Tassie Queens F-Class

[RDavies]

When I saw Marks picture in the internet I knew it wasn't for winning a beauty contest.
Congratulations on your win Mark, well deserved.
Congratulations also to Geoff Willis for winning F std A grade, Rod Mahon for winning F/TR and to Mirko Teglasi for winning TR.

[BATattack]

Congratulations "machinegun" Mark Fairbairn for taking out the open event. If that 7saum AI didnt need a new barrel before it will soon! Haha

Congratulations to Geoff and Mirko for their fs and tr wins in front of some tough competition.

[TOM]

Seems like F/TR is forgotten already.

Well done Rod Mahon against a pretty good field.

[AlanF]

Good evening all. Back from a nice gathering at the pub of some stragglers staying on at the range.

On a "housekeeping" matter. Daniel Bennett had a couple of good Pro-shot cleaning rods fall off the back of his truck (literally) after the 1000 today - someone may have picked them up?

Back to the Queens, things were quite challenging at 1000 today, and there were a few 2s and 3s amongst the 4s in all disciplines. The wind was generally about medium strength coming over the right shoulder, but changing often, sometimes suddenly, and mirage was not particularly useful when it was there. It was noticeable how the higher BC disciplines of F-Open and F/TR gained an edge. Campbell Town is probably more like Lower light than any of the other Queens ranges I've shot on, although I don't remember having tail winds much at Lower Light.

Regarding Rod Mahon and F/TR Tom, Rod is a well-liked regular attendee to this Queens, and I can assure you he got plenty of applause at the presentation. BTW if you want to support F/TR, its looking like we might be low on numbers at the Rosedale PM, so entries from up your way will be very welcome.

Alan

[DaveMc]

Well done Mark No doubt a well deserved win. You have been getting better and better every year so perhaps a sign of things to come - an Awesome score in what sounds like very hard conditions.

Also Rod, Geoff and Mirko and all other winners!

[BATattack]

Good evening all. Back from a nice gathering at the pub of some stragglers staying on at the range.

On a "housekeeping" matter. Daniel Bennett had a couple of good Pro-shot cleaning rods fall off the back of his truck (literally) after the 1000 today - someone may have picked them up?

Back to the Queens, things were quite challenging at 1000 today, and there were a few 2s and 3s amongst the 4s in all disciplines. The wind was generally about medium strength coming over the right shoulder, but changing often, sometimes suddenly, and mirage was not particularly useful when it was there. It was noticeable how the higher BC disciplines of F-Open and F/TR gained an edge. Campbell Town is probably more like Lower light than any of the other Queens ranges I've shot on, although I don't remember having tail winds much at Lower Light.

Regarding Rod Mahon and F/TR Tom, Rod is a well-liked regular attendee to this Queens, and I can assure you he got plenty of applause at the presentation. BTW if you want to support F/TR, its looking like we might be low on numbers at the Rosedale PM, so entries from up your way will be very welcome.

Alan

Your rite Alan! I felt much more comfortable shooting at 900 and 1000 on the last day than in that fluffy is it or isn't it there breeze of the first two days!

Rod did bloody well and beat a lot of the open shooters at some ranges. Mark offered Pete and I the used of his ftr rifle for an impromptu 1000yd teams match. Shooting 210gr bullets out of a 8kg 308 we were both amazed at the low recoil. Very manageable.

[wilddog]

Will get used to this as I post more messages , mate always have a rifle to spare for someyone hope it makes you think about FTR as a possible back up shoot as we all should to get it up and going . Loved the shoot , but did get some 'conditions' and won the first 'no name' comp , that last comment is you Adam?

[bruce moulds]

wilddog,
do you ever go near ecomeat?
keep safe,
bruce.

[BATattack]

Will get used to this as I post more messages , mate always have a rifle to spare for someyone hope it makes you think about FTR as a possible back up shoot as we all should to get it up and going . Loved the shoot , but did get some 'conditions' and won the first 'no name' comp , that last comment is you Adam?

Yeah m8 it's me Adam! We seriously appreciated the opportunity to have a go and as fairly experienced shooters we were really surprised at the low recoil. Anyone that shoots a 8kg f standard rifle wouldn't have a problem shooting 210s in ftr at all.

Call it what you will but queens or no queens it's a state championship win. Considering the level of competitors that were still there from the state teams (or arrived . . Ie alanf) for the queens it was fairly well fielded with good shooters. It would have been great to see guys like Marty and Dave and some tougher conditions thrown into the mix but everyone has their commitments.

[DaveMc]

Couldn't sleep heh Adam???

Looking from afar - Mark dropping only 7 points in Campbell town and compared to the quality field behind him I would say this would be one of the standout performances in a while.

