The 2021 Hopton event saw 6 possibles at 1200 yard shot with Alex Cargill Thompson shooting two possibles in two days and Fiona Day becoming the first woman to shoot an individual 100 @ 1200. Honours went to Alex Cargill Thompson, Fiona Day, Rob Lygoe, Angus McLeod and John Lindsay III.

Rob Lygoe's 100.16

The wind during the Armourers was wibbling around either side of 3 minutes left, and I was able to watch the fall of shots across the range and tweak the wind up or down accordingly. The last few shots got a bit wobbly as I realised my first 100@1200 was “on” – and the last was only just a bull. I then came off the point to discover that Alex Cargill Thompson had also finished with 100.16...

 Rob Lygoe's Plot Sheet

The “1&5” tie-shoot with Alex was the next day – I was dozing in the caravan when called by Silke to come to 1200 yards asap for the tie shoot. The wind had changed direction, and we were also at the other end of the range, so the elevation was different as well. Fortunately, my guess on wind and elevation was good enough, converting the sighter, and ended with 25.4 to win the tie.

I managed to achieve a 100.15 at 1200 yards on Stickledown Range at Bisley on Saturday 12th October 2019, when competing in the North London Rifle Club's annual Match Rifle Championship. 

Click Here for Mike Barlow's 1200 Plot Sheet 

I had a pretty good day all round, since I also had a 100.17 at 1000 and a 100.16 at 1100 yards, finishing 300.48V and winning the Championship.  My very last shot at 1200 yards was somewhat hair-raising, not only because I knew I could be on the verge of scoring 300, but because I had used up all of one batch of ammo and the final round was from a completely different batch!  Fortunately for me, it went nicely into the Vee bull. 

As one would expect, given the score, the wind was pretty light throughout and didn't move much, with only minor corrections required to stay in the bull.  It rained continuously during all three of my shoots that day, but it was worth getting wet to achieve the score!  For interest, my outfit was built by Norman Clark Gunsmiths and comprised a Barnard Model P in a McMillan Prone Stock, using an IOR 12-52x56mm scope, fitted with a 34" 1 in 10 twist Krieger barrel, firing moly-coated Berger 215gr Hybrids.

                                                                                                                                                           Mike Barlow

Shooting on the same target with Mike was Mike Judge who also shot a 100@1200 at the same time,  shooting 100.7

Click Here for Mike Judge's 1200 Plot Sheet 

On the first day of the National Rifle Club of Scotland Autumn Championships at Blair Atholl on September 19^th 2015 Angus McLeod achieved a maximum score of 250.37v – 100.16v at 987X, 75.13v at 1114X and 75.8v at 1233X. Could he repeat that performance on Sunday? On Saturday the conditions had been gentle winds all day, starting with right hand wind of 1 to 4 minutes at 987X, switching to 1 to 4 minutes left wind at 1114X and 2 to 5 minutes left at 1233X. However, light winds at Blair Atholl are great for midges which descended on the shooters in their millions.

Wind conditions on Sunday were even lighter but with direction changes at 1114X requiring 1 minute right or left depending on when you fired. Angus managed to get it right and scored 100.15v so still no points dropped – could he be the first Match Rifle shooters to score 100 at 1233X? The wind was still very light but Blair Atholl is notorious for flags showing wind in different directions and it was difficult to see what was really happening and at the start of 1233X the spread was between half a minute right and 1 minute left. Angus converted both sighters, 5 followed by V and scored 50.8v in the first 10 shots. The wind then increased to 2 minutes left but Angus managed to keep in the bull. The wind then dropped back to 1 left and then zero – Angus fired his last shot scoring 5 on the left hand edge of the bull (it was a 5.0 on electronic scoring!) to finish with 100.11v.

So the final result was Angus scored 450.63v out of a possible 450.90v for the Championships, winning by a margin of 11 points, and shot the first Match Rifle score of 100 at 1233X on the Blair Atholl range.

shooting discipline matters

Match Rifle

From NRA Journal, Winter 2005

Match rifle history was made on Saturday 11 June 2005 when the first recorded 100 ex 100 at 1200 yards was made by Paul Charlton during the London and Middlesex Match Rifle Team competition held at Bisley. Paul's personal account of this achievement follows.

Since shooting first started people have striven to achieve the best that they can. In our case the HPS, or possible, is a mark of that quest which delineates those that can from those who try.

