By Baden Prentice - Bay of Plenty Branch
This all-comers tournament was held on the 12th-13th September at the NZDA Bay of Plenty Branch's 300m range in the TECT Park, Tauranga. It is based on a popular USA match designed to reveal the most accurate cartridge, rifle and shooter combination, at least out to 300 metres (328 yards). The tournament was expected to draw out New Zealand's most accurate rifles from precision hunting rigs, F-Class, PRS and Benchrest amongst others.
All targets were placed at 300 meters. Far enough that the higher BC bullets used by today’s competition and modern hunting rifles come into play. The Tack Driver’s course of fire demanded competitors demonstrate both precision and accuracy by switching between Group and Score targets. The Group target provided a test of precision, measuring only the group size. Meanwhile, the Score target demanded accuracy with the goal of hitting 5 separate, 1 inch bullseyes. Three of each target type were shot.
On Friday practice shooting was delayed by several hours due to early morning rain and fog. Competition day was Saturday and shooters had to deal with one of the windiest days ever seen on the range. One gust was recorded on the TECT Park weather station at 99 kph! A large gum tree beside the firing line even blew over during the shooting.
Scott McLay, an F-Class shooter, won the tournament to become the 2025 Tack Driver Champion with a 284WIN AI cartridge in an F-Open class rifle. I believe Benchrest is hoping for a comeback next year! Nick Petry, a PRS shooter and member of the Bay of Plenty Branch, came 4th with a 6GT shot off a bipod.
One of the core drivers of this tournament is to get all types of shooters together and this was certainly the case. There were some great conversations had and some knowledge sharing going on. We are all looking forward to Tack Driver 2 in September 2026.
Results:
