A small contingent today for the Handicap shoot, and the Gleniffer Shield.

The handicaps are calculated in the same way as golf – the average of previous scores multiplied by 0.93, and subtracted from 500.  The winner was Teon J with 516, followed by Derek B on 504, Ben G with 503, and Olivia B on 492.

The Gleniffer Shield (off the elbows, no supports allowed) had 3 entrants, all scoring above the magic 400:  Derek B on 435, Olivia B 420, and Ben G 406.

Darren S put his .270WIN through its paces and shot some very respectable groups of 14.5mm at 10 yards (just over 0.5MOA) and 36.3mm at 200Y (0.7 MOA)

** Note:  our next shoot is Sunday 20^th July (to make up for the rained-out weekend in March) which will be the Ladies’ and Juniors’ shoot, together with round 2 of the Handicap match.  The revised program is on the Club website. Range officers will be Tony and Josh.

Despite the rain, there were a remarkable 4 club records broken today:  Ben G with 498/500 in the Ole Smokey Shield, Alan C with a cracking 5.0mm group in the 100 Yard Centrefire (which equates to about 0.2MOA), Alan N with a 29.1mm group in the Military Rifle at 100 yards with a Lee Enfield, and Derek B with a 4.5mm group in the Military Rifle at 50 metres with a Lee Enfield trainer.  Further, if the Ole Smokey targets had been scored inwards instead of outwards, there would have been two perfect 500/500’s.  It’s wonderful to see the standard of marksmanship improving each year.

Today was also our collector’s meeting, and in addition to some nice Lee Enfields belonging to members, Kevin Franklin kindly brought along a pre-1900 Remington rolling block and two European muzzle-loaders.

Scores in detail:

Ole Smokey rimfire benchrest (previous Club record 493/500 by Ben G in May 2024)

Ben G 498 (new record), Olivia B 491, Tony H 473, Liz D 467 (well done!  Previous best was 416!), Pennie L 454, Tracey B 449, Sandy C 446, Kevin S 378.

100 yard centrefire grouping, best group of 3 shots (previous Club record 8.4mm by Tony H in 2024).

Alan C 5.0mm (new club record), Kevin S 14.3mm.

Military Rifle, using any military rifle with iron sights, at 50m (rimfire) or 100y (centrefire), best 3-shot group adjusted for 100 yards (ie multiply 50m group by 2).

Derek B  4.5mm at 50m = 9mm

Alan C  11.4mm at 50m = 22.8mm

Alan N   29.1mm at 100y (an excellent group with a Lee Enfield)

Alan C  42.8mm at 100y

Ben G  55.1mm at 100y.

Our next shoot is on Sunday 1 June at midday, with round 2 of the Gleniffer Shield and the Handicap match.

A large turnout today in perfect weather for the R O Davie light rimfire competition, using a sporter or multipurpose rifle with the scope dialled down to 6.5x.  This was followed by the Gleniffer Shield, using any rimfire rifle “off the elbows” with no front or rear supports other than an optional sling.

R O Davie (Club record 488/500 by Ben G in 2024).

Alan N 485 (well done!), Ben G 484, Alan C 475, Teon J 465, Ian J 464, Bill Y 452, Liz D 450, Sandy C 406, Vanessa S 396

Gleniffer Shield (Club record 449/500 by Derek in 2024)

Derek B 451, Ben G 389, Ian J 355

Our next shoot is Sunday 4 May at Dairyville, which is also our collector’s meeting. Don’t forget also the Annual General Meeting on Wednesday 9 April at 7:00pm at the Mylestom Hall.

Due to the high likelihood of flooding at the range (particularly along Dry Creek Road), the shoot at Dairyville Range on Sunday 9th March is cancelled. We’ll have a catch-up shoot at a later date, to be advised. Regards, Derek

The first round of the handicap shoot is on Sunday 9th March. The handicaps are calculated from an average of your previous scores multiplied by 0.93 (same as golf) and subtracted from 500. Currently they are:

Olivia B 11
Derek B 13
Ben G 10
Lainey B 13
Alan C 15
Bruno K 33
Pennie L 50
Tony H 25
Bill Y 55
Peter J 41
Vanessa S 55
Teon J 49
Darren S 36
Sandy C 70
Osha J 35
Liz D 79
Doug B 44
Kevin S 70
Rodney S 42
Dave S 48
Chris C 20
Alan N 22

Welcome back for another year of fun shooting!  A good turnout today for our first shoot of the year with some excellent scores, particularly in the centrefire.  We also had 2 first-time shooters Cody and Cassie who quickly picked up some marksmanship skills and had a great time on the range.

