News

Bathurst Rifle Club Inc. 6th May 2017, L Williams Cup, 600yards

             Saturday’s shoot started in dull conditions and worsened as the day wore on, but a short patch near the end of the shoot brightened considerably for those lucky enough to be on the mound at the time. The breeze from the west was consistent for most of the day but had some minor drop-offs which, with not a single possible scored, left the scoreboard as Shooters 0, Weather 1.

             The talking point of the day was the magnificent form of Colin Howell who eclipsed all the F-class shooters, including State and International representatives to attain his highest score in the short ten months since he took up the sport. Having shot his first possible just two months ago Howell missed his double possible by millimeters in shooting a pair of 59’s with 10 super centres. Grahame Willis picked up a couple of points in his quest for a second successive F-class championship as Jeff Eppleston and Geoff Willis had moderate results.

             Target rifle saw Steve Williams maintain his resurgence of recent weeks to take out the Cock of the Walk with a high centre count 96.11. Gordon Shepherd fumbled the chance to beat Williams when he shot consecutive inner fours late in his second stage and Dennis Lavelle had an early meltdown with a magpie-inner first stage, before a late surge to reach 95.05 just ahead of Nick Cock with 95.03. Graeme Bright’s rear sight stayed attached this week but he couldn’t overcome the murky conditions. Darren Crimston and Ron Gibson had good first stages but fell away badly in their second digs whilst John Coghill’s woes started early and worsened as the day wore on.

             Gibson won the L Williams Cup by half a point over Grahame Willis. More good news for Jeff Eppleston and Geoff Willis as the pair has been invited to join the train on squad to represent Australia at the World Match Rifle Championships at Bisley, UK in 2019. This discipline involves long range shooting over distances from 1000 to 1200 metres as well as the ultra long range 1500 metre matches.

             Black powder shooter Shayne Barnsley continues to improve over the longer distances. These ancient muskets don’t quite work as they do in Hollywood movies, not to mention the weather conditions, and there are so many extra factors weighing on the end result.

             Next week will be the final 700 yard range of this years’ Championship and the one day, Roger Northcott and I Hughes Trophies. Gibson won the L Williams Cup by half a point over G P W.

Scores:

C Howell FSB 118.10 (12) 100

G S Willis FSA 115.6 (5 ½) 100

G Shepherd TRA 96.09 (6 ¾) 100

D Lavelle TRB 95.05 (4 ½) 99 ½

J Eppleston FSA 112.6 (6 ¾) 99

R Gibson TRB 88.04 (10 ½) 98 ½

S Williams TRA 96.11 (2 ¼) 98 ¼

G P Willis FSA 114.8 (3 ½) 98

G Bright TRA 93.06 (4) 97

D Crimston TRB 91.04 (5 ¾) 96 ¾

N Cock TRA 95.03 (3/4) 95 ¾

J Coghill TRB 81.02 (12) 93

Black Powder:

S Barnsley 56/100

by John Coghill