MR CHUDLEIGH GORRICK, THE CRACK PIGEON SHOT.
During the course of a chat. with Mr Chud. Gorrick, the famous Australian pigeon shot and sportsman, whose portrait appears in this issue, the following particulars of his career were gleaned, and they should prove of much interest to local sportsmen :—
Mr C. H. Gorrick is a member of the London Gun Club, a director of the National Sporting Club, Sydney, a member of the New South Wales Sports Club, and also a member of the following New Zealand Gun Clubs : —Waipukurau, Wairarapa, Hutt Valley, and Ellerslie.
Mr C. H. Gorrick has competed this year in five pigeon matches, occupying the scratch mark every time, viz., 33yds (with the exception of the Eller- lie match, whert he shot from 32yds), and he has been successful in dividing four out of the five. These matches were held as follows : —Palmerston North £lOO, Wellingto £lOO, Hawera £lOO, Blenheim £lOO, and Ellerslie £5O. Mr G Orrick's full scores in the last match appear below.
Last year, in New Zealand Mr Gorrick put up a splendid record, killing 176 out of 181 birds, all from 32yds to 33yds rise.
Mr Gorrick has twice succeeded since he commenced to compete in matches in New Zealand to make breaks of 100 birds without a miss.
He likes the ground at Ellerslie better than any he has yet shot on in New Zealand, and says the automatic traps used there arc much quicker than any he has heretofore shot over, and considers that birds liberated from them are quite five yards on their flight before the shorter realises the fact.
'Again*, he says the birds used in the late Ellerslie match were all specially trained for tint occasion, and were the fastest he has yet shot at in this colony. They left the traps like lightnfing, and were assisted by a fresh breeze blowing across the traps) from left to right.
The management was excellent, and could n!ot be excelled anywhere, being as it was in the able and capable hands of the genial Mr J. B. Williamson.
It will be interesting to the shooting world to know the charges he uses, as everyone is struck with the clean way in which his birds are invariably smashed up when fired at. His cartridges are loaded by Messrs Curtis and Harvey at their Hounslow factory, and are charged a’s follows 49 grains ” Amberite ” powder, l£oz No. 6 shot• this for the first barrel, but oz No. 5 shot for the second barrel.
Mr Gorrick informs us that he read in a contemporary recently that a wellknown Australian shot recently, gave up Amberite ” cartridges to use a locally made one. He says he is prepared to back himself against any man* in New, Zealand in a match at 100 birds each, for any reasonable stake, and concede one yard start to his opponent if he uses ammunition of colonial make. Mr Gorrick explains that he would not throw out this challenge had it not appeared in the press that this colonial ammunition was made to appear to give such superior results over all other brands. He suggests that a match at too live birds will conclusively prove which ammunition really is the best, since tests at the target do not always show to such advantage when the same cartridges are used at the traps.
It might be mentioned that C. H. Gorrick is the only shootist in Australia who has defeated A. W. Eales. This he did in a match for £ioo aside, too birds each, for the championship of New South Wales in 1897. This was the only occasion upon which they met, at»l Mr Gorrick won by four birds.
Mr Gorrick inteids returning here in June to compete in the £lOO match, which takes place at Ellerslie on the 10th of that month.
He is returning South, where he will compete in several big matches, and between the contests he intends going in extensively for field shooting. f He has a brace of well-broken setters, which he shoots over when after pheasants. In conclusion, Mr Gorrick says he has had a right royal time in Auckland, and has not been so hospitably treated anywhere in New Zealand before. To Dr. Owen and others he is especially grateful for the kindness and sport shown him.
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Bibliographic details
New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume IX, Issue 685, 23 April 1903, Page 9
Word Count
724MR CHUDLEIGH GORRICK, THE CRACK PIGEON SHOT. New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume IX, Issue 685, 23 April 1903, Page 9
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