Rob fires silver bullet

GISBORNE’S only A-grade shooter, Rob Johansen, improved 30 places and won an individual range medal at the World Long Range Rifle Championships in Brisbane.
“I came 65th four years ago in Brisbane and finished 35th this year,” said Johansen. “I was quite pleased by the increase. There was only eight points between 35th and the top 20.”
Johansen won a silver medal on the 800 yards range on the third and final day. He scored 75 points, including 12 centres and three bulls, and was only one centre away from gold.
“The most you can get is 75 and 15 (centres) and the winner shot 75/13.”
Johansen said shooting a .308 calibre rifle at 800, 900 and 100 yards over three days was exhausting — mentally and physically.
“Concentration is obviously vital and the weather is a huge factor.
“When it was cloudy it was humid. When it wasn’t cloudy, it was stinking hot. It didn’t matter if it was overcast or fine, the heat affected all 383 shooters (men and women).
“Your pulse became stronger, something I hadn’t experienced before while shooting.
“Normally the gun sits still but you could see it move in relation to your heartbeat In the end I took my shooting jersey off and stuck it in a sink of water to cool down . . but by the time I’d finished shooting the jersey was dry.”
Shooters spend up to 30 minutes on the ground fully kitted up in a shooting jersey and heavy canvas jacket.
Johansen said he had been in good form heading into the world champs but sometimes that counted for nothing. Shooters tended to have high expectations rather than high hopes.
“I had been to Aussie for the past two years to practise on the range for the champs and get a feel for the conditions. I competed in the Brisbane Queens tournament with reasonable success. I finished in the top 10 percent two years running.
“You can put in all the practice and training in the world but if it doesn’t go right on the day — or you don’t get a bit of luck with the weather — it can mean nothing.
“You can shoot at the start of the range when the weather is dead calm or shoot in the middle or the at the end when it’s blowing a gale.
“The organisers rotate shooters during the day in an attempt to give them a fair crack but you could be unlucky and strike bad weather each time.”
Johansen said the key to good scores was “minimising your disasters”.
“A girl was leading till the last day and shot a centre and a four but dropped those scores in expectation of getting better scores.
“Under the conditions she should have kept them, and if she had she would have won. Instead she finished with a two and a three and lost the title. She didn’t minimise her disasters.”
There were was no well-earned rest for Johansen after coming home.
“I arrived home on a Friday night at 10pm and got up at 6am the next day to travel to Te Puke for their rifle club champs.
“I was defending the open title and I’m happy to say I retained my title. It came down to the last shot fired.
“I went into the final with six other shooters in third place and needed two points and three centres to win. On the last shot I needed a centre, which I shot.”
Johansen has put his rifle away until around Christmas when he will start preparing for his next major shoot — the New Zealand Queens (nationals) at Trentham in January.
“My best performance at Queens was fifth in the grand — a combination of all the shoots (300, 500, 600 900 and 1000).”
He was 12th last year and is aiming to improve five places.
“I need to refresh my batteries then it’s back to practising.”