McAuliffe Shield Round 4 2018 Pennant Season
In the final round of the McAuliffe Shield the short range Pennant. The mountain marksmen of the East Central District Rifle Association were clear winners against Shepparton/Nathalia Gold 895 Vs 870 points.
The match was contested at the ECDRA’s home range at Violet Town and as we have come to expect the weather played a big part of the match with that “nasty" wind always present very often catching the shooters out with its strength and direction. The shoot got underway early to make the best use of the good light in the middle of the day and as forecast the light was excellent.
At the first 500 yard range Marty Kelly 60.6 and David Wallace 60.5 lead the team as Shepparton/ Nathalia Gold struggled with their best score being a 57.5 by Jason Li. Stage two also at 500 yards continued to favor the ECDRA team with Vaughan Murphy 60.8 and Des Coulter 60.6 joining David Wallace 60.7 and Marty Kelly 60.4 while for the Gold team Ross Stuart 60.5 scoring his first possible ever was the only one. Congratulations Stuart a great achievement hope you have many more.
Moving back to the third stage at 600 yards the ECDRA team had an unassailable lead baring major incidents. 600 proved to be quite a challenge as the afternoon wind picked up in both strength and variability and the top shooters began to drop points, that is all but Des Coulter who showed everyone how it was done with a very good 60.1 the only “possible” shot by both sides at 600 yards.
Special mention must be made of the team work with everyone pulling together to ensure the match ran smoothly and that wind coaching was shared around the whole team. The best way to work out what the wind is doing is to coach another shooter and this year many members have stepped up to take on this task. We now have a team of good shooters with good gear and a wealth of experience in reading the conditions, just what is needed to go forward into the Chas Hayes Long Range Pennant starting in a couple of weeks. This pennant is contested over three matches at distances of 800 to 1000 yards.
This year we have the choice of two ranges to contest these matches with the completion of the range improvement works at Katandra and the availability of the 1000 yard range at Karramomus. The ECDRA members were on a high as they gathered for a cuppa at the end of the match both with the great result on the day and with the return of Graeme Kerr they have the potential to turn out some very impressive scores in the Chas Hayes. The Chas Hayes is also a warm up from the State team championships that will be held In October with our team determined to be state team champions for 2018.
If you would like to try this exciting and challenging sport please contact the club and arrange a suitable time. Or drop in on a day that we are at the home range. Shooting schedules may be found at www.ecdra.com.au in the calendar section. More information about long range precision shooting may be found in You Tube under East Central District Rifle Association.