Scottish Long-Range Meeting and Scotland v USA F/TR Team Matches

[Laurie]

Just a note re the above. The annual SRA Long-Range meeting was held at Blair Atholl last weekend (Sat/Sun 2nd/3rd July) and also incorporated a visit by the US F/TR team who shot in the meeting's six individual matches (three each at 900 and 1,000yd) and had an extra two days' shooting dovetailed around it, practice on Friday 1st, and a three-range US v Scotland Challenge Team Match on Monday 4th July - a date that seems to be significant to the Yanks! Add in that the Americans had been dominant a few days before in both F Class and F/TR and in both individual and team matches in the revived Creedmoor Challenge at Tullamore in Ireland, and I imagine they were feeling pretty confident about the results here.

 

The teams matches were 2+15 each at 900, 1,000 (actually 980 something at Blair) and 1,100yd (actually 1,114yd). There was also the chance to shoot at 1,200yd (a real 1,233yd !!)on two occasions, during the Friday practice day and after the individual matches on Saturday, the latter used for an informal 15-round competition by six shooters, three each from the two countries.

 

US team members were:

 

Darrel Buell (captain)

Kathy Buell (adjutant)

Nancy Tompkins (shooter + Chief coach)

Michelle Gallagher (shooter + coach)

Stan Pate

Sierra Scott (an up and coming 22 year old lady shooter)

Monte Milanuk

Others assisting, record keeping etc

 

Tony Robertson (shooting F Class)

 

 

The Home Team were:

 

Paul Crosbie (captain)

Hamish Hunter (Head coach)

Tim Kidner (coach)

Me - Laurie Holland

Jim Wilson

Peter Burbridge

Mike Baillie-Hamilton

Kenny MacDonald

John Campbell-Smith, Des Parr (GB F Class Assoc chairman), and Mark Guest assisting, record keeping etc

 

Everybody shot .308 Win bar me (.223 Rem throughout) and Peter Burbridge (.223 Rem and .308 Win depending on match, range and conditions) The Yanks used 155 /155.5gn bullet loads throughout, the home shooters heavies (208 / 210gn) at longer ranges or in difficult conditions.

 

The range was hot all weekend, suffered mirage intermittently, and had light but constantly switching and fishtailing winds from the south (5 to 7 o'clock). Flies, ticks and midges were serious hazards, especially on the Friday which mostly saw still conditions. Other 'wildlife' for those who went down the midge-infested butts to assist Paul and other West Atholl RC guys in setting up / taking down the targets, was the resident peahen that has shifted house from the Blair Castle grounds for unknown reasons and has become very tame - pestering human intruders for a sandwich!

 

Scotland team captain Paul Crosbie dominated the F/TR individuals winning four out of six matches and taking the aggregate. I won one 1,000 yarder and Michelle Gallagher another. Stan Pate was consistently good throughout with several seconds. Some of the Americans got stronger over the two days, some started strong and wilted. Top six were: Paul (Sc), Stan Pate (US), Michelle Gallagher (US), Nancy Tompkins (US), me (Sc), and Sierra Scott (US). In Target Rifle, Kenny MacDonald managed a perfect 900yd score in Match 1 - 15 V-Bulls!

 

In F Class, America's Tony Robertson and Scotland's Team Border Barrels Les Bacon were closely matched tying at the end of Saturday, but Les edged ahead in the Sunday matches to win by five points on aggregate on 420.25 v 415.26.

 

The team match on Monday started at 900 with overcast skies and light winds giving high scores, the Americans leading by 7 points at the finish on 427.24 v 420.20. I had the highest individual score at 73.4 ahead of Stan Pate (US) and Darrel Buell (US) on 72.5. 1,000 was much harder, the sun having burned through the cloud, temperatures rising, some mirage and the wind getting up and flicking around. Average scores dropped from around 70 at 900 to 59-ish. Scotland agged 357.8 to the Americans' 346.8, putting us four ahead on aggregate and everything up for grabs at 1,114yd. Highest individual scores were Sierra Scott(US)on 65.2 and me (Sc) 63.3.

 

1,114 was harder still and very hot now, boiling mirage downrange depending on cloud positions. Wind switching by 1-2 MOA between shots. Scotland won convincingly here at 295.2 v 277.2 and won overall by 1,072.30 v 1,050.34. All down to top class coaching by Tim and Hamish and their great local knowledge. Only four competitors broke 50 at 1,114 - Paul Crosbie on 59, Michelle Gallagher on 57 (strong performance given the use of 155.5s against 210s) Peter Burbridge on 55 (switched to .308 Win / 208gn A-Max); me on 54 - no Vs by any of us.

 

As well as shooting the .223 with 90gn VLDs successfully at 1,114yd, I had 2+10 shots at 1,233yd late Saturday afternoon after the individual matches finished and scored 38 ex 50 in apparently windless conditions (but there was wind of course invisibly shifting), 9 ex 10 in 0.5-0.75-MOA elevation. Who says now the Mouse Gun doesn't perform beyond 600yd?

 

A great four days. The Americans were wonderful guys and ladies - great fun. Their kit is top-notch and they are very professional shooters. We had a ball of a time. Paul Crosbie put in a huge amount of work to make their visit a success and for the 'add-on shooting' to dovetail into the existing Scottish Long-Range Meeting seamlessly as well as running the range. Tim Kidner and other WARC members likewise in running and setting up the range, doing RO duties etc and inputs from Mike Baillie-Hamilton, Hamish Hunter and Tim Kidner as well as Tim and Hamish's coaching gave a completely scratch Scottish team success against the reigning F/TR world champion team - a real David v Goliath victory.

 

There are photos on the West Atholl RC website:

 

West Atholl RC Results / Photos Page

 

and click onto the red 'Results' link top-right to get the complete results breakdown for the meeting plus Scotland v USA matches.

 

I'll also stick a good selection on Photobucket when I have time and will post the link here when done.

[Ronin]

Very good report Laurie, excellent read and well done!!

[foxing2night]

Thank you for an excellent write up!!!!

 

Really nice to be able to put faces to names,,,

 

Rgds, Darrel

[Laurie]

A full set of images is now live on PhotoBucket:

 

Blair Atholl US v Scotland Matches + SRA Long-Range Meeting