Australia Day 2025 Match Report

The Australia Day shoot was the first event to kick off the year and as usual it didn’t disappoint. It was a very well run shoot organized and managed by the Tobler family and we would like to thank them for their effort.

Most competitors arrived early for the practice day on Friday hoping to tune their rifles and dust off the cobwebs.

Weigh in started at 7:30am for the LB on Saturday where we had 29 competitors. Ray Beavis started the 100 yards with the small group of .134 on target A but it was Milan Morrell who was consistent in the morning and took out the 100 yards with a .2290 aggregate.

The Canberra winds showed up by mid morning and made the 200 yards very interesting. Peter Armstrong started with a very neat .349 group on target A which was the small group for 200.

Darren Parsons shot very well, avoiding major mistakes and took out the 200 with a .3094 agg.

The LB grand aggregate winner was Paul Sullivan with a .2760, Darren Parsons was second on .2955 and Milan came in third on a .3025 aggregate.

The Heavy started off well with 30 competitors and lots of small groups but Paul Sullivan was once again on top with a .085 screamer which ended up being the small group of the yardage. John Babic was consistent enough in the morning to win the 100 yards with a .1972 agg followed by Ean Parsons on .2340 and Darren Parsons in third place on .2410 agg.

The 200 yards kicked off with Darren Parsons shooting a .202 group on target A and this was the small group of 200 yards. Paul Sullivan won the 200 yards with a .2517 aggregate.

The HB grand aggregate winner was John Babic with a .2338, second was Paul Sullivan on .2485 and third was Darren Parsons on .2571.

It was a very competitive weekend of shooting and any number of shooters could have won it on the last day. However, Paul Sullivan was consistent through out and was the eventual two gun winner with an aggregate of .2622. Darren Parsons was second on a .2763 aggregate and John Babic third with a .2915 aggregate.

2 Gun winner Paul Sullivan

The Benchrest Bulletin 2024 Shooter of the Year was awarded to Michael Thompson who accumilated 448 points with 13 shoots.

Robert Tobler presenting the Benchres Bulletin Shooter of the Year trophy to Michael Thompson

Here is the top ten SoY for 2024: