Rifle Shooting Archive

TAS Shooter ‘King of the Range’ at GPS Shooting Premiership

The Armidale School (TAS) Rifle Club member Hamish Turnbull was crowned ‘King of the Range’ at the recent GPS Shooting Premiership in Sydney.

The competition was staged at Hornsby Rifle Range last Tuesday and Wednesday 29th and 30th July in calm and sunny conditions. GPS schools competing in the event were TAS, Kings, Shore, Sydney Boys High, Scots and Sydney Grammar. New England Girls School (NEGS) also competed alongside the boys at the event.

Competitors shot at three ranges over the two days from 300m, 500m and 600m for a possible 200 points. All matches involved deliberate shooting for 8 man teams, with the final match also involving a military style ‘snap’ event at 300m.

Hamish Turnbull, a Year 11 boarding student at TAS who hales from Ebor shot an excellent score of 197 with 11 centre bulls-eyes. Jock Barnett of Delungra, also a Year 11 TAS boarder shot a score of 190 – 10, and Sam Adams from Armidale shot 187-7. All 3 boys were selected in the GPS representative team to compete against the NSW Under 25 team at ANZAC Rifle Range Malabar on Sunday 2nd August.

The GPS Shooting Premiership was a hard fought and very close event this year. Shore won the Rawson Cup, shot at 500m and 600m with Kings coming second. In the NRA Shield shot at 600m, Sydney Boys High won with TAS second. The final event, The Buchanan Shield shot at 300m would decide the winner. Kings narrowly won it on centre count from Sydney Boys High. As a result of accumulated premiership points over the two days, Sydney Boys High School and The Kings School were announced as joint winners of the GPS Shooting Premiership, the first time since 1953.

TAS, Sydney Boys High and NEGS also competed for the Bisley Bullet during the GPS Premiership. The Bisley Bullet, presented by the National Rifle Association of the UK in 2000 at the Millennium Imperial Meeting in Bisley, is decided by the best individual shooter from each school. With Hamish Turnbull’s score of 197-11 and ‘King of the Range’ crown, TAS won the Bisley Bullet again for 2009.

Pictured are the top scoring shooters: Hamish Turnbull of TAS (centre), Ryan Woo of SBHS (left) and Sophie McKenzie of NEGS (right).

For further information:
Trevor Thatcher, Master-in-Charge Shooting
The Armidale School
Locked Bag 3003
ARMIDALE NSW 2350
Ph: 02 6776 5800
Mob: 0427 765 806
Email: tthatche@as.edu.au

Report on Shooting Clinic at Wollomombi

Over the weekend 13 - 14 June, 15 boys attended a coaching clinic sponsored by the Armidale Rifle Club. Mr Rob Bondfield from Warwick and Mr Paul Carpberry from Tamworth provided individual instruction to the boys shooting at Wollomombi. Training was focussed on developing correct position and shooting technique over both days in order to improve consistency and accuracy. All boys improved over the weekend and gained a lot from the clinic.

Pictured below are:

Front row (L to R) Harry Guest, Cameron Martin, Will Murray, Clary Butcher, James Braham and Tom Holcombe
Rear row (L to R) Mr Paul Carberry, Jordan Rose, Andrew Murray, Archie Munro, Hamish Turnbull, Jock Barnett, Sam Adams, Mitch Maguire, Aurthur Lloyd, Daniel Sole, Mr Rob Bondfield.

Below is Clary Butcher

Below is Jordan Rose

James Braham and Cameron Martin

Shooters on the firing point

Mr Paul Carberry and Tom Holcombe

Mr Rob Bondfield and Archie Munro

TAS shooters compete in Southern Downs Prize Meeting

Seven boys of The TAS Rifle Club competed in the Southern Downs District Rifle Association Prize Meeting at Warwick over the weekend 16 – 17 May. The prize meeting was shot at 400 and 600 yards on Saturday, 15 shots to count at each range. On Sunday, the meet was shot at 300, 500 and 600 yards, each of 10 shots to count.

On Saturday, in difficult windy conditions Archie Munro shot well to win a third place badge, a highlight being the 600 yard range with a score of 70 with 4 centre bullseyes out of a possible 75.

On Sunday in relatively clam conditions, all boys shot well at various ranges. Competition was strong, with numerous older and very experienced shooters, particularly in C Grade. Highlights were Sam Adams in B Grade shooting 49 - 3 (possible 50) at 600 yards, and Mitch Maguire with 47 - 2 at 500 yards.

Results:
Two Day Aggregate (possible 300)

Sam Adams B Grade (Armidale)    280 - 20
Mitch Maguire C Grade (Dungowan)    271 - 16
Cameron Martin C Grade (Wollomombi)    242 - 6
Luke Styles C Grade (Dungog)    252 - 3
Andrew Murray C Grade (Louth)    266 - 5
Will Murray C Grade (Louth)    235 – 3
Archie Munro C Grade (Bingara)    263 - 12

Next shooting scheduled for TAS is the Wingham Prize Meeting over the June long weekend.

