SSAA SA Cowboy Lever Action Silhouette Rifle State Titles

The 2015 SSAA South Australian Cowboy Lever Action Silhouette Rifle State Titles were held at the SSAA Para Range on February 28 and March 1. Three South Australian clubs that shoot Cowboy Lever Action Silhouette Rifle were represented, being Para, Moonta and Whyalla, and while numbers were a little lower than expected, a great weekend was had by all who competed.

The first event on Saturday was Pistol Calibre. At the end of the 40 shots, Dave McCarthy from Para was in front with a score of 34/40. Peter Hartman from Moonta was second with 30, and Greg Miller from Para was third with 29. Dave was using an original Marlin 1889 in .44-40-calibre, Peter was using a Browning 1892 .32-20 and Greg was using a Marlin 1894 Cowboy .357.

The second match for Saturday was Rifle Calibre. Greg Miller came away as the winner with a very respectable score of 35/40. Dave McCarthy came second after a shoot-off with his wife Ashlea McCarthy with a score of 34/40, and Ashlea came third, also with 34/40. Greg was shooting an original 1895 Marlin in .33WCF, Dave was also shooting an original 1895 Marlin but in .38-56 and Ashlea was shooting a Marlin 336 .30-30. All three shooters were using lead bullets in this match. On Saturday night, the organisers put on a barbecue dinner and the usual high amount of camaraderie was evident.

On Sunday morning, after a good solid breakfast, the Smallbore matches got underway. After the first 40 shots, Dave McCarthy was leading with a 35/40. Peter Hartman was hot on his tail with 34/40 and Phil Stephen from Para was running third with 28/40.

The second half of the Smallbore match saw some shooters improve and others slide down the list. After the second 40 shots, Dave McCarthy shot 35/40, Dave Cleal from Moonta shot 34/40 and Greg Miller shot 32/40. The Smallbore Aggregate was won by Dave McCarthy with a 70/80, Peter Hartman was second with 61/80, and tied in third place was Greg Miller and Dave Cleal each with 59/80. All of the top positions were filled by shooters using Marlin 39As.

The 3-Gun Aggregate was won by Dave McCarthy with a score of 138/160. Second was Greg Miller with 123/160 and third was Peter Hartman with 119/160.

A big thank you to all the shooters who attended and all who worked diligently to put on this successful shoot.

Rank	Name	Pistol Calibre	Pos	Rifle Calibre	Pos	Smallbore #1	Pos	Smallbore #2	Pos	Smallbore Aggregate	Pos	3-Gun Agg
1	Dave McCarthy	34	1	34	2	35	1	35	1	70	1	138
2	Greg Miller	29	3	35	1	27		32	3	59	3	123
3	Peter Hartman	30	2	28		34	2	27		61	2	119
4	Damian Bochnicek	27		28		27		30		57		112
5	Dave Pattenden	28		23		27		22		49		100
6	Alex Payne	26		25		18		27		45		96
7	Dave Cleal			31		25		34	2	59	3	90
8	Stef Giese	26		22		16		23		39		87
9	Ashlea McCarthy	28		34	3					0		62
10	Nathan Birch					27		28		55		55
11	Phil Stephen					28	3	23		51		51
12	Richard Payne	21		27						0		48
13	Wayne Curnow	14		22						0		36
14	Ameer Maghazaji					16		19		35		35