Winter 2002 - National Rifle Association

SHOOHOOTINGMANANAGERGER’S NOTES6byMartinFarnanGeneralalMarksman’s CalendarThe proposed 2003 Calendar of Major Events at Bisleyhas been produced and has been sent to all clubsecretaries. It is based on historical precedent and manyof the dates shown are simply the equivalent dates tothose in 2002. I would ask club secretaries to check thiscalendar carefully and let me have their own ClubFixtures list as quickly as possible. May I also requestdetails of any other Club Championships or Meetingswhether held at Bisley or elsewhere (please do notinclude events such as practice sessions). These will beincluded in the final version of the Marksman’s Calendarwhich will be published in the Spring Journal. Detailsshould be with me by the beginning of January.Under 25 Training Weekend“Exercise Maple Taste” is a training weekend set upsome years ago to prepare the selected Athelings Teamfor its forthcoming visit to Canada. It proved sosuccessful that the idea was extended to the GB Under19 Team to South Africa, both teams training on the sameweekend and learning from each other. A highlyqualified coaching team is in attendance and aconsiderable amount of practical shooting takes placeas well as lectures from subject matter experts.It has now been agreed that the concept should bedeveloped still further, and should encompass Under25 shooters as well, not just those involved in an Under25 team but all Under 25 shooters nominated by theirClub or County Secretaries. Costs for this trainingweekend will be kept to a minimum, and will be at costprice in almost all cases. Bids should be forwarded,along with a letter of recommendation from the relevantClub or County Secretary, to the Shooting Manager. Thistraining weekend usually takes place the weekend beforeEaster but the exact dates for 2003 will be given in theMarksman’s Calendar which will be issued along withthe Spring Journal.Should there be sufficient response from Under 25s inthe regions, other training events may be run noncentrallyin the regions.Ranges, Targets and MarkersRange Cancellation ChargesThe notification periods which were specified inconnection with range cancellation charges at Bisley havebeen considered by the Board of the National ShootingCentre Ltd. It was agreed that these could be considereda problem by club secretaries in that entries for clubchampionships do not normally close four weeks beforethe event. Taking these points into consideration, themodified cancellation charges (which will apply in highseason only, as a percentage of the fee for the bookingmade) and notification periods will be as follows:-If a booking is cancelled:more than 2 weeks before event No chargebetween 2 weeks and 1 week 25%between 1 week and 3 days 50%at 3 days notice or less 100%Range SafetyShooters have recently been observed walking or drivingup to a gate, on which is displayed a “DO NOT PASSTHIS POINT. LIVE FIRING AHEAD” sign, reading thesign, opening the gate and then walking or drivingthrough into the Range Danger Area (RDA) concerned(in one case carefully shutting the gate behind him!). Anyperson doing so is:• putting himself in danger;• putting those following him in danger;• invalidating his insurance cover;• endangering the NRA’s insurance cover;• disregarding Range Regulations;• setting an incredibly bad example to others;• making himself liable to lose his NRAmembership;• making himself liable to be banned forever fromthe Camp and Ranges.Please remember that the RDA signs are there for areason - your protection! If the sign says “Do not passthis point” then DO NOT!Use of Stickledown During the Winter MonthsAs was reported in last year’s Winter Journal, it has beenclear for some years now that Stickledown has been verylittle used during the winter months, and the expensesinvolved in keeping this range open have far exceededthe income generated from target hire. In many instancesweekend bookings between November and March werefor one target for a morning or an afternoon only. Somenew initiatives have been proposed for this comingWinter period to increase use, and it has been agreedthat Stickledown will again remain open under thefollowing conditions:• only the line of flags between targets 36 and 37will remain• targets to be used will be from target 37 upwards,ie Butts 3 or 4• the required target(s) will be placed in the frame(s)on Friday and covered as weather protection• no target shed staff will be called in on Saturdayor Sunday to repair/replace targets in the eventof inclement weather

so that net range charges will remain at the same levelas for 2002.You will remember that Council agreed that bookingsof targets for the purpose of running corporate days forcommercial reasons, rather than the promotion of thesport, will be charged a per capita fee for those attendingthe corporate day. This has been set at £25 per guest.This will not apply to bookings made for the sole purposeof promoting the sport of shooting. Club secretaries, orindividuals making such bookings, will be asked toindicate, when making a booking for a corporate day,for what purpose the targets are being booked.Firearms and AmmunitionAmmunition PricesThe purchase price from Royal Ordnance Radway GreenTarget Ammunition for 2003 has not yet beenannounced. It is therefore not possible to give the revisedammunition prices for sale to members for 2003 in thisedition of the Journal. These will be ascertained as soonas possible and details will be made available toindividual members and to affiliated Clubs.Use of Breech FlagsIt has been found possible to insert a breech flag in acertain type of modern target rifle while, at the sametime, a live round was retained by the flag in the rear ofthe action. A possible consequence could be that, whenthe breech flag is removed and the bolt closed, a liveround could unknowingly be fed into the chamber withthe obvious safety implications. You are advised to checkwhether this is possible with your rifle, and if so, to takethe most stringent precautions to ensure that this isprevented.However, this matter will be considered by the ShootingCommittee and may be referred to in the Spring Journal.Range Office Target (ROT)You may be aware that the Range Office has beenarranging for a ROT to be available at as many rangesas possible as often as possible. This target is availableby the hour and may be booked in the Range Office at arate of £6 per hour. This is ideal if you are testingammunition or running in a barrel. Since this is oftenprovided due to the cancellation of an existing booking,the distance cannot be guaranteed in advance.Imperial MeetingPrize ListsHeavy involvement in the Commonwealth Gamesdelayed work on producing the Prize List book.However this has now been sent to the printers andshould be ready for distribution, along with your medals,bars and prize money, by late October or earlyNovember.Web SiteThose who surf the web will have noticed that not allresults were displayed on the web site this year. Thiswas due to the fact that the results come from a varietyof sources, some produced by the main computerprogram, some from a PC, some are word processed etc.8It would have taken an inordinate amount of time toproduce them all in HTML format so these particularones were not put on the web site.It is planned to computerise more events in 2003, whichwill make it very much easier to put more results on theweb site. This process will be completed in 2004 whenit is hoped to put all results on the web site the day theygo final.Dates for 2003The 134th Imperial Meeting will be held a week laterthan this year, and will run from 5 July to 19 July. Theseevents will be preceded by the Services and CadetsMeetings which will start on 22 June. The WorldVeterans, Under 21 and Under 25 Team Matches will beheld on Sunday 20 July and the World Individual LongRange Championships will then follow from Monday21 to Wednesday 23 July inclusive. The Palma PracticeDay will be on Thursday 24 July; the Palma World LongRange Championships will be held on Friday 25 andSaturday 26 July 2003.ProgrammeThe programme of events for 2003 will be similar to 2002,but an Australia Match and a Junior Australia Matchwill also be held, probably on Second Tuesday.Entry FormsEntry forms will be included in the Spring Journal, duefor publication at the end of February 2003.Service RifleThere will be some changes in individual matchconditions next year. Practice 1 of Match 4 (The ARAAssociation or NRA Queen Mary) will now be fired ona Triple Figure 11, the central Figure 11 scoring five andfour as usual but the two flank targets, which will becovered with ochre coloured paper only, will score twopoints. In addition Practice 4 will revert to ten exposuresof three seconds only, and the no shoot exposures havebeen dispensed with. The match conditions for the Inter-Services FIBUA have been modified in line with theproposed changes to Match 17 which will be publishedin due course.Target Rifle, Match Rifle and F ClassThere are no known changes to date, but I will give anupdate in the Spring Journal.Gallery Rifle and Muzzle Loading PistolThere will be some changes to make the Gallery Rifleand Pistol Meeting more popular and relevant, and thesewill be notified in the Spring Journal.Historic ArmsIt is possible that some changes will be made to theprogramme of this meeting but the sub-committee hasnot yet met to confirm any changes. Again I will givean update in the Spring Journal.Trade StandsIf you plan to set up a Trade Stand during the ImperialMeeting please contact Doug Glaister as soon as possible.A standard space will be £30 plus VAT per day, withlarger sites in the region of £60 plus VAT. Space islimited, and early application is advisable.

Imperial Meeting 2004For advance information the 2004 Imperial Meeting willbe one week later than the 2003 Meeting, therebyreverting to its traditional slot. First Saturday will be 10July and Queen’s Prize Final will be 24 July 2004.Team CaptainciesGreat Britain Match Rifle Team to Australia -October 2004Council have accepted the invitation by the NRA ofAustralia to send a Match Rifle Team to compete in theAustralian MR Championships and to compete in theInternational Team Match defending the WoomeraTrophy. The provisional programme is:SA Fullbore State Champs 20 Sep – 4 OctMR Team Practice5 OctSA MR Individual Champs 6 – 8 OctMR State Teams9 OctWoomera International Match 10 OctNominations are sought for the position of TeamCaptain, and nominees must have agreed to their namesbeing put forward. Nominations should be forwardedto the Shooting Manager by no later than 2 January 2003,and Council will then elect the Team Captain at itsmeeting towards the end of January 2003.Under 25 Team Captain 2004Nominations are sought for the position of Under 25Captain for 2004. Nominations should be forwarded tothe Shooting Manager by no later than 2 January 2003.Diamond Jubilee of Disbandment of the HomeGuardAn interesting letter has been received from the HonSecretary of the Newport (IW) & District Rifle Club(Founded 1944 by D Coy 19th Bn Hampshire HomeGuard) and is reproduced, at his request, in the letterssection of this Journal. Please read this and, if applicable,respond to the club secretary.Notes from the Shooting AdministratorNRA CoursesIt is intended that the NRA Courses Programme shouldoffer progression in terms of knowledge and trainingthroughout the year for members of the NRA and itsaffiliated clubs. Dates for all courses in 2003 will beshown in the Marksman’s Calendar (included with thenext Journal) and will be publicised separately.Probationary Members CourseThis course is primarily a course in safe handling, whichprovides an introduction to target rifle shooting. Eachcourse consists of six half day lessons. The currentautumn courses are fully subscribed; the next course willbegin in the New Year. Courses are run in the spring,early summer and autumn. Each course is limited toten students.Target Rifle Skills CourseThis weekend course will be held in the spring; it isaimed primarily at those individuals who have recentlytaken up target rifle shooting to help them develop theirbasic skills.Club Instructor CourseThis is the first step towards a coaching qualification. Acourse was held at Bisley on 21 and 22 September. It isintended that a club instructor course will be held in theAutumn each year. Successful candidates may thenprogress to GBTSF coaching courses.Range Conducting Officer CoursesThese courses are run regularly throughout the year atBisley and are run regionally on demand. The next RCOcourses at Bisley will be on 16 and 17 November. Eachcourse is a one day course. Successful candidates willbe qualified to conduct live firing on MOD or TAVRARanges. The RCO qualification is valid for six years,and can be renewed on application to the NRA.Application forms and further information on all NRAcourses can be obtained from the NRA ShootingAdministrator tel 01483 797777 ext 150 or e-mailphyllis.farnan@nra.org.uk.Details can also be found on the NRA web sitewww.nra.org.uk.CostsThe costs per person for RCO and Probationary coursesare as follows:RCO Courses run at Bisley £50(£55 if the course is to include Muzzle Loading)Probationary Courses £60 per sessionRCO Renewals £15RCO Assessors Update MeetingWe hope to hold a meeting for all NRA Assessors on 7December at Bisley to provide information about thechanges that have taken place concerning RCO courses,and to introduce the new RCO manual. We hope thatmany RCO Assessors will be able to attend. Furtherdetails will be sent to all RCO Assessors shortly.NRA Club Finder ServiceThe NRA receives numerous requests from individualsfor information about shooting clubs, and has begun theprocess of setting up a club finder service on the NRAweb site. Letters have been sent to all affiliated clubs,along with an application form, inviting them to providean email address or web site link which could be madeavailable for prospective new members to use. If you,as a club secretary, have not yet received this applicationform and would like your club to be included in the NRAClub Finder service please return your application formto the Shooting Administrator. We hope to launch thisservice shortly.General NoticesSpring General MeetingThe NRA Spring General Meeting will be held onSaturday 29 March 2003 at 5pm in the NRA Pavilion.Bisley General MeetingThe 2003 Bisley General Meeting will be held in theUmbrella Tent at 9pm on Wednesday 16 July 2003.NRA Council Committee ElectionsPlease see page 32 in this Journal for full details of NRACommittees for the forthcoming year.9

