Holidaying With Match Rifle 2007
The National Rifle Club of Scotland's Tour of Australia (February/March 2007)
Colin McEachran led a team of 7 National Rifle Club of
Scotland MR shooters to the Antipodes during late February and early March 2007.
The aim was, as always, to promote match rifle shooting where possible, and, in
this case, to participate both in the Victoria MR Championships at Corryong, to
shoot in club competition at Stawell and, finally, to shoot on the famous
Campbell Town range in Tasmania.
The team consisted of David Brechin, Martin Brown,
Michael Davis, Jeremy Gaywood (an ex Hopton winner from the last century),
Hamish Hunter, Tim Kidner and Colin McEachran
In addition to the shooters, were the all important
ladies, Charlotte McEachran, Liz Kidner and Frances Brechin, because after all
it was a holiday.
Corryong.
We were very well received wherever we went. It is
clearly important to the small band of MR shooters in Australia that small teams
should continue to visit. Greg
Phelan is the Chairman of the Victorian MR Association and he worked very hard
for a successful meeting. He is 110%
Aussie, has been described as
looking like “the better side of a crumpled oil drum” but he has a heart of
gold. Nothing was too much for him.
Even when Jeremy Gaywood could not get rounds to chamber in his new
rifle, he was on the phone to NSW.
Scores are somewhat superfluous on these
occasions. Suffice to say that NRCof
S shooters found the heat and winds of Corryong difficult to handle.
The Victorian MR championship was won by Shane Courtney by 8 points from
Jenny Hausler. Highest NRCof S Team
members were Martin Brown and Hamish Hunter at 6th
and 7th.
After the week-end scores, the Aussies were pretty
confident of retaining the McEachran Trophy, presented in 2003 for competition
between the NRCof S and Aussie State teams.
However it was not to be and some skilful coaching and fine 71 at 1200
yards by Tim Kidner helped the mainly Scottish team to win at the final range by
3 points from Victoria (with a little help from Queensland). The NRCof S was 3
down after 1000 yards and a further 2 after 1100.
Tim top scored for the NRCof S with 216 in the match, a score only beaten
by John Keilly of Queensland with 217.
At the prize giving dinner we were entertained by an
impromptu band – an accordion and a remarkable instrument made out of beer
bottle tops. We were also regaled by local poetry readings.
Apart from the McEachran trophy, the team won no prizes
at Corryong, unless one counts the Chuckie trophy for the best crop of daily
magpies (won by Jeremy Gaywood)
Stawell
Thereafter followed some holidaying,
with visits to wineries and properties and gold mines.
The next destination was
STAWELL,
close to Hall’s Gap and the Grampian mountains in western Victoria.
This is a wonderful range with 8 targets back to 1200 yards.
It is set in trees; it owns the land including the danger area and has a
spacious clubhouse with ample parking.
It is all the work of Lew Horwood and he and his wife Kay with some other
ladies laid on the most excellent week-end club shoot with a barbeque on the
range on the Saturday. Because of
the tree protection we did not experience the violent wind changes that occur at
Corryong and Campbell Town.
The shoot consisted of 2 and 15 shots at 1000, 1100 and
1200 on the Saturday and 20 shots at 1100 and 1200 on the Sunday. After some
very competitive shooting it was very appropriate that Lew Horwood should lead
the field with 400.25 followed by Hamish Hunter on 397.22, Shane Courtney the
Victorian Champion with 397.19 and Tim Kidner on 395.26.
Phil Bain, who, with his lovely wife Susan, was such a
help and supporter of the team, produced a splendid trophy for a Pairs
competition—the Coolibah trophy. A
draw was made with one name from the NRCofS team and one from the Aussies.
It was entirely right that Tim Kidner and Phil Bain were drawn as a pair
and won the trophy.
Tasmania
Campbell Town is situated in the centre of Tasmania, so
that various members of the team had toured substantial areas of the island
before arriving at the Foxhunter’s Inn.
This is a splendid Victorian Coaching Inn, untouched by
time, and situated on the edge of the town, not far from the rifle range.
Because of a clash of fixtures there were few Tasmanian
shooters out for the week end’s shooting, but Gil and Dawn Walker made us very
welcome. In fact the week end provided
the most spectacular match rifle shooting of the entire tour. The
Campbell Town range, which faces South (away from the Antarctic Sun), is exposed
on the right, to an empty plain of dry pasture, across which winds can blow in
almost desert conditions.
On the Sunday the wind was about 8 minutes from the
right at 1100 yards before lunch.
After lunch it was a different picture. We returned to find a veritable gale of
wind blowing across the exposed plain to our right.
At
1200
yards, the wind was now up to 16 to 18 minutes and continued to strengthen,
giving, on occasion some 23 minutes.
It would be fair to say that some disarray set in, at
this stage. It proved virtually impossible to escape without at least one miss,
and most had two.
Between the misses, there was some creditable and very
enjoyable shooting.
Mike Davis was triumphant here, with a strong 57.2,
just ahead of Hamish with 57.1, followed by Jeremy with 51.3.
This closing shoot proved to be a climactic struggle
with the elements which highlighted the fundamental differences between Match
Rifle Shooting and any other form of target rifle shooting. The sight of flags
streaming out horizontally across a sun baked dusty range is a formidable sight.
As we learned later, the markers, bless them, were clinging to their targets to
prevent them blowing away.
So ended our Holiday with the Match Rifle 2007.