Australian Match Rifle Association Newsletter Volume 3, Number 2 August 2018

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1 In this News From AMRA Calendar of Events Australian Championships 2018 State Teams Competition The Dyson Ultra Long Range Challenge 2018 Victorian Championships AMRA Contact Information AMRA Chairman s Report It has been a big ending to the 2018 year for match rifle and long range F class shooting. The Australian Championships held in October had a great roll up of competitors and great shooting, great weather and the wonderful friendly spirit in which everyone competed made the event a highly enjoyable week. The NSW Match Rifle Association, supported by the Coonabarabran Rifle Club are to be congratulated on the organisation and running of the event. Pleasingly we saw a number of new shooters in all disciplines at the National Championships. The introduction of an FTR Teams event was well received with three States taking up the challenge to put together a team for this inaugural event. Queensland made a foray into the F Open State Teams event for the first time providing strong competition to some of the more seasoned States and all five of the Match Rifle shooting States fielded Match Rifle teams. Similarly the final competition of the year, the Victoria Match Rifle & Long Range F Class Championships at Stawell had a strong field. The Australian Team practice held in the lead up to the Victorian Championships was done in trying conditions (contending with 37 degree heat and gale force winds!) however the locals dialled up some great weather for the 2 days of the championships. The General Meeting of AMRA was held during the National Championships and I was pleased to be able to provide a report on the activities of the Association. The report is included in the Minutes of the meeting which are on the match rifle website and I encourage everyone to take some time to read through these. AMRA is in a sound position financially and membership has doubled over the last two years. However, like other shooting disciplines, we face the continuing problem of a small and aging participation base. At the meeting it was decided to establish a working group under the leadership of our Treasurer, Tom Smith, to look at ways to promote long range shooting and engage new shooters. I am sure the working party would appreciate any suggestions people may have to this end. At the meeting, members unanimously voted to confer Life Membership of AMRA on two long serving people: William Freebairn for his efforts over more than 20 years in establishing and furthering match rifle in Australia including as Captain of the Australian Match Rifle Team three times (2006, 2010, 2012) - with 2010 being the only time to date that Australia has wrested the Woomera Trophy from Great Britain.

2 Susan Weisser for her work as the AMRA Statistician for over 15 years and her work in helping with the organisation of events, managing the AMRA website, and the production of s. Ranges with capacity for long distance shooting are few and far between across the World. Whilst we are lucky here in Australia to have a number of such ranges, the distances shooters have to travel for competitions is considerable and I know this year there are many who have spent significant time and money in supporting the events. In particular I acknowledge the many Queenslanders who have frequently travelled south and the Tasmanians who have had numerous crossings of Bass Strait in the last year. Also I thank members of the Australian Match Rifle Team who have juggled work and other commitments to attend practices in NSW, SA, Victoria and Tasmania throughout the year will see the Team travel to Bisley to compete against Great Britain for the Woomera Trophy so there is another big year ahead. My best wishes to all for Christmas and the New Year Paul Monaghan AMRA Chairman AMRA Membership AMRA Membership Fees became due on 1 July Under the Rules of the Association, fees are required to be paid within 3 months of the due date or you cease to be an active member. If you have not paid your fees or you are a new member looking to join AMRA, please complete the application form available on the website and submit to the Secretary. Membership is currently $20 per annum and once your application is approved, fees can be paid by direct deposit to Australian Match Rifle Association s Account as below: Account Name: Australian Match Rifle Association Inc Bank: Bendigo Bank BSB: Account Number: Reference: FEES and then Your Initial & Surname Please your payment receipt to info@matchrifle.org Alternately payment can be made by cheque payable to Australian Match Rifle Association and sent to PO Box 535, Wagga Wagga, NSW 2650

