It is with great apologies from myself that this page was not updated more often. However, due to a handover from our previous assiduous and illustrious web manager I fell behind and I thank her for her encouragement and previous work.
2017 was a time of growth for Service Rifle at SSAA Goulburn & Districts Branch. As indicated below the January Sniper match was a successful day.
On March 5th a small but enthusiastic trio of shooters gathered and shot 2 details of Rapid Fire A and one of Snap A. D.Wyborn was the winner on the day.
2017 was a time of growth for Service Rifle at SSAA Goulburn & Districts Branch. As indicated below the January Sniper match was a successful day.
On March 5th a small but enthusiastic trio of shooters gathered and shot 2 details of Rapid Fire A and one of Snap A. D.Wyborn was the winner on the day.
March
On March 5th a small but enthusiastic trio of shooters gathered and shot 2 details of Rapid Fire A and one of Snap A. D.Wyborn was the winner on the day.
May
The April event was not held. May's match was the challenging but enjoyable Deliberate match. Competitors had 2 sighting rounds prior to their first detail and then it was into the match. 10 rounds at a core target at 300yds from the prone position in 6 minutes. Once again D.Wyborn demonstrated his skills, this time with a No4 Mk1 to followed by A.Wood with a No1 MkIII*. K.Kenchington took out the modified class with a scoped K31. Here are the scores for the afternoon.
June
The heavy fog of Saturday night and Sunday morning melted away to see frankly awesome weather for June in Goulburn. Most of us were in t-shirts for part of the afternoon. The sun was out and the breeze was mild. There were just 3 competitors but all were enthusiastic and were using Lee Enfields for the first 2 matches. Junior shooter, W.Robinson, won both Rapid Fire A and Rapid Fire B with his No4 Mk1. However, he was edged out in Rapid Fire 50m by A.Wood using a 44 WCF and Junior B.Wood. A.Wood took the aggregate total. However, W.Robinson won 2 out of the 3 matches, a great achievement and used 303 for all 3 matches. B.Wood was 1st Junior in Rapid Fire 50m with a 310 Cadet. Congratulations to all competitors.
July
Service Rifle match for July was 300yd Deliberate and it was, as always, a challenging affair. Simply getting onto the target at that distance is difficult and the flat grassed area forward of the benches means it's a further challenge to shoot accurately up hill. But that is the nature of prone shooting in different situations. All shooters acquitted themselves well, with A.Wood taking the Standard Rifle match using a 1899 Martini Enfield in 303. S. attempted the match with his T. Class rifle and gained an excellent score. Junior W.Robinson shot well in his first 300yd match and he's sure to see an improvement in his skills as he grows used to shooting this distance and his Enfield No4 MkI.
August
In August Goulburn was faithful to it's usual weather - WNW winds up to 50kmh with 70kmh gusts. Out of the wind it was a mild 13ºC but in the wind, well, it was a lot colder. Accordingly numbers were low - only 2 competitors.
Due to the low numbers the match was revised to a reduced 3 position match - 50m, 75m & 100m - using mini core targets - identical to the Cadet & Trainer core match. While this seems a lot easier and certainly it takes the windage challenges out of the equation the half size targets almost duplicate the full size 3P match in terms of ratio. Using his 1899 Martini Enfield A.Wood took out the match with a 120.3, followed up by C.Hartley on 105.2 using a Longbranch Lee Enfield No4 MkI.
In spite of the weather and numbers, a great time was had by the competitors.
Due to the low numbers the match was revised to a reduced 3 position match - 50m, 75m & 100m - using mini core targets - identical to the Cadet & Trainer core match. While this seems a lot easier and certainly it takes the windage challenges out of the equation the half size targets almost duplicate the full size 3P match in terms of ratio. Using his 1899 Martini Enfield A.Wood took out the match with a 120.3, followed up by C.Hartley on 105.2 using a Longbranch Lee Enfield No4 MkI.
In spite of the weather and numbers, a great time was had by the competitors.
