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From South Africa to South Kolan

Author: Frans Snyman

Back in 1989 I joined my school’s target shooting team in South Africa. We practiced after school and had the occasional inter-school competition. Those were some of my fondest memories from high school – not so much the shooting itself: Spending time with friends, looking at each other’s targets and occasionally aiming at the washing pegs holding up your friend’s target.

Twenty years on I now live in Brisbane and a few years ago I joined Commercial Small Bore Rifle club and Queensland Target Sports. The shooting aspect is nice – it brings a level distraction from everyday work. Target shooting is a mentally demanding activity. Unlike the mainstream perception of associating shooting with aggression, to be good you need to be focused, calm and in control – it’s not supposed to be easy.

The best part of joining QTS though is meeting a community of like-minded people and making new friends. The Australian small bore target shooting community is smaller than I expected. It’s great to share ideas and to compete among some of the world’s best shooters.

The Belmont range is equipped with electronic targets. The new technology is great, however returning to paper targets during last week’s competition in South Kolan was wonderful. Apart from bringing back old memories, it had a fresh feel to it. The rural vibe and community at the range is nice. I was great to take a break after 20 shots, to chat with fellow competitors while walking to the targets and to see actual holes in paper again. It was easy to forget we were taking part in a competition. My average score perhaps explains that. But that doesn’t matter.

Our family made a weekend trip out of it and spent some time at Elliott Heads. We loved it. I will definitely return.

Belmont Jim Smith Range Access.

30 May 2016

The range was closed and the final working bee held on 28/29 May.

3 March 2016

The Belmont range is still open. There will be a working bee in the future, watch this space for future updates.

Bingera and South Kolan Prize Meeting 16 – Program

Please see attached the Program and rules & conditions for the 2016 Prize shoot – bingera and south kolan program 16

Silhouette Shield Round 1 2016 – Mundubbera

Author: Learne Sims

On Sunday 14 February the Mundubbera Small Bore Rifle Club held the first of four Shield Shoots for the 2016 season. The event was very successful and everyone had an enjoyable time. The heat didn’t slow anybody up with 36 shooters in attendance. The youngest shooter, Alyx Peters, was only 11 years of age and she scored herself a gold medal. Wayne Perry, a Mundubbera member, was shooting a competition for the first time. He didn’t let his nerves get the better of him and he too walked away with a Gold medal in D Grade. Our Mundubbera Club took out 3 of the medals. The Munduberra/Childers team also finished on top in the teams competition. Congratulations to the winners. Round 2 of the Shield will be held at Gympie on March 6.

Results

A Grade
1st – Shannon Peters (79) Countback
2nd – J Pepprell (79)
3rd – Rob Probert (78)

B Grade
1st – Peter Bowring (79)
2nd – Ray Bock (77)
3rd – Jimmy Wardell (75)

C Grade
1st – Bill Slack (72)
2nd – Dale Cockerton (50)

D Grade
1st – Wayne Perry (66)
2nd – Aiden Taylor (60) Countback
3rd – Reg Mogensen (60)

Juniors
Hayden Stey
Savanna Stey
Alyx Peters

Teams
Mundubbera/Childers 675 points
Maryborough/Gympie 659 points
Bundaberg 598 points
Bingera/ Sth Kolan 290 points

Maryborough Masters Games 2015

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Author: Roy Muller

The Maryborough Masters Games for 2015 was held on 10 & 11 October at Childers Smallbore rifle range. The weekend started on Friday afternoon with the early arrivals being greeted with some very heavy showers of rain. Spirits were high and the rain did nothing to dampen them. The early arrivals soon pitched in to help Roy & Marg to unpack everything and get the gazebos erected before the next lot of rain, this help was much appreciated. Friday night saw a delicious meal with Marg’s delicious homemade pea and ham soup as an entrée followed by a sausage sizzle and some homemade tartlets and cream for sweets also provided by Marg and a few social drinks just for health reasons.

