SSAA WA Open Lever Action Rifle, Classic Calibre and Revolver State Championships

Youngsters Cordell Wilson and Euan McCann offered further evidence of their growing potential with impressive showings at this year’s SSAA WA Lever Action Rifle, Classic Calibre and Revolver State Championships. The event was hosted by the Albany Lever Action Rifle Club over the long weekend of June 4 to 6 and the promising pair were part of the Perth Lever Action Rifle Club contingent who had travelled to participate.

Thirteen-year-old Cordell finished as a dual winner, taking out the WA Classic Calibre and Lever Action Revolver Under-15 titles. Euan, 14, also excelled by claiming the Under-15 WA Lever Action Rifle Open Championships.

The Albany weather was true to form with beautiful sunny days right up until Friday evening, then the wind and rain arrived and was still around on Saturday morning when the first event, Classic Calibre Rifle commenced. The competition was very close with only seven points separating winner Steve Hurley, of Albany, and second-placed Keith Mills, from Perth. The Ladies, Junior and Senior divisions were also closely contested by the shooters in their respective classes.

After the conclusion of the Classic Calibre event, revolvers were strapped on and the Revolver Championships got underway. The handgun event was split into two sections in order to take advantage of the weather, which had, by the time of the afternoon competition, fined up. The Precision section was shot on the Saturday afternoon and the rest of the Revolver Championships was completed after the Open Lever Action Rifle Championships on the Sunday afternoon, with Joel Evans having a convincing win.

At 4pm, there was a moving ceremony where the ashes of one of the foundation members of SSAA in WA and the Albany Lever Action Rifle Club, Kevin Caimanos, were fired out of a cannon down the range. Thanks must go to Doug for bringing along his licensed cannon and to the Albany Club for setting aside the time during the Championships for this occasion.

On Sunday morning, it was cold but almost sunny. The Open Lever Action Rifle event was closely contested once again among the top shooters, which resulted in David Sobik, of Albany, winning this event ahead of Mills. The teams category was wrapped up by Perth Lever Action Rifle Club. The 2-Gun Champion was Hurley, who edged home by one point from Mills.

The Lever Action shooters were grateful to Total Solutions Engineering for its continued support of the SSAA WA Lever Action Championships by providing the first and second place prizes. All in all, it was a very successful and well-run Championships. Many thanks go to the Albany members for their hard work in preparing the venue, running the event and their efforts throughout the Championships. And all the volunteers on the weekend deserve applause for their contributions.