2008 MSD/CSD State Titles
Grafton Rifle Club, Grafton
19th - 21st September, 2008
The Grafton range was in perfect condition for the State titles and lived up to its reputation of long green fairways with manicured shooting mounds.
Day 1
Friday saw Pistol and Martini shooting from the small bore shed and the overcast conditions helped post some very high scores.
Class 1 winner was Simon Ross shooting 615.12 to just pip Rob Irving on 614.11 and Craig Mahoney 611.13
Class 2 was more one sided with Nick Abrahall posting the top score of the day 642.23 ahead of Andy Prowse 613.12 and Peter Brown 611.13
Class 3-4 was taken out by Rob Irving 635.20 from Wal Cameron 625.14 and Greg Mills-Thom 577.11
Martini Cadet/Trainer was shot after lunch and winners were
Cadet: John Lewis 259.2 Wal Cameron 251.3 Andy Brown 251.2
Trainer: Dick Antcliff 278.4 Rob Irving 275.4 Robyn McPherson 265.3
Day 2
Saturday started with a heavy fog, which means it’s going to be hot. It did not disappoint with shooters finding it tough going throughout the day.
Std Rifle events were 300 deliberate. 3P Event and Rapidfire B
Nick Abrahall shot a record 299.26 to take out the honours followed by Rob Irving 291.26 and Darren Ottery 290.30
Modified Rifle was shot with 300 deliberate and 3P with Craig Mahoney shooting 198.22 from Dick Antcliff 196.15 and Robert Black 195.18
After the presentation the AGM was held and Kerri Benson & Ian Crabbe were returned as Chairman & Deputy respectively.
Day 3
Tactical rifles at 500 were the order of the day and those shooters sneaking into the 1st detail thought they would shoot early to avoid the feared Grafton fishtail wind. Unfortunately they hadn’t counted on Rob Irving and his new “Tacticool” toy and try as he might he could not get on the target. After 20 minutes of tense radio exchanges between butts & mound officers, Rob gathered his bat, mat & ammo and departed the mound in what must be said was an unreasonably good frame of mind considering expectations he held prior to dirtying the .3 moa shiny barrel.
Results were: Andy Brown 98.4 Robert Black 93.8 Josh Brown 93.1
Grafton has always been proud of its junior shooters and these 3 guys with an average age under 17 showed the rest of the field how to shoot through a running mirage and variable wind. Well-done boys!
Last event of the weekend was Carbine at 100 and results were
Greg Mills-Thom 74.5 from Andrew Brown 73.8 and Fred Myer 71.2
Organisers thank the shooters who took part especially the ones that travelled from Sydney & Canberra to compete. The event was voted a unanimous success and all shooters now look fwd to the Nationals in Canberra.