News

Bathurst Rifle Club 26th December The N Rutherford Memorial Trophy

          The wind finally cracked, the dust settled and the weather conditions at last favoured the shooters at the Bathurst rifle range on Saturday. With a chance to bury the ghosts of the past few months, a keen few attempted to overcome the new smaller targets and post some good scores.

          It was not to be however as one mishap after another derailed the plans of a number of competitors. The F class shooters were in the majority as visitors Ken and Mathew Eppleston joined regulars Geoff Willis and Jeff Eppleston to carry the fight to the full bore contingent.

          As it turned out Jeff Eppleston took the honours in F class with 114/120. Eppleston missed a possible in his last stage by the smallest of margins, with a six o'clock bulls eye just millimeters outside the centre. Willis was steady but could not hold his group tight enough to stay in the centre bulls eye and finished with stages of 57 and 55 for a 112/120 total. Ken Eppleston whose preferred shooting discipline is bench rest, showed a switch to F class would be a mere formality as his group grew tighter by the shot with stages of 52 and 56.

          Mathew Eppleston, more bush shooter than target shooter, started on fire with a first stage 56/60, but changes of rifle and ammunition didn't suit and he collapsed with a 43 second stage.

          Only two full bore shooters turned up with John Coghill producing the most embarrassing moment of the day. With a great start, and 5 shots on, Coghill unwittingly changed from one batch of reloads to a batch with less powder and paid the penalty with outer 2, magpie 3, magpie 3, before belatedly correcting his sight to get back into the bulls eye. It was only after leaving the mound that he realized the extent of his folly as the chance for the seasons first possible turned into a lowly 43.03. A 48.03 second stage was little consolation, but was just sufficient to hold off Dennis Lavelle for the A grade honours. 

          Lavelle had a pair of 45's as he battles to come to grips with his new .223 target rifle. A tendency to occasionally throw an eleven o'clock inner four or magpie three highlighted the crux of his problem and his ammunition needs a little tuning. 

          Willis won the W Northcott Memorial Trophy with 100/100, F class shooters taking the top two spots with Jeff Eppleston just ¼ of a point in arrears.

          Next week is the one-day T W Willman Trophy, the conclusion of the K Harvey Trophy and the first of the 900-yard Championship ranges          

SCORES:  

G Willis 112 (11 ¾) 100

J Eppleston 114 (5 ¾) 99 ¾

J Coghill 91.06 (5 ¾) 96 ¾

D Lavelle 90.03 (4) 94

K Eppleston 108 

M Eppleston 99