Election of Chairman of CouncilAt their meeting on 27 September 2002 the NRA Councilre-elected Mr JF Jackman FCA as its Chairman, Mr CMBrooks was elected as Vice Chairman and Mr P CurrieFCA was elected as Treasurer.Following the election in July, Mr GV Barnard (EastMidlands), Mr JA McAllister and Mr C Oliver-Bellasishave joined Council. Mr R Hudson has retired. OurVice-Presidents, Mr Robert Stafford and Sir RogerWheeler, also stood down, but we are very grateful thatthey will continue to be available for support and advice.Since July, Mr PJ Bloom’s resignation has been acceptedwith regret. Often speaking up on difficult issues, hiscounsel will be missed.FORTHCOMINGTOURSNRA v Continental Palma Council 2003I am delighted to have been selected by the NationalRifle Association to captain the NRA Team versusContinental Europe 2003. The match will probablybe held at Bisley during October and it is my intentionto attract a number of applicants who have notpreviously been selected for international or NRAteams.If you aspire to being a member of the Palma Teamone day then this is the start you need! Selection willbe made Spring 2003.Please apply providing a precis of your shooting/coaching experience to:-Reg Roberts“Petlers”East StreetRusperWest Sussex RH12 4RETel (work): 020 7242 9962 (home): 01293 871 489E-mail: regroberts@targetappointments.comNRA Team to the Channel Islands 2003The following have been selected to represent theNational Rifle Association in the Channel Islands overthe Spring Bank Holiday 2003:Captain Nigel PennVice-Captain Charles BrooksAdjutant Jane MesserShooters Peter ChapmanJohn DeaneRupert ElvinsSimon HardingRichard HebblethwaiteKitty JackMarcus O’LearyKaren RichardsAndrew SykesPaul SykesJohn TapsterReserve Richard Jeens10GB Rifle Team to Kenya a and Namibia 2004The following have been selected for the GB RifleTeam to Kenya and Namibia 2004:Captain David HossackVice Captain James DallasAdjutant Alex HendersonMain Coach Martin TownsendShooters Gary AlexanderNC = New Cap Iain Brechin NCMatthew Button NCJulie CaneSimon Cane NCPeter Chapman NCColin CheshireDerek LoweRichard Mott NCTrina NoyesAlice OgilvieIain RobertsonIan ShawMartin Woolger NCMark Wrigley NCRichard VaryReserves(Alphabetically)Mike BallMatthew CharltonRupert RileyBill SharmanNRA / NSRA MERGERERGER?Saturday 1 June saw the merger of two departmentswhen the NRA Membership Secretary Heather Doustmarried the Lord Roberts Centre Manager Chris Webbat Guildford Register Office. Mick Silver and SherrilDixon were Best Man and Matron of Honour and thewedding was followed by a reception in the London& Middlesex Clubhouse.The NRA wish Heather and Chris every happinessfor the future.

DISCIPLINEAND REGIONEGIONALAL MATTERSClassic Armsfrom Rae WillsThe Jubilee Historic Arms Meeting already seems adistant memory, which I hope was enjoyed by all.About 200 competitors (about the same as last year)took part, and gained the best of the weather beforethe rain came for the rest of the Imperial Meeting. Thenumber of actual competitions entered was noticeablydown, but the recently introduced SR(b) and the new7.62mm classes attracted 50 entries and did much tocounter what might have been a far worse outcome.These new classes appear to have great potential; thereare many regularly used around the country and, asnews spreads, hopefully more will enter. There is apossibility that a dedicated through-the-ranges (200,500/600) shoot for these rifles might be arranged at asuitable off season time.On a wider front, close interest is being taken indevelopments in European firearms legislation. Thereare frequent attempts to promote a common regimeacross the EEC. Often, this seems to become anattempt to apply across Europe the most draconianregime currently in force.Recently it was reported that the DortmundWaffenborse, one of the most prestigious Arms Fairsin Europe, was cancelled at short notice. This wascaused by the police failing to issue the required permitunder a 1938 regulation. There have been moves toapply an age limit in relation to access to arms. In thiscase the police decided that an age limit was notappropriate for the show, but no young people shouldbe allowed to see the arms at the fair, although it isopen only to edged weapons and antiques! The permitfor a replacement show at Rheindorf was withdrawnafter media pressure.Currently it seems Arms Fairs are in effect banned inGermany at the present time. The police admit this isa political decision; there was no impact on criminalactivities or law and order.Bisley is the venue of many events arranged by otherorganisations, and on 14 September delegates of theInternational Congress on Heritage Arms came for asession on the ranges and lectures as part of a threeday tour that included visits to military museums andthe Kynamco ammunition works.The members came from Britain and Europe. The chiefobjective was to promote the study of Heritage Arms,and in particular to alert Museum Directors (who areoften unaware of the normal dialogue of the shootingworld) to the need to be aware of proposed legislation.In the past they have found out too late aboutregulations that adversely affect their collections.My highlights of the day at Bisley were discussionson the range between Guy AR West, with his Dreyseneedle fire carbine, and Jean Mallet of Belgium, bothleading experts on early European cartridge rifles, plusPaul Debrunfaut of the Royal Army Museum,Brussels, describing his work with military sciencestudents evaluating historic arms with modernballistic equipment and the use of re-enactment groupsto study how the arms were actually used in action.On 21 September a group of staff from the ImperialHistoric Arms and Trafalgar Meetings entertained 24Air Cadets and their officers to a day on Siberiaexperiencing a wonderful array of arms fromMatchlocks to F Class. This was a chance to say thankyou to an organisation which regularly supplies themost excellent markers to our meetings, and to letthem see things from the other end. They were a verywell behaved and disciplined bunch of young boysand girls, an absolute credit to their squadron.My thanks to all who contributed arms, time andammunition to this worthy cause, not forgetting theCadets Q department for the hot dogs and burgers.We design & fit-out offices, commercial interiors, car showrooms & lots more.Give Tim Webster a call!11

Gallery Rifle and Pistolfrom Kevin HoseyHendon League - Summer 2002The Hendon League for summer 2002 attracted a totalentry of 203 competitors from 16 clubs in ninedisciplines. The winners were:Precision LSR Open sightsDiv 1 K Kingsbury Croydon RCDiv 2 R Freiter Hendon RCDiv 3 R Guascone Hendon RCDiv 4 RC Pateman Boro of Wandsworth RCDiv 5 R Burke CroydonAny Sights LSRDiv 1 S Elliott Addlestone RCDiv 2 N Jones Dudley RCDiv 3 G Parker Gainsborough RCDiv 4 S Pickwell Gainsborough RCDiv 5 A Jones Dudley RCDiv 6 D Royle Dudley RCDiv 7 B Howard Hendon RCDiv 8 P Jones Chobham RCDiv 9 K Talbot Addlestone RCDiv 10 C Pullen Surbiton RCStandard Pistol LSRDiv 1 D Phillipson Gainsborough RCDiv 2 M Harrison Chobham RCDiv 3 A Hodgson Camberley RCBlack Powder PistolDiv 1 K Kingsbury Croydon RCDiv 2 T Perry Croydon RCDiv 3 C Thacker East Barnet SCLong Range Air PistolDiv 1 K Hosey Hendon RCPrecision Gallery Rifle Open sightsDiv 1 K Kingsbury Croydon RCDiv 2 T Morrissey Hendon RCDiv 3 R Guascone Hendon RCDiv 4 V Green Kodak RCDiv 5 F Carnell Croydon RCDiv 6 D Knights East Barnet SCDiv 7 J Bowman Kodak RCRapidFire Gallery Rifle Open sightsDiv 1 K Kingsbury Croydon RCDiv 2 F Carnell Croydon RCStandard Handgun Gallery Rifle Open sightsDiv 1 K Kingsbury Croydon RCGallery Rifle Precision Any SightsDiv 1 P Edwards Hendon RCDiv 2 T W Martin Croydon RCThe league uses the current pistol targets, copies ofthe entry form are available from:Kevin Hosey,63 Eastern Avenue,Pinner,Middlesex,HA5 1NWTel: 020 8866 6654E-mail: hendonrifleclub@hotmail comF Classfrom Paul MonaghanThe F Class World ChampionshipsThe first F Class World Championships were held atConnaught Ranges in Ottawa, Canada during August.The meeting consisted of competition alongside theDCRA TR meeting followed by two days of individualF Class competition. There was a very strongcontingent of US shooters including Carlos Hathcock,whose father was one of the most famous Marinesnipers of the last century. Carlos showed that he isas good as his daddy was! Great Britain fielded astrong squad and six members made it into the first20 places in the F Class MacDonald Stewart GrandAggregate that was shot alongside the TR meeting.In the main F Class competitions, GB shooters gained10th, 11th, 15th and 22nd places out of a field of around150. The highest placed GB competitor was PeterJackson. Unfortunately the team event did not go ourway. It was won by the United States team withAustralia in second place; GB finished fourth behindSouth Africa having been beaten by a mere four points12out of a total of over 2,000. The full tour report willappear in the Spring Journal.What is happening in F Class at Home?Quite a lot actually, but it is not always easy to findout just where you can shoot F Class. An increasingnumber of clubs include F Class in their competitioncalendars, both as stand-alone or alongside TRcompetitions. If you would like to keep in touch withwhat is happening around the country, then send ane-mail to phyllis.farnan@nra.org.uk with F Class listin the subject line. Your address will be added to themailing list and you will receive regular updates of FClass events.Club SecretariesIf you want your F Class event brought to the attentionof F Class shooters, please send an e-mail tophyllis.farnan@nra.org.uk and your events will be sentto all registered F Class shooters.

LOOK AT IT THIS WAY . . .390: clip-on iris for normal glasses £49391: light or dark clip-on eyeshield £19392: three push-fit colour filters to suit £29500: iris and snap-in filters & polarisers £89510: iris only £40566: iris and 6 colour filters £110575: 1.5x diopter, 5 cols & polarisers £149577: adaptor, allows use without diopter £7Other Gehmann rearsight irises550: iris and twin polarisers £69530: iris and 1.5x magnifier only £105551: iris, 1.5x and twin polarisers £120570: iris, 1.5x and 6 colour filters £139568: iris, 48 colours, twin polarisers £159507: 6 snap-on col. rings for alignment £13508: as above with 6 coloured filters £33Gehmann foresight irises – M.18 or M.22520: appears as normal metal element £59522: appears as perspex element £69525: iris and fine crosshairs £69591: spirit level, fits under clamp ring £35581: as above but radially adjustable £39586: 1.3x magnifying lens £20524: iris to restrict white round bullseye £36ALL GEHMANN REARSIGHT IRISES HAVE A 30 YEAR GUARANTEETo find out more about Gehmann’s sights and accessories - send for their latest colour catalogueSHOOTERS SPECTACLE FRAMES FOR RIFLE OR PISTOL - LENS ONLY £19 EXTRA320: Varga, adjustable, with eyeshield £69332: Knobloch, adjustable £89300: Gehmann, multi-adjustable £89340: iris for depth of field, clip-on £39347: filters - choice of 4 colours £15337: 3-colour filters, rotational £45345: frosted colours to match £24344: centering device, clip-on £15339: eyeshield for the non-aiming eye £15333: eyeshield with hinged sideshield £19338: sideshields (pair) £15347: polariser, clip-on, for holder £15Surrey Gunsown alloy’scope standwith ring clamp £69Rhino 22 x 60mm angledeyepiece spotting ‘scope(illustrated) £129RHINO 30 x 60mmcompact ‘scope.Best quality opticsand easy adjustment,large focus ring,sunshade £169Robust but lightweight bi-pod legs,12" rod provides height & windage adjustment.Can be supplied less ring clamp for‘scopes with a threaded boss £5912" extension rods £15ring clamp only for attaching to tripods £23OPEN TUESDAY - SATURDTURDAY 9.30 - 5.3030x, 40x or 50xadditional eyepieces£35 eachWaterproof,fleece-lined scopecovers with two zips £19SURREY GUNS7 MANOR ROAD, WALLINGTON,SURREY, SM6 0BZ,ENGLANDTel: 020 8647 7742 Fax: 020 8669 9199e-mail: 106026.3374@compuserve.comweb site: http://www.surreyguns.com

