If you have been shooting for more than two  years and are aged 16 or over, consider applying for your firearms licence (http://www.police.govt.nz/advice/firearms/standard-new-zealand-firearms-licence).  This would help the club immensely and enable you to take more responsibility for your own ammunition and transportation of equipment to matches.  The more self-sufficient you are, the easier it is for senior club members.

The final group of new club members moved to slings and jackets yesterday.  While there will still be a few tweaks to get better fitting equipment, the bulk of the process has now been completed.  Many thanks to all those who came along to help with this transition over the last few weeks.

It’s great to see the improvement in scores from our newer members, with many already shooting competition cards.  The top five in D Grade this week were Leilani Fam 93.1, Wiko du Toit 93.0, Georgia Karantze 92.2, Blake Hynson 91.1 (moved to sling and jacket only last week), and Jack MacCormick 90.2, while five more recorded either 88s or 89s.  Mark Riley continues his good form in C Grade, scoring 98.4 and 95.5, followed by Neakiry Kivi with 94.2.  Summer O’Dwyer was top of B Grade this week with 97.1, and in the higher grades Ross Little top-scored with 98.7.  Ross also shot the best 20-shot score this week of 198.8, with Meredith Ackrill next highest on 196.6 which included her first 100 of the season.

Four club members travelled to the Colyton Open Champs on Saturday.  Congratulations to Evan Little on his 4th placing in A Grade with 293.13.  This weekend’s match is the Bulls Open Champs at Palmerston North.

The benefits of purchasing your own equipment were seen yesterday with Summer O’Dwyer’s scores jumping considerably when she began using her own equipment.  We would like to encourage our more experienced shooters to consider purchasing a jacket, sling and swivel.  Some of the benefits include not needing to share equipment with anyone else and having a better fitting jacket (especially females).  Equipment should easily be able to be on-sold to newer shooters at a later time, thereby minimising the cost overall.  Suppliers are linked through the club’s website (http://www.bsrc.org.nz/index.php/links1).  Please talk with senior members if you are interested in purchasing equipment and would like advice as to what to buy.

Attached is the club’s shooting calendar.  If you’ve ticked the North Island nomination section of the TSNZ membership form, and wish to be considered for selection to one of the teams, you need to compete in a minimum of four open champs before the end of June.  And it’s not too late to reconsider ticking the form – just ask Meredith or Evan at the club next week.

A reminder that the grading season has now commenced, so remember to record all competition scores shot on the Excel spreadsheet emailed out last week.

In an effort to reduce the number of email addresses, please advise your preferred address if you are getting this weekly update more than once.

Upcoming events:

• Saturday 16 April, Bulls Open Champs, Palmerston North.
• Sunday 17 April, 9.30am, Teams of Ten trial, 2x20.
• Saturday 23 April, Rangitikei Open Champs, Marton.
• Sunday 24 April, 9.30am, Teams of Ten trial, 2x20.