Shooting at the RBA Nationals
Shooting at the RB Nationals
As noted in an earlier blog post, I decided to have a go at shooting a benchrest discipline called RBA. This is similar to the discipline being shot by TRA. However, the RBA discipline is harder, as the RBA 10 ring is roughly the same size as the TRA X-ring. So it’s harder to shoot high scores on an RBA card, against a TRA card.
The RBA Nationals are being held at the Belmont Rifle Range, in Brisbane, Queensland, over two days.
Day 1
Getting up at 3am is hard, but I had to do it. Drive from 4am from Sydney, up through Newcastle, turn off onto the Bucketts Way, then Thunderbolts Way to Armidale, then up the New England Highway to Brisbane, and the range at Belmont. The total trip has taken about 11 hours, with both my sister and I exhausted.
It’s time to sleep – tomorrow is a practice day, and I have 700 rounds with me for the whole weekend. I’m expecting to use about 400 rounds this weekend.
So, at this stage, what do I think my chances are of winning? I’m expecting to do quite well, but don’t really expect to win, as this will be my second ever RBA shoot. I’m more comfortable shooting the TRA cards, of course, but my 156/180 centers at the Enduro a few weeks back tells me that I should be able to shoot high scores in RBA.
If I drop one or two points per card this weekend, I’ll be happy.
Day 2 – Practice Day
Practice started off by shooting a couple of cards, and adjusting the barrel tuner. It’s now a 1/4 turn out from where Id been shooting with this batch of ammo. After lunch, I shot a third card as the real deal, shot strings of 10s, but shot one which went into the 8 ring at 7:30 against the breeze, which was weird.
I’ve been struggling a bit with the bench a bit, it’s quite sensitive with the weight distribution imparted onto the table when I’m set up, and ready to shoot.
I heard this evening that not all 56 shooters have turned up, but that still doesn’t mean that the good shooters are at home. It’s still going to be a very tough competition. That said, my 248 card was one of the best shot today.
Day 3 – The First 3 Cards
The first day of competition started off reasonably well. The first detail shot on a finicky, but fairly gentle breeze, but by the time my detail came up, the breeze had picked up a bit. I shot a 242, with 13 centres.
My second card was a lot worse, as the breeze had picked up considerably, was shifty, and stronger than I’ve ever shot through. With 10 minutes in, I still hadn’t decided how to shoot the card – either find a wind strength and direction and work out a hold off, or shoot a group, and wind on the necessary elevation and windage, and shoot to the targets centre. I chose the latter.
Not a bad strategy, but the breeze I was scoring consistent 10s in was at the top end of the wind strength. So when the wind died off, I had no idea how to shoot it. As a result, I shot a (poor for me) 238.13. However, the average drops for this detail was about 8 to 10, as everyone struggled in that breeze.
After lunch, the breeze moderated, so by my third detail, it was about mid-strength, and dropping. My confidence level started to rise, I scored some good centers first up, and went on to shoot a 247.11.
The day closed with me in 11th place, and second woman overall, about 4 or so points behind the top placed lady. I was worried that I’d blown my chances of any positions, and my Worlds bid slipping away from in front of me. I was buoyed by the fact that there was still one more day to go.
Day 4 – The Last 3 Cards
Today started promisingly, as the breeze was very light, but also very flukey and shifty. One piece of advice to me yesterday, after I’d been smashed by 8s against the breeze yesterday was that even though the flags were showing breeze from 2:00 to 4:00, the bulbs were showing reverse breeze occasionally, which would cause those 8s. I kept that advice in mind, and shot almost clean on the 4th detail, scoring a PB score of 249.14. However, I was beaten by the lady I was chasing, who scored a 249.18.
The next detail was a bit more energetic, as I dropped numerous shots to the breeze. It was shifting between 4:00 and 11:00 quite quickly. I dropped 8 shots, and thougt at that stage that I’d done my weekend, but I was still in the game. The guys told me that I was the top lady in the comp.
The final detail, and the breeze had moderated significantly, to the point it was almost dead, but there were points where the thermals blew through, which made shooting tricky. I dropped 4 shots, and this was enough to earn me 6th for the day, 6th overall, and Woman Champion.
I won a silver medal, a gold medal, a plaque as Champion, and a bunch of prizes including a small traveling clock, a box of RWS R100, and a torque wrench – both the wrench and the clock will be very handy in future comps.
So, I’d consider this weekend a success. I’d have liked to score a bit higher, but the result in the end wasn’t bad, considering it was my first RBA Nationals!