New Zealand Service Challenge 2007
Once again our SSAA Australian Service Rifle Team took their bolt rifles to compete in the New Zealand Championships. Most of the opposition were using H-Bar Colt flat top AR15’s fitted with Elcan or ACOG 4X scopes. Other rifles on the mound were two SLR's one M14A1, a Sig 55 and a HK SL8.
Darren Ottery (Northern Rivers), Rob Richards (Shepparton),
Max Blenkin (ACT) and Rob Irving (Southern Highlands) started the competition in Gladstone on the shotgun range.
In bright and warm conditions the team felt at home. Their seven shot semi-auto Beretta was loaned by Chris Parnell of Wellington. Chris unfortunately suffered a jam when he shot, probably from fouling build-up after the team had fired their matches… sorry Chris.
The first two matches involved shooting steel plates in timed events. Solid slugs at 50m finished the shotgun matches.
From a total score of 112 points Max Blenkin lead the Australian Team on 106 with Rob Richards on 100, Rob Irving on 99 and Darren Ottery on 95 points. Kiwi Colin Welch top scored in shotgun with 112.
Pistol this year consisted of three fast and exciting IPSC matches. The first involved crawling through a half meter high tunnel to reach two firing positions. Each position had three targets requiring two shots. The range was short at between 5m and 15m but the closer the target the smaller the hit zone. Each target had a "No-Shoot Zone" in front of it obscuring up to three quarters of the target area. There was a ten point penalty for any shot on the “No-Shoot Zone”.
The pistol matches included a three positional event and a seated event aptly titled “Desk Job”. Best performer in the team was Rob Irving who high scored in “Desk Job” and came second in the 3P giving an aggregate of 110 points, followed by Rob Richards on 108, Max Blenkin on 104 and Darren Ottery on 99. Pistol was won by Jamie Falconer of Wellington.
The second day of the championships, long range day, was held at the Brancepeth site. Conditions were excellent once again.
Shooting at figure 11 targets from 150m to 300m and type B targets at 500m the m96 Swedes came into their own. By the end of the day there was much excitement in the Australian camp with Rob Irving leading the overall Service Challenge with a score of 454 points followed by Jerry Veugelaers Wellington on 447 points.
The final day of the competition would always be the hardest for the Aussies. At a distance of 100m these rapid and ultra rapid events proved challenging for the bolt shooters versus the scoped semi-autos.
Darren Ottery was the top performer for the team dropping only three points in thirty five shots; the 3P, Rapid and Snap matches.
The final match of twenty seconds from a standing start, back to the targets, rifle on the ground, loaded with bolt open is made for twenty round magazine semis. Darren top scored the bolts with six shots and a score of 29 points but could not compete with the AR’s.
The New Zealand Rifleman’s belt was won with a score of 455.41 by Dave Von Elling from Auckland. Darren Ottery won the Bolt Trophy with a score of 419.38 from Rob Irving on 417.37.
The overall Service Challenge, the aggregate of rifle, pistol and shotgun scores was won by Jerry Veugelaers with a score of 650.43. Rob Irving top scored for the Aussies, placed fifth on 626.37. Darren Ottery was sixth on 613.38, Rob Richards was eleventh with 591.22 and Max Blenkin was sixteenth using his trusty SMLE with a score of 545.23.
At the close of each day the Australian Team were offered the choice of any of the semi-autos to rattle off at the targets in memory of days past.
On the drive back to Wellington the team began it’s planning for Service Challenge 2008. The big decision is whether to take up the offers of semis for loan or persevere with bolts.