3 For The Diary 2 & 3 March 2019 Tasmanian MR & LR F Class Championships Campbell Town, TAS 23 & 24 March 2019 Electronic Target Invitation Shoot Ungarie, NSW (see below) 8 & 9 June 2019 Queensland MR & LR F Class Championships Raglan, QLD 8-10 October 2019 (To Be Confirmed) Ultra Long Range Challenge (Including 1500 yds) Coonabarabran, NSW March 2019 Merton Vale 1500 Yard Match Campbell Town, TAS 4 & 5 May 2019 NSW MR & LR F Class Championships Ungarie, NSW 24 & 25 August 2019 Sth Australian MR & LR F Class Championships Lower Light, SA 2 & 3 November 2019 Victorian MR & LR F Class Championships Stawell, VIC Save the Dates Australian Match Rifle & Long Range F Class Championships July 2020 Raglan, Queensland 14 th July - Queensland MR &LRFC State Titles Electronic Target Invitation Shoot - At the General Meeting in October 2018, it was agreed that a shoot would be organised to trial the use of electronic targets for the longer match rifle distances. The Invitation Shoot to be held at Ungarie on 23 & 24 March 2019 will use Silver Mountain electronic targets. It is planned to shoot a number of stages at 1000 yards on Saturday and a number at 1200 yards on the Sunday. Opportunity to try and test your loads and equipment yard ICFRA target will be utilised. Bullets will be required to be super-sonic at the ranges. Range Calibre restrictions apply. All disciplines welcome. Come along and try the Silver Mountain Targets at the long ranges. David Waters will be there to answer any queries. If you are interested in attending please info@matchrifle.org or contact Dave Xuereb on

4 2018 Australian MR & LRF Championships Early October 2018 saw long-range shooters from across Australia travelling to Coonabarabran NSW to compete in the Australian Match Rifle & Long Range F Class Championships. The 2018 event marked 25 years since the first Australian championships held at the Woomera Range in South Australia. Shot over 3 ½ days and 10 ranges - with the last being a 20 shot match at 1200 yards - the Nationals again proved to be a true test of marksmanship. The range was presented in great condition despite the drought (and kangaroo plague) with the NSW Match Rifle Association and Coonabarabran Rifle Club having spent nearly $2,000 in recent months reshaping and grooming the long distance mounds in preparation for the Nationals. Weather conditions throughout the week were good with the only hiccup being a bit of rain on the morning of Day 3 making the 1100 yard mound a bit boggy so the decision was made to shoot that stage back at 1200 yards resulting in 1 x 1000 yards and 2 x 1200 yard ranges shot on Day 3. Match Rifle Lew Horwood got off to a great start in match rifle taking 2 of the 3 ranges on Day 1 and the Daily Aggregate. Day 2 however saw the honours spread between Graham Mincham (1000 yds), Paul Monaghan (1100 yards) and Viv Hunt (1200 yards) with Paul taking the Day 2 aggregate. Day 3 saw a new contender with Tom Smith from QLD taking both the 1200 yards. However the best shoot of the MR competition went to a (pretty happy!) Paul Monaghan with a perfect at 1000 yards, helping him to the Day 3 aggregate.

5 Paul then followed up with a near perfect for the 20 shot match at 1200 yards which confirmed his win of the Grand Aggregate and MR Challenge Cup on from Tom Smith on and Alan Blain on In MR Reserve, Viv Hunt won five of the 10 ranges on offer as well as 2 daily aggregates. Viv was the winner of MR Reserve and the Aurora Trophy on , 14 points ahead of James Freebairn on F Open There was fierce competition in F Open with 6 people winning ranges and a different person each day taking the daily honours. Day 1 saw Adrian Siebel take the first 1000 yard range with Rob Jeffery taking 1100 and Ernie Mace 1200yds. But it was Cliff Austen with consistent shooting all day who came through to take the Day 1 agg. Rob Jeffery took 1200 on Day 2 with Ernie Mace taking 1100, John Dixon 1000 and Rob Jeffery the daily honours. Cliff Austen picked up both the 1200 yards on Day 3 with Adrian Siebel getting his second range win at 1000 yds. Brent Webley then stepped up on Day 4 to take the final 20 shot match at F Open Grand Agg and Commonwealth Trophy was won by Rob Jeffery on from Ernie Mace on and Cliff Austen on FTR FTR was dominated by a new comer to long range shooting with Marty Kelly from Victoria taking 5 of the 10 ranges and the Day 1, Day 2 and Day 3 aggregates. Steve Smithson from SA took 1100 yards on Day 1 and then team mate Matthew Lagana took 1000 yards on Day 2. Marty didn t have it all his own way, however, as some late-comers from SA on Day 3 stirred things up with Michael Hancock taking Day yds and Daryl Dolphin taking one of the Day yds and the final 20 shot 1200 yds. FTR Grand Aggregate and the Southern Cross Trophy was won by Marty Kelly on by 23 points from Paul Murphy on and Matthew Lagana third on The individual competition was then followed by two friendly events before the seriousness of the State Teams events. Freebairn Teams for MR consist of 4-person self-coaching teams made up from placings in the Nationals such that high ranked and lower ranked shooters are teamed together. This year there were 5 teams and competition couldn t have been closer with Team Monaghan (Paul Monaghan, Viv Hunt, Mike Samuels & Stephen Clark) pipping Team Blain (Alan Blain, Philip Bain, Chris Halloran & Mark Walters) by only 6 centres (Team Monaghan) v (Team Blain). Third was Team Horwood on and 4 th & 5 th were only 1 point further back and again only separated on centres Team Mincham and Team Smith on F Class Pairs For the first time the F Class Pairs was held as a drawn pairs match with 1 x F Open and 1 x FTR shooter drawn for each self-coaching pair shooting Bisley Style (alternately). In the 50 shot match (25 shots per shooter) there were only 11 points separating all 5 pairs. Marty Kelly and Neville Lyons on won by 5 points from Caleb Hancock and Ernie Mace on with Michael