Photo is of Archie Munro, Year 10 TAS boy, with his third place badge at Warwick Rifle Range.

Mungindi 2009

1) AJ 2) 1) Hamish, Sam, club pres, AJ and Mitch.

3) Hamish. 4) Will

5) Hamish and Mitch.

TAS Wins GPS Premiership in Rifle Shooting

All Schools Competition

On Saturday 19 July TAS fielded three, five man teams in the All Schools Fiona Reynolds Memorial Trophy competition at ANZAC Rifle Range in Sydney. The TAS 1st V won the competition from Sydney Grammar School.

King of the Range (best individual aggregate) was won by The Armidale School’s Sam Adams with TAS’ shooting Captain Henry Killen 2nd. Six TAS shooters were ranked in the top 10.

2008 GPS Rifle Shooting Competition

This competition, between six of the GPS schools, was held on the shooting range at Hornsby on Tuesday and Wednesday this week. In the 1st VII competition each team shoots for three different Cups over the two days. TAS 1st VIII won the NRA (National Rifle Association) Shield, the Buchanan Shield and came 2nd (on a count back) in the Rawson cup.

This made the TAS 1st VIII the overall winner of the GPS Premiership, with the SHORE team coming second.

Based on results from this competition, a squad of 12 boys were selected from the various schools into the GPS Combined Team and five of these boys were from TAS, being Henry Killen (Merriwa), Sam Adams (Armidale), Sam Coulton (Goondiwindi), Mitchell Maguire (Tamworth) and Hamish Turnbull (Ebor).

Additionally, the TAS 2nd VIII rifle shooting team competed in the ‘2nds’ competition on the Wednesday morning and this team was also successful, winning the 2nds Premiership. The last time TAS achieved this same success was in 1997.

Trevor Thatcher, who is in charge of shooting at TAS, and the Headmaster, Murray Guest, were at Hornsby to witness the outstanding performance by the TAS students. Trevor has organised attendance at various ‘Prize Shoots’ in the local region over the last couple of years and he believes that the extra experience gained by the boys at these ‘shoots’ helped the boys to perform extra well at the GPS competitions.

Warwick 2008

Inverell Prize Meeting 22/23 March

Seven members of The Armidale School (TAS) Rifle Club attended the Inverell Rifle Club Open Prize Meeting over the Easter weekend 22 – 23 March.

In the Fullbore section, Hamish Turnbull shot very well for only his second prize meeting, coming 3rd in C Grade at 500 & 600 yards on Saturday. On Sunday Hamish again shot well coming 2nd in C Grade at 300 yards and received a 4th place badge for the two Day Aggregate.

In B Grade Sam Adams shot well on Sunday coming 3rd at 500 yards. Archie Munro improved significantly in his scoring from Saturday to win the Sunday Tyro Aggregate.

Muingindi Prize Shoot – 8/9 March 2008

11 boys, Max Tavener and Trevor Thatcher competed at the Mungindi Prize Shoot over the 8 - 9 March weekend. The largest number of shooters for 30 years was in attendance, with many Under 25 Australian and NSW/QLD rep shooters competing. In hot and windy conditions the team performed well overall.

Notable performances were from Sam Adams winning C Grade on Saturday and Sunday, Jono Wheeler winning the Tyro class, and Luke Styles and Hamish Turnbull winning individual range prizes. Based on his outstanding performances over the last 12 months, Sam Adams has now advanced B Grade.

Spring Ridge Prize Shoot

Spring Ridge Prize Shoot 14 boys from the TAS Rifle Team attended the New England District Prize Shoot at Spring Ridge last weekend. After a practice on Saturday afternoon, the team contested at 300, 500 and 600 yard ranges on Sunday. The boys were very successful with notable performances by captain Henry Killen winning B Grade and the Under 25 competition, Sam Coulton winning C Grade, Sam Adams coming 3rd in B Grade, Lewis Crothers coming 2nd in C Grade, and Toby Crothers winning the Tyro competition.

Henry Killen and Sam Adams won the B Grade Pairs competition and Sam Coulton and Lewis Crothers won the C Grade Pairs competition. Importantly, all boys continue to improve in their shooting technique with good scores being posted on individual ranges by all boys.

Fullbore Training Weekend 2-3 Feb

Over last weekend, Mr Paul Carberry, a Level 3 accredited fullbore coach, ran a coaching clinic with 16 boys.

After classroom tuition on Saturday morning, the boys participated in a coached practical session at Wallamumbi Range in afternoon. On Sunday the boys participated in a coached grouping practice at the range. Unfortunately, wet weather restricted shooting to the morning only. The weekend finished with further classroom tuition back at TAS with Mr Carberry, followed by some important equipment maintenance.