OCTOBER 21, 2018, - 2018 FULLBORE SECTION REPORT

2018 Annual Report of the RNBRA Fullbore Section
to the Annual General Meeting of the Royal New Brunswick Rifle Association

October 23, 2018

2018 was an excellent year for New Brunswick fullbore shooting. We hosted 13 fullbore events, with a combined total of 157 participants, plus 10 black powder, precision rifle, and military rifle matches held at Batouche range at CFB Gagetown.

Thank you to Ron Surette and Michelle Cormier of the St-Antoine Gun Club, as well as Paul Bastarache and JC Gautreau of the Saint Gabriel Precision Shooting Club for hosting 3 matches this year. And a special thank you to Dollard Leblanc who was the range safety officer for all of our major events.

A sincere thank you goes to everyone who helps keep our events running smoothly. Once you see how heavy those target frames are, you realize no one gets to shoot without a team effort. We had 9 match directors this year, including myself, Mark McMullin, Don Coleman, Conrad Leroux, Daniel Chisholm, Paul Bastarache, Ron Surette, Laura Kaderly, and Gord Holloway.

Thank you to the fullbore section executive, which consists of myself (chairman), Mark McMullin (vice chairman and representative to the RNBRA board), Ken Kyle (treasurer) and Don Coleman (secretary).

And special thanks to Bert Devink, who stepped down as chairman earlier this year but continues to remain involved and always provides the right advice at the right time. He manages the RNBRA fullbore blog which, thanks to lots of photos and consistent reports from our match directors, continues to be very effective at attracting new shooters and spreading the word about our program.

Thanks to Danny Hone and Heather McKinnon at CFB Gagetown who have provided access to the Batouche range and booking services for our events, a task which is a lot more complex then it may seem.

Also special thanks to Laura Kaderly, who was the primary organizer and match director for the Eastern F-Class Championship, which was our largest event this year.

The Easterns are an F-Class long range only match which has been held in Ottawa since 2011. This year we were asked to host the match in New Brunswick. Laura really stepped up to the plate and figured out how to organize a major rifle match for the first time. Laura and her match committee did an excellent job and the match went off without a hitch. We hosted 13 shooters from New Brunswick, 11 from Ontario and Quebec, and 1 from PEI. We will hold the Easterns again next year after which it will return to Ottawa in 2020. Gordon Ogg from Ontario won the F-Open class, and in FTR class 3 of the top four spots went to New Brunswick shooters: myself in 1st, Matt Wolf 3rd, and Gord Holloway 4th.

Our provincial annual prize match attracted 14 competitors, many from Nova Scotia and PEI, with top prize going to myself in FTR class and Don Coleman in TR class.

New Brunswick performed very well this year at out of province events. In Nova Scotia, Paul Bastarache finished first place in FTR class, and in PEI Gord Holloway won FTR while Daniel Chisholm won TR class.

The Intermaritime team match was held in PEI this year, and New Brunswick’s team of 8 shooters won, ahead of Nova Scotia by a single point (806 to 805). Thanks to PEI Rifle Association for hosting this match, which will be held in Nova Scotia next year.

In August, a team of four New Brunswick shooters composed of myself, Gord Holloway, Tony Pham, and Ken Kyle travelled to Ottawa for the F-Class National Championship. This is the highest level of national competition for our sport, and we had been planning, preparing, and practicing for this match for quite some time.

There were 26 FTR and 33 F-Open shooters at the event this year, from Canada, the USA, and a team from Kazakhstan. In the individual FTR class, I won first place with a score of 513-52V, ahead of Gord Holloway with a score of 513-46V – that’s less than one full point between us. Ken Kyle finished in 11th place, Matt Wolf in 15th, and Tony Pham, a new shooter, finished in 19th.

In the team event, we competed as Team New Brunswick. Our 4-man team finished in first place ahead of Team USA and Team Canada by 7 points. Myself and Gord Holloway also had the highest individual scores within the team event.

Having multiple New Brunswick shooters at the top of the standings is a real testament to quality of the fullbore shooting program here in New Brunswick, and the dedication of everyone involved. This success is only possible because of the support of the RNBRA, which provides the opportunity to hold regular events, attract dedicated shooters, and represent New Brunswick on the world stage.

The fullbore target rifle championships were held in Ottawa the following week, with Daniel Chisholm finishing 85th out of a tough crowd of 220 competitors.

On September 1-3 we hosted the Atlantic Championships, organized by Mark McMullin, who grilled an excellent barbecue lunch for all three days. This match attracted 25 competitors from NB, NS, and PEI, with first place going to myself in FTR class and Don Coleman in TR class.

We had a number of new shooters who came out for multiple events this year, including Tanner Anderson, Pat and Steve McLaughlin, Tony Pham, Dick Platt, Paul Plume, Andrew Justason, and Perry Wright. We hope to see them all next year.

Mark McMullin hosted two precision rifle matches year. This non-traditional form of long range shooting will take place on an open range at CFB Gagetown where he will set up steel targets with electronic hit indicators at unknown distances and shoot from constructed supports and barricades. This style of shooting is popular in the US and is the fastest growing discipline of long range shooting. Mark hopes to hold a regular schedule of events next year which will attract shooters from the US and other provinces in Canada, and we look forward to supporting this new program further.

The fullbore section more than exceeded our expectations for the year, and we look forward to approaching the challenges of next year with the same dedication.

Respectfully submitted to the board and members of the RNBRA,

Adam MacDonald, acting Fullbore Section Chairman