News
Weekly Review 26/05/2012
Posted on May 27, 2012
[html]
Competition shoots around the country and the threat of further heavy wind and freezing rain which lead up to the weekend left the local competition with few shooters to contest Saturdays first round of the F A Wilde trophy over 300 yards. However while there were only four competitors the number of shooters who turned out to run in new barrels and try out new rifles promises to swell the ranks of competitors in following weeks.
The weather was not as bad as expected and Graeme Bright managed to complete his stage of the Tasmanian Postal shoot. The wind was up a little more than the ideal, and although Bright shot a first stage possible 50.05 he succumbed to a couple of wind shifts in the middle of his second stage. The dropped shots were inner fours either side of the bulls-eye and despite his good score, a 98.10 may not be competitive in the Australia wide competition.
On the local front Dennis Lavelle showed the way with his scoped 0.223 rifle out shooting Bright and John Coghill, both off rifle and on handicap. Lavelle led from the start with a 48.04 and closed out the day with a 50.05 possible, taking the A grade Cock of the Walk for the first time this year.
Bright, after the morning shoot, found the wind shifts still challenging and he dropped three points to windage shots. Brights' elevation problems of the past months appear to have disappeared and he slotted a tight 50.04 possible to chase Lavelle right down to the last shot.
Coghill changed to his .223 target rifle with better results and a 48.06 second stage added to a 46.02 first was a welcome change to his poor displays of recent times.
Geoff Willis succumbed to the wind changes with a number of inner fours in his first stage, the F-class equivalent of a target rifle shooters magpie three, but tightened up his shoot with just three dropped points in a second stage 57.2.
The F A Wilde trophy will continue next week at 500 yards
Â
 SCORES: Â
 D Lavelle (Opt) 98.09 (2 ½) 100
 J Coghill 94.08 (6 ½) 100
 G Bright 97.06 (2 ¼) 99 ¼
 G S Willis (F) 109.3 (9 ½) 98 ¾
[/html]
Weekly Review 19/05/2012
Posted on May 20, 2012
[html]
The Club Championship concluded on Saturday at the 900-yard mound with Steve Williams confirmed as the 2012 Champion despite going down to Graeme Bright on the final day of competition. Unfortunately the F-class Championship, which had promised an exciting finale, fizzled when Geoff Willis, equal leader going into the final range, was unable to compete due to family commitments. Jeff Eppleston was declared the winner for the sixth time, keeping his as the only name on the trophy.
Ron Gibson took out the B-grade Championship in similar circumstances when Lawrence Sim was unable to complete his two 700-yard ranges and was thus unable to qualify.
The final day was bright and sunny with what appeared a gentle breeze wafting across the range from a west, southwest direction. Bright opened with a 49.04 and hopes were high for a day of good scores despite the long distance. It soon became apparent what a good shoot Bright had produced when one after another competitors fell foul of the wind, which was puffing up and dropping off with great rapidity. To add to the wind changes, the flags from the butts to the 300-yard mound were showing little of wind strength and more of directional changes, due to the influence of the large bunded area opposite. The flags from 400 yards to 900 yards were the true indicators of wind strength
Williams set the pattern for the rest of the shooters as he dropped shots at regular intervals in his 46.02. John Coghill was even more confused, finishing with a scorecard, which contained everything from a V-bull to an outer two.
Eppleston added a wide inner four to a number of bulls which dragged his score down to 53.2 and Grahame Willis although avoiding the inner four ring could not shrink his group enough to concentrate on the centre. Elizabeth Willis also had great difficulty with the breeze despite her fathers coaching. A heavy trigger didn’t help.
The second stage saw Williams fight back with a 49.03 but Bright was steady enough to limit his losses to three inners allowing him to win the days Cock of the Walk by one shot. Coghills woes continued, as did those of Liz Willis, but both Eppleston and Grahame Willis made some inroads into their early scores but Eppleston increased his lead over Willis to take the COW by three points.  Â
Mal Wright a local bench rest shooter was a welcome visitor as he tried the Bathurst Rifle Range for the first time. Using a Savage actioned 6.5mm bench rest rifle Wright was right up with the locals despite his unfamiliarity with the conditions. Taking a little while to zero the rifle to the new surroundings Wright finished strongly in his first stage but tailed off slightly at the end of his second stage late in the day.
