It's 6ºC, the wind speed is 74kmh with gusts of 95kmh, a fine drizzle is howling intermittently across the landscape, and the result is a windchill factor dragging the temp down to -6ºC. What should one do on a morning like this? That's right, shoot Cadet & Trainer. It is at this point I feel a need to shame one senior member of the branch who will remain nameless because, upon discovering the weather conditions at the range he said it was too cold and left with his girlfriend to go and have cuddles! What sort of commitment is this??!! How can we expect the younger generations to shoot in challenging conditions??!! What about the children??😧
There were other apologies. One competitor from Sydney was trapped at home by fallen trees and others had various family emergencies to deal with. However, 4 competitors still remained, 3 of them local and the fourth from the South Coast. Today 2 matches were shot. The first was Action M, a timed 10 round match where competitors move between prone, standing, seated, standing and prone, firing 2 rounds in each respective position (hence the name). A.W. took this match by a single point from M.H., both using 310 Cadets and J.H. scored solidly using his 22LR in spite of the terrific winds.
Match 2 was supposed to be a 3P Core Match, but due to challenges keeping 75m stable in the high winds, those 10 rounds were also shot @100m in the prone position. After 15 rounds @50m A.W. was once again ahead by 1 point. However, his failure to adjust the elevation up for 100m and a rookie error in his windage adjustment proved disastrous in the next 5 rounds @100m. Accordingly M.H. took both the 2 Distance Event and the entire day's competition with an overall score of 168.6. S.H. took second with his 310 Cadet scoring 155.5, and A.W. came in third 2 points behind. J.H. did his best, but in the cyclonic conditions the 22LR bullets were buffetted around too much to score well.

This month’s Cadet & Trainer competition enjoyed excellent winter weather. Although there’d been rain overnight and the ground was damp it was already 9 degrees C by 9am and the sun came out through the morning with temps rising to 15 C by midday.
There were 4 competitors today, however, all but one shot 2 classes. The standard 310 class was shot by 3 competitors. There were no 22 Trainer competitors but 2 shooters used open sighted lever sporting rifles. Finally, 2 competitors had full sized Martini Enfields in 303 that were being shot with reduced cast bullet, Trail Boss powder loads to comply with Goulburn Rifle Range’s current restrictions. So these formed their own class.
First shot was Match 26: Rapid Fire A for Trainer Rifle. Unsurprisingly J.H.’s 16-round tube magazine capacity on his Henry rifle gave him the edge and in 15 seconds he placed 13 rounds on the target for a score of 46, almost doubling the scores of other competitors.
Match 24: 3 Position Core Match was shot second and it emphasised the importance of consistency. M.K.'s single shot Sportco Martini 22LR could not match the Henry for speed but throughout the different distances and stances it proved more accurate and M.K. took the class win both in the Core match and overall.
The 303 Martini Class turned out to be exceptionally evenly matched and it was only the rookie error of neglecting a sight change at 75m by A.W. that saw B.M. move ahead 20 points and secure the Core match and the overall class win in the 303 Martini class.
However, as the other shooters struggled with elevation uncertainty across the 3 distances, A.W. was able to hold on to take the 310 Cadet Core Match 1st place and the overall points win for the day with 157.6. B.M. took second with his Martini Enfield 303 on 138.2, and M.K. followed close behind with a 136.5 using his Sportco Martini 22LR.
Throughout the day, no matter the scores, the results were encouraging. While shots may be low or high on the target group sizes and, by and large, windage, were good. These things bode well for the next competition.