Practical Rifleby Steve BeardThe Blue Team Practical Rifle ChampionshipThis year’s Blue Team Practical Rifle Championship tookplace on 20 July at Bisley.Butt 19 (the last butt on Century) is the spot we normallyget when shooting PR at Bisley, and this event provedno different. As we shoot at all distances it is the logicalspot to put us, with only the safety trace on our left toworry about. In this particular case we had the TR boysshooting on that side at 600 and 300 yards.The event attracted 34 competitors for the six stages ona day that promised rain but turned out to be a brightsummer day with very little wind in the morning, butbuilding to a strong breeze during the afternoon. Thesix squads were split into two with one half shootingand the other half in the butts, swapping round atmidday. This is not to everyone’s liking but it does makethe most efficient use of time. This competition, like allthe other PR Championship shoots, counted towards theLeague. It was this year’s ninth competition to countwith another four to go, but enough of the advertisingand on with the nuts and bolts of the competition.Stage 1 consisted of Long Range Snaps. A nice warmupstage shot from a freestyle position allowing thecompetitors to get settled in. The stage, as the titlesuggests, was a series of ten snap exposures, eachexposure being of five seconds; the target was a figure11 at a distance of 600 yards. Competitors were allowedany number of shots per exposure but only the highest20 scoring hits would count. The eagle eye for this stagewas John Williamson with Matt Greenall some 16 pointsbehind.Stage 2 was a mini Rourkes. Competitors had 30 looserounds in groups of 10 positioned at 25, 50 and 75 yardsbehind the firing point. On the appearance of two figure11s in a frame the competitors (leaving their firearms onthe point at all times) had to retrieve one lot of tenrounds, return to the firing point and engage the targetsfrom the kneeling, squatting or sitting position, fiverounds at each target. On depletion of the ten roundsand having proved clear to the Range Officer, thecompetitor had to retrieve the next ten rounds and onthe return engage the targets from the proneunsupported position. This procedure was repeated forthe final ten rounds and shot from a freestyle position.This stage in the Nationals takes some doing and,although in this version competitors were not having sofar to run, only Chris Vale and Bob Wightman actuallycompleted the course. Unfortunately it is no good justcompleting - you have also to score. To this end, withBob having the slight disadvantage of shooting ironsights, Chris Vale took the stage.The third stage was a mini Kabul Chorus commencing(on the appearance of a figure 12 target) with a shortcrawl by the competitors to the firing point where theirrifles were waiting. The freestyle position was adoptedwhereupon they engaged the figure 12. On being hit, a14second figure 12 appeared and started to move towardthe edge of the frame. When hit it would changedirection, if not hit it would be retracted never to be seenagain. As well as this, a figure 12c would make tenexposures of two seconds each. The mover must havebeen activated for any score to count. The best crawlerin this event was Pete Williams with an ample marginof 25 points over Steve Oakland.Stage 4 was one of those stages that everyone loves.Unlimited rounds at figure 11, 12, 12c and 14 targets thatcontinued to appear from largest to smallest, each oneappearing as the other was hit, over a 90 second period.Steve Sheldon proved to have the speed and accuracyto take the stage.When it got to the fifth stage it was time for a bit ofrunning from 300 to 200 yards. On arrival at 200,competitors had to engage the single figure 11 with tenrounds from a prone unsupported position followed bya further ten rounds from the weak shoulder freestyleposition. Competitors could choose which one to shootfrom first. Mark Bradley and Matt Greenall proved tobe more of a match in the athletics stakes on this stage.The final and sixth stage was another one with thepotential of getting lots of the pointy things down range.Competitors had four plates, 30, 26, 23 and 20 cms squareat 200 yards; as each was hit it was replaced by the nextin size. This continued for two minutes. Fred Cookeproved to be on form for this one with just five pointsnudging Steve Sheldon into second place.Congratulations go to Steve Sheldon for winning theChampionship with Mark Bradley, Matt Greenall andPeter Williams in second, third and fourth respectively.Ann Nightingale took the Ladies Trophy, Bob Wightmanthe Iron Sights, Pete Williams the Veterans and the topNATO trophy went to Ken Witts. The top team went toSSP (Steve Sheldon, Steve Oakland and Pete Williams).There was an amazingly good selection of rifles beingused, a CAM, a Blazer, Enfields, Remington 700s, SSGsto name a few, with a large entry of competitors usingthe black rifle (the AR15/CAR single shot derivative).The last is now becoming very popular, and with goodreason; most of those doing well on the circuit are usingthem. With the accuracy of the .223 round over the pastcouple of years being improved to the extent that it isbecoming more common out to 1000 yards, a trend ledin part by Robert Bucknell’s fine example set a numberof years ago with his heavy barrelled CAM. As an aside,Armalon is about to start tests on a new .223 based onthe Lee Enfield. Initial photos with 20 round AR15/Mini 14 mags attached look good.Thanks must go to the Blue Team crew, Andy andVanessa Duffy, Peter Tomkin, Simon Baker, RowSargeant and Matt Giles for putting on the shoot, notforgetting Phil James who ran the day. The shoot ranwell with no major problems and only a few minor onesof the usual variety, which were quickly resolved.

The Beckingham Charity PR ChampionshipThis is the fourth year that the Gun World Shooting Clubhave put on this practical rifle championship event.There are two other matches shot at the same time, theRolls Royce Sporting Rifle and the Beginners Challenge.All three matches are part of their annual charity shoot,the Beginner’s Challenge taking place at another rangeon this very tidy complex which is situated just outsidethe village of Beckingham.All funds collected are donated to two charities: theArmy Benevolent Fund and Cancer Research UK. Thisyear they received nearly £1000 between them. Thisarticle would not be complete without mention of, andthanks to, the number of hard working volunteers whogave up their day for these two worthwhile causes.Overall the day was well organised with an all daybarbecue supplying, for small donations, cups of tea andcoffee, bacon butties and cakes. These were all donated,I hasten to add (having overheard a conversation on thesubject), by Christine Brown, the lady slaving over thebarbecue. The ladies on the stats (as always) beaveredquietly away doing a marvellously efficient job of sortingout the scores. There were a large number of trophies,which were presented to the winners and runners upby Major (Retd) Laird L Walker QGM, Commandant HQEMTA.Beckingham is a very well groomed 600 metres rangewhich is, as is becoming more common these days, acombined Gallery and Electronic Target range with thelatter consisting of two targets per lane for each of the12 lanes. The range itself is situated in a very picturesquespot with a large lake/pond on the left (looking towardthe butts) and on the right, in the near distance, a villagechurch.Unlike the previous three years which went exceedinglywell, the event was beset by a series of time consumingproblems which were eventually overcome, albeit losinghalf of the final stage due to running out of time. Thelessons learnt will be acted upon next year. Thecompetition was planned to consist of two stages shotat 600 and 500 metres using gallery targetry with theremaining stages to be shot on the electric targetry. Inthe event all stages were shot using the gallery targetry.The shoot was preceded by a brief two minute zero at600 metres. This is always of use as a check on zero andwindage to set everyone up for the day.The first stage, shot from 600 metres, had five 10 secondexposures of a figure 11 and figure 12 followed by afurther five 6 second exposures of the same targets. Thetime away between each exposure was 10 seconds - inother words it was long range snaps. Shot from pronesupported, if your zeroing session was spot on, therewas nothing to stop you doing well. Apart from thewind, that is, which started by being almost non existent,but built up to a nuisance by the end of the day. PeteWilliams took this stage with Phil Woolley in secondand Steve Oakland in third.Stage 2 was shot from 500 metres and from the proneunsupported position with no more than ten rounds ineach magazine. Unsupported in PR means no bipods,bags or resting any part of the arm forward of the elbowon anything; slings however are allowed. Competitorsreceived ten 6 second exposures of the same two targetsas at Stage 1. The away time varied between 5 and 15seconds. This was obviously to Mark Bradley’s likingas he thrashed the rest of us being some 50 points aheadof Neil Beeby in second place, with the rest of the fieldbeing led by Matt Greenall.The third stage had competitors at 400 metres with 20loose rounds in hat or bag, and two magazines. Shotfrom the prone supported position, the trick to this onewas not losing count of your rounds and finding yourself(as I did), with one round up the spout and no roundsremaining in a magazine at the beginning of an exposure.There were ten exposures, the first of which was 20seconds and the remaining nine of five seconds each.Stage 4 consisted of a rundown from 400 to 300 on theappearance of figure 11 and 12 for 60 seconds, adoptingthe prone unsupported position and engaging with tworounds. There were a further two 6 second exposures tobe shot from the same position. On completion,competitors had to adopt the sitting position for the nextthree exposures (6 seconds per exposure). This wasfollowed by a final positional change into the fire trenchsupported for a final four exposures of 6 seconds each. Isomehow managed to end up with six rounds over - notgood as I had ample time to use them on completion ofthe run down.Stages 3 and 4 were scored together to save time. So theshooter having the best combination, on the day, ofdexterity, fitness and accuracy was Garreth Biddle withPete William and Matt Greenall in second and thirdrespectively. This was a closely fought combined coupleof stages with only five points separating the top three.Overall winner was Pete Williams who also took theVeterans (50 and over) prize followed by Mark Bradleyand Phil Woolley. Top Lady went to Jennie Hunter andtop Tyro went to Richard Hickman, with Craig Oldfieldgetting the Beginners Challenge trophy.Thanks go to Russell Harris of the Gun World ShootingClub and his team and members, as well as the rangestaff, for putting on these competitions which countedfor the League. A special mention goes to the followingcompetitors for their actions and improvisation whichenabled the majority of the courses of fire to take place -Terry and Jennie Hunter, John and Ann Nightingale,Dave Green and Mark Bradley.For information about future competitions please contactPost: PRNL, 52 Roping Road, Yeovil, BA21 4BETel/fax: 01935 474064.E-mail: prnl@practicalrifle.co.ukWeb site: www.practicalrifle.co.ukAlternatively subscribe to the PR Newsletter by sending£6 to the above address (please make cheques payableto S Beard). Please note that all the Practical Riflechampionship competitions are open to all and thatsubscription to the newsletter is not a requirement.15

Last year, the occasion of the Scottish RifleAssociation’s annual Match Rifle Meeting at BlairAtholl seemed a pretty good excuse to persuade TheKeeper of the AFG funds that we should go and visitthe Malt distillery at Blair Atholl. During that visit, Ideveloped a liking for Edradour Single Malt, so thetime rapidly approached when ‘ravitaillement’became pressing. This then presented itself as a goodreason to go and shoot again this year.Rather inclement weather at the Blair Atholl range in2001, persuaded me to take all the wet weather tackle,with backups. However I still wasn’t prepared forthe hailstones that greeted all 24 of us on Saturdaymorning for the first detail at 1114 yards. For a whileall was ‘White and Crisp and Even’. Prior to this itmerely rained with a vengeance . . .Hardly surprising, Des Parr (F Class) led at 987 yardswith 100.14 , followed by Simon Glen with a mostcreditable 100.13. Others in the hunt at this early stagewere Alex Cargill Thompson (99.16), John Hissey(99.11), Tim Kidner (98.14), followed by GeorgeBarnard on 98.11. The wind – often contrary andpretty unreadable (to me at least), was basically afishtailing headwind of varying strength and directionwhich needed careful watching. After taking a whileto find the target, Countess (Billie) Dunmore fired anoutstanding 97.8.At 1117 yards, the first detail was rained upon,followed by quite a severe sharp hailstorm. Thishowever didn’t prevent Mike Barlow from notchingup 96.10, followed by Tim Kidner with 96.9. Des Parrmade 95.9 with his 6.5-284 needle gun, firing all onhis own in F class style and continuing to make hisway ahead.As is often the case, the longest distance of 1233 yardson Sunday morning sorted the wheat from the chaff,with the wind much as per the previous day, beingvariably a doddle followed by completely unreadable.16NRC OFOF SCOCOTLANDTLAND’S AUTUMNMEETINGAT BLAIRATHOLLby Laurie IngramConvert yourNo.4 Enfieldto 5.56 (223 Remington)New Bolt Head, New BarrelFrom £280.00Craig M. Whitsey (Gunmakers) Ltd.10-12 Fitzalan Road, Arundel, West Sussex BN18 9JSTel: 01903 883102 Fax: 01243 820673Sole distributors for the Arundel Sight CompanyMakers of the best low scope mount for SakoTikka and Brno action rifles.For ease of administration, the teams match finaldistance preceded the final individual at 1233 yards,with an added advantage that all had established theirzeros. Ironically, the ‘dogsbody’ team skippered byMike Barlow, won this by five clear points ahead ofTim Kidner’s team of experts! Winning team topscorer was Hissey the Younger with 140.10, followedby Finbarr O’Sullivan on 136.6, making his Blair debutwith his recently acquired ex Piffa Schroder Swingbackgun.The final individual MR shoot of 20 shots at 1233 yardsresulted in scores ranging from 62.0(!), to John Hisseyand Alex Cargill Thompson – both on 88.4 – all ex 100points. The highest aggregate score of 280 points wasshared by John Hissey and Tim Kidner, resulting in atie shoot to decide the winner – John Hissey takingthis with 24.1 against Tim’s 23.2, having also madejoint highest individual score at the longest distanceof 88.4 – not bad for a youngster!Des Parr, just back from the first World F ClassChampionships in Canada, made highest score overallwith 282.26 shooting his 6.5-284 F class rifle.ResultsName 987 1114 1233 GrandParr D (F Class) 100.14 95.09 87.03 282.26Hissey JEB 99.11 93.07 88.04 280.22Kidner TLW 98.14 96.08 86.03 280.25Cargill Thompson A 99.16 92.07 88.04 279.27Barnard G 98.11 93.07 87.06 278.24Peck JC 97.10 91.07 86.06 274.23Haszlakiewicz MJC 97.12 92.07 83.03 272.22Hunter HL 95.12 94.06 83.02 272.20Hissey MJ 96.09 92.08 81.03 269.20Glen S 100.13 83.05 83.03 266.21Brown IRM 96.09 89.04 81.05 266.18O’Sullivan F 96.09 90.05 79.02 265.16Bell JWH 95.10 88.05 81.01 264.16Lury DH 95.07 85.04 83.05 263.16Davis MH 96.07 87.06 80.01 263.14Campbell-Smith JM 96.07 92.07 74.04 262.18Brown MFD 97.10 90.04 75.02 262.16Sharp D 94.07 92.07 76.01 262.15Barlow MJ 97.11 96.10 68.03 261.24McEachran CN 95.11 88.03 75.03 258.17Campbell-Smith AR 93.08 89.06 75.01 257.15Ingram HL 97.06 78.06 66.01 241.13Tonkin PA 88.07 81.04 66.02 235.13Meldrum RA 92.06 76.05 62.00 230.11Dunmore 97.08 00.00 74.04 171.12Munro AJ 89.03 - - 89.03Maxwell CupJohn HisseySandeman Tankard Tim KidnerBrown Tankard John HisseyCameron Quaich Julian Peck

