OCTOBER 19, 2014 - ANNUAL REPORT OF THE FULLBORE SECTION

2014 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE RNBRA FULLBORE SECTION

TO THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF THE

ROYAL NEW BRUNSWICK RIFLE ASSOCIATION

OCTOBER 19, 2014

This has been a busy year for the RNBRA Fullbore Section. We sponsored an RSO course and 16 matches in total which were attended by 175 participants. Each of these matches required the services of someone to prepare, set up and take down the range, to organize the event, to serve as Range Safety Officer and to set up and take down the scoring system. Needless to say, many people helped in making these matches successful.

Range Safety Officer Course

We began the year, appropriately, with a Range Safety Officer course which was presented to 16 members by Wayde Clifford, who generously donated his time and knowledge for our benefit and provided us with trained RSOs to conduct our matches in the coming year. This course was hosted by the Club de Tir Saint Antoine Gun Club.

Matches Hosted by the RNBRA Fullbore Section

The following Target Rifle and FTR matches were held on the Batouche Range at CFB Gagetown. We thank the base personnel for their assistance and continued cooperation with our shooting program. The "All Comers Match", the "Fredericton Centennial Match", the "Memorial/MacGillivray Match", The "Coleman/Stapleford Match", the "RNBRA - Annual Prize Match", the "Chisholm Challenge" and the "Any Rifle-Any Sight Match" drew the participation of 70 shooters.

In addition, Batouche was the venue for our section's 2 Black Powder Cartridge matches; 2 Precision Rifle Matches and 1 Military Rifle Match with a total of 30 participants.

The following matches were hosted by the Club de Tir Saint Antoine Gun Club at their beautiful 600 meter range. The "Sierra Bullet Match" in which the Sierra Bullets Co. donated the prizes, drew 20 shooters, a record for this event. Our thanks go to Sierra for their annual support. The "Inter-maritime Team Trials" were held in Saint Antoine and the "Inter-maritime Match and British Team Match" were held there the following weekend. The "RCR Centennial Match" and the "Mini-Palma Coaching Day" followed in the schedule. These events drew 105 participants.

Special mention should be made of the "Inter-maritime Match" and the "British Team Match". Three teams, one each from New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island competed for the Inter-maritime trophy. The Intermaritime Match has taken place annually for some 128 years. This year Saint Antoine not only hosted a very fine event for the 24 shooters plus coaches and support personnel, but New Brunswick also won both matches, allowing us to keep the Inter-maritime trophy for a year. In addition, we were able to contribute 4 shooters to PEI's team as this province could not field a complete team. These generous shooters define "dedication to the sport".

Unfortunately, Tropical Storm Arthur prevented us from attending one of the newest medium distance ranges in the province - the Saint Gabriel Range. The "Saint Gabriel Challenge" had to be cancelled but we look forward to visiting for a match or two in the coming year.

Similarly, our Annual Prize Match was rather poorly attended by only half of the expected shooters and this may also have been due to Arthur which passed by only a week before. Despite this unfortunate circumstance, the match was well organized by John Holleran, the Vice-chairman of the Fullbore Section. Some very good scores were recorded and all enjoyed the event - not least of all the fine lunch barbecued by John and donated by local businesses including Victory Meat Market, Trent Ford Enterprises, Canadian Bread and Miller Motors.

          

Further, New Brunswick contributed 4 competitors to the Annual "Mini-Palma Match", in which a team comprised of Maritime shooters faces off against a team from the New England States. This year the match was held in Reading, Massachusetts. Our Maritime Provinces Team, lead by Captain John Marshall from NS, won this match for the second year in a row!

Despite our efforts to hold the annual MTR competition in Woodstock NB, as in several very successful years past, this proved to be not possible and it was scheduled for Saint Antoine. Unfortunately, that too had to be cancelled. We hope to have this event early in the 2015 shooting season.

Projects and Issues During 2014

1. Our largest project during 2014 has been the purchase of an electronic target marking system from Silver Mountain Targets - a local shooter run business. This has allowed us to dispense with the endless difficulties associated with trying to find, transport and pay target markers who stay in the target butts for the duration of a match. Once shooters have been trained in the use of personal e-readers, a match can flow quickly and with relatively few errors in scoring. The general consensus is that this system has improved our shooting speed and pleasure - which, hopefully, will also improve our shooting.

The acquisition of this system could not have happened without the support of the Board of the RNBRA. Our thanks for your support!

