Australia Day 2007 27th Annual Benchrest Competition
26-28 January 2007

Malcolm Price was the winner of the Ian Josselyn
Memorial Trophy for first place in the Sporter class. The usual format of Light and Heavy Varmint classes was expanded in 2007 by conducting a Sporter Rifle class match on the Friday. Sporter class is for rifles with a maximum weight of 9lb. Any calibre and any power scope is permitted. There were 47 nominations for this event. Good conditions assisted shooters to some very good groups and it was a close battle for the 100-yard aggregate. Malcolm Price punched down .114 on the last target for small group of the morning, but Ken Yates took the aggregate with .2784.

Another tough battle took place at the longer yardage and to shoot small group in a detail required five shots at less than .5" - not an easy task for many. Robert Tobler made a return to Benchrest and shot small group with a tidy .349 on his D target. The aggregate showed a clear win to Stuart Elliott, whose .3518 was well clear of the opposition. The grand aggregate produced a popular winner - the Ian Josselyn Memorial Shield went to Malcolm Price, who finished ahead of Stuart and Annie Elliott in the minor places.

There were 65 nominations for Light Varmint and shooters were greeted with a fine morning and sporting wind conditions. A forest of wind indicators showed that it was going to be an interesting day. The backers had been left out at 200 yards and the Light Varmint event began at this distance.

Overall winners in the 2-Gun: Stuart Elliott, centre,
with Steve Brown, left, and Michael Huebner. Right from the jump Craig Whittleton punched down a .323 group, which was not bettered at that yardage. Conditions deteriorated as the morning went on and only one shooter managed to keep all five groups less than 1". Stuart Elliott easily won the yardage with a .3461, leaving the rest of us to ponder what might have been. At the break, the targets and backers were brought back to 100 yards, but any thoughts of an easy time of it were soon dispelled. As shooters battled to shoot that elusive one-hole group, many had a couple of good ones, but almost inevitably a poor one would soon follow. Best group of the morning was shot by Mark White, who put down a .146 on his C target. If you think I am exaggerating the tough conditions, the 100-yard aggregate was won by Ken Yates with a .2962. He was the only shooter to aggregate less than .3. When was the last time that happened in a major shoot? When it was all added up, the grand aggregate for Light Varmint was won by Stuart Elliott, with Michael Huebner and Steve Brown a fair way back in the minor places.

Ken Yates won all three of the 100-yard aggregates
- an unusual hat trick. Sunday was for Heavy Varmint and the match commenced with 68 shooters at 100 yards. It looked like it was going to be more of the same and the winners would certainly earn their medals. Milan Morrell shot a .147 on the A target, but Thomas Spang put down a .126 on B and no-one was able to better that for the morning. In a repeat of the previous event, Ken managed to snag the shorter aggregate with a very fine .2368 - again, aggregates less than .3 were rare. With one yardage to go, the battle was really on. Trying to hold five shots less than 1" at 200 yards was a task beyond many shooters, but it was a case of knuckle down and try to beat that wind. Keith Highfield was having a tough time at the longer yardage, but had a moment of glory when he punched down one group of .339, which was the best for the afternoon. The yardage was fought out down to the last shot between myself and Stuart Elliott, but Stuart just edged me out with a .4093. The grand aggregate winner was Michael Huebner from Melbourne - even one horror group at 200 could not stop him. Stuart and myself filled the minor places.

The all-important 2-Gun winner of the Bob Daniels Trophy was Stuart Elliott. He has now won it more times than most can remember. Second in was Michael Huebner, followed by Steve Brown. Once again, it was a most enjoyable shoot and Alex Chryss and his band of helpers made sure that everything ran smoothly. Well done, Canberra!

by Brendan Atkinson