Vic Queens F-Open Diary

[AlanF]

We're off to a late start with this diary, but things should be on track from now on - I intend to post each night.

Firstly I need to confess that I am not at Bendigo yet - will get there hopefully in time to watch the final range of the Syme, which is the 1000yds.

I have spoken to the "stars" of the Syme Day 1 earlier this evening. Rod Mahon and Gary Hunt finished 1 and 2 with some very high scores. See the VRA Results. I understand that the first 3 in the daily agg were using 6 Dashers, and among the others Rod Davies was trying to get a new barrel going on his 22BR, while Greg Phelan was using his .308 match rifle. I believe a couple of the South Australians would have been using 6 x 47s, and Bruce Kneebone a 6BR.

The numbers are great - best ever for F-Open in the Syme I believe. Its great to have the support of the SA contingent.

BTW one of our regular forum members, John Kielly, is showing them the way in F-Std. Hang on in there John.

I'll post again tomorrow night.

Alan

[AlanF]

Evenin' all.

Its Friday night, and I'm about to turn in.

Congratulations to Gary Hunt on his convincing win in the Syme . He swapped places with overnight leader Rod Mahon. Glen Hutchins came up for a respectable third. See VRA RESULTS PAGE.

Looks like at least 10 entries in the Queens with all but two from the Syme staying on and Shane Quaintmere, Wayne MacFarlane and myself in addition. Weather tomorrow will be fine and 24 with moderate tail wind. I'm looking forward to another enjoyable Queens with the strongest field I've been in at Bendigo.

Will be back tomorrow night with some more definite info about calibres etc., and anything which may be of interest.

Alan

[AlanF]

Sorry folks - running a bit late.

Well we had pleasant weather today pretty much as forecast with a moderate tailwind which tended to flop over from side to side making for a few tricky spells.

Here's my latest info about calibres. Rod Mahon, Gary Hunt and Bill Siegloff shot Dashers as I did I for the first 2 ranges then changed to 6.5-284 at 600. Richard Braund, Wayne MacFarlane 284 Win, Shane Quaintmere and Stuart Braund 6 x47, Glen Hutchins 6BR then 284 at 500(?), Greg Phelan .308, Rod Davies 22BR for the first 2 ranges then 284 Win.

Rod Mahon is looking pretty solid at the front, but as usual it has to be said that the 2 900s and 1000 are where this Queens is won or lost, and anyone within 20 points of the lead after the 600s will be in with a show. See today's results

Looks like the weather will be similar tomorrow. We have a good bunch to shoot with - most went out to a meal tonight. Back tomorrow night.

Alan

[AlanF]

Late again

Nothing much to report tonight except that Rod Mahon is hanging on to the lead by 4 points - we could have a real cliff-hanger tomorrow with 5 of us within 8 points of him. I had one of my best Queens days ever winning the 3 ranges including 100 at the first 600yds.

I should mention we had a mixed category 4 person teams shoot after the 900yds. We used the MCSI scoring system to enable mixed teams of TR, F-Std and F-Open. It was quite well received and was I think good for F-Class to be able to participate fully.

I may stay at the range tomorrow night (one of the advantages of retirement - i.e. no work on Tuesday , and will be able to do the final post quite early I hope). Catch up with you then...

[AlanF]

Hello again from Bendigo. Its all over for another year. We had a cliff-hanger of a finish as predicted. Richard Braund, Rod Mahon and myself had a shoot-off for the Queens. We had 4 Open targets side by side at 1000 yds (it included a daily agg between Richard and Wayne MacFarlane). I managed to hold them out for the Queens and Wayne won the daily agg. Rod Mahon edged out Gary Hunt for the Grand Agg. And BTW a previous F-Open winner Ken Melgaard won F-Std A.

Queens Agg Scores

By the way the Open results say Richard won Open. He must have bribed the VRA webmaster. Nice try Richard but I have the No 1 badge in my hand .

In my "few words" at the presentation I thanked SA for making the effort to support our Queens. Some (many?) of us will I hope be returning that support by going to the SA Queens in October.


Alan

[RDavies]

