ACT Centenary Queens Prize meet in Canberra recently. Steve Williams showed that age has had little effect on his ability with the long rifle as he added to his large tally of badges won at Queens’s events. Williams won a 9th badge in the R A Rolfe lead-up event, a 24th badge in the Queens and a 9th in the Grand Aggregate. To top that, he also won the Top Super Veteran (>65years) trophy.

 Not to be out done, former Queens F class Champion Geoff Willis, shooting in F Standard A grade  more than matched Williams feats with a 6th badge in the R A Rolfe, a 4th in the Queens and a 3rd in the Grande Aggregate.

Due to the attendances in Canberra, local competition has been poorly attended with little to be excited about. At 600 yards in the last range of the first round of the Diggers and G James Cups, Gordon Shepherd had little competition taking out the Cock of the Walk with 94.07 but B grade threw up a big surprise. Darren Crimston having his first attempt at target rifle after training for several weeks with a rest, shot a stage high 47.03 before finishing with a 42.01 in blustery conditions without the aid of a coach. John Coghill tried F class with little success and returned the telescope to its box.

 Saturday at 300 yards was the start of the 2014 Club Championship but a nasty bug picked up in Canberra last week-nothing to do with mobile phones-laid some of the competitors low and prevented their appearance. Shepherd again easily won the A grade COW and Coghill after a surprisingly good first stage 49.02 reverted to form with an erratic 41.1 second stage punctuated by several cases sticking in the breech. Gibson had a disastrous first stage 37.0 before gaining minor redemption with a 45.04.

Jeff Eppleston started the F class Championship as he left off last year with a 4 shot win over Geoff Willis the rapid changes in wind velocity catching out both shooters. Visitor Jamie Garay tried F class and performed quite admirably shooting stages of 50.2 and 47.0.

Next week the fifth stage of the Diggers and G James Cup will be the held at the 500 yard mound     

Scores:

500 yards 16/11. G Shepherd 94.07 (4 ¼) 98 ¼ R Gibson 87.02 (10 ¾) 97 ¾ D Crimston 87.02 J Coghill (F) 86.0

600 yards 23/11. J Coghill 90.03 (10) 100 G Shepherd 94.06 (3) 97 G S Willis (F) 107.3 (7 ¾) 95 ¾ J Eppleston (F) 111.2 (3 ¼) 95 ¼ R Gibson 82.04 (11) 93 J Garay (F) 97.2

[b]Bathurst Rifle Club Inc 9th November 2013 Diggers and George James Cups[/b]

The windy start to season 2014 continued on Saturday and shooters showed no sign of coming to grips with the winds which seem to use the raising of the directional flags as a signal to blow. Results were moderate at best with just one or two scores coming up to scratch in the first stage with a slightly better performance in the second stage due to the easing of the brisk breeze.

Grahame Willis continued his good form with a 58.4 to set a target with visitor Gavin Krebs the only challenger with a 56.3. The F class scores tailed off from that point on, with George Swenson and Jeff Eppleston both scoring 55.3, and Paul Krebs, shooting off a bench, carding 53.0.

 The Target rifle shooters were similarly confused although Ron Gibson made a good fist of his stage until bought undone by a high magpie three. Gibson’s 47.04 was only a point better than Gordon Shepherd’s 46.0 but he held a much tighter group. John Coghill never looked likely to come to grips with the wind as he plumbed the depths of despair as magpie mounted on magpie, losing six points in his last five shots.

The second stage was a little better and scores improved as the wind died. Shepherd came back strongly to snatch the lead from Gibson and take out the TR Cock of the Walk by a point. Shepherd shrunk his first stage group considerably to record a 48.05 whilst the opposite occurred to Gibson, his group blowing out, resulting in a centre bulls eye free 46.0.

Swenson didn’t learn from his first stage and carded an unfortunate 53.2. In fact no F class competitor capitalized on the weakening breeze until Eppleston almost pulled off the great steal with a 59.6 final stage. As it turned out Willis was able to hang on by a single point after shooting a 57.4. The Krebs’ were unable to match their first stages and Coghill disillusioned with his recent outings fitted a telescope to his .223 and showed only moderate improvement. Since it was his first time in the F class discipline expect some improvement in coming weeks.

The first round of the Diggers and G James Cups will conclude next Saturday at the 600 yard mound but numbers will be down due to an exodus of members who will be attending the Queens Prize meeting in Canberra.

Scores: R Gibson TRB 93.04 (4 ½) 97 ½ J Eppleston FSA 114.9 (2 ¾) 97 ¼ G Shepherd TRA 94.05 (3) 97 G P Willis FSA 115.8 (1) 96 ¾ G Swenson FSA 108.6 (3 ¼) 92 ¾ G Krebs FS 110.4 P Krebs FS 104.1 J Coghill TR 41.02, FSB 51.1

[b]Bathurst Rifle Club Inc 2nd November 2013 Diggers and George James Cups-Season Opening Round[/b]

The start of the 2014 season produced a replica of the windy conditions which finished off last season. The winds at the Annual Open prize meeting held last week were just an introduction as to what was experienced on Saturday. Strong gusting westerly winds with rapid changes in both strength and direction bedeviled shooters all day.

There were only two brief periods where shooters got on top of the weather and only two competitors were able to take advantage. Grahame Willis was the standout performer with a 59.4 at the start of the shoot in the most difficult part of the day and Steve Williams took advantage of a slight easing of the conditions to slot home a 50.04 possible at the very end of the days’ proceedings.

In between these shoots everyone else struggled to come to grips with the strong gusts which saw the number of inner fours and magpie threes become a regular occurrence on their scorecards. In F class 55.3 was the next best, posted by visitor George Swenson whilst club champion Jeff Eppleston dropped a whopping seven points for a 53.1. Darren Crimston competing in F class without the benefit of a telescope excelled with a 53.2.

Target rifle shooters had just as much trouble reading the wind and the best scores were by Williams and John Coghill with 45.02 and 45.01 respectively. Ron Gibson 44.02 and Gordon Shepherd 44.01 both had poor ends to their stages Gibson’s two inner finish being usurped by Shepherd’s magpie inner debacle.

The second stage brought some improvement as shooters gained a little insight into the wind changes. Eppleston and Willis both shot 57.3’s, Swenson backed up with a 55.1 and Crimston this time shooting without the aid of a coach read the wind changes very well to repeat his first stage 53.2.

Williams 50.02 and Shepherd 47.04 both showed marked improvement but Gibson 44.02 ran into magpie trouble and Coghill unable to settle on the mound imploded with an outer two alongside several inner fours recording just 40.0 .

Next week the Diggers and G James Cups will continue at 500 yards

Scores: D Crimston (FSB) 106.4 (14 ¼) 100 G P Willis (FSA) 116.5 (2 ¼) 98 ½ S Williams 95.07 (2 ¾) 97 ¾ J Coghill 85.02 (10 ½) 95 ½ G Shepherd 91.04 (3) 94 G Swenson (FSA) 110.4 (2 ¼) 93 ½ J Eppleston (FSA) 110.2 (3/4) 92 ¼ R Gibson 87.04 (4 ¾) 91 ¾