QLD Queens

[ecomeat]

Spencer Dunstall 50-2
Lindsay Combie 56-2

[ecomeat]

Anybody checked the weather for Friday & Saturday? looks stormy, a good reason to shoot the longs early???

The new forecast is for 50mm to 100mm on Sat and Sunday.
Maybe they should shoot it "backwards" and start at 1000 !

[Craig McGowan]

Gee Wiz, thanks Tony. Just what I needed to hear. You may have to get some mud tyres for your crutches.

[AlanF]

Final results of the leadup appear to be up.

F-Open : Lindsay Crombie by 2 points from Craig McGowan
F Std : Brian Ahern by 2 points from Ernie Mace
F/TR : Steve Sharp by 11 (!) from Nikki Slee

Some real carnage down the order. And heavy rain forecast for the weekend . There's going to be some interesting accounts coming out of this Queens .

[jasmay]

Well, it's certainly been a character building couple of days for myself (and others), in don't think much more could have gone wrong for me.

I started day 1 out with a fee unknowns, I have a couple of barrel concerns and changed to a new batch of projectiles. I know my wind reading has not been the best over the last 2 days either so a dark cloud hangs over my whole rig.

As well as the above, after the 2nd range some accidentally broke my bipod, which meant I had to shoot off a setup I was unfamiliar with. I changed rifles for both the last 600's which was not fun.

To top the day off, I was driving the wife's car, and unbeknown to me if you leave the back door up all the interior lights stay on, this resulted in a flat battery to finish my day thanks Mark for the jump.

Today I started out with a new barrel and ammo, after much contemplation overnight, but so with a new bipod, I was reasonably happy with my score albeit a 53 @ 900, I felt elevation started to settle towards the end.

I went into the 1000 confident, first to count was a 4 but believe me this was not bad given conditions, plenty of 2'a and a few 1'a hovering around on targets either side of me. My string went 45XX6655 and then the proverbial hit the fan, apparently (I did not see it) the target puller moved the frame as I fired, this resulted in a 2.5min delay, and a blank target on return from the pit, I need 3 shots to finish my run using an optional, with only 2 in the box I was in serious trouble.

Never in my life have I been on the mound with only enough for the range, as it was a new barrel I did not even have a spare round in the car, and had to follow up my last 185 with a 175 for a 2.

Bugger me, I really hole the karma is over as tomorrow is the start if a better match.

The one big lesson I took out of the last 2 days is never loose your cool, try to worn through and systematically piece out the issues your having, I see too many folks lose it on the mound and turn a bad shoot into a terrible shoot and not learn anything. I hope I have been able to weed out my issues and start the queens on a better foot.

See you all tomorrow!!

[plumbs7]

Hey Jason , tomorrow is another day.

Remember we are doing this for "fun" lol.
Good luck to all I'm looking forward to the scores !

Regards Graham.

[DenisA]

Jason, I heard a good saying the other day. There are no bad shoots, only results.

[John T]

Jason,
adverse circumstances should never be converted, in the mind, to adversity.

We are privileged to have Geoff Ayling make a very significant contribution to shooting in Australia via his articles in "Australian Target Rifle". Read them. Yes, it's hard going, so, read them AGAIN!

All scoring shows that Duncan was near to its most horrid at 1000, in the second morning session.

The "midday slop" (any time between 10.30 and 2.00) is the usual suspect. Did the "early downs" escape the floggings?

Was it the slop, with menace?

John T.
13.08.14

[plumbs7]

Congrats to D Aarons for 600 yd win 60.7 . Bet that felt good !

[AlanF]

So, any reports from the coalface? What exactly was the weather doing? Seems to be very patchy?? Is that the same Marty Lobert who ran 2nd in the FCWC or is it someone else with the same name? And how come Rod hasn't had a 60???

[Matt P]

Alan
In a few words the conditions are crap !!!!!
Very patchy and at times almost unreadable although some are either getting good patches or know something the rest of us don't.
Matt P

[AlanF]

According to Willyweather it'll be raining by lunchtime tomorrow and wind picking up from the east. Whoever wins this is sure going to earn it.

[ecomeat]

Sorry to be rather late.
I made it in the just as they started the 500 yards, and discoverd its a bloody sight harder than it should be to manouver on a sloping grass mound on crutches. Also those in charge were apparently forced into implementing the rule about NO electronic devices on the mound/firing line. That made it impossible for me on one crutch to record anything in real time, and also mide it difficult for able bodied Craig McGowan to update his posts on the 7mm.com.au Facebook page.
Once again there were a number of broken hearts, with a noticeable number of long faces .
Over half of the field had dropped 3 or more points at the 300, and only 4 possibles in the great field of 37 starters in F Open. Another 8 had dropped just one, including that Roderick fella from Cessnock NSW who ended day one on top.
From the time I got there, the wind basically never stopped switching , and was virtually simultaneously blowing from the left at 10+ mph then flicking to head on, switching rapidly from 10 o'clock to 2 o'clock then whooooomph...back to hard from the left. I believe most shops in the Belmont district sold out of tissues.
I haven't had the pleasure of meeting this "new boy" David Goldberg who won the 300 yards range, but he rolled them again at 500 with a 60-4.
Then it was a quick lunch before starting again at 12-45 and once again things were damn tough.
Brent Knudsen from Beaudesert shot well to take the range with the only 60, with that Cessnock dude , Roderick someone Close behind, and the only one on a 59. Five more shooters on a 58 meant that three quarters of the field had dropped three or more.
There were numerous wind changes through this first 600 of 4 or more minutes of wind, that completely bamboozled anyone unlucky enough to be shooting at the time.
The final 600 again saw some ridiculous wind events, but this time only half the field dropped three or more points.
A 60-7 and a Range win certainly put a smile on Denis Aaron's face, with Rod just one "X" behind him in second place.
By the time Day one was over, Rod Davies held a two point margin over his Clubmate David Goldberg, with Michael Waites just one point behind and holding onto Third in the Aggregate.
Weather is virtually guaranteed to get really ugly tomorrow as the change arrives with a vengeance, and Saturday could be VERY wet.
I can't get there tomorrow, so recommend that anyone who is keen for a "blow by blow" description as the tears fall, should use Facebook and "like" the 7mm.com.au Facebook page which should let all and sundry then follow Craig McGowans posts. He is doing his best to keep it all current, walking up and down the line following the scores, but the "No Electronic Devices" means he has to write the scores by hand and then re-type all details to post to Facebook.
My own excuse for a poor reporting job today is slippery grass slopes, crutches and my half on an Equipment List

[DenisA]

Congrats to D Aarons for 600 yd win 60.7 . Bet that felt good !

Thanks Graham, yes it did. In these conditions, it felt great doing that with a 6BR too. That's my best hit to date. I was just lucky enough to be able to get my first sighter away in the heavy wind (3 moa) and the second in a lighter condition (2 moa) and the wind for the rest of the shoot stayed in that bracket. I just got lucky, certainly didn't happen at the first 600 or either of the first two.

Cheers mate.

[BATattack]

sounds very interesting!

any word on the reasoning for enforcing no electronic devices on the mound?