As most locals would know, winter has FINALLY arrived in Goulburn and this morning did not disappoint. It was 0ºC at 8:50am and the mist was hanging heavily on the range. Shooting in these conditions keeps things interesting, and not because of the cold. The mist made the light diffuse and very difficult to look through iron sights. Perhaps it was the weather, perhaps it was work commitments or other factors, but only 2 competitors participated this morning. But that's never a concern at SSAA Goulburn. Some months we have a big field. Others only a few, but we always run the matches. Moreover, as the sun rose and the fog cleared it became a glorious day with almost no breeze and lovely fine weather.
As there was plenty of time, both competitors shot 2 classes. D.P. shot 310 Cadet and 22 Trainer rifle and A.W. shot 310 Cadet and used his 1899 Martini Enfield in 303 British to shoot the matches as well. It should be made completely clear that the ammunition used were drastically reduced loads using Trail Boss powder Hawkesbury River Bullet Co 180gr FPRN cast lead bullets, as per the current range restrictions. Due to this the 303 ballistics where similar and probably inferior to the 310 Cadet.
The first match shot was Match #29: Rapid Fire 25 for Training rifle. This a 10-round match shot offhand in two 45-second, 5-round phases. It was a good warm up for the next match and both competitors found it easy to shoot the 5 rounds in 45 seconds.
The second match was Match #21: Three Range Event for Trainer Rifle. 10 rounds are shot at 25, 50 and 75 metres in the offhand, sitting/kneeling and prone positions respectively. As competitors have 5 minutes at each distance to shoot the 10 rounds it's quite a straight forward match. The biggest struggle was determining drop and compensating for it. The 310 Cadet has sights that are very much on but the extremely slow 303 reduced loads meant it shot low at 25m, was adjusted up and shot mostly on at 50m, but was over adjusted and shot high at 75m.
Overall, todays competition allowed the 2 competitors time to hone their skills and to shoot a different match to those usually shot as it's rare to shoot 25m in a Cadet & Trainer Match. While A.W. took out the highest score with his 310 Cadet this was fairly immaterial as practise and pure enjoyment was the order of the day.

The weather dawned bright and fine for the competition this morning. It was breezy, but then, welcome to Goulburn Range!! We had 6 competitors, 2 of whom were new to Cadet & Trainer. In fact, one had not handled a Cadet rifle since his days in the Cadet Unit at St Pat's College some decades ago.
Two matches were shot; Match 30: Action M for Training Rifle, and Match 20: The 3P Core Event for Training Rifle. This was a total of 40 rounds (Match 30 being 10 rounds & Match 20 being 30 rounds). A.W. and M.U. took equal first in the Action M match with 45.1/50 beating K.K. by only one point. S.H. took 3rd with 39 points.
However, K.K. remained consistent throughout the Core Match and scored a serious 129.4/150, taking first place. He was followed by A.W. with a 111.2 and M.U. in third on 105. This order reflected the overall places. K.K. took first with a whopping 173.5/200. A.W. took 2nd with 156.3 and M.U. took 3rd with 150.1.
It's perhaps not surprising the K.K. took first because, as he told us himself, he learned to shoot at the age of 5 on his grandfather's lap using a Diana air rifle. It was during WW2 and people's priorities were much different to those today.....sadly. But much congrats to him.

Today dawned bright and sunny and promised to be an excellent match. We had 9 competitors and for the 50m component of the 30 round core match the wind was quite low. However, as we patched the targets and moved them to 100m the wind picked up and from there allowing for the wind was obligatory.
All of competitors shot convincingly but consistency was the key. Experienced competitor K.K. took out the 22 Trainer class in the Core Match with a 110.6 and A.W. took out the 310 Cadet Class with a 125.3. However, S.H. won the 10 Round 100m deliberate in the 310 Cadet class with a 40, allowing him to win the overall competition with a 159.4. The winner of the 22 Trainer Deliberate, M.C. placed 2nd overall with a 153.4, pipping A.W. on 153.3 by one V-bull.

At least to those of us who compete, it often feels like, after a day or 2 of calm, relatively still weather, the wind deliberately picks up for the days when we're trying to target shoot! Not that it discourages us. It just adds another challenge to the match. And today was the first Combined Services Match of 2019, certainly for Goulburn and possibly (although not confirmed!) in NSW. Due to the range restrictions we're currently under it had to be Cadet & Trainer. But we all enjoy these rifles and the crowd of Cadet owners in Goulburn is growing.
Today we had 5 competitors and to the strong winds was added the mid 30º temps we usually experience in January. Three matches were shot; Snap A, Rapid Fire 50m and a 2 Distance event. The first 2 were 10 rounds each and the 3rd was 15 rounds.
Despite the strong winds both 22 Trainer competitors shot quite well, even in the third match when they were engaging targets @100m. While A.W. comfortably won the Rapid and Snap matches, he trailed badly in the last and so S.H. won the third and came first on overall points. K.K. took first in the 22 Trainer class and overall 3rd. It should also be noted that A.H. made 2 very accurate hits @100m with the .22LR Norinco trainer rifle, and S.H. score 2 accurate hits and a Super V in the last match.
What was clear was that by the time we finished at 11:50am we were all looking forward to getting inside into the aircon!