Narrabri pistol shooter Grahame Keys recently travelled to Yarra Pistol Club in Victoria, where he competed at the 64th Pistol Australia and ISSF National Championships event.
He returned home from what was his fifth nationals appearance with a silver medal.
Grahame competed in five events at the annual shoot from Saturday, April 9, to Wednesday, April 13.
One of those was the service pistol unrestricted event that was contested on the Tuesday, in which Grahame was a part of a three-man NSW state team alongside the father and son duo of Dean and Peter Brus.
The NSW men shot a combined 2634 out of a possible 2700 to claim second place in the teams event.
They missed out on winning gold by just two points after Queenslanders Brandon Ede, Peter Knowlton and Jamie Longbottom shot a combined 2636.
Individually, Grahame shot 871 out of a possible 900 and finished 14th overall in the national event.
To qualify for a place on state teams, shooters’ five top scores at sanctioned events throughout the year are added up and averaged, and the top three shooters earn a place on the team in each division.
The 50-year-old Narrabri man told The Courier it was a special feeling to have been selected to compete for NSW at the event.
“It’s an honour to be selected in the state team,” Grahame said.
“NSW is one of the most competitive states at WA1500 service events, and to get to the stage where I’m invited to be a team member feels pretty good.
“I was the last person shooting out of the teams that were in contention of winning, and they were all standing behind me watching, so there was a lot of pressure.
“An 871 is probably a good average hit for me. My personal best is 880, so I’m pretty happy with that.”
Service pistol unrestricted is a timed 90-shot match, which is shot across different distances.
It’s a match used by armed services, including army and police, and the unrestricted component is that there are no restrictions on the weight of the guns used or the power factor of the bullets.
Grahame also competed in WA1500 revolver on the Saturday, the WA1500 pistol division on the Sunday, service pistol on the Monday, and the service pistol 25 yards on the Wednesday.
The Narrabri man narrowly missed out on a top 10 finish in the WA1500 revolver division, placing 11th after he finished on the same amount of points as the duo that ranked ninth and 10th.
He is currently ranked 30th in the world in that division.
He also placed 24th in the WA1500 pistol, 25th in the service pistol and 26th in the service pistol 25 yards.
Service pistol unrestricted podium finishers – the second-placed NSW team, the winning Queensland team and the third-placed Western Australia team at the 64th Pistol Australia and ISSF National Championships, which were held at Yarra Pistol Club earlier this month. From left to right – Peter Brus, Grahame Keys, Dean Brus, Jamie Longbottom, Brandon Ede, Peter Knowlton, Jeremy Kozak, Linda Jekel and Max Wray. Photo: Supplied