The weather - not quite as good as last year!A new range of Highland Mushrooms?Countess Dunmore being coached by Tim Kidner at 1114 yards.David Lury being coached by George Barnard at 1114 yards.Rosemary Meldrum presents John Hissey with the trophy.Smiles despite the rain.The winning team - Duncan Sharp, Finbarr O’Sullivan, MikeBarlow and Michael Hissey.John Hissey - winner of the 2002 Autumn Meeting.(All photos: Laurie Ingram)17

“C“CHALLENGEFOR A LOWERSCORECORE”by Tony Di DomenicoOn 10 and 11 of May 2002 the target rifle shootingteams from within BAE SYSTEMS gathered togetherfor the annual Inter BAE SYSTEMS target rifleshooting competition at Bisley. Competitors weredrawn from all over the country, including some fromLancashire in the North and some from Frimley, justaround the corner from Bisley ranges. The sites beingrepresented were BAE SYSTEMS Warton, Stevenage,Stanmore, New Malden, AMS Frimley, Astrium UKand ROF sites Radway Green, Summerfield, Glascoedand Nottingham. One or two of the sites couldn’t raisea complete team of four, but that didn’t stop them fromtaking part and making up the numbers with the othersites.Since Royal Ordnance is part of BAE SYSTEMS, ROFRadway Green donated some excellent quality 7.62mm 155 grains match ammunition and also sent twoteams to represent their site. Joining us for a secondyear to present the medals and trophies was Major-General John Russell-Jones, BAE SYSTEMS’ Armyadviser.There were four competitions being competed for overthe two day event, two team and two individual.Firstly, the long range Weybridge Memorial Trophyis shot for at 800, 900 and 1000 yards on Stickledownrange. On the following day the short range WartonChallenge Shield is shot for at 300, 500 and 600 yardson Century range. Both events are for teams of four,each member shooting two sighting shots followedby ten scoring shots at each distance to give anindividual score out of 150 and a team total out of600. Both competitions are run according to NRArules, sighters are convertible and, as it is a team event,coaching is encouraged. Team coaches can be one ofthe team of four, or a fifth non-shooting member. Infact, for some members, the main challenge is thechance to practice their coaching skills at Bisley undercompetition conditions.Matthew Nightingale from BAE SYSTEMS Warton acting as RCOduring the Short Range Competition. (Photo: A Di Domenico)Running concurrently with the team events are theindividual competitions, introduced for the first timethis year. All competitors were divided into differentclasses, essentially class X for NRA class X and Astandard competitors, and class T for most of the rest.The Summerfield Challenge trophy is awarded to theclass X competitor who achieves the highest combinedscore in the long and short range competitions; theGlascoed Challenge trophy is awarded to the class Tcompetitor who produces the highest combined score.The individual competitions were introduced as it isacknowledged that some of the best shooters may becompeting in relatively inexperienced teams, so theirhigh individual standards often go unnoticed.Essentially, we wanted to introduce an element ofindividual challenge and to recognise the standardsof individual competitors and I am happy that we havedone just that.This year’s competition began with the long rangeevent, on Stickledown range, for the WeybridgeMemorial Trophy. During the day the weatherremained cloudy and dry, although it was quite cold,not that that put anyone off! At 800 yards there wereno less than four scores of 50, with Nick Verduyn fromStanmore scoring 50.7, beating his team mate JeremyLangley and Stevenage’s Geoff Alcock by just one Vand John Deane, also from Stevenage, by three Vs.And would you believe that no less than ninecompetitors all scored 49! Stanmore took an early leadwith a team score of 195, just two points ahead of AMSFrimley and five ahead of Warton in third place.During the 900 yards shoot two people returned scoresof 50, with Nick Verduyn from Stanmore scoring 50.7,beating Mark Roberts from Summerfield by two Vs.Four competitors turned in scores of 49, so thestandards were proving to be very high indeed. Again,Stanmore produced the best team score, with 190, justthree points ahead of AMS Frimley and ten ahead ofWarton. At 1000 yards the individual scores were alldropping a point or two, as you might expect withthe distance increasing. Even so Jeremy Tuck fromNew Malden still achieved a 50.5, beating CharlesDickenson from AMS Frimley by one point and twoVs with just two competitors scoring 48. This timeAMS Frimley made a very spirited fight back to score189, nine points ahead of Stanmore and 16 ahead ofSummerfield in third place. In the final reckoningAMS Frimley had pipped Stanmore to the trophy byjust four points out of 600, with Warton taking thebronze medals.In the individual competitions; in X class Jeremy Tuckfrom AMS Frimley had scored a very impressive 148,just one point ahead of his team mate CharlesDickenson, who was one point ahead of Nick Verduyn18

from Stanmore. In T class Tom Rothwell from Wartonscored 144, four points ahead of Alastair Bullen fromStanmore, who in turn was one point ahead of GeoffAlcock from Stevenage. Of course the scores werenot made public yet, so each competitor had no ideajust how well or badly the other competitors hadperformed.The next day saw the second half of the inter-factorycompetition, the short range event on Century rangefor the Warton Challenge trophy. This event followsa similar format to the long range event in that teamsof four, each shoot two sighters and ten to count at300, 500 and 600 yards. Only one team were joiningus this morning who hadn’t been present the daybefore and that was Astrium UK. However, they areall experienced hands at this competition and knewthe script, so there were no delays. The weatherconditions on the day were ideal for shooting: warmand dry with very little wind, so we were all raring togo.At 300 yards some excellent scores were returned withthree people achieving 50. Charles Dickenson fromAMS Frimley managed a very impressive seven Vs,beating Tony Di Domenico from Warton with five Vsand Liz Verduyn from Stanmore with one V. Threepeople achieved 49 and there were many more on 48,reflecting the good shooting conditions on the day.This time it was AMS Frimley who took an early leadwith 194, five points ahead of Stanmore and 12 aheadof Warton in third place.At 500 yards the wind must have become more trickybecause the scores returned dropped sharply. RogerEllis from Astrium UK returned the only 50 at thisdistance with six Vs and Ian Hookham fromSummerfield returned the only 49. Having said thatthere were a good number of people all on 48, andany experienced shooter will testify that when thewind drops suddenly a whole row of targets can allcome up with inners. Again, AMS Frimley achievedthe highest score of 190, extending their lead by justtwo points over Stanmore, with Warton holding firmin third place.Maybe the sun was a little stronger in the afternoon,and people were suffering with sunstroke but midwaythrough the 600 yards shoot one of the registerkeepers shouted “Range officer, challenge for a lowerscore!” The RCO couldn’t believe his ears and needlessto say he had to repeat this for confirmation. What hemeant to say was “Message 3” (spotting disc disagreeswith signalled score). He certainly got the attentionof the range officer and I can say with my hand on myheart that I’ve never heard anyone challenge for alower score before! And yes, the challenge wasupheld. Top shot at 600 yards was Dave Simpkin fromSummerfield with a very impressive 50.7, beatingCharles Dickenson from AMS Frimley and Roger EllisPaul Waldron from ROF Glascoed coaching the guest of honour,Major-General John Russell-Jones. (Photo: A Di Domenico)from Astrium UK by just one V; three people followedon 49. The top team score was AMS Frimley againwith 191, beating Stanmore by just three points withRadway Green making a spirited challenge in thirdplace.This of course meant that AMS Frimley had won thesecond team trophy by ten points ahead of Stanmore,with Warton in third place. Two years ago Glascoedwon both trophies; last year it was Stanmore. Nextyear who knows? In the individual competitions itwas just as tight. In X class Charles Dickenson fromAMS Frimley scored 147, beating his team mateJeremy Tuck by just one point, with John Deane fromStevenage two points behind. Combining these withthe long range scores gave Charles Dickenson a scoreof 294.32 to win the Summerfield Challenge trophy,beating his team mate Jeremy Tuck by three V bulls.John Deane from Stevenage was third, five pointsbehind. In T class Ian Hookham from Summerfieldwas top shot with 146, four points ahead of GeoffAlcock from Stevenage and five points ahead ofAlistair Bullen from Stanmore. Combining thesescores with those from long range produced a similarsurprise. Tom Rothwell from Warton had won theGlascoed Challenge trophy by just one point with 282,with three competitors all on 281.With the competitions done and dusted by 16:30 itwas back to the Army Target Shooting Club, whererefreshments had been laid on whilst the officialssorted out the scores for the prize giving. For thesecond year running Major-General Russell-Jones, theBAE SYSTEMS Army adviser, had agreed to presentthe medals and trophies. Following the prize givingthe event closed for another year and we could allrelax. Special thanks are due Major-General Russell-Jones at BAE SYSTEMS HQ Farnborough, Ian Clay atROF Radway Green and Keith Pardy at the ArmyTarget Shooting Club for their support, without whichthe event would not have been the success it alwaysis.Here’s to the 24 th event in 2003.19

Ballykinler Range 3 with the Mourne Mountains in the background. (All photos: Neil Anderson)The Dangers of Ballykinler - you might not get caught by the wind . . . . . . but you won’t escape Bob Aitken’s WhiskyDraw tickets.Name Class Club Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 Total Place in Class1 David Calvert X Comber/RAF 150.17 224.32 74.12 448.61 1st2 Michael Wentges F URA 149.23 222.31 74.10 446.64 1st F Class3 Des Parr F West of Scotland 150.20 221.37 73.08 445.65 2nd F Class4 Neil Anderson O Dungannon 148.13 219.23 74.08 441.44 2nd5 Martin Millar X Comber 146.19 219.33 72.09 438.61 3rd6 Alwyn McLean X Comber 148.19 215.28 74.10 437.57 4th7 Dorothy Hume X West of Scotland 141.12 222.29 74.08 437.49 5th8 Erica McMullan A URA 146.13 218.26 72.06 436.45 6th9 Richard Bailie O L&MRA 144.13 217.24 74.08 435.45 7th10 Richard Martin O Comber 142.12 220.19 73.07 435.38 8th11 Sandy Wilson T URA 143.15 217.22 73.09 433.46 9th12 Bob Aitken O East of Scotland 142.14 221.24 70.05 433.43 10th20

THEIRISHOPENPENby Richard BailieWith a dreadful weather forecast, and looming blackcloud, a hardy bunch turned out at Ballykinler Campon Saturday 25 May for the 91 st Irish OpenChampionships.With a total entry of 59, there was a notable increasein F Class but unusually only five overseas visitors,although encouragingly interest from the South ispicking up.A cold start, facing a strong headwind, blew thecobwebs out for many. For some, 2 and 20 to count at300 yards is a bit of a rude wake-up call, but organiserPeter Campbell wanted to try and get more shootinginto the programme. The ammunition certainlyproved up to the task with three TR shooters scoringa full house - David Calvert on 100.16 and MartinMillar on one V less, third was Dot Hume off to a flyingstart on 100.14. Des Parr from West of Scotland pippedPierce O’Brien in F Class with 100.16. By the seconddetail, the dark cloud had dispersed and the weatherlooked more hopeful, but that didn’t stop peoplewearing full wet weather gear (we’ve been therebefore), which served to protect from a bitingly coldwind. The troop shelter started to fill up!On to the first shoot of the Championship - 2 and 10 at300 yards before lunch; the Bangor Scouts in the buttswere getting the hang of it. The sun had come outand the headwind switched from one and a half rightand gusting, to a half right and dropping off. Onerange flag on the right was clearly going to leave usshort of indicators with the wind running too fast forany appreciable mirage. Ross McQuillan had noproblems with a 50.9 and Des Parr slotted in his secondF Class possible of the day. After a brief lunch periodand a portion of the famous Ballykinler Irish stew, itAlwyn takes it to bits . . . again!PEN 2002was back to 500 yards for similar conditions but withthe wind appearing stronger and coming back fromthe left, at one and a half to two minutes. Trevor Steeleled with a 50.7 for his second possible, while MichaelWentges, last years F Class runner up, spoke nicely tohis Carl Gustaf for a 50.8, and David Calvert and DesParr got their third possibles of the day.The final shoot for the Saturday at 600 yards was thewind buffeting test with a good deal of eye wateringinto the bargain. Just four possibles this time fromthe more experienced David Calvert for the SaturdayAggregate, and Alwyn McLean (who only took hisgun apart once during the day) together with Wentgesand Parr in F Class.So after Stage 1 of the Open, DC was favourite againwith a two point lead over Alwyn and Neil Andersonfrom Dungannon.Sunday started as a beautiful sunny spring morning,confounding the weather pundits, as shootersprepared for the three 2 and 15 shoots to see if theycould qualify for the top 16 places in the Final. DotHume decided to show the way with 75.14, leadingTrevor Steele by three Vs and Bob (“wanna buy a raffleticket?”) Aitken showing form on 75.10. In F Class,no surprises . . . Des Parr . . . all in . . . yet again!Wind was still steadyish at 500 yards but now with abit of mirage to spot the changes; some seriouslystraight shooting led to another 75 for Dot, with DCone V behind. Des Parr got his sixth possible.At 600 yards it was an RAF strike with DC and IanMollan getting the only two possibles including FClass. After a rapid calculation on the computer, awayfrom the madd(en)ing crowd, Peter Campbellannounced the 16 finalists, who took their places forthe 2 and 15 final at 600 yards.With a decidedly tricky wind still straight down therange, we couldn’t complain about the lack of freshair but again it was DC who topped the field with thebest 74 of six, closely followed by Alwyn McLean, whohad clearly taken his gun apart again but had refused“assistance” from Neil Anderson who was chasinghard in third place (can’t imagine why?!).For the Irish Open Championship, once again DC wasunbeatable, dropping just two points in the sevenshoots over two days. Neil Anderson had done wellwith seven off in the Championship and Martin Millarwas just one less.At the end some competitors were a little more tiredthan others through having shot TR in the first detailand F Class in the second detail at every range -congratulations to them for their hard efforts as wellas to all the organisers, markers and supporters for agreat weekend of shooting.21