2. A second issue, which has occupied much of the efforts of RNBRA Treasurer Michelle Cormier and Fullbore Section Treasurer Conrad Leroux, has been the identification of Fullbore Section moneys, investments, trust funds etc. in an effort to repatriate the Section's finances. Many thanks to both the above. Financially, we are on track to remain in the black after this calendar year and on October 7, 2014 have an operating balance of about $1380.00

3. Thirdly, changes have taken place at CFB Gagetown and these primarily affect our scheduling. We now have a new contact in the person of Heather McKinnon who has been most helpful in arranging access to Batouche. Our thanks go to her.

4. The RNBRA Fullbore Blog site continues it's coverage of all Fullbore activities and has been visited almost 30,000 times in total by readers in Canada and around the world.

5.  The Annual Meeting of the Fullbore Section will be held in Sussex NB on November 9, 2014.

6.  The annual planning meeting (known as the "Atlantic High Power Rifle Committee Meeting") of the Fullbore Sections of the Three Maritime Provinces, will be held in Amherst NS on October 26, 2014. At this meeting the schedules of our major matches is set so that there is no conflict in dates. Other issues are usually also discussed.

7. There was the perennial "bug-bear" issue of insurance coverage for shooters attending our matches as members or guests. The issue was resolved in time for the shooting season to begin with the RNBRA purchasing insurance coverage for all its members with the National Firearms Association (NFA) effective until March 31, 2015. This insurance covers liability arising out of our shooting activities and covers "RNBRA sanctioned" shooting events.

8.  Lastly, the Fullbore section will be recognizing the long term dedication to, and work on behalf of, Fullbore Shooting in New Brunswick of two of it’s long-time members.

Out of Province Shooting, Matches and Championships

New Brunswick target shooters have traditionally been very supportive of championships in the sister provinces of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island as well as championships hosted by the Dominion of Canada Rifle Association.

This year the Fullbore Section supported several New Brunswick shooters who went to out of province matches (15 competitors and 30 trips in total). Our shooters did well with several top four or better finishes in the "PEI - Annual Prize Match" at their Alexandra Range, the "Nova Scotia - Annual Prize Match" at their Bull Meadow Range, the "Atlantic Championships" held in Nova Scotia, the "Canadian Target Rifle, F-class and Blackpowder Championships" held in Ottawa at the Connaught Ranges and in the "Mini-Palma" held in Reading Massachusetts. It is good to see that Fullbore target shooting in New Brunswick is at a point where our members can hold their heads high on the road as well as at home. This does not happen in a vacuum but is dependent on the dedication and efforts of many people who take seriously their own shooting and also the growth of the sport.

New Shooters

We were pleased to see a number of new or re-newed shooters join us this year. A big welcome to Ahmed alSaggaf, Harrison Brown, Andre Charlebois, Ryan Demerchant, Kevin Gallivan, Emmet Hartz, Arpad Kormendy, Adam MacDonald, Peter MacDonald, Mark McMullin, Tom Nowlan, Brian Pettipas, John Stamp, and Allain Turgeon. We hope you enjoyed yourselves at our matches and found a home for your shooting passion. We hope to see you all during 2015.

Sad News

We were saddened to mark the passing away on May 3rd this year, of Mrs. Lilliane Stewart, who has been an enthusiastic supporter of target shooting in Canada.

People to Thank

The following people have made my job of Chairman of the Fullbore Section so much less difficult. They have also contributed to Fullbore shooting in significant ways during the past year - in fact it would be a truism to say that Fullbore shooting in New Brunswick could not have happened without their contributions. Many thanks for your service.

  1. The Fullbore Section Executive: John Holleran - Vice Chairman; Don Coleman - Secretary and Representative to the RNBRA Board; Conrad Leroux - Treasurer; Daniel Chisholm - Representative to the DCRA and Michael Lutes -  RNBRA President.

  2. Daniel Chisholm, John Holleran and Adam MacDonald for their help with the e-target system.

  3. Ron Surette and Michelle Cormier for their work in organizing, hosting, range maintenance, match directing and "RSOing" many Fullbore Section events. Also, The Club de Tir Saint Antoine Gun Club for allowing us to use their facility for several important events.

  4. John Holleran for his tireless work on the 2014 Fullbore Section APM.

  5. Paul McIlveen and Brian Doherty, Match Directors, for looking after the Black powder, Precision and Military events.

  6. John Holleran, Don Coleman, Ron Surette, Conrad Leroux, Daniel Chisholm and Michael Lutes - Match Directors, for looking after many TR and FTR events.

  7. Michael Lutes, Don Coleman and John Holleran for picking up the slack when I could not attend an event or be there to represent us.

  8. Wayde Clifford for his excellent RSO course presentation.

  9. The many unnamed and generous shooters for donating their time, effort and knowledge to ensure events were successful, and that new shooters would benefit from their expertise.

Respectfully submitted to the Board and members of the Royal New Brunswick Rifle Association,

G. H. (Bert) deVink, Fullbore Section Chairman