I guess that will take him to a well deserved number one ranking as well (Alan?) and someone said to me recently "When Mark wins one of these - the flood gates will open"

Except that I am thousands of km's away and missed the opportunity I would have liked to be one of the first to pat him on the back.

EXTREMELY WELL DONE.

[AlanF]

Dave,

Would have been nice to have you and Marty and the Braunds etc. in the mix. For the conditions we had, where in general windspeed was changing at a moderate rate, Marks "machine-gun" approach with deadly accurate equipment and very fast 180 Bergers was a winning formula. I can think of a few things that would have got me closer, but not enough against that performance. Rankings should be up tonight when I get home, and yes Mark will take the lead in Open, and Jim Blomfield in F-Std.

There were some very good performances from some of the more recent F-Open members too. Phil Bonaventura and Adam Pohl both impressed. If we continue to get that calibre of field at Queens its going to grow the sport rapidly.

I finally had the opportunity to have some enjoyable chats with your good friend Peter Smith. His footwear definitely attracted more discussion down there than my steel stock !

Alan

[ecomeat]

wilddog,
do you ever go near ecomeat?
keep safe,
bruce.

Old Dog, .....................Wilddog has only just learnt to turn on his computer, so is probably "almost here" to reply to you.
I was hoping , of course, that he would reply that we are shooting mates, who enjoy a friendly rivalry. Go near me, you ask ? He has slept with me! We shared a cabin over the ACT Queens.....where i got to beat him in the Lead Up, and then he flogged me in the Queens ! I get to roll him occasionally, and it is impossible to shoot F Class in the Eastern half of Australia and NOT know him, coz you will continually run into him. He shoots every Thursday at Belmont, every Saturday at Belmont, and it's rare that he doesn't shoot on Sundays "somewhere"...... especially at any OPM on offer !!

Truth is, most of our OPMs over here are at 300-600 yds or mtrs and he is a true Long Range marksman. Not that he doesn't shoot a lot of 60's at shorter ranges, coz he certainly does, but I have long believed that he is simply the best 900 and 1000 yard shooter that I have ever seen. So bloody consistent at long range.
When he won in the Match Rifle at Tasmania, I was confident he would be a real force in the Queens and almost impossible to beat if he could get his nose anywhere near the front on Day 2. I actually sent him an SMS on the Sunday night to tell him he was the best in Australia at 900 and 1000 yards, and to "bring that number one badge back to Qld".
A lot of interstate shooters probably don't realize that he is incredibly generous , in every sense, with his equipment, time, components etc etc. Visit the big Wild Dog factory and you can almost guarantee to run into several other shooters......F Class, TR....varmint shooters etc ! All using Marks gear as they look for an improvement.
He snores though.....and doesn't wear his glasses to bed, so got up freezing at Canberra and turned the air conditioner on instead of the heater! I woke at about 5am with icicles dripping off everything in our room , and the temperature sitting on about 10 degrees !
Tony

[DaveMc]

Tony - That is an interesting statement. There are a few around who have claimed the title of best long range marksman (another "Wild' ....... name there somewhere ).

In the US they actually break up the long range F class championships from the short.

As we don't really do this (We do have long range F class with the Match Rifle but to date has only been attended in small numbers and not 900-1000 yards as you stated). An interesting one for the statistician - Perhaps Alan can whip them off his data records?? "What is the average score for the Queens and leadups 900/1000 (even 800m on the shorter ranges) for last few years?" Mark has attended a lot so should have a good data set and would no doubt appear up there. Certainly I have noticed each year he is getting closer and closer. Alan, Rod and Marty are always up there at the end too in the longs and what makes them hard to beat if they get their nose in front (and why they have won a lot of Queens). Of course this is hard to compare lower light and Tassie with other places......

[Brad Y]

Very interesting to hear he ran fast on the conditions. We did that on the last 15 shot match of the teams shoot (well for the last 3 shooters anyway after getting hammered trying to pick our way through it for the first two) and it worked well. Trouble was knowing when to run and when to stop- last two shooters ended up with a 4 and 3 respectively But when the condition was there, 6's and X's were there to be had.

Well done again to all the winners.

[ShaneG]

I will add some food for thought here as well.
1. Both Rod and myself just managed to pip F standard from bipods.
2. I was legal for F standard so BC no argument but can only enter one discipline
3. I will always support the international discipline thus entered f/TR.
A lot of the top guys from F Open were either missing in action or did not shoot the lead up. Considering this we were not that far behind the F Open Grand Agg - 8 points after 16 ranges.
I saw a lot of bipods in F Standard Teams and expected more entries in F/TR than transpired?
I know for example Jim Blomfield could not make weight but is addressing same for Townsville.
Anyway the whole F class continues to move forward especially Open and F/TR.
Shane