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[b]Bathurst Rifle Club Inc 17th August 2013 W & J Brown Shield 900yards[/b]

The windy weather continued on Saturday but the bright sunny day made for a challenging but pleasant days shooting. The wind generally from the west northwest was quite strong and fluctuated in both strength and direction. 

Interstate competitions and the recent cold weather have limited the number of competitors in recent weeks and Saturday was no exception with just six shooters contesting the final of the W & J Brown Shield.

The standout shooters were Graeme Bright in target rifle and Geoff Willis in F-class standard both of whom maintained consistent groups and virtually eliminated any wild shots. Bright with a couple of first stage inner fours was punished with a magpie three early in his second stage when his elbow slipped into a hole but that was his only blemish for the remainder of his shoot. A pair of 48’s was sufficient to give Bright a runaway Cock of the Walk win from a disappointing Gordon Shepherd who destroyed his chances with a disastrous 42.01 first stage. Even a day topping 49.03 second stage couldn’t repair the damage.

In the F class division Willis also shot consistently compiling a pair of 57’s although his super V count was well down in his second stage with just one X registering on his score card which totaled 114.6. Grahame Willis was unable to keep up dropping five points in each stage for a total of 110.7.

Ron Gibson who since his return from holidays has found form and a new level of consistency took out his second consecutive B grade COW easily accounting for John Coghill who continued his miserable form, unable to break the 90 mark for the second time in three shoots.

Shepherd won the W & J Brown Shield from Grahame Willis by four points. The penultimate event for 2013, the B Gurdon Cup and the A Pratley Shield will commence next week the 24th August over split ranges of 300 and 500 yards.  

Scores: J Coghill 88.03 (16 ½) 100 R Gibson 92.05 (8 ½) 100 G Bright 96.08 (4) 100 G S Willis (F) 114.6 (5) 99 ¼ G P Willis (F) 110.7 (7 ¼) 97 ¾ G Shepherd 91.04 (6 ¼) 97 ¼

[b]Bathurst Rifle Club Inc 10th August 2013 W & J Brown Shield 800yards[/b]

A general warming of the weather did not coincide with a lessoning of the winds which have assailed Bathurst this past week. A strong west south westerly wind battered the range all day and produced some very difficult periods when it was almost impossible to read the conditions.

That said there were some excellent shoots although only Gordon Shepherd was able to extract the maximum points with a 50.06 possible. Others were left to rue a gust here, or a drop off there, which consigned the shooter to inner fours or even worse, magpie threes. 

Ron Gibson avoided the dreaded magpie but Graeme Bright and John Coghill were not so fortunate. Gibson’s 48.03 kept him in touch with Shepherd but Bright 46.06 and Coghill 45.03 lagged well in arrears.

Shepherd’s high centre bulleye count kept him in the race for the Cock of the Walk despite dropping three points in his second stage. Bright and Coghill still couldn’t read the wind and dropped out of contention but Gibson gave himself a real chance of pulling off a surprise win. With seven shots on, and a clear card, Gibson blew it when he put a shot over the top of the bullseye consigning him to second place just three centre bulls eyes shy of Shepherds total of 97.11. 

F-class was a case of consistency winning the day with Geoff Willis taking out the COW by two points from Grahame Willis after the latter had a disastrous start to his first stage. Straddling the bullseye, Grahame Willis dropped eight points in his first six shots before centering on the super V bull. Geoff did not make the same mistake but spoiled his first stage with a double inner finish for 58.3.

Grahame set a target with a 59.3 second stage, but Geoff was able to comfortably surpass Grahame’s’ total of 111.5 with a moderate 55.4 for a total of 113.7  Modifications to the clubs’ .308 rifle meant Darren Crimston could use the bipod and found the change much to his liking. A pair of 50’s was indicative of a tight group. 

The W & J Brown shield will conclude next week at 800 yards.  

Scores: R Gibson 97.08 (4 ½) 100 G Shepherd 97.11 (3) 100 G S Willis (F) 113.7 (5 ¼) 98 ½ G P Willis (F) 111.5 (5 ¾) 97 ¼ G Bright 93.09 (3) 96 J Coghill 91.06 (3 ½) 94 ½ D Crimston (F) 100.3

[b]Bathurst Rifle Club Inc 3rd August 2013 W & J Brown Shield 700yards[/b]

    Competitors had to contend with a strong cold westerly wind on Saturday and the results were not very pretty. There was quite a deal of movement in the strength of the breeze and it was not always evident in the posture of the directional flags. To compound the problem the six flags down the western side of the range all responded differently to the wind.

     Grahame Willis and Gordon Shepherd were the best of an average lot and even they barely rated a pass mark. Willis shot a first stage 55.2 just managing to hold within the bull’s eye ring but unable to tighten his group enough to score centres and super V bulls. His second stage was a repeat of the first but at least he avoided the inner four ring. Willis’s 110.4 was sufficient to take the F class Cock of the Walk after Geoff Willis proved unable to better either stage coming in with a combined 105.3 his wide groups including inner fours in both stages.

     Shepherd started a little shakily and three inner fours later could manage just 47.02 but John Coghill never looked likely to challenge as his inner four toll mounted leaving him with a 43.02. Shepherd barely troubled the bull’s eye ring in his second stage and only two centre bulls’ eyes interrupted a string of inner fours. His 43.02 left the door open for Coghill but he was not up to the challenge and put in a shocker. With magpie threes and inner fours dominating his score card a 42.02 was better than could be expected considering his group.