INTRODUCINGPHILIPCURRIENRA TREASURERby Tony de LaunayTreasurers need to have an air of financial competenceand acumen about them to instil confidence,particularly with the optics of the NRA financial crisisstill on the shelf. They are the watchdogs who, withproper financial controls in the system, are responsiblefor the checks and balances of the organisation toensure that income and expenditure are properlymanaged by the executives who do the day to dayrunning of the business.This is what Philip Currie should bring to the NRAwith his clear track record of financial managementand company secretarial activities, derived frombanking, real estate management, and consultancyservices. Just turned 56, his early career spannedtraining for the Royal Marines, qualifying as achartered accountant and gaining a MBA. Twentytwoyears with Barclays Bank followed, in which heworked in Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia and Australiabefore returning to the UK and international privatebanking. He then spent eight years at BarclaysProperty Holdings before his current appointment asFinance Director and Company Secretary withMcBains Cooper plc, providing multi-disciplinaryconsultancy services to the property and constructionindustry.What, then, does he see as his key tasks in this nonexecutiverole in an organisation with a hefty overdraftand a membership base that is not growing as perhapsit should? “My first task is critical. Despite being acharity the NRA is also a business and I have to overseethe financial controls of the NRA and make sure thatCouncil is aware of any concerns or shortcomings. I22have to ensure that sound business principles andfinancial management are practised”.“I will be there to provide support to the day to dayoperational management. The focal point of mycontact will be the Finance and General PurposesCommittee, to whom I can offer the experience of myfinancial and business skills”. He is acutely awarethat the National Shooting Centre is the NRA’sprincipal investment. “It is imperative that I have anactive understanding of the affairs of that business - itgoes without saying that poor investment performancewill materially impinge upon the NRA”.It is perhaps a precious advantage that he will bringwith him none of the baggage of any previousassociation with Bisley. As he says, “Myindependence is a key attribute, but there is going tobe a steep learning curve. I have no preconceived ideasbut, as a former Royal Marine, I have a very realempathy with the sport - extending to being amarksman in my day!” However, marksmanship isnot what is on offer to the organisation; his soundfinancial and business experience should be of muchgreater value in the recovery to come.The Bisley PavilionHotelatBisley Camp, Brookwood, Wokinghome of theNational Rifle AssociationEn-suite RoomsTelevisionBreakfastNOW OPENHOTEL FACILITIESIN THE HEART OFTHE CAMPFor Reservations & EnquiriesTel: (01483) 488488/489270Fax: (01483) 797620e-mail: Hotel@bisleypavilion.com

INTRODUCINGMICHAELWALALTONCHAIRMANOF THE FININANCEAND GENERALPURPOSESCOMMITTEEby Tony de LaunayIf there is one committee within the NRA that has real impact onthe way in which the organisation’s financial future will develop,it has to be the Finance and General Purposes Committee.Working with the network of other supporting committees, eachwith its own function and specialist area, the F&GPC is the eyesand ears of the NRA and the first hand check on all expenditureand income. The chairman of that committee has a powerfulrole and an unenviable task.Michael Walton, 39, was elected to the NRA Council a year ago.He accepted the chairmanship of F&GPC on 1 August. Michael’sview is refreshingly simple: “I have to work through a networkof committees: each has to accept that their role has importanceand accountability. Each will have key tasks and budgets withinwhich to deliver the results. This is business commonsense andgood practice, and if you volunteer to put yourself forward as amember of Council, and get elected, that is what you mustaccept”.Michael, who is a London & Middlesex Rifle Association member and an England and GB shot, is one of thosepeople who, by sheer hard work, can make their natural attributes pay. With Master of Business Administrationand Chartered Surveyor qualifications under his belt he works for Citigroup, one of the largest financialservices companies in the world, looking after European real estate investment for Citigroup itself and ofsome of the group’s most important private clients in the Middle East.City Rifle Clububfounded1898Lookingfor a base at Bisley?Membership available in this friendly and lively club,including lockers in the new armoury. The club offersthe finest quality catering facilities at very reasonableprices at weekends throughout the season and duringthe main Bisley meetings. We can also cater for clubmeetings, dinners and special functions. Regular clubteam shooting matches throughout the season.Full membership for 2003 season £50.00Under 21 & serving members of HM Forces £25.00Locker rental for 2003 £40.00(plus refundable key deposit of £20.00)For further details please contact:Mick Barr 01438 811451John Saunders 01276 502476Pat Drummy 01329 281769or call into the Clubhouse.His focus on benefits for clients is crucial. “At theNRA I am looking to see that all our decisions aretaken with one end in view – benefit to our customersie the members. We must also build up ourmembership and offer them nationwide support. Wehave an asset at Bisley that must be run commerciallyso that we can fund support for the sport away fromBisley while keeping Bisley costs reasonable”. Heidentifies the need for proper exchanges with themembership as one of the key requirements. “Withoutpaying attention to the customers’ comments andmonitoring their needs you cannot provide them withwhat they ultimately want”.His role must work well with the new Treasurer, towhom he can turn for support and guidance. “PhilipCurrie will be a great asset to the NRA and I thinkthat we both recognise the same requirements for theNRA. One of my primary concerns will be to see thatthe National Shooting Centre delivers its contributionto the charitable NRA. This is going to be a hard taskgiven the support that the NRA has had to make tothem in the past. However, on the positive side theNRA will show a net surplus of some £70,000 on ouroperating account for the year just ended”.Michael looks forward to support from all those whowish to see the sport prosper. What his approachheralds is a refreshing application of pro-activecontrols and accountability that will be crucial for themonths and years ahead.23

GREAREAT BRITRITAINRIFLETEAMTO THE WESTINDIESby Steven ThomasCaptainVice-CaptainAdjutantShooters24Martin TownsendJohn Carmichael SMNigel PennGary AlexanderPeter BarryPaul CharltonDavid DysonHugh KilpatrickMick PlaceKelvin RamseySarah RennieSally Roots QMIrene RowleyJim ScobieSteven Thomas SMPeter ThompsonAndrew TompsonDick WinneyWednesday 24 April - GuyanaThe Captain heaved a sigh of relief as our BWIA Tristar(clean and tidy but old enough to have been mentionedin the Domesday Book) heaved itself into the sky atHeathrow. The months of planning were finally overand 15 hours later, after stops in Antigua and Trinidad,a tired party emerged through Customs at Cheddi JaganInternational Airport, Guyana. The usual rifleformalities were completed and the team was welcomedby Claude Dugid, Ransford Goodluck and MahindraPersaud of the Guyana National Rifle Association.A convoy of vehicles awaited, accompanied by theGuyana Police Force and a military escort armed withAK-47s and machine pistols, and clad in Kevlar vests.There followed a brisk, and thankfully uneventful, 40-minute drive to Georgetown.Thursday 25 AprilThe Cara Lodge Hotel, an elegant 19 th century clapboardbuilding, was a charming setting, a rather grandvariation on the Bisley club house theme set in a colourfultropical garden and staffed by Guyanese with dazzlingsmiles. No rest for the team though, as a day of rifleassembly, zeroing and range familiarisation was on theagenda.Timehri Range is 40 minutes inland from Georgetownand the coast, with good firing points back to 1,000 yards,and our military escort was there with the rifles to meetus. In the unaccustomed heat and humidity the Adjutantset the pace with a scorching 50 at 300 yards, before alunch break to cool in the breeze under a shelter to shieldthe tropical sun. Kelvin Ramsey, in his capacity as teamdoc, presented a brief (and essential) instruction on thetopic of body fluids and how to manage them. Once theconversation about the colours of team members’ urinehad exhausted itself, the shooting resumed at 900 yards.After the Captain had exercised his prerogative ofshooting at 900 yards with his 300 yards elevation, theVice Captain salvaged the reputation of the team officialswith a cracking 49, with Kelvin achieving the same score.Conditions proved to be perfect for shooting, with a hotfickle fishtail punishing any lapse of concentration.The journey back to Georgetown took us past the CityHall, a riot of gothic towers and wrought ironadornment, and St George’s Cathedral, one of theworld’s largest timber buildings. Flame trees and streetmarkets completed a colourful spectacle.That evening the team were guests at the HighCommissioner’s residence for a reception to celebratethe birthday and Golden Jubilee of HM the Queen. Wewere introduced to Ryan Sampson, Denise Carryl andHanif Mohammed of the GNRA as well as the HighCommissioner, the President of the country and otherdistinguished guests. David Dyson exercised his uniquebrand of diplomacy with inflammatory observationsregarding recent indifferent cricketing performances byour host country, a discussion brought to an earlyconclusion by the steel band rendition of various nationalanthems and well-known Frank Sinatra numbers. Thesteamy garden atmosphere, alive with the sounds of thecrickets, provided a rare opportunity to experience whatlife might have been like in the hey-day of the Queen’sDominions. Later in the evening, after the retirement oflesser mortals to bed, it is reported that Kelvin providedproof “that white men can’t dance”.Friday 26 AprilOn our only rest day in Guyana, the Captain organisedan airborne sight seeing tour of places of interest within150 miles of Georgetown. Before boarding the smallaircraft, all members of the team were required to mountthe scales. David Dyson’s reading on the dial causedconsternation amongst the ground staff, remedied bythe introduction of a second aircraft to spread the load.Soon we were off for a relaxed lunch at Baganara Island,a small resort on an island on the Essequito River. Afterlunch we were again airborne, heading for the KaieteurFalls, a stupendous and remote 820 feet high waterfallclaimed to be five times the height of Niagara. It is setin totally unspoilt country, unapproachable except bylight aircraft, which ensures that it remains virtuallyunknown.Saturday 27 AprilOn the first day of the GNRA meeting, conditionsproved, if anything, more challenging than those of thepractice day. Shot in fierce heat around midday, the600 yards competition in particular provided a testingwind flicking between 3 minutes left and 1 right.Kelvin Ramsey narrowly counted out Paul Charlton forthe day’s aggregate, both scoring 146.14 at 300, 600 and900 yards. The host country filled third and fourth placeswith Richard Field scoring 145.15 and RansfordGoodluck 145.13.

