International Big Game Rifle Shoot
16 September 2006

Andrew Hepner, Vic, with his 10g ball gun in operation. September 16, 2006, saw the inaugural International Big Game Rifle Shoot. The shoot was hosted by SSAA Brisbane and shot on the Brisbane range at Belmont. The match was coordinated with the World Creedmoor Association match that had been run over the previous six days.

Competitors came from five countries - Australia, New Zealand, USA, UK and Singapore. The event also attracted many spectators from the five countries competing and all states of Australia including Tasmania.

The competition consisted of six events and the overall winner decided on the best four. The opening event was Charging Animal, six shots in 32 seconds. This was followed by Double Rifle. This event sees two sequences of four shots in 16 seconds; one fumble, and you are out of the running. Then came Group One. This event is for the 338 and 375 class rifles, 20 shots, and is normally the most keenly contested.

Graeme Wright with his .450 BP Express in full blast. Next was Black Powder Express, another 20-round event using mainly vintage British doubles. With the wet conditions the black powder smoke hung over the range almost obscuring the targets at time. Following this was Group Two 416 and 458 class rifles. Now the recoil factor is going up and it sorts out the hardy shooters. The final event was Bore Gun. These are the fully rifled round-ball guns and the rifled choke paradox guns. Many of these are black powder, so with large volumes of smoke plus the incredible noise it makes, this was the premier spectator event as well as great fun for the shooters. One very gratifying part of this match was that there were a number of ‘personal bests’ shot during the day, indicating a very high level of competition.

At the end of the day it was David Commens, Qld, in first place, followed by Mark Savage, Vic, and Graeme Wright, Qld, in third. Although hosted by Australia, it did not go all the host nation’s way. Hoong Eng from Singapore took first place in the Double Rifle and Ernie Stallman from the USA was well placed in the Black Powder event.

David Little (Kynoch Ammunition),
presenting 1st prize to David Commens. The next International Big Game Rifle Shoot is planned for 2008 and will be hosted by the USA.

The day was completed with a presentation dinner at the SSAA Brisbane clubrooms. At the presentation shooters were able to select from a great range of prizes including Kynoch posters, Bertram cases and bullets and Woodleigh bullets.

Finally, I would like to thank our sponsors for their support - Bruce Bertram from Bertram Bullet Co, David Little from Kynoch Ammunition, UK, Geoff McDonald from Woodleigh Bullets and SSAA National and Brisbane.

by Graeme Wright