The F A Wilde Trophy commences next week at 300 yards  Â
Grahame Willis won the Secretary’s Trophy
Â
 SCORES: Â
 G P Willis (F) 106.4 (15 ¼) 100
 G Bright 99.09 (2 ½) 981/2
 J Eppleston (F) 109.4 (7 ½) 97
 S Williams 95.05 (1 ¼) 96 ¼
 J Coghill 84.03 (8 ¾) 92 ¾
 E Willis 89.2 (F) (13 ½) 85 ½
 M Wright (F) 102.3
[/html]
Weekly Review 12/05/2012
Posted on May 13, 2012
[b]The Secretary's Trophy -Bathurst Rifle Club 12th May 2012[/b] Steve Williams, as has become the norm, out shot the competition to win the Cock of the Walk and the first day of the Secretary’s trophy. With a score of 99.07 Williams was able to see through the wind gusts, which caught out many of his competitors. The southwest breeze gusted at times, then dropped off as it fishtailed down range, but there was not a lot of movement in general.
One who appreciated the conditions was John Coghill whose recent form has been abysmal. Coghill started with three centre bulls eyes in a first stage 49.04 but after threatening to upset Williams was unable to maintain the pressure in the second stage, dropping a couple of points mid stage before missing a gust which blew his last shot into the magpie ring
Dennis Lavelle, Ron Gibson and Lawrence Sim all got caught with heavy gusts and magpie threes and outer twos took a toll on their scores. All three however took some consolation with improved performances in their second appearances on the mound. Lavelle was the best of the three with a 49.4, while Sim posted a 48.03, his best stage for some time, earning him the B grade COW. Gibson was disappointed with his 46.03, which could have been much better, but for a miscalculation on the wind strength which produced a magpie three.
F-class was a family affair with brothers Geoff and Grahame and Grahame’s daughter Elizabeth rounding out the F-class contingent. Three points separated Geoff on 57.3 from Grahame 54.0 and Liz a further three points back on 51.2 after the first stage. Inner fours spoiled the efforts of both Grahame and Liz whilst Geoff’s 119/120 in the morning obviously gave him a lead into the afternoons competition.
The second stage was closer but still followed the established order. Geoff succumbed to an inner four start before a couple of bulls eye fives dropped his score to 56.4. Grahame started brilliantly, shooting four super-V’s in his first five shots, but couldn’t maintain the accuracy finishing with 55.5. Liz in only her fourth competition shoot improved two points on her first stage and is proving very competitive. Geoff won the COW by 4 points
The Tasmanian Postal Shoot was conducted on Saturday morning but the conditions were less than ideal for most of the contestants. The wind, which was virtually non-existent for the first shooters, increased as the morning progressed adding to the degree of difficulty. Steve Williams and Geoff Willis despite good centre counts both lost a point, which will make it very difficult to feature in the final standings of this nationwide competition. The remaining contestants were not able to post competitive scores
The Secretary’s trophy will conclude at 900-yards on the 19th May.
SCORES: L Sim 92.04 (8 ¼) 100 J Coghill 95.08 (4 ¾) 99 ¾ S Williams 99.07 (1/4) 99 ¼ G S Willis (F) 113.7 (5 ¾) 99 G P Willis (F) 109.5 (7 ½) 97 D Lavelle (Opt) 93.06 (3 ½) 96 ½ R Gibson 89.04 (6 ¾) 95 ¾ E Willis (F) 104.4 (10) 95
Weekly Review 05/05/2012
Posted on May 06, 2012
[b]The Hughes/Porter Trophies and Championship -Bathurst Rifle Club 5th May 2012[/b] The penultimate round of the Club Championship was conducted under clear skies and a whisker of breeze. That breeze however, jiggled and wobbled just enough to create great difficulty for some. To add to the drama of the day a strong willy-willy swept across the shooting mound scattering mats and equipment in its path.
The only one who was not troubled in the first stage was Steve Williams although Ron Gibson made a great fist of his stage. Williams shamed everyone with a huge 50.08. Gibson’s shoot was less dramatic but he held a very good group to score 48.02.
Graeme Bright, 47.01, held a large group inside the bulls eye ring until a couple of late shots penetrated the inner four zone. Gordon Shepherd was even more wayward, a magpie three included in his 45.01 and John Coghill followed Shepherds example but included two magpies for good measure in his 44.03.
The variability of the breeze became even more apparent when the F-class shooters hit the mound. Current F-class Champion Jeff Eppleston battling to stave off a strong challenge from Geoff Willis completely missed a mid stage change and dropped five points in two shots with an inner four, magpie double. Willis wasn’t much better but held all his shots inside the bull and Grahame Willis who had the misfortune to be on the matt during the willy-willy episode dropped six points to inners. Geoff Willis on 53.2 held a two-point lead over Eppleston at 51.1 and three points on Grahame Willis on 50.0
The second stage provided little letup with the breeze moving from square to frontal fish tail with little warning, and the directional flags slow to signal the changes.