6 Hancock and John Dixon a further point behind on th was Mike Halloran and Adrian Siebel on and 5 th Russall Lenehan and Rob Jeffery on Undoubtedly, however, the most outstanding performance for the week went to all those who managed to consume more than 80 dozen (80 x 12 = 960) homemade biscuits in less than 5 days! Truly a remarkable achievement. Thanks to the bakers- Kay, Merilyn, Margaret, Mike, Shane, Lew &, Susan as well as Ann, Denise and Dawn for their help in the kitchen. Over $300 was raised from the tea and biscuits which was donated to local Coonabarabran Drought Relief. Chief Range Officer, John Oddy, was ably assisted by Jenni, Arna and Chris and kept the mound running like clockwork. Target marking was exceptional. In fact, many commented that it was the best they had encountered. The Aldridge twins Ross and Ron, (Ross being the Butts Officer) Joey, Chi, Shane and Coonabarabran local, Bryson, all made an outstanding team. Special thanks go our Coonabarabran Rifle Club hosts including Mick & Kate Davies and the Acacia Motor Lodge who put on a great meal for the Presentation Dinner. Special thanks also to major sponsors for the Championships -Spika Safes, Thales ADI and Bertram Bullets. All results are available on the match rifle website at. The next Australian Match Rifle & Long Range F Class Championships are being planned for th July 2020 in Raglan, Queensland. Match Rifle Open Match Rifle Reserve FTR Badge Winners F Open

7 On the Range!

8 2018 State Teams and Teams Competition The Match Rifle and Long Range F Class State Teams events followed on from the individual Match Rifle & Long Range F class championships at Coonabarabran in October and alongside them this year was an inaugural FTR teams event. Match Rifle State Teams Five States were represented in the State Match Rifle teams competition Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia, New South Wales and Queensland. Match Rifle Teams can be up to 6 people including the Captain and Coach with 4 to shoot at each range. The first competition was the Maloney Match (0 sighters and 16 shots/shooter at 1200 yards) which was won by Queensland on with NSW only 2 points behind in second place on and Victoria in third place only 3 centres behind on This was the first time that a Queensland team has won a State Teams event and at the presentation a pretty happy Captain, Viv Hunt, reflected on the work that the team had put into preparing for the event. The second competition, the Rowlands Trophy (15 shots/shooter at 1000, 1100 and 1200 yards), was won by Victoria on with New South Wales again second on and Queensland third on Victoria took the lead after 1000 yards by 4 points from Queensland with NSW a further point behind. At 1100 yards, NSW made up 5 points on Queensland but Victoria went a further 5 points ahead, taking a 9 point lead from NSW into the last range. NSW shot best at 1200 yards making up 4 points on Victoria but it was not enough with Victoria taking the Rowlands Trophy for the third time in a row. The President s Trophy is awarded to the highest scoring Coach and Shooter in the Rowlands Match and this year the Trophy went to Paul Monaghan and Gil Walker from Tasmania with by 3 centres from Peter Maher and Shane Courtney both on The Mincham Team Aggregate was won by Victoria on from New South Wales on and Queensland third on Tasmania finished in 4 th place on with South Australia 5 th on

