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Australian International High Power Rifle

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2006 AUSTRALIAN XC MASTERS and

2006 COOEE CUP - GILGANDRA

 
 

Note.  This event also doubled as the Australian Masters due to the Masters being washed out back in July.

AUSTRALIAN XC MASTERS RESULTS

COOEE CUP XC RESULTS

COOEE CUP SERVICE RESULTS

COOEE CUP TACTICAL RESULTS

Gilgandra always turns on a fantastic event.  Again, the Gilgandra crew, including John and Bill, President of SSAA Gilgandra and Captain of Gilgandra RC respectively, came to the party with range modifications to increase the number of targets, and worked overtime to cater for this 4 day affair.

To everybody's surprise, the weather was dry for the whole event after the previous 2 wet events (July 2006 was a wash out).  Unfortunately, the weather has been very dry, and Gilgandra is suffering from drought.  This event, with its 26 travellers, injected approximately $5,000 into the local and country economy.  Another case of shooters being the "good guys".

The event was run perfectly, with exact range and pit instructions and procedures for all shooting activities, including the rule of using Empty Chamber Indicators (ECI's) to have no doubts about safety. 

To help spread the experience and education of running an event, 3 new, young, ROs and POs stepped up and did an OUTSTANDING job of running the range and pits - Matt Avard, Josh Coughran and Chris Baynes (with 2 weeks of CMP and NRA experience).  Well done to all.

As this weekend contained a very important day in Australian war time history, Remembrance Day, all Saturday shooting activities ceased at 11am, 11th of Nov and those on the firing line and in the pits met halfway down the range.  Wal Cameron delivered a touching and perfectly written ceremony to all present to remember those who served our country.

Unfortunately the weekend was cut short on Sunday due to terrible wind and dust storms causing malfunctions on the firing line.  This is a rare problem, but is a problem non the less.  So after the MSD 3P was shot, the day and weekend was called for an early BBQ and trophy presentation.  The vintage match would have taken 4.5 hours to run, and would have resulted in a 4pm finish, which isn't itself a problem, but after 3.5 days of shooting, most felt we had hit the limit of shooter comfort given the conditions.

Ken Burrell (Scruffy) deserves all the praise for his dedication to getting this event off the ground.  He worked hard in the lead up to the event, he worked all weekend sacrificing his own shooting pleasures, and no doubt worked long after the rest of us went home.  Thanks mate!

We will be back in 2007 with the range better than ever, after a commitment from the Gilgandra range locals to refurbish the range mounds and have them covered for shooter comfort and equipment care.  All shooters should do their best to attend either, or both, of the 2007 scheduled matches.  These matches will be thinned to increase fluency and comfort, and will have a dedicated day to Australian service rifle course of fire - Deliberate, Rapid and Snaps.

This meet saw an end to the 2006 calendar and a close to the 2006 National Tour Series - Results.  Congratulations to our winners and dedication to the discipline over the year.

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