2017 SSAA Southern Highlands True Grit Cowboy Lever Action Silhouette Shoot

A stunning first 40 out of 40 by Mick Hutton was still not good enough to seal top spot in the 2017 SSAA Southern Highlands True Grit Cowboy Lever Action Silhouette Shoot at Bowral Pistol Club over the weekend of February 25 and 26.

Mick achieved his feat in the Pistol Cartridge Grade 3×40-shot matches which earned him an Australian record. However, he fell away in the later stages to be overtaken by Russell Teale, of SSAA Wodonga. Russell finished first past the post, with his 105 eclipsing Mick’s total of 104. It wrapped up a triple triumph for Russell, who also came out on top in the Smallbore Grade 3 x 40-shot and the overall 2-Gun count.

However, Mick has been too busy to dwell on his disappointment. He is now back in the desert of central Australia, where he spends about six months of the year organising outback tours. He has also moved home from South Australia, where he was a member of SSAA Parra branch, to New South Wales. Currently, he is in the process of signing up to join the SSAA Canowindra outlet.

The Bowral meeting was attended by 44 shooters, whose line-up also included four juniors. Kathy Tobler, of the host club, had helped to organise the event together with her husband, Robert, who was Match Director. Kathy was pleased with how things went but sounded a note of sympathy for Mick.

“He had a blinder early on but then lost his way,” said Kathy. “That can happen and you find that it’s the master of consistency who usually finishes up as the winner.

“It was a bit of a choke on a grand scale as he only managed to hit the foot of his final target.”

Kathy was among the entrants and was happy with her performance, which saw her land sixth spot in the 2-Gun rankings. Alas, Robert missed out on a top 10 berth.

The couple also had their daughters Annie, 15, and Grace, 14, competing in the junior brackets.

“Annie has been shooting since she was about eight years old and has some Australian National titles to her name so it was no real surprise that she did quite well,” said Kathy.

Smallbore 3×40-shot grade results
Place	Name	Grade	Score
1	Russell Teale	M	109
2	Graeme Whatman	M	102
3	Mick Hutton	M	88
1	Brett Randall	AAA	100
2	Kathy Tobler	AAA	87
3	Paul Schuhkraft	AAA	86
1	Jim Buckley	AA	96
2	Kym Prehn	AA	79
3	Daniel Johnston	AA	78
1	Ron Williams	A	73
2	Connie Beadell	A	66
3	Annie Tobler	A	61
1	Rebecca Dean	Jnr 15+	86
2	Annie Tobler	Jnr 15+	61
1	Brooklyn Randall	Jnr U15	75
2	Grace Tobler	Jnr U15	54

Pistol Cartridge 3×40-shotgrade results
Place	Name	Grade	Score
1	Russell Teale	M	106
2	Mick Hutton	M	105
3	Graeme Whatman	M	90
1	Shane Pfieffer	AAA	88
2	Jim Buckley	AAA	86
3	Adam Vine	AAA	85
1	Rebecca Dean	AA	94
2	Daniel Johnston	AA	79
3	Lyn Muirhead	AA	75
1	Brooklyn Randall	A	73
2	Connie Beadell	A	58
3	Col Phelps	A	54
1	John Hall	B	53
1	Rebecca Dean	Jnr 15+	94
2	Annie Tobler	Jnr 15+	20
1	Brooklyn Randall	Jnr U15	73
2	Grace Tobler	Jnr U15	44

2-Gun top 10
Place	Name	Smallbore	Pistol Cartridge	Score
1	Russell Teale	109	106	215
2	Mick Hutton	88	105	193
3	Graeme Whatman	102	90	192
4	Jim Buckley	96	86	182
5	Rebecca Dean	86	94	180
6	Kathy Tobler	87	85	172
7	Brett Randall	100	71	171
8	Shane Pfieffer	77	88	165
9	Adam Vine	75	85	160
10	Daniel Johnston	78	79	157
1	Rebecca Dean (Jnr 15+)	86	94	180
2	Annie Tobler (Jnr 15+)	61	20	81
1	Brooklyn Randall (Jnr U15)	75	73	148
2	Grace Tobler (Jnr U15)	54	44	98