The team in Trinidad. Standing: Mick Place, Paul Charlton, Jim Scobie, Peter Barry (plus team mascot), Kelvin Ramsey, Irene Rowley,Sarah Rennie, David Dyson, Gary Alexander, Hugh Kilpatrick, Andrew Tompson, Sally Roots. Sitting: Peter Thompson, Nigel Penn,Martin Townsend, John Carmichael, Steven Thomas, Dick Winney.Wot! No inflight drinks?!Guyana - the team at Kaieteur Falls.Andrew Tompson ponders his excessbaggage problem in Jamaica.. . . and when you’ve finished cleaning allour rifles Sarah . . .Awesome Kaieteur Falls in Guyana.25

After shooting, the hosts demonstrated their joie de vivreat the back of the range; enjoying a bottle of rum to theextent that one participant fell off his chair - the Guyaneseequivalent of a Commonwealth tea?Sunday 28 AprilThe second and final day’s competition in Guyana tookplace in the same hot and tricky wind conditions as thefirst. John Carmichael (despite the oversight of arrivingat 300 yards with no rifle), along with Paul Charlton,Kelvin Ramsey, David Dyson and Andrew Tompsonproduced scores of 50 at 300 yards, Paul and John adding49s at 500 yards. At 1000 yards the draw played a keyrole as a sudden and heavy downpour drowned thesecond detail, refreshing over-heated shooters but nothelping their scores. The Sunday Aggregate was wonby John with 147.13, Paul coming second with 146.17,and Richard Fields of Guyana, third with 144.17.GB shooters were successful in the Grand Aggregate,which was won by Paul with 292.31, followed by Johnwith 290.23. Richard Fields was the leading Guyanese,in third place with 289.32 having shown everybody theway at 1,000 yards with a 48.5.Monday 29 AprilThe team arose to grey skies and showers. Seldom arethese familiar conditions welcomed by shooters, but aftertwo days in the heat, they came as a welcome relief.The match against Guyana was shot at 300, 600 and 900yards by teams of ten, with the top eight scores in eachteam counting toward the result. A comfortable leadwas established at 300 yards, GB scoring 394.45 againstthe hosts 380.38. In continuing grey skies, light windsand occasional downpours, this lead was extended, GBscoring 396.47 to the Guyanese team’s 381.40. In oneall-Irish exchange, the shooter told the coach: “that onemay be out left”, to which the coach replied: “no, it’s atnine o’clock”. At 900 yards, GB scored 397.55 to completean excellent score of 1187.182. Finishing with a steady1150.118, the host country had achieved one of their bestever scores in international competition.Notable individual performances included a 150.19 byJohn Carmichael, coached by the Captain, reportedlyJohn’s first possible in a three range international match.Scores of 149 were attained by Andy Tompson, KelvinRamsey and David Dyson for GB, and by MahindraPersaud, providing a “Captain’s innings” for Guyana.To round off the first leg of the tour, the GNRA hostedthe Presentation Ceremony at the Bank of Guyana RoofGarden. Commencing with a reception to the strains ofthe Police Steel Band, the ceremony was attended by suchluminaries as Mrs Gail Teixeira, Minister of Culture,Youth and Sports, the Minister for Tourism and theBritish High Commissioner, His Excellency EdwardGlover.Punctuated by elegant and engaging speeches, thepresentation was notable for the superb quality of thegold, silver and bronze medals sponsored by El Dorado,Guyana’s famous rum producer. A real Guyanese goldmedal is a prize to be treasured, and Dr Ramsey departed26this meeting with no less than five of them. For the restof the team, the visit to Guyana had been a great success,not least because of the immaculate organisation of allaspects of the shooting by the members of the GNRA.Wednesday 1 May - TrinidadThis was a memorable day hosted by Norris and GabbyGomez, father Darrel and decorative daughtersKristianne and Donnia. From the Trinidad and TobagoYacht Club the team cruised west towards the islandsaboard the “Columbus”. We were soon anchored inheaven in a sound between tropical islands, just a shortswim from an empty sandy beach. Aboard “Columbus”the unique Gomez hospitality flowed and the heat ofthe sun was offset by a cool breeze.Thursday 2 MayFor another night various team members struggled tokick their Imodium habit, alarm clocks rousing the teamearly to head for Tucker Valley Range. This range isone of the world’s most scenic, fringed with bamboo treesand surrounded by wooded hills; lizards rustle in theshade of the bamboo and vultures circle above the slowshooters. At 300 yards a light wind from seemingly allpoints of the compass seemed manageable. At 600 yardshowever, the plethora of mystery magpies had even ourdistinguished Captain and Coach struggling to find ananswer. In the evening the team were entertained at thehome of the immensely generous Gomez family.Friday 3 MayCompetition commenced at 300 yards, the most notablescore being 35.7 by Peter Barry. Moving back to 500yards most expected a fifteen round endurance test inthe heat. Our fears soon proved to be unfounded as theclouds gathered and, in the sticky windlessness, scoresof 75 were achieved by Hugh Kilpatrick, Kelvin Ramsey,Clarion Tang Choon and Paul Charlton. As the last detailfinished, the rain started to fall; an extended lunch breakwas enjoyed under the awning erected by the hosts toprovide much needed shade. In the afternoon, once therain abated, the third competition of the day was shot at600 yards, Sarah Rennie and John Carmichael leadingthe field with scores of 50.7. On the day’s aggregate Johnand Paul continued their form from Guyana, with scoresof 159.16 and 158.18 respectively.Saturday 4 MayAssembling early for the bus to the range, rain was fallingand the day turned out to be punctuated by regularshowers. At 300 yards scores of 50 were posted by MickPlace and the T(h)ompson “twins” Peter and Andrew.At 500 Andrew continued to prosper, adding a 50.3;Sarah Rennie, aided by her squeaky clean barrel, scored50.5. After lunch, the final individual shoot gotunderway at 600 yards. In dull light, and with a lightfishtail unreadable by some of those present, Andrewproduced an outstanding 75.12 to win the day’saggregate without a point dropped, scoring 175.23. JohnCarmichael, shooting with the consistency he began inGuyana, finished second with 172.17 and David Dysoncame third with 171.23. Andrew also won the Grand

(weekend) Aggregate with 332.38 ex 335, John finishingsecond with 331.33. Clarion Tang Choon led the hostshooters in third place with 328.31.After completion of the day’s shooting, an informalreception was hosted by the visiting team in the smallborerange. This was our first social contact with theTrinidadian shooters and there was much laughter asdarkness fell, the temperature slipped below 30 o C, andthe nocturnal jungle cacophony of crickets and frogsasserted itself.Sunday 5 MaySunday started hot and airless with high humidity afterthe rains. The team however was well prepared due tothe accidental procurement of double rations ofGatorade, a health drink designed to replace depletedbody minerals and fluid. In the cause of medical researchthe team doctor decided that Gatorade would today beserved with added salt supplement to increase itseffectiveness, an experiment that failed due to the “elixirof life” quickly being pronounced undrinkable.Meanwhile, back on the firing point, there were peopleshooting and coaching and the GB team of twelvedropped 14 against Trinidad’s 43. At 500 yards the cloudcover thickened and GB dropped a further 14 whilstTrinidad dropped 31 points. After lunch GB extendedtheir lead; taking their best eight, GB scored 1178.135against the home team’s 1151.107. Highest scorer forGB was Hugh Kilpatrick, coached by John Carmichael,with 149 (V count withheld to avoid embarrassment);the highest scoring Trinidadian was Norris Gomez with148.20. GB also won the reserves match with 571.52against 540.33.An informal prize giving followed, with gracious wordsof appreciation from Brigadier Joe Theodore, VicePresident of the Trinidad Rifle Association, Cecil Smith,Hon Vice President and Norris Gomez, Trinidad teamCaptain. Male prizewinners enjoyed the undoubtedbonus of having their prizes presented by the lovelyGomez girls and all was presided over by the TRATreasurer, Roland Ford. The GB Captain replied withthanks, distributing gifts to various team members andofficials of the host country, mercifully sparing allpresent from a repeat of the joke attempted at the Guyanaprize giving.Monday 6 May - Jamaica“The bad news is” said the Adjutant, “our flight leavesTrinidad at 0700 and we therefore have to leave the hotelat 0315, which means that we must assemble at 0245.”For readers who have yet to travel abroad with a touringteam, these are the less glamorous moments, especiallywhen faced with half a team emerging from beds aftertwo hours sleep and the other half emerging from barsafter protracted celebration.Shortly before take off a bemused early morning queuewere treated to the spectacle of David Dyson, unable tostump up the 100 Trinidad dollars to pay his departuretax, offering to sing to them to raise the cash, an offerpolitely and wisely declined. There followed a flight toKingston over the length of the Caribbean chain,including stops at Barbados and Antigua. The usual rifleunpacking/checking/packing followed and the teamvisibly aged as successive groups of passengers passedthrough the baggage hall and were absorbed back intothe outside world.Aided by Canute Coley and Dennis Lee of the JamaicaRifle Association, we eventually emerged blinking intothe Rasta hubbub that is Kingston. The bus turned outto be half the size of the conveyance anticipated, so theteam and its one ton of luggage were shoe horned into aminibus, a pickup and a military escort Land Rover,manned by three fearsome military policemen totingassault rifles. Our bus driver, Erica, then hurled the busalong the route to the HQ of the Jamaica RifleAssociation, with great skill as she followed the military,sirens wailing, through red lights, over kerbs and at timesagainst the oncoming traffic. Passing through thenotoriously dangerous Mountview district, even ourtough guy MPs eased their safety catches and pulleddown their helmets ready for battle. For the team, theirfirst impressions of Jamaica were sufficient to stimulatea round of applause on arrival.In the evening, the JRA hosted a reception at their superbfacilities, built for the 1966 Commonwealth Games, andwe were welcomed by Dr Warren Blake JRA President.Despite a power cut which lasted most of the evening, agood time was had by all. It had however been a longday, and the team was immensely relieved that on thisoccasion the Captain was not required to deliver aspeech.Tuesday 7 MayThis was a free day, and the JRA had kindly arranged atour across the island to Ocho Rios on the north coast.Leaving suburban Kingston’s landscape of rustingcorrugated iron and crumbling breeze block shacksunder the shade of the guango and palm trees, a beautifullush country of forest, hills and rivers unfolded.Jamaica’s bauxite mining and alumina smelting facilitiescould be seen en route and we were soon descendingthrough a deep wooded gorge to our destination.Highlight attraction was the Dunns River Falls, agorgeous series of waterfalls where visitors areencouraged to climb from a perfect beach up a series ofsteps in the river, becoming very wet in the process.Lunch followed at a new beachside restaurant, followedby swimming and volleyball, the latter activity resultingin a number of abrasions for the doctor to patch up.Wednesday 8 MayWe had another early start to get the rifles assembledfor a morning’s practice at Twickenham Park Range.Unusually for a range, Twickenham Park has aneighbouring squatter settlement where people havebuilt huts without official permission. As we arrived,laundry operations were in full swing at the water tapsaround the range and we were told that it is not unusualfor people with water cans to fill up at the 500 yardspoint, even when shooting is in progress at 1000 yards.This distraction, along with herds of cattle and goats27

Tucker Valley Range in Trinidad.Barbados 1000 yards - so which way does the wind blow?Barbados 600 yards with view of the clubhouse and facilities.Martin Townsend and Jim Scobie in Jamaica - you need the water.Norris Gomez “ . . . and that’s my excuse!”Jamaica - both teams firing at 500 yards.Southern Palms Beach Club, Barbados met with full satisfaction.28“And they say being Captain is difficult.”(All photos: West Indies Team)

grazing nonchalantly in the line of fire, ensured thatJamaica would be a new experience. Once the riflesarrived we were quickly into a 300 and 900 yards practicebefore lunch and, although the day had begun withblistering heat, a cooling breeze soon made life at leastbearable in the shade.Colonel Saunders, a local military commander, presidedover the unfurling of the two national flags and made aspeech of welcome before firing the first shot, in themanner of Queen Victoria at Wimbledon. However, hewas obliged to send a message 5 before being awardeda V bull.At 300 yards Hugh Kilpatrick secured the only possible,a 50.7. At 600 yards, Andrew Tompson led with 50.7,followed by Canute Coley with 50.4. Continuing hisform exhibited in Trinidad, Andrew won the day’saggregate with 99.14, tieing with Hugh on the samescore, ahead of Canute with 99.9.Thursday 9 MayThe weather started hot at 500 yards with just a lightreadable fishtail. Once again it was Andrew Tompsonwho led, this time with 50.8, followed by Gary Alexanderon 50.7, and Sarah Rennie and Steven Thomas with 50.4.At 900 yards around midday, in one of the hottest shootsof the tour, Paul Charlton overcame the thick mirage toscore a fine 50.4. The 1,000 yards shoot got underwayafter lunch under a darkening sky; rain started to fall asthe first detail finished and eventually the 1,000 yardscompetition had to be scrapped. Andrew had alreadyscored 49.1 to establish an unassailable lead in the GrandAggregate, but after deleting that score, he had won itanyway with a score of 196.25 from Hugh 196.23 andPaul 195.21.In the evening an informal reception for was held by theGB Team for our hosts, in the pool area at the PegasusJamaica Hotel and the evening was filled with anecdotesof the kind reserved for such occasions.Friday 10 MayThe day of the next team match had dawned and theCaptain had decided on a format with a distinctly Irishflavour, the three coaches all being drawn from theEmerald Isle. After the intense heat and tropicaldownpour of yesterday, the morning had a slightly morecomfortable feel about it as shooting commenced. GB’s12 shooters established an 11 point lead after 300 yards,adding 10 points at 500 yards, a further 17 at 600 yardsand 14 at 900 yards. Taking the best eight, GB scored1561.187 against Jamaica’s 1533.131. Predictably, GB’stop score was Andrew Tompson with 197.24, coachedby Peter Barry; top Jamaican score was Keith Hammondwith 196.19.Rifles were once again dismantled and packed in whathad now become a well oiled drill and soon the team,scrubbed and dressed in Number Ones was boardingthe bus to the reception and prize-giving at the residenceof Dr Warren Blake. Here we enjoyed a delicious supper,washed down with rum punches; after speeches ofcongratulations and thanks all round, fond farewellsfollowed and the team returned to the hotel.Saturday 11 May - BarbadosThis was another day of travelling with much hangingabout; it was early evening by the time that the teamarrived in Barbados for the last, and biggest, leg of theshooting tour.A short bus ride delivered us to the Southern PalmsHotel, interlinking accommodation units styled withhints of hacienda and set in what is best described as aromantic beachside location. Here eight team memberswere soon in the warm embrace of loved ones who hadtravelled out to join us. After drinks and supper in andaround the hotel, couples drifted away to the nowfamiliar night-time accompaniment of tree frogs andcrickets, backed by the rhythm of the ocean. Othersalready well versed in the rum punches of earlier portsof call, set about an in-depth evaluation of the Barbadosversion.Sunday 12 MayThis was the first day of the tour when team membershad the opportunity to spend a day totally without anyteam arrangements or commitments. Predictably the daystarted slowly and the first delight was the spectacle ofthe immaculate environs of the Southern Palms, itsadjacent beach and the Caribbean Sea seen for the firsttime in dazzling daylight. The gardens, well stockedwith hibiscus and bougainvillea, and shaded by treesranging from mahogany to a wide variety of palms, arecooled by the Barbados sea breeze. A quiet day aroundthe hotel and beach was enjoyed by all. In the eveningeveryone assembled for informal drinks and dinner tocelebrate the birthday of Pearl Townsend, who had doneso much to help Martin to make a success of the tour.Following dinner an intrepid group of the youngerunattached explored the social opportunities presentedby the surrounding bars and clubs.Monday 13 MayParagon Range is set within the military complex locatedbetween the airport and the sea. For our practice session,the temperature was similar to that prevailing in ourprevious ports of call but the humidity was muchreduced and a steady breeze provided a fishtail straightdown the range.In the evening all the teams were entertained to areception by the Governor General, Sir CliffordHusbands GCMG KA at his magnificent residence. Priorto departure to the reception, the team photograph wastaken at the hotel; Mary Scobie was asked by anAmerican hotel guest: “Are those guys Squeegeesalesmen?”After the reception some team members returned to thebar to eat, to the accompaniment of a live band playingharmless favourites. Andrew Tompson accepted theoffer of a guest appearance and wowed the audiencewith a stomping guitar and vocal performance of JohnnieB Goode, putting the house band singer somewhat inthe shade.Tuesday 14 MayThe first day’s competition at Paragon Range turned outto be “showery with bright intervals” not dissimilar to29

