Weather was not very favourable for the annual partners shoot at Powell River Rod and Gun club. It rained, at times heavily, and the targets looked like wet dishrags. The weather didn’t dampen spirits but members renewed their appreciation of the little wood stove installed at the rifle range.
Hunter shoots, held by the club every month, require the shooter to use a hunting rifle and 20 cartridges. The format is always changing, which makes every shoot a new challenge and great shooting practice. This shoot was a team shoot and a great opportunity to introduce a new shooter to the sport as two regular shooters cannot form a team.
The first target shot from the bench rest and the second from the sitting position were both at a range of 100 yards. The third target was taken from the kneeling position at 50 yards and the final target was shot from the standing position.
Scorekeeper Bob Cain had a difficult job working with wet targets, but when all was added up the team of Warren Miller and Eric Hein came out on top with a total score of 352-15x. In second place, with only 5x less, was the team of Gary Quast and son Shawn Quast, and in third place scoring 337-11x were Mike Kaban and Darren Tyler.
Miller and Hein dominated this shoot by recording the highest scores on the first three sets of targets; they came in with a perfect 100-10x on the bench rest–that is 10 shots through the one-inch dot in the middle of the target. Kaban and Tyler were a close second at 100-9x with the Quast duo scoring 100-6x. Competition never gets any closer than this.
The last target actually “walks” across the range on a power-driven clothes line. Jim Wyatt and Luke Desilets took first at this moving target scoring 75-1x. This team shot rifles with metallic sights, whereas most members use telescopic sights, with Wyatt using a standard issue Model 94 Winchester carbine. Coming close in second place with 74 was the team of Kaban and Tyler, with the Quasts at 72-1x and Brian Graham and Joe Gareau recording 70 points.