Some of us score a few HPSs and are able to recall each and every one and how much pleasure they bring, others are so proficient they could not tell you even roughly how many HPS range scores they have, though they probably know how few 105s, 150s, 200s etc that they have had.

I can recall the first time I ever had a possible, and the many years it took to get the second! What I had never expected to do was to get a prime possible, let me explain, a prime possible is one that no one else has ever scored. Examples are R St G Maxwell scoring 105 in the 1948 National Match, the 105.21 has yet to be achieved but Keith Pilcher and Stephen Penrose are so far the closest with 105.20s, however the V bull has shrunk since then (and the bull since Keith's!).

My prime possible was very much a team effort, I had been invited to take part in the L&MRA Match Rifle Team Championship, but as I was having work done on my rifle, said I would if I could borrow someone's rifle and use their ammunition. The deal was struck; I would borrow Peter Campbell's, which had been built by Ron Hilyard, and use his ammunition.

The team behind the score.

Standing: Gary Alexander (Coach), Ron Hilyard (Gunsmith).
Sitting: Paul Charlton (Shooter), Peter Campbell ("Isn't it typical,
you lend your rifle to someone else and they go and shoot like
that with it!")                                                  (Photo: Michael Wentges)

The team of six shoot 2 sighters and 20 to count at 1000,1100 and 1200 yards using two targets per team, so individual HPS is 300 and 1800 for the team. As I was to coach two others, I shot first then coached, whilst Peter shot last, allowing his rifle to cool off slightly between shoots.

As always using someone else's rifle is a bit of a compromise, do you conform to it or move every part possible until it feels comfy and destroy the setup of the rifle? Well my approach has been to conform to it as much as possible, so long as it does not hit me or hurt me. I found the butt-hook and deeply curved butt plate quite difficult to get to grips with at 1000 yards, but was reasonably happy with the result. When Peter shot he moved the buttplate assembly up six inches as I had shot it in the "rifle cleaning" position. I therefore found 1100 a much more comfortable experience and Gary Alexander and I coached one another to a pair of extremely satisfying 99s in conditions which were easily readable and changed gently.

After a satisfying lunch we resumed at 1200 with a marker whose work rate would have been generously judged as steady, certainly not fast. In fact we had only got to about shot 8 by the time our other target team had finished the first firer and were waiting for me to be the coach. But gamely we battled on. Gary by this stage had the fickle trickles of wind firmly under control and left my sights alone. In fact he made no wind adjustment between shots 2 and 13, this did not mean there were no changes, just that when eventually the target reappeared, we carried on using the same setting. One of the great differences in coaching an MR shooter and a TR shooter is the inability to gloss over a rank bad shot. The shooter has a perfect view of the target through the telescopic sight and even with a Galilean sight has a pretty good idea of shot location. Shot 13 caused me some concern as it was hanging in at 8 o'clock, but only just, so I asked Eric Adams if he was happy with the signalled value, which he was, and we carried on. Once shot 15 had been marked a bull I got a bit anxious. If only this had been a short shoot (MR only seem to do 15 and 20 shot shoots) I would have had my maiden 1200 proper possible, (I had had a 25.4 in a tie shoot but that only sort of counted). I realised that a ton was on, the wind played around a little and we did move for it, the marker remained steadily, but slowly, in his rhythm and the bull's-eyes kept on coming, 18 of them and I started to relax as this was likely to be a Personal Best (98.10 to get into that tie shoot was my previous personal best). When 19 came up I said to Gary "Well we're in new territory now" but I don't know how he felt. Shot 20 - calm but excited, could we? -squeeze, bang - looked good to me, and wait, and wait, did we seem to ******* wait - Yes! YES YES YES!

This is what we do it for, to beat the inner demons, to beat the wind, to achieve that to which we aspire, a possible at every range!

Everyone was extraordinarily gracious in the congratulations. It is brilliant when asked "alright?" to say "Yep, got em all". Whilst there have been a few 75s at 1200 yards, this was the first known 100, and like Ronny Maxwell's 105 in the National, no other person can ever be first again.

There is room for improvement; I only had 8 Vs, but I'm not sure I care about that.

Post Script: Just before the Journal went to press it was reported that Rob Halloran of Wagga Wagga shot Australia's first 100 ex 100 at 1200 yards in the Victorian Match Rifle Championships at Corryong.