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[b]The L Williams Cup and Championship -Bathurst Rifle Club 14th April 2012[/b] Saturdays shoot left competitors with more questions than answers. With little or no wind, the short range, 300-yards, and the conditions were conducive to good scoring despite the dull light.

Gordon Shepherd set the standard in the first stage of the day with a 49.04, disappointingly dropping his final shot. The F-class pair of Jeff Eppleston and Grahame Willis followed suite with scores of 58.3 and 57.4 but the scores dropped away from there.

Ron Gibson whose recent scores have been below par was next best with 47.03 followed by the out of form John Coghill with 46.03 and Graeme Bright, whose recent outings have been well below his best, could only muster 46.0. Lawrence Sim, sporting a beautifully engineered stock in which to seat the action, still couldn’t get the rifle to group and the result was a 42.01.

Dennis Lavelle after a bad shoot last week wasn’t happy with his 44.01 and went in search of answers. Geoff Willis could only manage a 55.2, further denting his Championship chances whilst Liz Willis compiled 52.2, a magpie three spoiling her score.

The second stage produced quite a few turnarounds most for the better but also the odd one for the worse. Lavelle after re-tensioning the action into the stock just missed a possible with a last shot inner four and Bright despite two elevation shots compiled a 48.06. The biggest improver was Gibson who picked off the whole field with a 48.05 to add to his 47.03, winning not only the B grade COW but the overall off-rifle honours for the day. Gibson could offer no answers for his successful turnaround.

Coghill pulled a wild magpie at three o’clock in a 46.04 and Shepherd repeated last weeks dismal drop off with a 46.01. Sim’s 43.0 resulted from a grouping which encompassed the whole of the inner four ring as he continues to search for answers to the rifles’ inaccuracy.

Liz Willis sprang a big surprise to eclipse Geo. Willis for the second week in a row after Willis collapsed with a string of inner fours in a 50.2 finish.

The big “go” however was the tight tussle between Gra. Willis and Eppleston. After Willis slotted a great 60.5, Eppleston responded with an even better 60.7, his first seven shots being super-V bulls. Eppleston won the F class COW by a single point.

Rhett Gibson tried his hand at fullbore shooting and scored with every shot.

Williams won an 8th Badge in the VRA Queens and a 6th in the Grand Aggregate to add to his 12th badge in the lead up event “The Syme”.

        The L Williams Cup concludes next week at 500 yards.   

SCORES: R Gibson 95.08 (9) 100 G P Willis (F) 117.9 (3 ¾) 100 D Lavelle (Opt) 93.07 (8 ¼) 100 J Eppleston (F) 118.10 (2) 100 J Coghill 92.07 (6 ¾) 98 ¾ E Willis (F) 106.4 (12) 98 ¼ G Shepherd 95.05 (3 ¼) 98 ¼ L Sim 85.01 (12 ½) 97 ½ G Bright 94.06 (2 ¼) 96 ¼ G S Willis (F) 105.4 (7 ¾) 94 R Gibson 44.0

[b]The K Redding 700 yard Trophy and Championship -Bathurst Rifle Club 31st March 2012[/b] The K Redding 700 yard Trophy & Club Championship

Saturdays’ competition was conducted under fine sunny skies with a gentle southwesterly breeze tempering the conditions. The light was generally bright but the breeze was anything but steady and seemed to channel down from the SSAA baffled range. At times there was no wind at all on the bottom two thirds of the range proper whilst the top 300 yards was subjected to a frontal fishtail.

With Steve Williams at the VRA Queens Prize meeting in Bendigo, Gordon Shepherd stepped up to the mound to set the days standard with a 49.06, his only blemish an inner four on his first counting shot. Graeme Bright also made only one mistake, but his was more damaging, the magpie three reducing his score to 48.04.

John Coghill continued his climb back from oblivion with a 47.02 but he still suffered from the wild 11 o’clock magpie, which has been the bane of his recent shoots. Dennis Lavelle started by moving his sights the wrong way but steadied, before a wide outer two from nowhere, unsettled him resulting in a moderate 45.04. Ron Gibsons’ woes continued with a string of inner fours punctuating his 41.0.

Jeff Eppleston trailing Geoff Willis by three points at the 700-yard range of the Club Championship pulled out all stops to shoot a challenging 58.2 first stage. Neither Geoff Willis nor Grahame Willis was able to match Eppleston, with inner fours a feature on their scorecards. Elizabeth Willis did not have a happy first stage and bench rest visitor Ken Eppleston also found the conditions not to his liking.

