McAuliffe Shield Round 4 2018 Pennant Season

It was a very different day for our Mountain Marksmen from the East Central District Rifle Association as they traveled to the open plains of Katandra to contest the fourth round of the McAuliffe Shield.  The Katandra team with 899, dropping only one point defeating the ECDRA team 870, well down on their average team score.   Captain Marty Kelly said "Katandra shot exceptionally well with all but one shooter shooting the maximum score possible".

A key factor was the wind, as we shuddered with 10 10ths cloud cover the Katandra range enjoyed bright sunshine all day and a freezing wind.  The wind chose to puff and pant seemingly at the wrong moment and the ECDRA wind coaches did a fantastic job  but did not have that local knowledge essential too posting top scores at Katandra. It was hard enough but when one of the top shooters places a maximum scoring shot on the Katandra target it even makes it harder.  The Katandra range is now electronic and the one thing that the shooters did not miss was the need to change markers through the match.  The Katandra club spent all of the 2017 season carrying out range improvements including the setting up of electronic targets that facilitating shooting back to 900 yards.  The Katandra club must be congratulated for the great job they have done to bring the range up to such a high standard.

A feature of Saturday’s shoot was the early start similar to last week that ensured shooting was completed in good light and  the visiting team got home at a reasonable hour. Terry Gee took top score off rifle for ECDR, it is good to see Terry back after his two year break and it is very clear he has not lost any of the skills that won him the SA Queens Prize in 2016.  At the other end of the team Paul Watkins in his first McAuliffe Shield pennant season is shooting well and each week the size of his groups becomes smaller