Wales but much warmer. At 300 yards John Carmichaelwon with 35.6, followed by Hugh Kilpatrick with 35.6and Jose Nunez of Jamaica with 35.5. The 500 yardscompetition was won by Oscar Waldron of Trinidadwith 50.7, followed by Ronald Brown Jr of Jamaica with50.6. Hugh crowned two weeks of consistent shootingwith 50.10 at 600 yards, followed by John with 50.8 andPeter Barry with 50.7. On the day, Hugh led the waywith 134.23, narrowly ahead of the Vice Captain with134.22, followed by Peter with 134.14.Wednesday 15 MayThis was the sort of day that rifle shooters dream about;dry with blue sky and sea, a fresh breeze, changingenough to keep a shooter interested, and the temperaturejust around 30 o C. Keith Hammond of Jamaica won the300 yards shoot with 50.7, followed by LennoxBrathwaite of Guyana with 50.6 and Jim Scobie with 50.5.At 600 yards Ronald Brown Jr of Jamaica led the fieldwith 35.7, Peter Barry and Andrew Tompson followinghot on his heels with 35.6. At 900 yards David Dysonscored the only possible winning the shoot with 50.7;next were Hugh Kilpatrick and Ransford Goodluck ofGuyana with 49.7 each. On the day, David Rickman ofJamaica emerged on top with 132.20, Ronald Brown Jrsecond with 132,19 and Peter Barry third with 132.17.This left Peter in a clear lead in the Grand Aggregate,having dropped four over the first six shoots.Thursday 16 MayAnother glorious Barbadian morning dawned. At 500yards, shooting into what had now developed into abuffeting headwind, the top three scorers, all with 35.5,were Paul Charlton, Nigel Penn and Sally Roots. In theGrand Aggregate, Hugh Kilpatrick closed the gap onPeter Barry to one point. At 600 yards Gary Alexander(50.7) beat Stephen Chung of Trinidad (50.5) into secondplace, John Carmichael coming third with 49.7. TheCaptain, at this stage keen to publicise his own muchimproved elevations, and having initially andinadvertently omitted to bring his rifle to the mound,eventually scored a creditable 48. Peter, meanwhile, heldon to his one point overall lead over Hugh, with Johnmoving into third place, a further point behind.In the final competition, at 1,000 yards, the winner wasPaul with 49.6 (also winning the day’s aggregate), StevenThomas coming second with 48.6, and Leo Ramalho ofGuyana third with 47.7. Peter, with a steady 47 at 1,000yards, extended his lead to win the Grand Aggregate bytwo points from John, Hugh coming third with fewer Vbulls.Friday 17 MayThe match was to be shot by teams of 16, ten shots at300, 600 and 900 yards, with the scores of the best eightcounting towards the result. This required meticulousplanning by the Captain, to ensure that all shooters couldbe coached and have plotters.Match day had dawned with red flags out on the beach,signifying hazardous conditions for bathing due to bigseas arising from the continuing high wind. On therange, conditions resembled yesterday’s except that the30wind was stronger. At 300 yards many were undone bythe buffeting, which also caused problems at 600 yards,although Sarah Rennie, coached by Peter Barry, alongwith Mahendra Persaud and Ransford Goodluck of thehost team, managed scores of 99 at the first two ranges.Due to the unusual match rules it was impossible toknow who was in the lead, but at lunch there seemedlittle to separate the two teams. At 900 yards, GB, takingadvantage of reduced buffeting to shoot more quicklythan the hosts, appeared to be setting up a significantlead. However, by the time the statisticians hadcalculated the scores of the best eight, the GB winningmargin was a mere three points, our score being 1157.126against the West Indies 1154.115. This had been thetightest margin between the two teams for many yearsand the closeness of the scores implied that the ruleshad brought about an exciting contest. Top individualscorer for GB was David Dyson with 147.19, coached byDick Winney, and with the same score for the WestIndies, Ransford Goodluck.After a brief visit to the now derelict supergun test sitebehind the butts, the bus took the team back to the hotelin time for some to enjoy an exhilarating plunge in thesurf.Saturday 18 MayToday’s shoot was for teams of eight from eachCaribbean country, shooting 15 shots at 900 and 1000yards. GB was not eligible to enter, but our 12 shootersshot alongside for honour ( - and for a side bet madebetween Captain Martin and Norris Gomez). Each hadnominated eight shooters from across the various teamsto create a concurrent GB versus West Indies match, thelosers buying the winners a case of cold beer. This wasa hidden match, the eventual participants not knowingwho they were, in order to extract the best efforts of alltwelve GB shooters. Confused?Shooting, for the third successive day, into a strongbuffeting headwind, scores of 73 were achieved at 900yards by Peter Barry and Sarah Rennie, both coachedby the Captain. After lunch at 1000 yards, with no letup to the wind, Peter scored a superb 74 to complete a147, by far the highest individual gun score of the day.It was noticeable that David Dyson and Peter Thompson,the only two point sling users in the team, had bothfeatured strongly amongst the better GB scores over thelast two buffeting days. The Singer Cup was won byGuyana with 1111.93 and, in the hidden internationalmatch, GB won the beer with 1123.108 against the WestIndies 1102.88.Saturday night was a quiet one for most of the team,tired after six consecutive days on the range. A smallnumber of stalwarts did however manage an after dinnerforay to the Ship Inn, local pub/club where the Saturdaynight performance of salsa, and a variety of Caribbeandances, were especially pleasing.Sunday 19 MayFollowing a shower of rain, the BWIA Cup got underwayin the same buffeting wind as that experienced on thethree previous days. This trophy is competed for

Precise shooting requiresan unwavering concentration inthe center of the action. Your rifleis a key factor to success. The R 93LRS helps ensure accuracy. It is areliable, high performing rifle that offersstraight and smooth repeating in theaiming position. Not having to changeyour posture gives you the time andenergy you need to concentrate on thetarget and use your skills to the fullest.For further information contact your local dealer or:Beechwood Equipment • PO Box 162 • Weybridge • Surreysales@beechwoodequipment.com • www.blaser.deTel: 01932 847365 Fax: 01932 853994annually by all the Caribbean shooting countries; theGB Team shot alongside and competed in a concurrentmatch against a pre-selected West Indies eight. Due tolimitations imposed by target availability, only eightshooters could be nominated to shoot, the prize beinganother case of cold beer.After 300 yards, the nominated West Indies team wasahead by five points, and their lead increased by a furtherthree points at 500 yards. The GB team faced its firstsetback of the tour and Norris had begun to anticipatethe sweet taste of success and beer. After lunch, however,the tables were cruelly turned on him and his team, asGB recorded their best range score of the day, and theWest Indies their worst, achieving a 600 yards advantageof 11 points and overall victory by three points (1163.127against 1160.115). Highest scorer for GB was JohnCarmichael with 148.16 and, for the West Indies,Ransford Goodluck, with 148.17. Jamaica won the BWIACup with 1142.117.Back to the hotel to change, then back on the bus to therange for the prize giving. Drinks under the Caribbeannight sky, to the traditional accompaniment of a brassband, preceded the prize giving at which words ofthanks and appreciation were exchanged. It was withsadness that we said goodbye to all our hosts, from allfour countries, whose friendship and sense of fun hadmade the tour such a delight.Monday 20 to Thursday 23 MayThe full range of holiday activities were explored,including scuba diving, golf, sugar factory visits, deepsea fishing, historical tours, clubbing and simplyabsorbing rays before returning to the grey UK springthat awaited us. All local restaurants were criticallyappraised and, for the final night, a contingent of teammembers entertained a rapidly diminishing localaudience to karaoke at the Ship Inn but finally it wastime to return to the real world.This tour had been an unforgettable experience for allmembers of the team. The welcome extended byshooters in all of the host countries had beenoverwhelming, and we were taught how to enjoy life,invariably by people whose lives are by no means easy.Where else in the world can we eat fresh mangoes orchew raw sugar cane on the range after shooting? Andwhere else can we plunge into the warm clearaquamarine surf after shooting or watch a turtle layingits eggs on the beach after that sudden tropical nightfall? The tradition of sportsmanship and the fun ofparticipation at any level live on in the Caribbean. It isregrettable that GB shooters do not have the privilegeof more opportunities to visit these magical places, notleast to support the local shooters in building andpromoting our sport.31

NRA CNRA COUNCILELECTEDCOMMITTEEMEMBERSThe Chairman, Vice-Chairman and Treasurer of the NRA Council are members of all Council CommitteesFinance and General Purposes CommitteeMr MWT Walton ChairmanMr JMA Thompson Vice-ChairmanMr JM KynochMr RHF WillsMr DG YoungMr S Belither Chairman Membership CtteDr NG JeffsChairman Estates CtteMr CS O’Brien Chairman Shooting CtteMr CAJ Oliver-Bellasis Co-optedMr MJ Blythe In attendance - Financial ManagerMaj MG Farnan In attendance - Shooting ManagerMrs EM Buttle SecretaryBoard of National Shooting Centre LimitedMr CAJ Oliver-Bellasis Non exec ChairmanMiss S Bunch Executive DirectorCol CA Ewing Executive DirectorMaj MG Farnan Executive DirectorMr JDS Hossack Non exec DirectorMr JM Kynoch Non exec DirectorMr CS O’Brien Non exec DirectorMr JMA Thompson Non exec DirectorMr MJ Blythe Company SecretaryVacancy, Managing DirectorShooting CommitteeMr CS O’BrienMr JPS BloomfieldMr JH CarmichaelWg Cdr DP CalvertProf AR HorrocksMr JEM BellringerMr P BloomMr AR Campbell-SmithMr CN FarrMr JM KynochDr P MonaghanMr G PlayerMr P SaronyMr I Shirra-GibbMr RHF WillsMaj MG FarnanEstates CommitteeDr NG JeffsMr CAJ Oliver-BellasisMr HRM BailieMrs ID BennettMr I Shirra-GibbMr MWT WaltonMr ND AndersonMr JEM HartwellMrs Sherril DixonAudit CommitteeMr P CurrieMr JF JackmanMr JMA ThompsonChairmanTRServices & CadetsMatch RifleGallery Rifle & PistolSporting RifleF ClassMuzzle LoadingPractical Rifle300 MetreClassic ArmsSecretaryChairmanVice-ChairmanCo-optedCo-optedSecretaryChairmanThe Audit Committee was formed a year ago, is now chairedby the new Treasurer and its prime role is to supervise theannual audit on behalf of the Council.Membership CommitteeMr S BelitherChairmanMrs ID BennettProf AR HorrocksMr JM KynochMrs M Veltman-GrisenthwaiteDr NG JeffsCo-optedMrs H WebbSecretaryDisciplinary PanelMr PN Hinchliffe QCMr JPS BloomfieldMr CM BrooksWg Cdr DP CalvertMr DG EvansMiss M GoodenMr JM HolmesLt Col RT HooleMr AJCB de LaunayMr CS O’BrienMr RHF WillsMr MWT WaltonChairmanRemuneration CommitteeMr JF JackmanChairmanMr S BelitherDr NG JeffsMr CS O’BrienMr MWT WaltonMr CM BrooksCo-opted SolicitorThe Remuneration Committee was re-formed a yearago; it deals with management of the terms andconditions of employment of the Secretary of theNational Rifle Association on behalf of Council. Italso advises the Finance and General PurposesCommittee on the terms and conditions ofemployment of managers.32

