Steve Sori HoF 23

By Alex Chryss – 2024

I first met Steve Sori in the mid 1970s. I remember the introduction reasonably well as it was the NSW Benchrest (BR) Sporter and Light varmint titles. Steve had travelled from Sydney with Ron Marsden who did an excellent job of introducing Steve to the Benchrest disciplines. I obviously didn’t know it then but Steve was to become a great friend of mine for the rest of his life until his sad passing in October 2023.

Steve had arrived in Australia a couple of years earlier and brought his machining skills with him. Over subsequent years he demonstrated skill levels at a machine that were recognised by anyone who had the opportunity to watch him work. His career for the rest of his working life up until retirement was one of Quality assurance and testing for a global hydraulics and pneumatics company.

Not long after our meeting I was at Ron’s workshop in Revesby ordering my 1^st PPC rifle an RTM build. In that late 70s era every item and component you needed to compete in BR, was on what I would call drip feed. Up until the PPC cartridge bursting onto the scene the mainstays were the 222Rem, 6×47 (a necked up 222 magnum case), 22.250 and the 308 Win cases.

Steve was having a Wichita action built in 6 PPC. He went on to learn a lot of the smithing side of making things from Ron (as did anybody who spent any time in discussion with Ron. That learning and observation added to his already considerable machining and technical skills and proved to be the awakening of an exceptional machinist.

Steve soon started to show to the community that he was a force to be reckoned with at the bench.

I recall at one Nationals Ron was not feeling the best (long before his major illness manifested itself) and he generously offered Steve the use of his Experimental rig which was a 222Rem.

Steve with his World Record 0.138″ 200 Yard target – Shot at the WBC XIV in Nelson New Zealand – 2017.

Steve went on to set a new Australian 10 shot group record group that has stood the test of time.

I remember him telling me not long after, he had to get himself a Rig. He did so and went on to use it for many years with success until he acquired an experimental rig from the States.

Through out the 80s,90s and the 00s Steve and I travelled together to a significant number of matches across Australia as did many competitors as travelling in pairs helped to share the costs. This gave us the opportunity to sit down with others and together discuss what was needed to improve our competitiveness in group shooting. It was at times like this especially at the end of a day’s competition when he would develop his ideas on how to make a better widget or to simply make a tool that was too difficult or too expensive to obtain from the States.

In the mid 80’s Steve managed to travel to the States to compete along with Ron and a number of other well known Benchrest shooters, he came back even more imbued with competitive spirit and to inspired to get even more detailed with his work on the lathe.

Steve Sori – National 4 Gun Champion 2019

Steve involved himself in the work at Silverdale range helping guys like Tom Brummell and Ray Starkey build the range into what was once considered the premier BR range in Australia. Considered by the locals at least, visitors often had other things to say about Silverdale and the way their bullets behaved in the local conditions).

Ron Marsden was building the first set of moving backer and target frames for Silverdale and Steve and I arranged to assist in the evenings at Ron’s workshop. It was one of those evenings when Steve made a suggestion about how to make and assemble some of the steel work that mightily impressed Ron. That was no mean feat as anyone who knew Ron knows it took something important for Ron to raise an eyebrow in respect.

Over the subsequent years Steve continued to shoot very well, so much so he gained entry in the Australian Benchrest Hall of Fame as number 23.  For many people who knew Steve I would suggest they would describe him as inscrutable. No more so than at the Bench. In all the years we competed (as much as I tried) he would not hazard a guess at his group size.  Whenever I asked the question (as we all do after a group)  “how did you go” there were two stock answers that never varied  “OK” was the most common one and rarely I would get “up the s**t” and there was rarely any elaboration.

In all the 40+ years I knew Steve I only ever saw him lose his temper once and it wasn’t at the range. I never heard Steve say a bad word about anyone even on a couple of occasions when individuals were less than polite to him. I believe he was a gentleman to everyone he met.

Steve’ machining abilities live on well after his passing, a big plus about our chosen sport and a testament to his effort at not settling for anything less than the best he could do. Some see BR as expensive, however the tools that he made live on and will continue to do so for decades.

His chamber reamed bullet seaters, reloading press conversions, projectile spinners, seating dies to name a few are made with a quality that can be felt and measured well into the future.

Steve helped Stuart Elliott with his first generation of wind flags when Stuart was still living in Canberra and a hub for ACT BR shooting at the Canberra range. Those of us who have shot Benchrest in Australia have invariably shot off or alongside the ubiquitous Elliott flags.

Steve is a guy not forgotten and thankfully his skills remain in physical testament to the man and his work in Benchrest. I am fortunate like many of us in that I also have great memories of him as my friend.

Steve Sori 1946-2023