Williams again laid on a demonstration but even he was caught out with a subtle change scoring 49.06 for a day’s bag of 99.14. Shepherd turned his day around with a 49.04 to grab second spot from Bright who was unable to eliminate the all too regular inner fours in his 46.03.
Coghill again failed despite a five-bull finish with the all too familiar magpie making an early appearance on his scorecard. Gibson provided the worst score of the day and was totally nonplussed with the 41.02 performance after his great first stage
Things improved somewhat for the F-class contingent and a very tight struggle emerged. Grahame Willis couldn’t buy a super V but he shot the best stage of the day a 58.0. It was not enough to stop Eppleston who responded with a 57.3, a lead of 4 super V’s. Geoff Willis with the advantage of the two point lead from the first stage scraped home with a 56.3 securing a one point win in the F-class Cock of the Walk.
Geoff Willis goes into the 900-yard final range of the Club Championship, needing to shoot to qualify. He has a 4-point lead over Eppleston who has already qualified. It would be Epplestons first defeat since the F-class trophy was first presented in 2007.
Williams won the days COW and the I Hughes Trophy, as well as sealing the Club Championship for the 17th time. Gibson won the J Porter Trophy and clinched the B grade Championship.
The next shoot will be the Secretary’s trophy on the 12th May over 800 yards.
SCORES S Williams 99.14 (3/4) 99 ¾ G Shepherd 94.05 (4 ¼) 98 ¼ R Gibson 89.04 (9 ¼) 98 ¼ G S Willis (F) 109.5 (8 ½) 98 J Coghill 89.04 (8 ¾) 97 ¾ G Bright 93.04 (4 ¾) 97 ¾ G P Willis (F) 108.0 (8 ¾) 97 ¼ J Eppleston 108.4 (6 ¼) 95 ¼
Weekly Review 21/04/2012
Posted on Apr 23, 2012
[b]The L Williams Cup -Bathurst Rifle Club 21st April 2012[/b] The weather on Saturday was almost perfect for target rifle shooting with good even light and little or no breeze. Whilst there were some good individual stages no one was able to extract the maximum points as errors, which could not be attributed to the conditions, befell all competitors.
Steve Williams back from the VRA Queens Prize at Bendigo with a handful of badges continued his domination at the local level. Even Williams however was unable to go clear, dropping a point on just his third shot, leaving the door open for a couple of surprise challengers.
Ron Gibson who surprised everyone last week repeated the dose with his first possible in many months, and a big one at that, a 50.05. Gordon Shepherd with a 49.07 went one centre bull better than Williams but Graeme Bright dropped two early points in a 48.01. Dennis Lavelle relishing the move to optical class fired in a 49.03 but Lawry Sim and John Coghill struggled in the easy conditions as they strung inner fours together, seemingly unable to break the unwelcome sequence of inners.
Jeff Eppleston, with little resting on the outcome of the days shoot, tried out his “rabbit gun†with limited success. A 53.3 was better than expected from a rifle, which had been put together with discarded parts from his competition rifles.
The second stage saw Williams exert his superiority with a 50.05 as one by one the challengers slipped out of contention. One who clung to a chance of toppling Williams was Lavelle who produced a possible but the task was just too great and he fell three centres short of Williams 11 centre bulls eyes.
Gibson after his excellent first stage fell away with a 44.02 and could offer no explanation for the drop off other than the use of mixed ammunition. Shepherd was also inflicted with the second stage blues as yet again he failed to put two top stages together.
Bright came good with a 49.07 but the horse had bolted and he suffered from the failure to string two competitive stages together. Sim remained unhappy with the performance of his rebuilt rifle but at least he salvaged some credibility with a 47.04. Not so Coghill who chose to use his newly acquired 5.56mm with less than satisfactory results. Coghills’ woes continued with 44.02 and 45.02 stages in near perfect conditions.
Eppleston got serious in his second stage bringing out his number one rifle and shot a 57.3. Rhett Gibson ventured onto the mound again and improved on his effort of last week despite the extra 300 yards.
Lavelle won the L Williams with the perfect 200/200 handicap score. Gibson was second on 198 ¾.
The next shoot on the 5th May will be the Hughes/ Porter trophies and the final 700-yard Championship range.
SCORES: D Lavelle (Opt) 99.08 (2 ½) 100 S Williams 99.11 (1/4) 99 ¼ L Sim 92.04 (6 ¾) 98 ¾ R Gibson 94.07 (4 ¾) 98 ¾ G Shepherd 96.12 (2 ¼) 98 ¼ G Bright 97.08 (1/4) 97 ¼ J Coghill 89.04 (5 ¾) 94 ¾ J Eppleston (F) 110.6 (3) 94 ¼ Rhett Gibson 51.0