2022

Bendigo – 4th April

South Australian Teams

FTR – First Place
F Std – First Place
F Open – Third Place

Click here for full results:  National F Class Championships Bendigo Victoria 2022

Report by Barry Kalleske: F Standard Team.

Well it’s been a long lead up and wait to the National F Class Teams championship in Bendigo but it was so worth it!!

What a great couple days with an awesome team lead by Chris Green and what can you say about the patience of super coach Malcolm Hill, outstanding performance!

SA’s F/Standard team has convincingly taken out the honours with a huge team effort and we’ve filled up the trophy cabinet!

Winner of the Match 1 QLD match 1000y Winner of the Match 2 SA Match – day 2 aggregate.

Winner of the Match 3 NRAA grand aggregate of match 1 and 2 by 23 points with score of 1854.101

Winner of the Match 4 NSW Top off rifle was myself with score of 378.33 out of 390.65 and Malcolm Hill as coach. Winner of the Match 5 Bill Gray Long Range aggregate.

Now the side bets are on for the individual event in the Queens!

Thanks to sponsors RIC, Nightforce, TRON Civil, Ziersch Custom Rifles, Vertex Funds Management, Lincoln Rural, SumTotal Accounting and Business, Precision Plasterboard, I Do Maintenance, PXL and SARA.

2019

State Teams – Western Australia 2019

The Kapunda contingent

Campbell Town Tasmania 3rd to 5th March 2014

Peter Larsen and Adam Pohl head to Tassie as part of the SA State team competing in the National Teams Competition. Daily updates from Adam and Peter will be posted here. Good luck chaps.

• National F CLass Standard Teams Championships Results Tasmania 2014
• SA F CLass Standard Association Match Results Tasmania 2014
• Victorian F Class Open Association Match Results Tasmania 2014
• NRAA Website – Results for Tassie Competition
• Tassie Competition Site

Sat 1st 9.15: 

Well we had a pretty good run over and made good time despite on and off road works all the way. We didn’t have to stop but the cruise control didn’t get as much use as I would have liked. Fully loaded and with a fair bit of speed variations and overtaking I’m getting bang on 10l/100km.  Pete and I are just about to disembark and awaiting orders from the cabin. We travelled along the coast for a bit before tuning and making a dash across the straight. It got a little rough. . . . . Only about 15 beers rough. . . . Weren’t falling over but just had to keep an eye on a distant object when walking down the halls!   We’re thinking if greeny gets to check in late enough there might not be enough room in the gun locker and he will be able to leave them in the trailer.  
We’re going to have a suss of the range tosarvo. But at this stage it looks very mild. 

 Sat 1/03/2014 10:12 PM

Well we got off the ferry without a hassle and didn’t have any problems picking up our rifles from the holding cage. We were all set to go by 7am and had plenty of time to get to the accommodation so grabbed some breakky at davenport.  We headed south down to our cabin in Ross.  About half way between launcestern and Hobart. After unpacking some gear we went for a look at the range in Campbelltown.  They are shooting match rifle today and tomorrow so we got to get a bit of a feel for the flags. 

It was interesting to be standing next to the north Queenslanders our main competition and hear them talk tactics while they had no idea of who we were . . . . One of the benefits of Pete and I being new faces on the scene 🙂  We didn’t get to shoot but we got to sit back and call shots watching through the spotting scope and there was a definite wind cycle of gradual pick ups and let offs. The flags seem to be reading true with wind from the right but this may change if the wind is from the left as it’s partially obstructed by trees on the golf course.   We headed back and assembled rifles and checked toque settings then re seated some of out practice ammo after traveling.  We will probably go to the range for another look tomorrow and the rest of the team will arrive later in the day…

Monday 3/3/14 20:11

Well the rest of the team arrived Sunday afternoon and travelled for Launceston down to Campbelltown. The whole team re grouped and arrived at the range in our number ones, full blazer, ties and trousers. Needless to say the other teams took notice of the unity between members and both the Open and Standard teams. 

We all travelled back to Perth (where the rest of the team are staying) for a team dinner and to organize the rest of the gear and our secret weapon 😉 unfortunately Brendan left the keys for his rifle case at home. Five minutes with a boilermaker’s cold chisel and a hammer had that problem behind us. 

By the time Pete and I arrived back at our accommodation in Ross and sorted out everything for today I think it was about 12am when we turned in. Ready for a 6:30 alarm.

We started practice at 300yds with the standard team firing the first shots. Both teams used this range for fouling barrels and firing synchronized sighting shots to get all wind zeros calibrated together.

Second range was 600yds and a chance to try a couple of different rest set ups and see how everyone goes. We found that one rest was giving a bit of vert with a couple of the standard guns but swapping it out instantly solved the problem. At the end of 600 we had all guns run in and shooting well. Time to have lunch and get serious for the 900 and 1000. 