    Jake Miles found the wind too much in the first stage 44.0 but knuckled down to shooting a tight group and emerged with a 53.1 second stage, right up there with the experienced Willis duo. Darren Crimston found the going tough in both stages as the wind continued to buffet shooters on the mound. Using a front rest but no rear bag the conditions were not conducive to steady shooting.

    With Queens’s prize and state teams shoots occurring interstate, local competition will be a little down on numbers over the next few weeks as the W & J Brown shield continues at 800 yards.

Scores: G Shepherd 90.04 (6) 96 J Miles (F) 97.1 (18) 95 ¾ J Coghill 85.04 (9 ½) 94 ½ G P Willis (F) 110.4 (3) 94 ¼ G S Willis (F) 105.3 (2) 89 ½ D Crimston (F) 88.1

[b]Bathurst Rifle Club Inc 27th July 2013 J Sibera Trophy 600yards[/b]

 A more perfect winters day could not have been ordered and all competitors enjoyed a day of little breeze and light mirages. Due to the bright sunshine the mirage was evident all day and swapped sides as the rear fishtail breeze waxed and waned over the afternoon.

Grahame Willis set the tone of the day with a big 60.7 possible but the rest of the contingent was unable to repeat his success. Geoff Willis dropped two points for 58.4 and newcomer Brent Macri showed he was not a novice at the shooting game with a very credible 55.2 at his first attempt at target shooting. Darren Crimston continued his re-education using both the front rest and rear bag but found it a little uncomfortable.

The target rifle group all fiddled with the mirage and dropped three to four points apiece leaving the competition wide open, just the one point separating all competitors. The second stage was a different proposition with Bright showing his newfound confidence to produce a Cock of the Walk winning 50.04 possible. Shepherd almost rose to the occasion with a very good stage but an inner four from what he felt was a good shot deprived him of the COW.

Williams and Coghill had contrasting shoots with Coghill fighting to hold inside the bullseye ring finishing with a hollow 48.0 whilst William’s 47.07 was the direct opposite shooting the centre out of the target whilst dropping three points to inner fours in a bullseye free stage.

The battle of the Willis brothers went down to the last shot after Grahame left the door open when he dropped two points in his last two shots to finish with a 57.1. Needing at least a 59 with a fistful of supers V’s Geoff audaciously cut a centre bull sighter and then proceeded to amass a huge super V tally. His quest was almost undone when he dropped a point on his second last shot but he held his nerve with a super V finish to snatch the F-class COW  by a margin of just 4 supers.

 Macri showed he will be a force to reckon with if he takes up the sport seriously after shooting a 56.2 second stage whilst Crimston abandoned the rear bag and in doing so gained a much better feel for the rifle and profited with a 54.3 second stage.

Shepherd won the J Sibera trophy with two handicap possibles in the three stages. The W & J Brown shield will commence next week at 700 yards  

Scores: G P Willis (F) 117.8 (4 ½) 100 J Coghill 95.04 (5 ¾) 100 G Shepherd 96.09 (4 ½) 100 G S Willis (F) 117.12 (2 ¼) 99 ½ G Bright 97.09 (1 ¾) 98 ¾ S Williams 95.10 (1 ¾) 96 ¾ B Macri (F) 111.4 D Crimston (F) 98.3

[b]Bathurst Rifle Club Inc 20th July 2013 J Sibera Trophy 500yards[/b]

  With a foreboding weather forecast shooters approached the days’ competition with a fair amount of trepidation. A bitterly cold west north westerly wind swept across the range and threatened to snap the targets off at their legs. When the first shooters sighted on the target the wind appeared to be gusting and swinging up range. To the surprise of everyone the degree of difficulty was well below expectations and some excellent scores were obtained in some of the worst conditions experienced this year.

Leading off the days’ shoot Jeff Eppleston confounded everyone with a 60.7 possible and it appeared he may have been lucky to find a steady patch but as the first stage progressed scores remained high if not reaching the heights of Epplestons’ shoot.

Graeme Bright dropped two points for a 48.05 and John Coghill did likewise for a 48.02.  Geoff Willis lost a point on each of his first and last shots for 58.3 whilst Gordon Shepherd and Steve Williams dropped three points throughout their stages for 47.04 and 47.03 respectively. Richard McCrea a visitor from the Warragul rifle club in Gippsland Victoria who is working in the area made a good fist of the unfamiliar surroundings shooting 46.02.

With all competitors still in the hunt for the days honours it came down to a courageous shoot from Bright who was assailed by strong wind gusts and large sleet right in the middle of his final stage. Bright managed to hold it together for a superb 50.04 securing the days Cock of the Walk. Williams was unable to match Brights’ score dropping a point on his first shot and finishing with 49.02 but Shepherd came in over the top of Williams with a 50.03 to grab second spot. McCrea learnt from his first look at the range and shot a 49.01 whilst Coghill went into meltdown dropping 4 points in his last 3 shots for just 44.01.

Geoff Willis dropped points on his first two shots but then shot clear in the remainder of his stage finishing with 4 super V’s for 58.4. This left Eppleston the relatively easy task of scoring a 56 or better to win the f-class COW. Dropping a point on each of his first two shots, things started to look a little bleak but despite losing a further point Eppleston hung on to shoot a 57.2 and take the win.

The J Sibera trophy concludes next week at 600 yards.

Scores: G Shepherd 97.07 (2 ¼) 99 ¼ J Eppleston (F) 117.9 (2) 99 ¼ G Bright 98.09 (3/4) 98 ¾ G S Willis (F) 116.7 (2 ¼) 98 ½ S Williams 96.05 (1 ¾) 97 ¾ J Coghill 92.03 (5 ½) 97 ½ R McCrea 95.03