October
Service Rifle was not held in September, however, in October the Standard Rifle match was the 300yd 10-round match shot prone. While there were only 3 competitors the weather on October 1st was lovely and it allowed for some particularly accurate shooting. A.Wood recorded the highest score with a 44.02 out of 50. But complete newcomer J.Robinson took the Junior 1st with an impressive 42.01. His brother W.Robinson, a regular competitor, also shot a creditable 39.00 in the second detail.
November
November was a successful match and we welcomed a number of newcomers to the discipline. Competitors shot 10 rounds at 50m, 100m and 300yds, in the offhand, seated and prone positions respectively. The weather, while cool, overcast and gusty at times, was good for shooting and remained dry. Junior new shooter A.Hale shot a 131.04 with his LA102 223 T Class rifle. However, the win went to M.Ogilvy who took out Standard Rifle, shooting a 119.01 with his Mosin Nagant 91/30 in 7.62x54R. He was closely followed by A.Wood who shot a 115.04 with his Martini Enfield in 303 British, and experienced shooter but discipline new comer S.Hale took third place with 83 using a SMLE No1 MkIII* in 303 British. B.Wood won the Junior Standard Rifle shooting 78.02 with a Martini Cadet in 310 Greener.
December
December's event was a different day to the previous day's deluge. While it wasn't warm, in fact there was a chill in the breeze, the was no rain.....at least to begin with. However, there were crosswinds around 28kmh with gusts as high as 40kmh and shooting 55gr .224 cal projectiles, even from a 22-250, aren't ideal in this weather.
The challenge of Sniper Match is that you aren't allowed to have sighting shots. You're supposed to know your rifle and shoot it accordingly. For those unaware, the match is shot prone at 300yds, 2 phases of 6 bullets for a total of 12 rounds. In each phase the shooter has a minute to set up their "nest" and then 90 seconds to shoot all 6 rounds, and then get back off the mat.
And the lack of sighter was the downfall for a number of today's competitors. The only scores that count are the first detail. So, S.Hale took 1st place with his Weatherby Vanguard in 22-250, scoring 37 out of a possible 60 points. J.Hohnen placed second with a Steyr ProHunter Varmint in 223 Rem, scoring 29. And S.Hale's son, A.Hale took outright 3rd place and 1st Junior using his father's Lithgow LA102 in 223 Rem with 26 points.
While A.Wood scored an impressive 54.12, this was a second detail score and did not count to the overall result. If the match revealed anything, it was that competitors tended to shoot high and needed get to know their rifles better. Basically, there's no substitute for practise and experience. All competitors looked hungry to shoot these distances more often and nothing is more sure than the fact that long distance shooting is infectious!
The challenge of Sniper Match is that you aren't allowed to have sighting shots. You're supposed to know your rifle and shoot it accordingly. For those unaware, the match is shot prone at 300yds, 2 phases of 6 bullets for a total of 12 rounds. In each phase the shooter has a minute to set up their "nest" and then 90 seconds to shoot all 6 rounds, and then get back off the mat.
And the lack of sighter was the downfall for a number of today's competitors. The only scores that count are the first detail. So, S.Hale took 1st place with his Weatherby Vanguard in 22-250, scoring 37 out of a possible 60 points. J.Hohnen placed second with a Steyr ProHunter Varmint in 223 Rem, scoring 29. And S.Hale's son, A.Hale took outright 3rd place and 1st Junior using his father's Lithgow LA102 in 223 Rem with 26 points.
While A.Wood scored an impressive 54.12, this was a second detail score and did not count to the overall result. If the match revealed anything, it was that competitors tended to shoot high and needed get to know their rifles better. Basically, there's no substitute for practise and experience. All competitors looked hungry to shoot these distances more often and nothing is more sure than the fact that long distance shooting is infectious!
Final scores for 2017....
The final scores for the year were reasonably predictable. A.Wood won the year's competition with an overall score of 573.4, purely by his consistent attendance of every meet. He was followed in second place by D.Wyborn with 225.7 points, and in third by C.Hartley with 175.6. The Junior champ was W.Robinson with a score of 172.4 points. Goulburn hopes to have more consistent attendance of shoots in 2018 and closer competition as a result.
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