News

Bathurst Rifle Club Inc. 22nd July 2017, J Sibera Trophy 500yards

             A cold morning followed by a mild afternoon greeted shooters on Saturday and a gentle westerly breeze with some variation in strength and direction produced enough nuances to make shooters question their thoughts and actions.

             The first stage was the most difficult but the conditions moderated as the afternoon wore on. Target Rifle competitors handled the conditions better than the F-class group even with their scopes and rests. 

             Gordon Shepherd produced the best first stage just missing his possible by one point courtesy of a last shot inner four as both Nick Cock and Graeme Bright dropped two points apiece. John Coghill did better than he has for a while with 47.02, but Dennis Lavelle and Ron Gibson struggled. 

             The second stage saw all competitors improve and as the conditions eased scores rose accordingly. Cock again showed off with a very impressive 50.09 winding himself out of a certain perfect possible. In a huge surprise Coghill pulled off his first possible in 2 years, a 50.04,  whilst Shepherd repeated his first stage 49.05 and Bright matched that score. Lavelle and Gibson both had moderate improvements but were not in contention. Cock won the A grade Cock of the Walk with 98.13 and Coghill, B grade with 97.06.

              In F class the Willis brothers concentrated their energies on coaching three youngsters all members or friends of the Willis clan. Seth Toon, Isaac Bower and Aaron (AJ ) Smith are starting to show increasing familiarity with the sport and the results are promising. Toon topped the day for the novices with 111.4 with both AJ and Bower scoring 109.2 apiece.

              As for the rest scores were a little disappointing except for second stage 59’s from Geoff Willis with 5 super centres and Jeff Eppleston, 4 supers. Grahame Willis was too wrapped up in his coaching to compete successfully and the first stage saw all of the F class shooters in a bit of a pickle, with Epplestons’ 56.3 the best of the bunch. Ben Wright improved four points over his first stage 54.2 to finish on a positive note. Eppleston took out the F class COW.

             Shayne Barnsley continued his preparation for the Black Powder World Champs. 

             The J Sibera trophy continues next week with the second 600 yard Championship range.            

Scores: 

J Coghill TRB 97.06 (5 ½) 100

G Shepherd TRA 98.10 (2 ¾) 100

J Eppleston FSA 115.8 (4 ¼) 99 ½

G Bright TRA 97.08 (2) 99

N Cock TRA 98.13 (1/4) 98 ¼

B Wright FSB 112.7 (6) 98 ¼

R Gibson TRB 88.01 (9 ½) 97 ½

G S Willis FSA114.5 (2 ½) 97

D Lavelle TRB 91.04 (5) 96

G P Willis FSA 105.2 (5 ½) 92

S Toon FSB 111.4

I Bower FSB 109.2

A J Smith FSB 109.2

Black Powder: 

Shayne Barnsley 25.1-29.0 / 100        

by John Coghill