The second stage produced few competitive scores but at least the competition was close. Coghill almost pulled off a big upset as Shepherd and Bright fumbled their way to scores of 46.01 apiece, but a couple of poor wind judgments saw Coghills' challenge fall one point short. Lavelle and Gibson both failed to improve and their shoots were better consigned to the work in progress box.

Eppleston couldn’t consolidate his first stage advantage, but despite a 58.2 from Geoff Willis, he held on to a three-point margin to draw level with Willis’s 700 yards total in the Club Championship. Liz Willis turned things around with a second stage 55.2 which topped her father Grahame’s 55.1 and Ken Eppleston’s 53.1 much to the chagrin of the afore mentioned gentlemen.

Williams has picked up a 12th badge in the Victorian Queens lead up event, “The Syme”, and was placed 8th after day two of the Queens with only Sundays 900 and 1000 yard ranges to complete the competition.

Coghill won the K Redding 700 yard Trophy from Eppleston by ¾ point.

The next shoot will be the L Williams Cup and last 300 yard Championship range on the 14 April.

SCORES: J Coghill 94.06 (9 ¾) 100 G Shepherd 95.07 (4 ½) 99 ½ J Eppleston (F) 114.6 (5) 99 ¼ G P Willis (F) 108.2 (9 ¼) 97 ¾ G S Willis (F) 111.2 (5 ¾) 97 ¼ G Bright 94.05 (2 ¾) 96 ¾ R Gibson 83.03 (13 ½) 96 ½ D Lavelle (Opt) 89.06 (7 ¼) 96 ¼ K Eppleston (F) 102.1 E Willis (F) 96.2

[b]The W Cutler Cup and Championship-600 yards -Bathurst Rifle Club 24th March 2012[/b] With the cancellation of the final 600-yard Championship range due to the Newtons Nation event on 28th April, Saturdays shoot took on much greater importance, as it became the last opportunity for contestants to improve on their previous 600 yard scores.

The weather while fine, looked ominous as the directional flags did a little dance in the west-south-westerly wind. The five to six point breeze soon became a three to nine point wind and the time between the strongest and weakest gusts became impossibly small.

It became obvious early on that even the best were going to struggle. Steve Williams, Gordon Shepherd and Jeff Eppleston held their stages together but none appeared likely to tear the target apart. From there, the carnage started and the full face of the target took the brunt of the assault. Magpie three’s and outer two’s were a common theme and the quest for a “keeper” in the Club Championship blew away with the wind. The remaining scores ranged from Graeme Bright’s 45.03 to John Coghill’s miserable 38.0 and the F-class scores apart from Eppleston's 55.2 were abominable.

The second stage was only marginally better as the light became a factor with the odd cloud darkening the target. Grahame Willis did not appear fazed as he posted a 59.4, probably the best, and quickest shoot of the day, to almost snatch the F-class COW from Eppleston who held on to win by one point with a hard fought 57.2.

Williams also lifted, and carded a 49.04, but his triumph was much easier, winning the A grade COW by 5 points, even as Bright scrambled back with a 47.0. Shepherd fell away in an alarming manner as he added three magpies to his aviary, the 42.02 a huge disappointment. Lawrence Sim and Coghill virtually reversed their stage scores, Sim perplexed about the inconsistency of his new barrel, and Coghill after changing several factors, including ammunition and rifle dimensions, seeing some light at the end of a dark period.

Lavelle with a very good second stage 49.04 brought further questions as to the advantage or otherwise of putting a telescope on a target rifle. Eyesight plays a crucial role, and while the scope enhances vision it does nothing for the steadiness on the mat, nor reading of the wind and other weather conditions. Lavelle has become very competitive with the scope and as the only shooter at the club in Optical class competes directly with A-grade target rifle shooters.

Geoff Willis although already having two very good 600 yard scores wasted a golden opportunity to further enhance his position by mixing and mismatching rifles, ammunition, and telescopes in a tragic display of misses, outers, magpies and inners which yielded a paltry 78.0/120

Lavelle won the W Cutler Cup from Williams by 2 ¾ points.

Next weeks contest will be the K Redding 700-yard Trophy and Championship

SCORES: D Lavelle 93.06 (5 ¾) 98 ¾ G P Willis 111.4 (5 ½) 98 ½ S Williams 97.08 (3/4) 97 ¾ J Eppleston 112.4 (5) 97 ½ G Bright 92.03 (2) 94 L Sim 82.0 (11) 93 J Coghill 82.03 (10 ½) 92 ½ G Shepherd 89.04 (3) 92 G S Willis 78.0 (5 ½) 69 ½

[b]The Captains Trophy-800 yards -Bathurst Rifle Club 17th March 2012[/b] With a number of members attending the NSW Match Rifle event at Ungarie, and the Lyndhurst Open Prize Meeting, the 800-yard Captains Trophy, rescheduled at late notice, was poorly attended.