After lunch the wind had started to pick up. Nothing too bad but around 0 – 9moa for the .308 and a bit less than that for the open guys. We tried a couple more things with cleaning and trying different rifles and we’re very happy with the vertical.

Petes gun is going well after taking time to settle in. Both my guns are hammering, holding nearly X ring at 900 and 1000. Best vert I’ve ever had and they are both doing it! 🙂 Happy days! 

At 1000 we had all the gear going well and it was time for the coaches to get their groove. They tried a few different flags and a couple other tricks to get a handle on it and were putting some notes in the memory bank. 

After the practice we all weighed our rifles and did trigger tests for the standard guns. Guess what?? Both of mine were over-weight according to their scales. But I won’t go into that. 

Taking scope caps off and batteries out of illuminated reticles helped to get me 10 grams under. Tonight I’m taking a few more things off so I have a bit more wiggle room to allow for some barrel fouling of moisture accumulation!! Haha

Well, all the serious stuff starts tomorrow so I better get to some weight reduction, bullet seating, shower and sleep!

Update from Adam  DAY 1

Well the day had arrived and it was time to get serious. There was a captains meeting and it was decided that the standard and open teams from each state could shoot on the same target, ie each state had their own target. This was really good because we were all together helping each other with gear and moral support. 

 F standard were first up at 3rd in fairly mild conditions and didn’t disappoint. The viewing was clear and the x ring in sight. Pete finished with a 59 and chris green a 60. By the end of the range they had a solid total on the board. Not the best across the line but certainly in the hunt. 

 After the standard teams allotted time had run out the open team was allowed to move into position. We set up with a shooter hard up against either side of the coaches chair and this allows him to make adjustments on either shooter without moving. Stuart Braund (Australian f open team member) fired the first shot at 300. Coaching us was Stuarts brother Richard (another Australian team member). Stuarts shoot allowed him to get a good idea of what the wind was doing until it was my turn to shoot. 

 I liked being second down as it gave me plenty of time to set up and relax. My shoot was going well and I hadn’t dropped a shot until I had a 5 appear at 6 o’clock JUST outside the line . . . . Crap.  Oh well put it out of your mind and on with the next one. X  . . . Rite were back in business! I got up with a 59 with a solid X count. Brendan, Paul and mike filed through and helped us win the 300yd “Victorian” match. A good start but not over yet. 

 We packed up and moved back to 600yds knowing this thing wasn’t going to be won or lost at 300. 

 By now the wind was building and had a steady mix of gusts. We were happy and hoping it was going to turn into something out of lower light that other teams wouldn’t feel so cosy shooting in. 

 The f standard team had a novel idea of only using 2 guns for all 5 shooters. One gun was set up on each side of the coach and left there for the entire shoot while trigger pullers filed through. This gained them some points by having a gun that was warm an fouled with correct elevation allowing them to convert more sights into “free” points. 

 Pete was shooting very well and holding excellent elevation on a good rifle and Malcolm was doing his best to make the most of it. The gun on the left just didn’t seem to want to play the game!! Something wasn’t quite rite with it and it as it  kept throwing fliers. The standard team had a tough 600yds with some equipment issues and Malcolm struggling to get in a groove with a rifle that wasn’t performing. Matt the captain decided it needed a clean and gave it a good scrub before the 900 and felt confident of a big improvement. 

 The open team was down next and put in a good effort. We had the benefit of having a head coach (Richard) and either Stuart or Paul Janzso as a second coach/ plotter. This second coach/ plotter was instructed to watch different things to what the head coach was watching. That allowed us to have more awareness of multiple variables and the two coaches could converse to calculate the next shot. The open coaches were doing a great job but unfortunately a couple of the rifles weren’t performing as we had hoped and we lost about 8-10 points to high and low shots. My rifle was humming and I finished the day only dropping 2 points for the day and having the highest score out of 60 of the best shooters in the country. . . Happy Days 😉

 Those points lost to vertical had the open team 1 point behind Victoria at stumps on the first day but we had a plan to put the boots in. . . . 

 The last range for the day was 900 yds which was only being shot by the standard team (the open team would shoot it first on the following day). The wind had picked up bust still wasn’t consistent in velocity with big let offs. The first shooter went down on the suspect left gun and unfortunately the results weren’t good. . . . The clean hadn’t solved the problem. The right gun was shooting well but the wind was picking up to around 9moa and dropping back to 2 in a short time frame and poor Malcolm was pulling his hair out. Jerome got down behind the suspect gun and went to check the parallax and got a shock. . . . The scope moved. . . . The screws on the mounting rail were loose!! Pulling the gun off the line the scope was removed and the rail tightened . . . . The first shot was a miss. . . Panic stations! Malcolm thought the shot went low. So brought the scope up the appropriate amount and had a hit and they were back in business.  The team shot well from there on out but unfortunately it wasn’t enough to threaten the leaders. 

