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Bathurst Rifle Club 13th June The F A Wilde Trophy 500 yards

            Club Champion Steve Williams, and runner up Graeme Bright fought out the second round of the F A Wilde Trophy in typical fashion. Bright started in less than sparkling form with a string of bulls eyes either through, or touching, the bulls eye line. He eventually dropped a shot for a fortunate 49.03. Williams on the other hand had little trouble posting a 50.06 possible.

           In the second stage Bright tightened up considerably to lay a 50.05 possible on the target and throw the ball back to Williams. A wild four o’clock inner, threatened to derail Williams, but a bag of centres and no further mistakes got him home by 5 centre bull’s eyes. There was no such closeness in the B grade scores as Ron Gibson seriously challenged the A grade pair just missing a possible with a last shot inner four. His second stage was equally as impressive with another 49, spoiled only by a late inner four. 

           Jan Sibera had a steady shoot compiling stages of 47.04 and 48.04 using his smaller 5.56 calibre, which he often uses on the closer ranges. Dennis Lavelle and John Coghill were never in the hunt for honours and bemoaned several windage related errors particularly in their first stage 46’s. The pair shot 48’s in their second stages with Lavelle boosting his score with five centre bullseyes.

           Keith Redding kept well away from the magpie line and shot better than his handicap dictated, with a 90.03. Tim Robinson had a scintillating first stage, with a run of 4 centre bull’s eyes, before a couple of inners dampened his spirit. A less successful second stage 43.03 however couldn’t stop his progressive handicap falling for the fifth week in a row to a respectable 5¼ points.

           Geoff Willis again experienced difficulty interpreting the elevation knob on his telescope but still managed a 108/120. A stiff scrubbing of the molycote barrel, before the shoot, didn’t have the desired effect and no further physical effort will be expended on the said steel tube.

           Williams and Bright traveled to Eugowra for the Parkes Rifle Club open prize meeting last week and met with great success. The two Bathurst shooters were the only contestants with double possibles after the first two ranges. Williams went on to win the event but Bright faltered at 600 yards, dropping two points in the fading light, eventually finishing fifth. 

           The F A Wilde trophy concludes next Saturday at 600 yards



Scores: 
R Gibson 98.05 (2 ¾) 100
K Redding 90.03 (12 ¼) 100
J Sibera 95.08 (4 ¼) 99 ¼
S Williams 99.13 (1/4) 99 ¼
G Bright 99.08 (0) 99
D Lavelle 94.08 (4 ¼) 98 ¼
J Coghill 94.03 (4 ¼) 98 ¼
G Willis 108 (9 ½) 98
T Robinson 90.08 (5 ¾) 95 ¾

by John Coghill