9 Match Rifle State Teams Victoria Lew Horwood, Peter Maher, Shane Courtney, Alan Blain New South Wales Philip Bain, Chris Halloran, David Xuereb, Robert Halloran Queensland Graham Mincham, Tom Smith, John Kielly, Ernie Mace, Mike Samuels, Viv Hunt Tasmania Stephen Clark, Gil Walker, Paul Monaghan, Mark Walters South Australia William Freebairn, James Freebairn, Geoff Henderson, Willy Schaffner

10 F Open State Teams Three teams competed in the F Open State team competition with Queensland entering what proved to be a strong team combination for their inaugural foray into this competition. New South Wales took a full 5- person team and a reserve to Coonabarabran with a number of members new to State Teams competition. South Australia also provided a strong showing despite some of the members only arriving the day previously having travelled from competition in Canberra earlier in the week. The NSW team made a clean sweep of all F Open teams events winning the Victoria Match by 4 points from Queensland, the NSW Match by 10 points from Queensland and the South Australian Team Aggregate Trophy on by 14 points from Queensland with South Australia third in all competitions. The NSW team shot a total of 30 Super X s - nearly double the number shot by other teams and a credit to the high-quality coaching and shooting as well as the great conditions that Coonabarabran dished up for this competition. The President s Trophy for the highest scoring coach and shooter in the NSW Match went to Peter Broom and Graham Mincham from QLD with Two NSW shooters were only separated by 1 centre for second and third place in the President s Trophy - John Dixon (255.11) and Adrian Siebel (255.10) both coached by Alan Seaman.

11 South Australia Shooters: Daryl Dolphin, Caleb Hancock, Michael Hancock New South Wales Cliff Austen, John Dixon, Neville Lyons, Robert Jeffery, Adrian Siebel, Alan Seaman They Came From QUEENSLAND! Match Rifle and F Open team members Tom Smith, Graham Mincham, Ernie Mace, Nikki Broom (FO Shooter), Viv Hunt, Peter Broom (FO Shooter), John Kielly

12 FTR Teams This was the inaugural FTR Teams competition and was organised to assess the interest in long range FTR team shooting. It was pleasing that three States, Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia all provided teams. Teams could consist of 2 4 people including Captain and Coach and composite teams made of members from different States were allowed provided that each State was only represented in one team. Competition in the first event (0 sighters and 16 shots/shooter at 1200 yards) was extremely close with all three teams only separated by 2 points. Victoria won the first event on from New South Wales second on and South Australia third on New South Wales on won the second event (The Dyson see below) which consisted of 15 shots for each shooter at the three ranges of 1000, 1100 and 1200 yards. NSW won this event narrowly by 4 points from South Australia on New South Wales then also won the FTR Team Aggregate event with from South Australia on and Victoria on Given the great response to the inaugural FTR Teams competition, it is hoped that this competition can be further developed to become an approved State Teams event in coming years. The Dyson Following the success of the inaugural Long Range FTR Teams event, Arna Dyson has offered to provide sponsorship for the major (3 range) competition. This will now be called The Dyson in memory of her husband, Graham Dyson, who passed away recently and who was a great supporter of FTR and long range shooting. Arna has subsequently donated a great Dyson Trophy. Sponsorship of the other two events in the FTR teams competition is still available. If you are interested in sponsoring either of these events please contact AMRA.

