SA Queens 2016

[Tim N]

Some more trivia
1st, 2nd and third in the agg are 280AI

[Chopper]

280 AI , SA wind cutters , Chop

[Chopper]

The 280 ai has come and gone , but will be back again, I bet after the Queens Chop.

[BATattack]

In the need for some comic relief I took a trip out to the range yesterday afternoon. With two ranges down for the day there was plenty of head scratching but everyone seemed to be having a good time!

The wind was coming in from the right off the sea at about 10-15mph with enough varying angle changes to make keeping them in the middle a challenge.

those shooting were pleased to see enough weather to keep the competition interesting as it gave plenty of opportunity to work back up the leader board while providing those at the top a very unstable perch. The conditions combined with squadding has given a challenging but fair shoot

today sitting at home (about 1hr from the range) there is strong gusty winds which is not always a good indication of what's happening at the range given the topography in my area but having a look at the live weather shows 35kph now easing to around 25kph by close of business today.

who's gonna win?!?!

All I have to say is GO kapunda! !

[Jase PTRC]

I went out as a spectator yesterday and from what i saw it was safe to say there was no home ground advantage to be had. With the wind coming from over your right shoulder is nothing we have seen at lower light in over a year. It would normally start out coming from 9.00 in the hours before lunch and usually swing around finish up fishtailing from 11.30 to 2 oclock. Very strange but quite the equalizer for the event

[Tim N]

And Kapunda did go well!
Well done to Brent and Peter for 1st and 2nd in open, also well done to all winners and place getters!!
A big thank you to SARA, all the generous sponsors and all the shooters that made the trip so worthwhile from an entertainment and competitive view point.
Lots of laughs were had, usually at someone expense, but when help was needed it came flooding in.
I decided not to win the queens this time as I don't want to peak early before the worlds
If you get the chance to do the SA queens you won't be disappointed, especially if you want to see what real wind is
A great bunch of people and a great time was had

[RAVEN]

Your welcome Tim or is it Ted
it was great to meet you and I'm glad you enjoyed yourself

and I also think the squadding was a great idea the result I'm sure could have been vastly different with the old system
anyone have a 280AI reamer

I will be watching this case(280AI) closely it may well be the best of both worlds between mag 7s & straight 284s
also a great match rifle choice if you are that way inclined.

congratulation to all the winners well done.
BTW for those that didn't attend first prize in open was a barrel and shooting goods
FSA Barrel & Gear
FTR GRS Stock & shooting gear
Badges awarded 30% of entries for all grades

Next year will be huge
You better bring your most accurate rifles and your best wind reading skills.

RB

[AlanF]

Made it home at 7am today, after a couple of short "power naps" on the way.

Apart from perhaps F/TR you'd have to say the locals had the wood on the visitors. Well done all the winners and badge winners - it wasn't easy.

Congrats to the two new F-Open shooters from Kapunda. Agree that the 280AI deserves another look - is RWS brass (30-06, 270?) available in Australia at present? And I believe the winner Brent Webley was using Lapua 180s! Most of us 7mm shooters don't consider anything other than Bergers.

My overall impression in F-Open is that the standard is continuing to rise. I lost a couple of shots to vertical, and 2 or 3 wind calls that I should've done better. So add 5 points to my score and that would have been a satisfying performance. Trouble is, I'd still be 7 points behind the leader . Hmmm, time to go back to drawing board (again) .

The wind was quite strong on day 2, which caused a problem with dust, but apart from that, it was pretty much typical Lower Light from my experience. Will be interesting to see the outcome of the vote on whether 900m is included in future, and more particularly, what is decided by the organising committee. Fingers crossed.

[RAVEN]

Alan good to see you made it home safely
my feeling is that 900m will be included because of 2 reasons
1: the new squadding system
2: the new TR grading system

And it will be interesting at management level on what the views will be
as I'm sure the usual behind the scenes shakers and movers will be chewing the ears off the board members
not to include it.
It will be incumbent on the SARA board to sell it as there are some benefits I believe in hold a 900m event.

Great to see some new names on top buoyed well for the SA FO team can't wait to coach these guns
RB

[Peterla]

Wow what a experience this was for me. My very first Queens in FO and my nerves were a little shaky at the start
That,s what probably dropped my very last 6 instead of a x giving me a score of 60.9.

After that I settled well in and felt rock solid. I am sure Brent had the same sort of feeling.
Big smiles came from everyone that I met with the occasion confused look after some wind on the last two days.

A great event that had some great friends and even met new people and made new friends

Looking forward to shooting FO now at the up and coming OPMs

Pete

[saum2]

Well done Peter, maybe the higher step next time. Must be good water at Kapunda with a 1 & 2 placing. Jerome must have that good reamer.
Geoff

[bartman007]

A well run event.
Great facilities (New accommodation is brilliant).
Great range, open and true.

I'm very glad to have attended the aptly named House Of Pain. With out pain there is no gain

Great to see new faces at the top of the pack. It was an enjoyable time with much friendly banter throughout each day, as well as a little sledging between states

As for the longer range suggestion (900 meters) for the Queens Series, I suspect SARA will need to strengthen their larger targets for next year. With the State Teams going there in 2017, and NRAA's plan to change the format to 800/900/1000 yard matches, strong winds may play a part in damaging targets.

I even got to talk to a few TR blokes. They're not a bad bunch after all Thanks JohnC and PeterM for tips on coaching and teams.

To think that the Long Range aficionado's turned up for Monday to start their 1000 -> 1200 yard events. They must be a little bit crazy, or really like shooting. Good luck boys!

[7.62x51]

I would like to say a big thank you, to all the Compliments over the last couple of days.
And to SARA for such a great week (5days) of shooting. It was an enjoyable event with great people and great competition.
A big shout out to kapunda Rifle Club members for all there help since i joined.
And to jerome and lisa ziersch. Jeromes workmanship
and quality to detail is second to none.
Hope to see everyone there again next year.

Brent webley.

[DaveMc]

A big congratulations Brent and Peter and all others. You opened some eyes for sure .
Well done.