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Bathurst Rifle Club Inc 13th December 2014 W Northcott Memorial Trophy the 700yards.

            There was little to get excited about when shooters took to the mound on Saturday as the weather appeared to be fairly benign with just a light breeze from the east. However appearances were quite deceptive as the breeze swung in an arc of about 45 degrees from the north east to the east and a very strong mirage drew a haze over the target. It soon became apparent that shooters were not going to have an easy time keeping a consistent group inside the bullseye ring.

            In fact it was difficult keeping their shots inside the inner four ring with magpie threes' coming regularly for a total of 16 scored in the days shoot. One of the few to avoid the magpie trap was Steve Williams who shot 95.05 to take out the Cock of the Walk in a canter. For the rest it became a trial just to get within the bullseye as frustrations mounted. Ron Gibson and Dennis Lavelle both avoided magpies as they scrambled to moderate 46.01 and 45.02 scores. It was not so with Graeme Bright and John Coghill who took on the magpie challenge and lost. Coghill shot three magpies in his two stages falling away badly whilst Bright at least improved somewhat after his disastrous first stage 41.01. Lavelle took B grade after an improved second stage whilst Gibson stumbled. 

           The F class shooters fared worse with both Geoff Willis and Jeff Eppleston already looking to discard the days' scores from their Championship challenge. Between them the "effeys" shot 9 inner fours which is the F class shooters magpie. Willis was the more consistent of the two running out an easy winner by eight points over a very disappointing Eppleston. Both shooters sat up when Ben Wright using a 6.5mm bush rifle with a 23 inch barrel and a nine power scope almost embarrassed them, tallying 99.1 and missing top stage score by just one point. Wright is a regular competitor in the silhouette discipline and rarely shoots in F class events. 

           Ron Gibson had an easy win in the W Northcott Trophy. 

           Next week is the T W Willman trophy and the first 900 yard range of the Club Championship. 

Scores: 
R Gibson TRB 90.03 (12) 100
D Lavelle TRB 91.04 (7 ½) 98 ½
S Williams TRA 95.05 (2) 97
J Coghill TRB 84.02 (12) 96
G S Willis FSA 108.5 (2 ¼) 91 ¾
J Eppleston FSA 100.2 (10) 91 ¾
G Bright TRA 85.02 (4) 89
B Wright FS 99.1