Where do you live and what is your home range?

Live in the Newcastle area, main C/F range is Silverdale, and rimfire SISC.

When did you first start benchrest?

Started to take it seriously in 2005 as my son, Stuart wanted to get involved in shooting.

Who helped you in the early days?

Peter Van Meurs built my first rifle, a Stolle Panda. After that, the list is long, David Kerr (for the humour), Grahame Keppie from the West, Sully and Stuart Elliott from Qld, and of course, Rob Carnell, Barry Warwick. Ann Brummell will also give honest advice – she is a wealth of knowledge in the same way Billo is.

What was your first BR rifle?

Sleeved Remington 700 bought of John Dark, which is shot in club level shoots for probably 6 months.

When did you get your first HOF point?

Victoria 2011

What year did you qualify?

Sydney 2013

Where do you shoot most?

Silverdale for C/F and SISC for rimfire

Which ranges do you like and dislike and why?

Coffs for the atmosphere (although could be warmer), Volmerage in France for the ever changing weather, Canberra for the same reasons as France, and Silverdale as it’s the home of BR in NSW.

Which matches do you like most each year?

Banana Coast matches, although their later shoots are running over the weekends which makes it hard to attend when I have a practice to run. Australia Day, as the conditions are a challenge, and the NSW Titles.

Have you shot overseas, when, where, how did you go?

WBC France – 8th in 2 gun, best placing was 3rd at 200 in Heavy, and 3rd in the 200 Heavy Grand.

Pacific Regionals in NZ – Teams Light Gold, Teams Heavy Gold, Teams 2 Gun Gold.

What is your current equipment?

BAT DS/Scarborough, March 40 and various Kreiger and Bartelin barrels, smithed by David Kerr.

BAT 3L/Scoville, March 40 with various Kreiger and Bartelin barrels, smithed by David Kerr.

BAT Repeater for Trad Hunter, Kelbly SPG – 30BR/6BR switch, 6x Leupold, smithed by David Kerr.

Turbo, Lilja, Kelbly SPG rimfire smithed by David Kerr.

Bleiker Challenger rimfire in Bleiker prone stock.

RAW 177 BR air rifle, and Hammerli AR20 air rifle in prone stock.

What is your philosophy for benchrest?

I try to remove as many variables as possible, Both Stuart and myself have barrels chambered with the same reamer, and all are interchangeable.

We use the same powder charge, same seating depth and same resizer across all barrels, plus the same 25 cases. By the time the cases are wrecked, the barrel is likely to be too.

That same set up shot me into the HoF and a couple of Australian records. For me, if I was to play with powder and seating depth etc, id more likely than not stuff it up.

At a new range, I will often simply hold centre top of the moth ball and shoot, and continue shooting until I think I have an idea what the wind flags are saying. This to me is more important than shooting physical groups in practice.

What advice would you give to new shooters?

Seek out and speak to good shooters that are winning. At any big event, blokes like Sully, Craig Whittleton, and Kerry (to name but a few) are generally happy to assist.

Get the rifle shooting and, once so, practice. Practice with flags. Learn the wind. Learn what wind does to a bullet., and learn how to shoot fast.

Before getting a stack of new barrels, I strongly suggest getting some BRT wind flags, they will prove invaluable in the end.