 At the end of day on the standard team were disappointed but hoping to make it up at the long ranges. The open team were one point behind Victoria, with one eye on Nth Qld and FULLY prepared to implement plan B. 

Update from Peter DAY 2 (and Friday)

We were not as good as the F open team on day one.  At the start of day 2 we were 28 points down and in position 5 out of 8. This only left us 1 range 1000 yards to make up points.

That too was very challenging and our coach Malcolm Hill did not have much hair left to pull out after our previous days conditions.

 Again we did not fair too we’ll at this stage and slipped a few more points down but still remained in 5th. Previous years we finished 3rd and 2nd so the team was a little disappointed.

 The final shoot was a QLD trophy and was a 1000 yard 15 shot match. With some poor waterline shots Matthew gave his rifle a really good scrub but no improvement to start with and he opened in the low 60s out of 90. Then John had a difficult shoot again with a low 60 score

 Jerome then moved to Matthews rifle and started a bit rough. Matthew then tried some thing new and started just calling the merraige to Malcolm and off we went. Jerome then hit 71. Then I dropped to the line and had what I thought a bad shoot of 75 until I got pointed to the other targets and found my score was right up there. The our best shooter Chris also gave us a 72.

 With us being so focused on the team support we did not see the crowd building behind us and to our amazement we won this event by 2 points with only 2 minutes from 1 hour and 45 minutes left.

 We could not believe that we had dropped 111 points out of the total 450 and still won.

Fishtailing wind from 3 minutes left to sometimes 12 minutes right was really challenging for the rest of the teams too looking at the results.

 This lifted the team spirit like you would no believe as the Standard team had never won any events and had never picked up a medal before.

 I was so happy to be a part of this team and was very happy to see the team smiling again

 So the end result out of the three medals on offer we picked up one.

 Thursday we decided to have a rest day with a bit of cleaning and a nice sleep in after the presentation dinner and then the celebration drinks

 Today I shot the 1000 yard 15 shot lead up match and to my surprise I finished second with a 86.3 only to be beaten by another SA shooter Jim Freeban with a 86.5. Glad to see two SA shooters on the top of this event

 So now off to sleep ready for the start of the queens tomorrow with a double 500 and 600 day.

Sunday 9th March

So to re cap the teams event on the last day open was 1 point behind and had a plan…  A couple of the rifles weren’t preferring as well as we had hoped so one was left I  the car and Paul janzso got settled in behind one of my 7mm saums.  . . . These things hammer at long range and I felt confident it was worth a couple of points. Brendan was also told to get behind mikes gun. We had practiced with each others rifles in preparation for situations like this. 

At the beginning of the 900 we felt we had made some good choices with equipment and we’re looking forward to the outcome.  

We had a great range and had a few points up our sleeve but we’re still looking to improve. Stuarts gun was throwing a couple of fliers and we thought it would settle after a clean but it didn’t.  The next range 1000yds it just wasn’t worth the risk. I offered my second 7mm and I was happy when they accepted it. 

 We had to do a bit of an order shuffle to allow time for my rifles to cool but it worked out well. 

 The wind was building and very variable  but the two coach system worked well. When a condition wouldn’t come back or we were unsure of a change the coaches would instruct the waiting shooter to wind on X amout of wind and take one of his sighters. By quickly cross referencing the shot and putting the required wind onto the original shooter we knew what the wind was doing without dropping a shot to find out. 

 We finished the 1000yd match strongly and won the national teams by 12 points and 5 X’s. 

After the main championships there is a  15 shot match at 1000yds that’s isn’t included as part of the nationals but there is a trophy for the range and another trophy to include it in the agg. We came third in the 15 shot match in some tough conditions and won the over all agg by 3 points and 9x’s. 

 After the shoot we went for a dinner at the Campbelltown hall for the presentations. 

 I was lucky enough to pick up the highest off rifle score out of the event which really made all the late nights and early mornings worth it. 

 Pete and the f/s team won the 15 shot 1000yd match and the open team won the championship,  3rd Victorian match and the overall agg. 

 After a few celebratory beverages it was decided the standard coach Malcolm hill needed a hair cut. No one had clippers so scissors would have to do. After the silver locks started falling to the ground a thought crossed our minds . . . . . None of us have any idea of what we are doing. But persistence payed off and at the end of a couple more drinks, a few “whoops” later and some hair jell it was a definite improvement !!!