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Bathurst Rifle Club Inc. 14th June 2018, C R Kelly Cup, 900yards

             With a large contingent from the Club away at the NSW District Rifle Association’s annual competition and the Country versus City Challenge in Sydney local attendance was somewhat subdued and the level of competition reduced. After last Saturday’s washout the weather turned on an almost perfect day for the first 900 yard range of the Club Championship.

            Little movement was evident in the early stages and only later in the day was any challenge introduced by the wind however the mirage played its part all day. The scores were not exceptional but considering the long range there were some keepers in amongst them even to the extent that there are four more attempts to fill the two slots available. (Two highest to count)

            The target rifle group was very evenly matched with only centre bull’s eyes separating the contenders. Gordon Shepherd was the lead out shooter and read the conditions perfectly but unfortunately two elevation shots spoilt his group. Steve Williams saw a change which wasn’t there and moved his shot to the magpie ring whilst Graeme Bright was just out of sync with the mirage and collected three inner fours

            The second stage was quite a bit tighter with Williams and Bright both just failing to shoot clear, finishing with 49’s but Williams 7 centres coupled with 4 in the first stage put him in with a chance. Shepherd, still waiting on his new barrel, looked all over the Cock of the Walk winner after going clear with 7 on but fired two low shots and Williams centre tally decided the COW.

            F class numbers were decimated by the DRA meet in Sydney and it was left to Nick Webster and Phil Mahon to practice the craft. Webster still using the Club .223 rifle whilst he runs his own in had a couple of moderate stages but Phil Mahon didn’t fare at all well in a lowly first stage and suffered an unexplainable miss in his second stage. John Coghill refuses to convert to full F class and continues to pay the price whilst Grahame Willis after a 55.1 first stage, suffered gear failure and retired.

             Bright, with 199/200 points, won the C R Kelly Cup by 2 ½ points from Shepherd.

             Saturday the 21st July will be the start of the 3-week long J Sibera Trophy at 300 yards

 Scores: 
G Shepherd TRA 96.07 (6 ½) 100
G Bright TRA 96.06 (3 ¼) 99 ¼
S Williams TRA 96.11 (2) 98
N Webster FSB 99.2 (10 ½) 91 ¼
P Mahon FSB 83.2 (12) 79 ¼
J Coghill FSB 59.0 (12) 59 ¼
G P Willis FSA 55.1- Rtd

by John Coghill

All scores/plots can be found Here.