Saturday dawned with a clear sky early and no wind, things went downhill from there. The sky stayed clear but the wind came up and blew from every direction and changing very quickly which made for some very interesting shooting and also brought scores down with many shots being fired by top shooters and the next comment would be WHAT THE **** how did that get there? Neil Digweed said he had heard rumours about wind etc. on Childers range and he can now go back and tell them they are not rumours.

There were shooters from Lismore, Charleville , Sunshine Coast, Gympie, Bundaberg , South Kolan , Woodgate , Munduberra , Brisbane , Childers and Maryborough with quite a lot of new faces who have said what a great weekend and they will be there next year.

The silhouette match saw John Pepprell take the A grade win with a perfect score of 80 and Ken Ogilvie come in second ahead of Hayden Stey after a countback with a score of 78. B grade was won by Peter Bowring with 77 with Mark Brown second 76 and Jimmy Wardell third 74. C grade was won by Robert Milne 77, second was Tim Doessel 68 and third was Ann Bruton 57. D grade was won by Reg Morgansen 60 from Arron Marsden 47 and Shanae Doessel 26.

In the prone match Saturday Patrick Sullivan 568 took out 1st place in the U35 with Heyden Stey 537 coming second. Brandon Kemp 579 came 1st. in the 35-44 age group. Shane Jones 571 came 1st. in the 45-54 age group with Jason Kettle 567 second. In the 55-64 age group Derek Cassar 560 came 1st. with Matt Murillo 549 coming second. In the 65+ Barry Sturgess 568 came 1st. with Greg Tennant 557 coming second.

The benchrest matches were shot on R.B.A. targets. The benchrest match on Saturday was won by Neil Digweed 725 from Barry Sturgess 723 and Roy MacCarthy 719 in 65 years+. The 55-64 age group was won by Stuart Neale 725 from Ann Bruton 702 and Alan Braford 688. The 45-54 age group was won by Bill Simmons 720 from Peter Bowring 606 and Fay Bowring 511. The 35-44 age group was won by Miriam Blythe 646. Under 35 was won by Patrick Sullivan 699 from Hayden Stey 507.

Saturday night was a really good social night of a BBQ with apple pie, custard, fruit salad and cream followed by a lot of yarn spinning, laughing and a lot of shooting information shared.

Sunday was nearly a rerun of Saturday, only with some mirage thrown in for good measure.
The prone match on Sunday saw Patrick Sullivan take out the U35 age group from Heyden Stey, Brandon Kemp won the 35-44 age group, Jason Kettle won the 45-54 age group from Shane Jones. In the 55-64 age group Derek Cassar won from Kevin Barden with Matt Murillo third. The 65+ age group was won by Barry Sturgess form Robert Milne.

In the Sunday benchrest match 65+ age group Barry Hilzinger took out 1st. 733 from Neil Digweed 728 and Roy MacCarthy726. In 55-64 Ann Bruton 715 was 1st. from Stuart Neale 714 and Kevin Barden 662. In 45-54 Bill Simmons was 1st. 717 from Fay Bowring 588. The 35-44 age group was won by Miriam Blythe 672, and the U35 was won by Patrick Sullivan 663 from Heyden Stey 588

Remember the Masters Games is not about winning or losing , it is an event to bring the people who love the sport of shooting together for a fun weekend of friendship and camaraderie and this weekend certainly showed that.

The Maryborough club would like to thank the Childers club for the use of their range and facilities, the shooters who travelled also the helpers on the weekend and hope to see you all next year for a bigger and better Masters Games.

Gympie shooters make the top three

The Gympie Smallbore Rifle and Silhouette Club hosted 24 shooters at the Queensland State Silhouette Championships held at the weekend.

President Tod Fleming said this was the first time the championships had been held in Gympie in three years.

“Overall it went really well – very happy with the result.”

He said numbers were quite good with competitors travelling to the shoot from as far south as Lismore, Mundubbera, Childers and South Kolan.

It was a successful weekend for Gympie placing in the top three positions overall.

It was a close contest between father and son with Gympie shooter Les Stey placing first with a top score of 158/160, closely followed by his own son, 16-year-old Hayden Stey.

Fleming was the third Gympie shooter with a score of 156/160.