Just a few more details on the F open Queens shoot from my point of view.
In the 1st 300 range, Gary Hunt, the gunsmith of Sniper Rifles used his 6 Dasher to continue with his Syme lead up win to score 100, with Richard Braund (Raven) from South Australia shooting a 284 also shooting a 100. Richard must not have been listening when people told him he needed a small mouse gun to do well in the short ranges. Rod Mahon started his run well in the short ranges, leading pretty well and shooting consistantly well until the last day with his 6 Dasher when the smaller Dasher started losing ground against the bigger cannons in the long ranges in difficult conditions. I think we will soon see Gary Hunt building up a "cannon" for Rod Mahon to use in the longs. Alan Frazer WAS listening when someone (probably one of his fellow competitors ) told him he needed a small caliber to do well in the short ranges. Fortunatly for us, but not so for Alan, his 6 Dasher, just wasnt working well, so he lost valuable points early on. I,m not sure if the rumour is true that Alans 6 Dasher is now wrapped around a tree next to the 500y line. When Alan brought out his trusty 6.5x284, he quickly started making up ground in the long ranges in the switchy winds. Gary, there is a carton of black label scotch in it for you if you clean Alans barrel with barbed wired next time he brings it to you for a look over. While some are moving towards separate rifles for short and long ranges, I think Alan is going to be working of the theory of Beware the man with one gun, he probably knows how to use it, and is talking of using the gun he knows best at all ranges.
Bill Siegloff I believe used a 6 dasher and a 280 Ackley ( correct me if I,m wrong) to shoot consistantly well, staying up near the lead the whole way though, only to miss out on the 3 way tied win by 3 points.
As for my self, I have just built up a new 6x47 with which I was (I hoped)going to conquer the opposition, and leave them shaking in my dust, but after a bad run trying to get the new gun working in the Syme, I gave up and borrowed an F standard rifle to shoot the 1000 yd and shot a record low score for myself of 67, DOH So far it is the only 6x47 which I have heard of which hasnt shot well, but Gary Hunt of Sniper Rifles used his superior gunsmithing skills to diagnose it as a very loose nut behind the butt, but not being a gunsmith I wasnt able to find it? He must have fixed it as it went better with my old barrels in it. In hind sight, it probably wasnt a smart idea trying to use a new caliber and new barrel against the standard of shooters at the Vic queens leadup.
For the Queens, I tried my trusty but ageing 22BR again, but switched to a 284 for the 900 and 1000. I finaly got a load worked out for my 284 after lots of trying, then proceeded to stuff things up by pointing it in the wrong direction whenever I yanked on the trigger. I am about to ring Pete van Meurs of Pro-cal to order a how to shoot book and 3 tins of wind reading ability.
In the last day, Wayne Macfarlane ( Macca) started to gain momentum with his 284 (Go the 284s) to win the 3rd day aggregate.
In the end it came down to 4 shooters, Rod Mohan, Alan, Richard Braund and Bill Siegloff within a few points of each other leading up to the last 1000 yd shoot. After the 1000yd, it was 3 way tie on 753 with Bill only 3 points behind on 750 and myself 5 points behind on 748,then Gary Hunt on 740. It is the 2nd time Alan and Richard have had to shoot off to decide the Queens.Talk about a close finish. One more range or one wrong wind flag reading, could have seen the first few positions changed around.
In the 1000yd shoot off it was close again, but Alan shot a 45, with Richard dipping into an old lot of ammo to shoot 42.(though I sense revenge is planned when the F open band wagon tuns up for the S.A Queens) Rods little 6mm Dasher got 42 as well, but just got pipped on a count back to 3rd place. Richard was also shooting off for 3rd day aggragate at the same time, with Wayne macfarlane, so it was 4 F open shooters shooting out at once.
All in all, a good event, with no one dominating, the weather was perfect and everyone getting their fair share of good and bad ranges.
One more thing on the rifles and doodads front,One thing I have started to notice is the amount of tuners turning up on centerfires now. Only a year or so ago, they were fairly rare, but now more front runers are using them, than those who dont.
See you there next year.

[Lynn Otto]

Congratulations Alan, an excellent win, especially as it was so close.

I look forward to seeing you and hopefully a few others in October, with the way you're shooting I don't think I will even bother to dust off my rifle.

[AlanF]

Lynn,

Our attendance at your Queens may have conditions e.g. a certain former F-Std winner may be required to be in the field !

Rod,

Thanks for the detailed account. I didn't get a huge amount of time on the diary because several fellow competitors (or their appointed "agents" ) kept calling in to say gidday - the earliest I got to sleep was about 1am !

I agree with nearly everything you said . But if you need wind-reading lessons then so does Corbett! . You were certainly right about it being close. On the last day, any one of the top half of the field could have got up with a couple of good ranges. I hope we get more Queens like that.

And yes the 6.5 is the only calibre for me for big shoots for now, until the Dasher earns its stripes at club shoots. To be fair to the Dasher, I think I've been unlucky with the particular barrel, and also my own shooting style seems to fit the 6.5 better. You only have to look at Rod and Gary's Dashers to know that they can be very effective.

Alan

[Lynn Otto]

Lynn,

Our attendance at your Queens may have conditions e.g. a certain former F-Std winner may be required to be in the field !

Happen that person is in the field it will be purely to make up the numbers, after two years of not shooting it will be lucky if they can even hit the target.

[AlanF]

....it will be lucky if they can even hit the target. .....

Yeah right.

See you in October Lynn.

[RAVEN]

On behalf of the FCASA
Thanx VRA for a great Syme and Queens event
Congratulations Alan on your second queens win at Bendigo.
And to Ken M on his 3rd No1 Badge
To be multi No1 badge winners is a huge achievement.

As usual the competition was first rate it was great to make new acquaintances with Gary, Greg, Rod D, Rod H
And catch up with some old ones.
That is the 3rd queens I have dawn even to get a badge
2 of them were shoot offs for first place.
I’m getting closer Alan 3rd last one and 2nd this time It always amazes me that the scores can be so close after 3 days.
After some advice from WB I was able to hatch a cunning plan that enable me to scrape into 2nd spot over Rod (i know U didn't want to hear that Rod)
Rod had put in a great performance over the 2 Days and was unlucky to be pipped at the post.

The Bendigo range put up some great flicky conditions and I have taken notes so next time I may get out of the block a bit better.
Anyhoo had a great time.
I hope to see some of the FO boys at the SARA Queens


One other thing I thought the Queens winners either side of the TR winner was a very nice complementary touch by the VRA

BTW Did anybody pick up 3 range prizes (glasses) left at the fence post under the shade tent on Monday after the ceremony????

Kind Regards and Good Shooting
RB
P.S. Nice write up RodD

[AlanF]

...BTW Did anybody pick up 3 range prizes (glasses) left at the fence post under the shade tent on Monday after the ceremony????...

Yes I did. I thought they were Gary's and left them at his place on the Tuesday morning. PM me and we'll work out a way of getting them to you.

Alan