the unsuitably attired through to the skin in no time. This was Sunday’s pattern – less heavy rain but fog, mist and drizzle on the range. Growing up in Perthshire a half century ago we used an old Scots word for this sort of weather, don’t ask how it’s spelled but pronounced something like
dr..ee..ee..ch, entirely appropriate for such noisome conditions when everything is grey, landscape and atmosphere alike water-saturated.
Whilst the damp weather stayed, not all F/TR entrants had - with four, including myself, retiring and a fifth ‘losing’ a match. In my case it was barrel performance collapse that saw 2 MOA elevation variations and shotgun like spreads appear from the off in Match 2 (in my 308Win. Barnard tubegun - not the .223R Savage which was itself hors de combat for a rebarrelling job). Steve Donaldson suffered bi-pod failure in the soft ground. Tony Donnachie suffered from a bad back and local man Tim Kidner simply didn’t show – I couldn’t blame him!
Altcar’s John Cross started his day in fifth place in F/ TR, only to find his sighting shots didn’t find the target and the scope adjusters didn’t work. John was the unfortunate I’d alluded to earlier who’d taken a tumble on the mud as he came off the firing-point the previous day. Carrying his rifle in a slung drag bag, he’d lost his footing and fallen backwards onto the rifle. Exit John from Match 3 with the Eurovision Song Contest’s notorious ‘null point’ out of a possible 100! Oh yes, in response to the loss of a stage the previous day, Match 3 was extended to 20 rounds, the other Sunday match remaining at the scheduled 15.
Adam Bagnall was hungry for a League round win and its 20 championship points – he needed to win here and again in the final Bisley Europeans round this month to match Russell Simmonds’ four League wins and 80 points. You’ll note no mention of Russell so far – with the maximum 80 league points aggregate already in the bag and a 600 mile drive from Dorset to Perthshire, he’d sensibly opted to stay at home and was no doubt sweltering on the South Coast’s Chesil Beach that he lives alongside while we slithered on the mud and wallowed in the drizzle – I felt envious at the thought of it!
In a light but tricky 5 o’clock wind that even saw some flags move occasionally, Adam started out as he intended to finish with a good win on 94.3v ahead of fellow Altcar 101 stalwart Paul Harkins on 92.6v, then more North of England shooters Mick Longbottom, Steve Lynch, and Stuart Anselm sharing 91. Overnight
89
Blair Atholl F Class 6th Round
OCTOBER 2011
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