Both Les and Fleming have now moved from B-grade to A-grade after presenting strong scores at the event.

All 24 participants competed in four 40 shoot matches with a day and night shoot on Saturday and two day shoots and a night shoot on Sunday.

He said the night shoot was scheduled in order to challenge shooters but suited the Gympie members better than the day-shoots as they would usually compete on Friday evenings.

“We shoot predominately at night.”

There was an A, B, C and D division with juniors also competing.

Fleming said the youngest competitor was Les Stey’s daughter 14-year-old Savanna Stey with shooters ranging all the way into their 70s.

“The rest of the clubs congratulated Gympie on how the event was run.”

Fleming thanked sponsors Owen Guns, Sullivan’s Live Stock, Auto Barn, BCF and Queensland Rural Supplies for their support.

He said the event brought the best shooters from across the state to Gympie and gave local shooters the chance to see the standard of shooting at other clubs.

Not only were the championships a success but also was a great fundraiser for the club raising over $1000.

Results QLD Silhouette Championships 2015

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WRABF World Championships 2015

The WRABF World Championships 2015 was successfully held at the Jim Smith Range, Belmont. Competitors from the countries of Australia, Ireland, Brazil, Italy, Czech, Philippines, Finland, South Africa, Great Britain, Ukraine, India and USA attended. Host country Australia topping the medal tally with 17 medals in total.

A report from the WRABF president including all medal winners and a photo gallery is provided below:

WRABF World Championships 2015 Report

Full results are available on Benchrest Bulletin.

State Silhouette Championships 2015

Gympie Small Bore Rifle and Silhouette Club Inc. are hosting the 2015 Qld State Silhouette Championships. 

Please find attach the program for the weekend.  State Silhouette Championships 15

Nominations will be done on the Saturday before the shoot, followed by a BBQ Dinner and breakfast on Sunday morning.  

Bundaberg Challenge 15

Bundaberg will be conducting the Bundy Challenge shoot over the week end 1 – 2 Aug. For more info please read the attached Program and Nomination form.

Program – BUNDABERG CHALLENGE PROGRAM 2015

Nomination Form – BUNDABERG CHALLENGE SHOOT NOMINATION FORM

Record Turnout at Childers Cup

The cool fine weather and good shooting conditions set the tone for the Childers Cup held on Saturday 20th and Sunday 21st June at the Isis District Rifle Range with a record attendance of 47 shooters and 146 nominations.

This was the 7th Childers Cup shoot and the first time air pistol and air rifle were included in the program. Our new air shed was opened on the 31st of October last year and club members have been using it ever since. The club recently acquired some air rifles and air pistols and this has created a lot of interest from club members and new shooters to come and try.

This year’s competition attracted shooters from local clubs Childers, Maryborough, South Kolan, Mundubbera, Bundaberg and Gympie as well as Brisbane, Toowoomba and Lismore.

There were some PB’s recorded including a first ever silhouette 40 shot by young Riley Hammelswang from South Kolan. John Wooldridge was also on his game winning the overall benchrest and taking home papers to acquire a brand new air rifle – first prize for the air rifle novice match sponsored by Qld Gun Exchange and Pro-Tactical.

The camp fire was well attended as usual thanks to Kym for the huge supply of wood. On Saturday night Matt Murillo from Gympie entertained us with his antique record player and some old Slim Dusty and Chad Morgan records.

Many Thanks to the club members who did the work preparing the range and running the shoot. Thank you Roy, Marg, Alan, Robyn and Rod for help in the scoring room, and the ladies who kept everyone well fed and put on a selection of sumptuous hot-pots for Saturday night’s dinner.

A special thanks to all our sponsors including the great support we get from Inox Lubricants and the Childers ANZ Bank for the major cup trophies.

Childers Cup Target Rifle Champion – John Patzwald (Toowoomba)
Childers Cup Silhouette Rifle Champion – John Patzwald (Toowoomba)
Childers Cup Benchrest Champion – John Wooldridge (Mundubbera)
Childers Cup Junior Champion – Jimmy Wardell (Gympie)

To see all the scores for the weekend go to the QTS website.

Author: Lesley Perk