Heidi Stokes - a real country girl
Thirteen-year-old SSAA member Heidi Stokes started shooting from the age of 11. “Somehow, I managed to fit shooting into a lifestyle already fairly full of outdoor activities,” says the busy teenager, who had to shuffle her other sports of competitive swimming, horse-riding, motorbike riding and guitar playing to make room for rifle, handgun and even a bit of shotgun shooting.
In a lovely twist, it was Heidi’s mother, Inge, who took her to the Quorn Pistol & Shooting Club (an associate member branch of SSAA South Australia) for her first two shoots, as Heidi’s father, Graham, was quite busy at the time. However, Inge eventually put her foot down and told Graham, a founding member of the Quorn club, that he should take his ‘fatherly duties’ seriously and take his daughter to the club. The rest, as they say, is history, with the club gaining two new members and Heidi and Graham now very rarely missing a Saturday shoot. Heidi’s younger sister Kirsten and Inge shoot every now and then and join in the barbecue and socialising afterwards, making shooting a real family affair.
Heidi has been a member of the SSAA for around 18 months and enjoys all aspects of the sport, as well as the articles in the Australian Shooter magazine. “I think the SSAA do a good job of promoting shooting and helping to improve the image of the sport,” she said.
Heidi participates in many shooting disciplines, including a home-grown handgun match called Quorn Service, which consists of two stages of 36 shots and which she shoots with her Walther P22 or her dad’s Colt .357. However, her favourite handgun discipline is IPSC. “My little Walther is best suited for this work, being a bit heavy on the trigger for real precision matches,” says Heidi. “Sometimes, I use Dad’s Tanfoglio 9mm for an IPSC match too.”
In the Rimfire Rifle events, Heidi likes to shoot groups and .22 silhouette targets in particular. Her favourite firearm for this is her Remington 700 VL SS TH Varmint in .204 Ruger, which has a Madco trigger fitted and an 8x56 Lynx scope sitting on a Picatinny rail. “I am waiting for a 40x45 Leupold scope with fine target cross-hairs though, to replace the Lynx, as I find the duplex cross-hairs too chunky for precision work,” explains Heidi. “At our club, we shoot a gong match at 200m, with the smallest gong being about 4" in diameter. The .204 is excellent for this match, as it has such a flat trajectory.”
Heidi is doing very well in the 100m group shooting events. “The best I have managed with the .204 so far measured .396". I can’t wait for my dad to take me hunting, although I think I will have to use his old Winchester Model 70 in .22-250, as the .204 is a bit heavy and bulky for carrying around.”
Heidi spends around six to eight hours on shooting-related activities a week, which includes shooting, cleaning the firearms, reading about shooting and reloading her own ammunition. “I reload .357s and .204s,” says Heidi. “The .204 powder charges are individually weighed and I inspect and carefully seat the projectiles.”
The shooting sports are a tight-knit fraternity, with all of us learning from and assisting each other. Heidi says that the person who has had the greatest influence on her shooting is Bob ‘Shooting Stick’ Fisher from Carrieton. “Bob has spent hours coaching me on Benchrest shooting; the skills as well as the protocol of the matches,” says Heidi. “He let me shoot a five-shot 100m group with his favourite 6mm PPC and it was really exciting to finally measure the .264" group. He has taught me a great deal about holdover and holding off a target to allow for wind and how to read mirage. Sometimes, I think it’s amazing how much knowledge you can store in one person’s brain.”
In addition to coaching, Heidi explains how Bob has assisted the Stokes family with reloading. “He’s probably also had an influence on our reloading shed. Bob has coached Dad in the art of neck-turning and better case preparation in the hunt for accuracy. I can’t wait to try some of these special cases for my grouping.”
Other shooters at the Quorn club have also helped the enthusiastic young shooter. “Robert Hombsch helped me when I first started shooting handguns and Stoller Haugen has given me a lot of very useful tips regarding both handguns and rifles,” she says. “I love shooting the Lever Action match with Bob and some of the other ‘old guys’ of the club.”
Heidi’s greatest shooting achievements have thus far been accomplished during the Quorn club’s two annual shoots against a Coober Pedy club. “Early in 2009, I won the Top Gun Junior Title and over the October long weekend at Coober Pedy, I won the Top Gun Junior and Overall Top Gun Rifle Titles,” she says.
While winning competitions is the dream of all shooters, Heidi says that she would just like to continue being a safe and competent shooter, improving her scores and having fun along the way. “Shooting is a great sport because you can compete against yourself, trying to better last week’s scores,” she says. “Sure, it’s fun to beat the older shooters, but it is more about improving my skills than competing directly with other shooters.”
“I love the friendly atmosphere at the Quorn Pistol & Shooting Club and that our members are always willing to help out and encourage new shooters,” says Heidi. “The fact that we shoot a wide variety of firearms at the club is good because we basically cater for most shooters. It doesn’t matter if you shoot handgun, rifle or shotgun, as there is usually a match for everyone.”
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