Ole Smokey rimfire benchrest (Club record 493/500 by Ben G in May 2024.

Alan C and Lainey B equal first on 492, followed by:

Ben G 489, Olivia B 487, Tony H 476, Darren S 459, Pennie L 446, Bill Y 438, Alex C 419, Liz D 415

100 yard centrefire grouping, best group of 3 shots (Club record 8.4mm by Tony H in 2024).

All but one entrant shot a group under 25.4mm, which equates to 1MOA and is commonly regarded as the marksmanship standard for hunters.

Lainey B came close to the Club record with an excellent 9.4mm.

Bruno K 10.3mm, Ben G 14.0mm, Darren S 16.8mm, Tony H 24.0mm, Derek B 25.0mm, Olivia B 34.2mm.

200 yard centrefire grouping (Club record 17.3mm by Derek in 2024).

Again some excellent scores, with most shooting under 1MOA.

Bruno K leads the day with 19.3mm, equating to 0.4 MOA.

Ben G 26.9mm, Tony H 32.3mm, Olivia B 38.5mm, Darren S 48.8mm, Derek B 52.0mm, Lainey B 104.0mm.

Our next shoot is on Sunday 9^th March at Dairyville, which will be the Handicap shoot, the Ladies’ competition, and Junior Shield.

The 2025 program is now available on the website for printing or download. See you at our first shoot at Dairyville on Sunday 2nd Feb!

Our first shoot for 2025 will be on Sunday 2nd Feb at Dairyville, starting at midday.

We’ll kick off with round 1 of the Ole Smokey shield, followed by Centrefire grouping at 100 and 200 yards.

I’m away until 20 Jan, and will send out more details when I get back. Regards, Derek

The Club held its Christmas BBQ and presentation of awards last Sunday, followed by a silhouette shoot. This was won by Vanessa S, who received a $50 voucher from Coffs Guns and Rural supplies. This was our last shoot for the year, and we’ll be posting our 2025 program early in January.

The prizewinners for 2024 are listed below. Congratulations to all!

Ole Smokey Benchrest

1st   Ben G   493/500, 2nd  Olivia B 490, 3rd Alan C  488

RO Davie Light Rimfire

1st   Ben G   488/500, 2nd Olivia B 483, 3rd  Alan C  478

George Joannidis Field Rifle

1st  Olivia B   451/500, 2nd  Ben G   436, 3rd  Darren S  424

Gleniffer Shield

1st   Derek B  449/500, Equal 2nd  Ben G and Darren S 429, 3rd  Alan C  401

Handicap 2024               

1st  Sandy C  521, 2nd  Tony H  510, 3rd  Alan C  501

Ladies’ Competition

1st  Lainey B  489/500, 2nd  Olivia B 487, 3rd  Vanessa S   452

Junior Shield 2024

1st  Lainey B  486/500

Centrefire Grouping 100 yards

1st   Tony H  8.4 mm, 2nd  Bruno K 15.4 mm, 3rd  Alan C  17.4 mm

Centrefire Grouping 200 yards

1st  Derek B  17.3 mm, 2nd Alan C  18.8 mm, 3rd  Tony H  21.8 mm

Military Rifle Grouping

1st  Ben G   55.8 mm, 2nd  Alan C  56.8 mm , 3rd  Derek B   58.8 mm

A good turnout today for our last competition shoot of the year, with benches almost full and some good scores.  The tricky winds brought the scores down a little for the 4^th round of the Ole Smokey rimfire benchrest match:

Derek B 486/500, Chris C 479 (beat his Dad by 4 points), Alan N 476, Alan C 475, Tony H 472, Peter J 454,  Pennie L 453.

The centrefire match was shot at 100 and 200 yards, with the smallest 3-shot group winning.

At 100 yards Alan C was the narrow winner with 17.4mm, followed by Derek 17.7mm, Olivia B 19.1mm, Bruno K 21.2mm, Tony H 21.4mm, Kevin 27.8mm, and Brett H 45.4mm.

At 200 yards Derek’s trusty CZ 223 managed a group of 17.28mm, with Tony’s Lithgow doing 21.83mm, Olivia 31.29mm, Bruno K 33.82mm, Kevin 42.46mm and Brett H 64.65mm.

These are all excellent groups with hunting rifles off the bench.

The Christmas BBQ lunch will be held on Sunday 15^th December at Dairyville, and we will also be presenting prizes and awards for the year’s competitions, followed by the popular silhouette shoot so bring your .22 along also.