Records tumble at Muzzleloading nationals

This year’s Easter long weekend brought with it the SSAA’s 48th Muzzleloading and Black Powder Cartridge National Championships hosted by Perth Muzzleloading Club, with a total of 30 shooters from four states (WA, SA, NSW and Qld) participating in rifle, pistol, musket and shotgun events.

The host club did a superb job in providing excellent camping and range facilities and even put on a spectacular 12-minute fireworks display on Saturday night. Weather conditions were favourable this year and allowed many shooters to register personal best performances, some collecting their first-ever national gold medal.
Two national records were set, one by Shayne Barnsley of NSW who broke the single-shot pistol aggregate with 185.4 out of a possible 200 points and the other by Steve Nicholas (SA), who smashed the Class 1 Military Rifle 100m prone event record with 96.4/100.

Next year’s National Championships are scheduled to be hosted by South Australia over the Easter weekend, though this will have to be confirmed at the national discipline meeting in November. Once the venue is locked in, nomination forms and programs will be sent out and uploaded to the national website.