13 New South Wales David Vivian Jones, Jenni Hausler, Mike Halloran Victoria Russall Lenehan, Paul Murphy, Marty Kelly, David Hillier South Australia Matthew Lagana, Brent Webley, Steve Smithson

14 Ultra Long Range Challenge Coonabarabran Go Further They Did! The Australian Championships were followed by the Ultra Long Range Challenge held at 1500 yards on Sunday 7 th October. This was the second time this competition has been held and this year it was reduced to a 1-day event of two stages at 1500 yards because of the preceding National competition. 28 people shot the event, most being competitors who stayed on from the National competition though pleasingly there were two people who travelled to Coonabarabran just for this event. The weather was magic for such an event. Starting early there was a sunny day with just a slight breeze wafting a bit from side to side which you thought was perhaps 1 or 2 minutes of wind but given we were talking 1500 yards in reality was more like 4 or 5. For the first stage, Stephen Clark from Tasmania took the honours in Match Rifle with 66.4, John Dixon (NSW) won F Open with 72.0 and Paul Murphy (VIC) took the FTR stage with With the wind picking up a few more notches to make things more interesting for the second stage, everyone was totally focussed until about 11am when Rob Halloran fired up the BBQ and the odour of cooking onions and BBQ sausages came drifting across the range. Nothing can beat the smell of a BBQ in the bush! Thank you Rob. For the second stage, David Xuereb (NSW) was the only Match Rifle shooter to break 70 for the day finishing with 70.1, with another Dixon Jim Dixon from QLD winning F Open with 68.0 and Jenni Hausler from QLD taking the range for FTR with 71.0.

15 In the Grand Aggregate, David Xuereb from NSW won the Match Rifle with from Stephen Clark on with Alan Blain third on Jim Dixon (QLD) won F Open with from Rob Jeffery (NSW) on with Greg Roberts (shooting past 1000 yards for the first time) third on Jenni Hausler (using a borrowed rifle) placed first in FTR with from Paul Murphy (VIC) on and Marty Kelly third on Many thanks to Margaret & Mike Halloran for providing the Grand Aggregate prizes. As usual the Bird Trophy was hotly competed for with all competitors across all disciplines (with the exception of David Xuereb) registering their entry. In the end it was James Freebairn (SA) who took this much sought-after trophy back to show the Grandkids. Overall the Ultra Long Rang Challenge capped off a great week of shooting at Coonabarabran which had started with the local Coonabarabran Club s annual prize meeting on the previous weekend, followed by the Australian Match Rifle & Long Range F Class Championships, the State Teams events and concluding with the Ultra Long Range Challenge. Truly a shooting extravaganza it would be hard to beat! Subject to confirmation, it is hoped that the next Ultra Long Range Challenge will be held from 8-10 October 2019, following on from the local Coonabarabran Club s prize meeting on the long weekend. Victorian Match Rifle & Long Range F Class Championships Report by Dave Hillier Stawell Rifle Club again played host to the Victorian Match Rifle and Long Range F Class championships which was the final event on the long range shooting calendar for They came from Queensland, Tasmania, South Australia, NSW and Victoria for the two-day competition and as always the field of competitors was strong with thirty shooters competing for badges and awards. Day One had near perfect conditions in the morning with some very high scores within all divisions, but as it is with the sport of shooting, a strong southerly wind approached that would challenge shooters.

16 The following day also had trying conditions, again testing the levels of marksmanship skills, but it was Paul Monaghan from Tasmania who took at the coveted First Place badge for Match Rifle with Shane Courtney, (Victoria) taking out Second Place and Mark Walters (Tasmania) receiving First Place Match Rifle Reserve Badge. FTR was a close competition with Mick Punteriero from South Australia eventually taking out First Place badge with Marty Kelly (Victoria) a close Second. F Class Open was won by Cliff Austen (NSW) from first time local shooter Mark Pilgrim (Victoria) in second place. Lew Horwood, Victorian Match Rifle Chairman, who has organised the event for many years, said that the level of shooters competing is growing each year and is anticipating even more shooters next year as Match Rifle and Long Range Shooting is becoming more popular with shooters testing their skills of marksmanship at the longer ranges. AMRA Who s Who Feel free to contact any of the Committee or Zone Delegates if you have suggestions for the Association Executive Committee Chairman Paul Monaghan (Tas) Vice Chairman Cliff Austen (NSW) Secretary Philip Bain (NSW) Treasurer Tom Smith (QLD) Zone Delegates New South Wales Rob Halloran Queensland John Kielly South Australia Bill Freebairn Tasmania Gil Walker Victoria Lew Horwood Western Australia David Martin ACT Shaun Wingrove F Class Paul Murphy (Vic)