Scotland vs TeamUSA F/TR Match at Blair Atholl July 2011

[GarethMarijt]

Hi,

Went to visit the match on Saturday and everyone was really friendly. Got to say hello to Laurie (who is a true gentleman and a pleasure to talk to).

I had heard how windy Blair Atholl could be, but got there on a warm sunny day. These photos don't do justice to how beautiful the range is.

The targets off in the distance

Laurie Holland talking to Stan Pate

Team USA (at least part of it)

The competitors view (before)

The competitors view (after)

A full detail setting up

At the firing point

The difference in gusts over 100 yards (100 and 200 yards respectively)

All photos were taken from the 900 yards point

Information about the match can be found http://www.facebook.com/US.Rifle.Team or at http://www.usftrclass.com/ (when it is updated).

Gareth

 

[expiper]

wow...it shure is pretty there (almost as pretty as here in the hills of WV,,wink).....that is the trip of a lifetime....and those range cameras are somethng I have wanted to shoot with all my life...thank you for posting and letting us see what Laurie looks like....he is well known over there...Roger

 

[Laurie]

Gareth,

good pics! It was good to speak to you and hope you had a good holiday in the area. We got eaten alive by midges later in the day, (despite copious use of so-called repellants) and I'm seriously sunburned in a few places - not the Blair Atholl range I know and love at all! I had mixed fortunes in the Saturday / Sunday individual matches, the highlight was winning the 2nd 1,000 yd match of the weekend a full 6 points clear of Nancy Gallagher on the Sunday - Wow! beating a legend in her own lifetime and the author of one of my two favourite books on rifle shooting / wind-reading in difficult conditions! (She and daughter Michelle got revenge in the last 1,000yd match though.)

I'll put a match report onto this thread in a bit when I have time. In the team matches yesterday, USA beat us at 900 by a few points, we fought back at 1,000 and just took the lead, so it was the 1,100yd match that was the decider. We (the Scots) ended up ahead for a 22 point aggregate lead - but we did have two excellent wind coaches who know Blair very well, Hamish Hunter and Tim Kidner.

With Hamish doing the wind, I had a very good team match, highest 900 score, 2nd highest 1,000, and 4th at 1,100yd with the .223 shooting 90gn Berger VLDs for 2nd highest aggregate score, one point behind the Scottish team captain Paul Crosbie. In the 1,100 match, the top scorer Paul Crosbie was shooting 210gn VLDs from his .308 and 3rd place man Peter Burbridge 208gn Hornady A-Maxes from a 'Match Rifle' (1,200yd job) set up for F/TR on a bi-pod. Only the amazing and very charming Ms Michelle Gallagher was shooting 155s, more likely her employer's 155.5gn jobs in this top group to take 2nd place. I was very pleased to be able to demonstrate the .223 Rem properly set up for 90s will perform at this distance - and at 1,200 yards on Saturday afternoon after you'd gone. (See my related thread on the Small Stuff - .22s, 20s and 17s section.)

Take care and good shooting!

Laurie,
York, England

 

[hillfoot]

Hello Folks,
You can see the full results of the Scotland V USA match if you Google "West Atholl Rifle Club" and follow the link on the main page.

Paul

 

[Erik Cortina]

Here are the results.

http://www.westatholl.org.uk/Results/2011/SRAlong2011/Long2011.pdf

 

[Thorbird]

This is a great post. So nice to read about this and see the great photos.

 

[Laurie]

There's a full (139 strong) set of photographs now up on PhotoBucket:

http://s912.photobucket.com/home/laurieh2

 

[expiper]

Great pics Laurie.....it is nice to be able to put faces to the some of the great shooters from all over the world....Roger