REMEMBER that great old TV western, The Rifleman?

In the long-running series, Chuck Connors starred as Lucas McCain, a tough-as-nails marshal whose prime method of keeping law and order was to produce his trusty Winchester rifle with which he could hit a baddie on the run at 100 paces.

Lucas McCain, however, would be a rank amateur alongside Chillingham veterinarian Brett Chittick who has been on a hot trot around target shooting circles in recent weeks.

The 41-year-old has only been serious about the shooting caper for the past few months yet has quickly established himself as one of the very best rifle shooters in the sport.

A fortnight back he shot an excellent 345 out of a possible 360 to win the Inverell RSM Prize and followed up last weekend by besting all-comers in the Southern Downs Warwick Prize, managing 174 out of 180 to get the major end of the cash prize.

Both those victories came hard on the heels of Chittick’s first outing of the year at the Queensland State Championships held at Belmont in Brisbane over Easter.

In trying conditions for all competitors, Chittick tied for top spot alongside two others with 211/240 but was relegated to third place on a countback.

“That performance at Belmont did me the world of good and I went up to Inverell confident in my ability to compete at the highest level and obviously the win there gave my confidence added impetus heading towards Warwick,” Chittick said.

Chittick competes in the F Class Standard, in which competitors shoot with a .308 calibre rifle using telescopic sights.

Those telescopic sights are certainly needed – the targets at Warwick were set at 300 yards, 500 yards and 600 yards.

“The longer the distance the better I seem to perform so I’m looking forward to competitions where the targets are even further away,” Chittick said.

Chittick’s pride and passion is his South African-made Musgrave .308 Winchester, a weapon with which he has developed a great affinity.

Not as great an affinity as he has for his wife, Andria, and two children, 7-year-old Nicola and Jake, 4.

But an affinity all the same.

“I suppose I have got to know it like you do the back of my hand and whenever I line up a target, I am always relaxed and confident of us doing a good job,” Chittick said.