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Bathurst Rifle Club Inc. 4th Aug 2018, J Sibera Trophy, 600yards

             The final 600 yard range of the J Sibera Trophy began with a gusty south westerly wind with the heavy gusts appearing to present a real challenge. Drawing the short straw Colin Howell was first down and confounded all with a masterful display of target shooting. Either the wind was not as threatening as appeared or Howell was about to demolish his competition in the F class ranks, which turned out to be the case.

            With 58.4/60 on the board Howell sat back and watched as one by one the competition, including internationals Jeff Eppleston and Geoff Willis, floundered in his wake. The wind turned into a breeze and lightened off but no one got close to Howell’s score. With the lighter breeze the direction changed from direct westerly to front on and back and it was left to the target rifle contingent to try their hand, and they found the situation just as perplexing.

            Graeme Bright started with a bulls eye/centre and then added three inner fours in succession whilst Gordon Shepherd popped in a magpie three on his card just for fun as each finished with 47’s/50. The B graders were all at sea except for Dennis Lavelle who managed a 45.03 despite scars from a hand operation affecting his grip on the rifle.

            The second stage saw Howell rub in the embarrassment as he shot a day high 59.3 to take the F class Cock of the Walk by a massive 7 points. Eppleston scrambled another 55 as did Wright but Willis left the mound grumbling about his barrel about to become a garden stake. Mike Halloran from Wagga Wagga dropped in from his travels to post 105.3 in the unfamiliar surroundings.

            Target rifle was a lot closer with the final result resting on the centre bull’s eye count. Shepherd who usually tops that      statistic was out shot by two centres with both He and Bright finishing with 96/100. B grade saw a triumph for Lavelle who has had little shooting because of various surgeries. Gibson shot the occasional magpie three whilst Coghill just stuck to inner 4’s ignoring the bull altogether. Shepherd won the J Sibera Trophy in a tight contest.

             The W & J Brown Trophy commences next week along with the second 700 yard Championship range

Scores:
C Howell FSB 117.7 (8 ½) 100
G Shepherd TRA 96.06 (5 ¼) 100
G Bright TRA 96.8 (3 ¼) 99 ¼
R Gibson TRB 86.04 (12) 98
D Lavelle TRB 88.05 (9 ½) 97 ½
J Eppleston FSA 110.6 (5) 95 ¾
G S Willis FSA 107.2 (7 ¼) 95 ¼
B Wright FSB 102.4 (12) 95
J Coghill TRB 82.02 (12) 94
Mike Halloran (Wagga Wagga) FSA 105.3

by John Coghill

All scores/plots can be found Here.