In the leadup conditions were unpleasantly warm (for me at least), but wind was at worst "tricky", as Canberra usually is. Kel Bell had a 6x47 and his trusty 6.5-284, Hans Hoitink had a 260 Remington, Dave Groves a new 6.5x55AI, Rod Davies his .22BR and 284Win both shooting FB projectiles, and the 3 Vic shooters, being Rod Mahon, Gary Hunt and myself were using 6 Dashers at a Queens for the first time.
This year the Rolph format changed: there was an extra range (500m) on day 1 and on day 2 one of the 800m ranges was swapped for 600m, so more shooting but shorter average distance. The Day 1 Scores show pretty much how things went - no spectacular incidents that I can recall. Kel dropped back a little next day and thanks to consistent shooting and beautiful elevation in his Dasher, Rod Mahon took the Rolph, his biggest win to date, but there will be more to come believe me.See Day 2 Scores.
For the Queens, Hans was missing, but we had 4 additions to make the field up to 10. Geoff Miners was back with a 6x47 and his good old 6.5x55, Bob Eager had his 6 Dasher, and Mal Henderson and defending champion Dennis Shallis showed up with their 243Wins. Having used a Dasher in the leadup, I changed barrels to 6.5-284 for the Queens.
The weather was still very warm on Queens day 1, and the wind was pretty challenging. If you doubt that, look at Matt Paroz's scores in F-Std. I remember Rod Mahon got caught with some 7s early on, which put him behind the 8 ball from the start. Queens Day 1 Scores
At the longs on day 2 it was still warm and even windier, particularly for the last 800m. I had one of those days when everything goes according to plan, and Rod Mahon wasn't far back. Queens Day 2 Scores. Gary had disasters at the 800s and had the dubious honour of wearing the flashing tail light after both ranges (this has become a tradition for F-Open at the Canberra Queens - last place wears the tail-light after each range
.)
Things settled down, with both temperature and wind moderating on the Sunday. Having lead Rod Davies by 7 overnight, I managed to keep him at bay over the final 500 and 600m ranges. Bob Eager edged Rod Mahon out of third. There was an interesting shoot-off for the Sunday daily agg, with Rod Davies, Rod Mahon and Bob Eager all tied on 190. Bob only had 5 rounds left so they decided that sighters could be optionally included. Bob thanked the others by getting a 10 for his first sighter and going on to win the shoot-off in 5 shots! Queens Day 3 Scores
Unfortunately I didn't get the opportunity to say a few words at the presentation, but what I was intending to say was that we had a great bunch of F-Open shooters - there was never a dull moment - chief comedian Gary Hunt saw to that - and there was great cameraderie between competitors too. I had two shooters, including runner-up Rod Davies offer me the use of their rifles when one of mine was not performing. So we may have been a small part of the Queens, but I reckon if there was a competition for which group had the most fun, it would have been a clear win for F-Open. So put this one down on your calendar for next year folks - I believe there are plans for more than just the tail-light.
Alan
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