The weather conditions were quite warm with a predominantly westerly breeze prevailing all day. Whilst appearing fairly constant the subtle changes to strength and direction of both the breeze and mirage caused some significant errors resulting in quite a few wild shots. Magpie threes and even outer twos were not uncommon.

Gordon Shepherd while not happy with his shoot after dropping a couple of points in his first stage, nevertheless scored the only possible of the day a second stage 50.04. His poor shoot of last week was forgotten, as he reasserted his supremacy over John Coghill, the Cock of the Walk a reward for a steady shoot.

Lawrence Sim continued his progress with the new barrel, just two wayward shots spoiling what would have been a very tidy shoot. A magpie three in the first stage, and an outer two in the second, were out of character in relation to the rest of the shoot, and he took out the B grade COW.

Dennis Lavelle after several weeks of improvement couldn’t buy a bullseye, with outers, magpies, and inner fours littering his first stage. With no hint as to the cause of his demise Lavelle shot a much-improved second stage 47.04 and left the mound no wiser as to the cause of his first stage failings.

Coghill on the other hand couldn’t find the target with the club’s .308 rifle before realizing that the sight, he had changed during the week, was not zeroed and needed a five-point elevation change and a twenty-point windage adjustment just to hit the target. The rest of the day only became worse when the ammunition he used in the second stage was not seated to the rifles’ dimensions and he failed to complete the stage.

Jeff Eppleston fell foul of the changeable conditions in a first stage 56.2 but regrouped with a 59.3 and as the only F-class shooter had no competition for the day’s COW

The W Cutler Cup finishes next Saturday 24th March with the 600-yard range

SCORES: J Eppleston (F) 115.5 (7) 100 G Shepherd 98.08 (2) 100 L Sim 92.06 (7 ¾) 99 ¾ D Lavelle (Opt) 87.05 (2 ¾) 98 ¾ J Coghill 40.0-Retd

[b]The W Cutler Cup-300 yards -Bathurst Rifle Club 3rd March 2012[/b] After days of heavy rain the first sign of the weather letting up encouraged shooters to hit the mound for the start of the third round of the Club Championship and the W Cutler Cup.

A very light drizzle was enough to induce the commencement of shooting but even before the first shooter had fired a shot the drizzle turned into fine drenching rain which clouded the target over with a white mist. Having started, nothing was going to deter the intrepid few, who were prepared to put up with a soaking to try for a score, which would count in the Championship race.

Steve Williams was first on the mat and he showed his vast experience in all shooting conditions to put a 50.06 possible on the scorecard. Graeme Bright followed and just failed by a centre bull’s eye to match Williams’ score. Geoff Willis complete with telescope was two bull’s eyes off a possible in F-class, but John Coghill’s terrible run continued as he battled a fogged up spotting scope and a blurry sight picture.

With the rain easing a little, Dennis Lavelle laid down a good steady stage but lost his way a little with 2 inner fours in his last 4 shots. His 48.05 was however, a good result in the conditions.

By the time the first stage had finished the rain had stopped and the light improved to the extent the sun almost made an appearance for the first time in days. With the improved conditions big things were expected, but first Williams, then Bright and Lavelle and finally Coghill, all missed prime opportunities to clinch a keeper for the Championship scoreboard.

Williams pulled a rough shot at 5 o’clock, Bright twice did the same at 7 o’clock, and Lavelle hurried his stage as he used mixed batches of ammunition and paid the penalty of double inners midway through, and at the end of his shoot.

Coghill posted his worst ever score with a second stage 37.0 and must reassess his whole shooting setup, equipment and all.

The only winner in the fine conditions was Willis who slotted all 10 centre bulls eyes with 4 super V’s to finish the day at 118.8, greatly boosting his Championship credentials.

Whilst a number of competitors who turned up on the day chose not to shoot in the rain most of those that did shoot achieved scores that will undoubtedly count in the final Championship totals

The W Cutler Cup will continue on Saturday 10th March.

SCORES: S Williams 99.09 (3/4) 99 ¾ G S Willis 118.8 (1 ½) 99 ½ G Bright 98.10 (1 ¼) 99 ¼ D Lavelle 94.08 (4 ¾) 98 ¾ J Coghill 77.0 (13 ¾) 90 ¾