2002INTERCOUNTIESMEETING2002by Karen RobertsonA nice easy start to the weekend with the individualmatch, the R Jarvis, at 300 yards; the wind gentlymoving between zero and half right. Eleven shootersscored 75.12 with Nigel Ball (Norfolk) winning the tieshoot with 25.5. Top Under 23 shooter was Matt Ensor(Surrey) with 75.9.The wind stayed pretty much the same for the start ofthe Lt Col H Jones Memorial Match resulting in 59possibles at 300 yards; top scorer at this distance wasDavid Richards (Hampshire) with the only 50.10 on therange. Surrey stormed into the lead after 300 yardswith six possibles and two 49s for a total of 398.57; insecond place were Hertfordshire with 396.48 and thirdwere Sussex with 395.52.London achieved the highest team score at 500 yardswith 398.54 moving them up into equal third place.The top three teams all scored 392s and so the relativeplaces stayed the same. Nick Leaper (Essex), JohnStevens (Yorkshire) and Peter Bromley (Kent) all scored50.9s with sixty others also scoring possibles.Sixty-eight possibles at 600yards but only one 50.10,this time from DavidCalvert (Ulster) whose totalof 150.26 was the highestscore of the day as well asbeing a personal best;David’s Captain and teammate Richard Bailie (left)also achieved a personalbest of 150.16. Four othersalso put them all in: DavidRichards (Hampshire)150.22, Mike Fugeman(Berkshire) 150.21, AlastairSpeirs (Northumberland) 150.19 and Ginny Measures(Lincolnshire) 150.18. However Chris Belk(Northumberland) and Keith Trowbridge (Lincolnshire)both need to practice on those tenth shots at 600 yardsas they both dropped their last for 149s.Back to the all important team scores and Norfolk wasat the top at 600 yards with 396.43 but it was Somerset’ssecond highest range score of 395.51 which reallysorted out the final placings. Of the previous leaders,Surrey had scored 389.45, Hertfordshire had 390.40and Sussex 394.42 but Somerset’s match total of1181.154 just pipped Sussex into second by 14 V bulls.Sunday was generally overcast and chilly with someinteresting wind conditions to keep the coaches ontheir toes. At 900 yards there were 17 possibles with afine 75.14 from Jeremy Thompson (Hertfordshire); justbehind him on 75.11 were David Calvert (Ulster),Richard Mott (Middlesex) and John Pugsley (Devon).Jeremy’s 75.14 helped Hertfordshire into the top slotwith a team total of 591.70 - seven points clear of Ulsterand Oxfordshire in second and third positions.However it all got a bit more difficult at 1000 yards -75s and 74s were nowhere to be seen as the coachesstruggled. There were only four scores of 73 whichcame from Rachel Merridew (Buckinghamshire), SarahRennie (East of Scotland) and John Warburton(Yorkshire) all on 73.7 and Duncan Bedding(Hertfordshire) on 73.5. The average score across therange was a measly 66 and many teams had sufferedbadly; Surrey’s team average of just over 70 gave themthe top score at this range but it just wasn’t enough toknock Hertfordshire from the top. Final results in theLong Range Match were Hertfordshire 1142.108,Surrey 1140.98 and Sussex 1128.97.Duncan’s score of 74.6 at 900 yards gave him the topscore of the day of 147.11 as well as the top score ofthe weekend of 296.25. Just behind Duncan were JohnWarburton (Yorkshire) on 295.33 and Richard Bailie(Ulster) on 295.27.Unsurprisingly the results of the overall aggregate didnot differ from the results of the Long Range matchwith Hertfordshire in first place with 2320.245, Surreyin second with 2319.247 and Sussex in third with2309.237.Another excellentweekend of shootingwas over and, asalways, thanks weredue to all thosewhose hard workhad made it possible.Top: The teams at workon Stickledown.Left: A very happyRichard Bailie.Right: Jo Hossack wrapsup warm.(All photos: Karen Robertson)33

A PNRA RA PROPOSALTO AMENDTHE NRA RULEDEFINING THE MATCHRIFLEPresented to the Meeting of Match Riflemen, July 2002 by Richard KenchingtonI consider Match Rifle to be the “Formula One” ofshooting - it is what people graduate to after learningto shoot in other disciplines, and represents thepinnacle of activity in the British style of rifle shooting.Occasionally, as in Formula One motor racing, theformula needs to be changed. There has always beenan experimental aspect to Match Rifle shooting,whereby the very nature of the sport involvescompetitors trying out new ideas with their rifles andammunition. Over the past eight or ten years, I haveexpressed the view in several quarters that theexperimental aspect of Match Rifle shooting is beingstifled by the restriction to the standard 7.62mmNATO cartridge case, and I make no apology forreiterating that view. The restriction needs to berelaxed.In proposing that a wider choice of cartridge beallowed for the Match Rifle, I am only following theprecedents set during the first part of the 20th century.In 1963, the last year of .303 Streamline, the optionstill existed to use “any Foreign Service Rifle” with“ammunition . . . supplied by the competitor”. Thiswas in line with “one of the chief objects” of MatchRifle shooting, as expressed in the Bisley Bible frombefore 1914 until 1963, to determine “the barrel andammunition most suitable for present-dayrequirements”, and with the need for the cartridge tobe “a serviceable one from a military point of view,having regard in particular to the weight to be carriedby the soldier, and to the terms of InternationalConvention”. These phrases were actual rubrics speltout in the rule book.I am not, however, suggesting that absolutely anycartridge be allowed, as I would not wish to changethe fundamental nature of Match Rifle shooting, whichin essence is the attempt to hit the bullseye at thelongest possible distance, making use of a rifle andammunition only just powerful enough to produceconsistent results. Consider the cartridge as a box ofenergy, by the use of which, with the help of the rifle,one attempts to puncture the bullseye. Clearly, inorder to have meaningful competition, the amount ofenergy in the box needs to be subject to some limit,but does the exact shape of the box really matter? Fromthe soldier’s point of view, the overriding concern isthe weight of the ammunition he has to carry.Therefore the only restriction that is really needed is alimit on the weight of the loaded round, and I suggestthat this should be one ounce. My starting point inarriving at this was obviously the existing 7.62mmNATO cartridge. The weight of a 7.62 NATO roundloaded with a 190 grain bullet is about 412 grains [190(bullet) + 170 (case) + 46 (charge) + 6 (primer) = 412].As this cartridge can be loaded with heavier bullets34and slightly larger charges, some slack needs to beadded to this figure. Add 6% and you arrive at justunder one ounce (437.5 grains), a nice round Britishunit of weight.I accept that such a limit would allow the use ofcartridges that require less elevation, and retainvelocity better than the 7.62mm NATO. Within reasonI think this would be no bad thing, as it would take usa bit further away from the transonic instability regionat 1200 yards without altering wind deflectionssignificantly, and would thus not markedly affect theelement of skill needed in reading the wind. Theweight limit would outlaw most magnum cartridges,because in general they have heavy cases. Howeverit would embrace most existing military rounds,including the .30-06 (at the very top end of the scale)and 7x57. Other cartridges such as the 6.5x55, 6mmRemington and .22-250 should fall easily within theweight limit.What would happen if such a rule were introduced?Initially, most competitors would continue with their7.62mm NATO barrels, and might widen theirexperiments with VLD bullets and double-basedpowders in an effort to improve performance. Somemight have their existing barrels re-chambered toprovide a bit more powder capacity. A few alreadypossessing rifles in other calibres might be able tocompete with them. Gradually however, ascompetitors naturally approached the time for a newbarrel, consideration would be given to thepossibilities of other calibres. Those with new barrelsin whatever calibre would tend to win (as they donow), but generally I doubt whether there would beany major change in the level of scoring, or anywidespread feeling of uncompetitiveness moreprofound than that already felt when one’s barrel isbeginning to lose its edge.Besides, I do not necessarily believe that the only recipefor success after such a rule change would be the useof the cartridge with the highest possible muzzleenergy. The 7.62mm NATO has already shown itselfcapable of near-possible scores over the full 45-shotAlbert or Elcho course; witness the score of 224,including a 75 at 1200 yards, made by Pete Campbellin the Spring Meeting this year. However, the scopefor experimentation, especially with small calibres,would be significantly widened were we to make sucha rule change. It would not diminish the need forcompetitors to exercise skill in wind-reading, whichwould still be the main requirement for high scoring,but it would demonstrate that the choice of calibreand cartridge can and should be an integral part ofthe quest for success in this fascinating sport.

HMHM THEQUEENUEEN’S GOLDENJUBILEEMEETING2002This would be the first year when the MkII version ofthe SA80 made its presence felt at Bisley. Early reportswere very encouraging, the RAF’s John Prictorcommented that the rifle “just doesn’t stop”; ironicallyseveral thousand miles away the Royal Marines werehaving problems getting theirs to start! DoubtlessWarrant Officer Tommy Sands’ colleagues weresecretly hoping his rifle would stop and prevent himwinning another Queen’s Medal.Despite increased commitments on an almost worldwide scale, competitor numbers were slightly up onthe previous year. The American National Guard wereback, after the Foot and Mouth outbreak caused theircancellation last year, along with regulars from theCanadian Armed Forces and the Sultan of Oman’sArmed Forces; they were also joined by the SouthAfrican Defence Force making a welcome visit.With several top ten places and an appropriate first inthe Gurkha Welfare Match, Colour Sgt ManbahadurGarbuja of 2 Royal Gurkha Rifles collected a wellearned Queen’s Medal by a five point margin fromCpl Prembahadur Baral also of 2 RGR. In the RoyalNavy/Royal Marines Queen’s Medal competitionWarrant Officer Tommy Sands brushed off stiff earlycompetition to collect what would almost certainly behis last Queen’s Medal before retirement, whilst ChiefTechnician John Prictor notched up his tenth win inthe Royal Air Force Queen’s Medal. In the overseasevents the Canadians and Omanis held a strangleholdon the premier places.When events moved to the NRA sponsored events,the big teams would find the larger teams hiving offpeople to practice for the Blue Riband service rifleevent, the Methuen Cup, leaving numbers down 20%on last year. This helped the Omanis and Canadiansto dominate the prize lists. Monday morning wouldsee a clean sweep of the top places by the Omanis,SERERVICERIFLEby Peter Campbell2002Major Al Nasseri led from the front to win the BisleyBullet from Sgt H Al Ghassani, while in the Sittingand Standing Sgt S Al Ghassani collected the pots aftera three way tie in the Standing. After a non-productivemorning, the Empire struck back in the afternoon withLt JC Barber of the Royal Signals winning the Kinnaird,whilst the Canadians collected the Stephens andWantage, both after three way tie shoots. The Stephensneeded a second tie to separate Pte RW Marshall fromWO ML Grey and Maj Al Nasseri of the SOAF.Tuesday brought the Queen Mary - Sharpshooting at500 yards, Fire and Movement from 500 yards to 100yards, Rapids at 300 yards and finally Snap Shootingat 300 yards - something for everyone. Predictably,perhaps, this event was also dominated by the Omaniswith Major Al Nasseri in first place with a score of186, from Sgt Rioux Canadian Forces in second, SgtAl Ghassani in third and Cpl Sandall in fourth allscoring 184 - a tie shoot was required to split them.The Service Rifle Championship went for the thirdsuccessive year to Oman, this time in the hands of SgtAl Ghassani. The Omani/Canadian domination ofthe NRA Service Rifle Championship was sufficientto secure the top eleven places.Wednesday would be Methuen Day which recentlyhas been an event with almost a carnival atmosphere,as Regiments and Corps vie with each other, not onlyfor best team but for the best display. Several teamssupply lunch for their team members and guests. Asusual it was expected to be a two-way fight betweenthe Royal Irish and the Gurkhas, the two regimentsthat have held a stranglehold on the trophy in recentyears. However it was the Royal Electrical andMechanical Engineers who took first blood with ascore of 277, leading the Royal Signals and Gurkhason 274 and the Royal Irish on 273. Practice 2 saw theRoyal Irish regain the initiative with a score of 276,with the Gurkhas managing 271. Practice 3 wouldThe Royal Air Force Chair is becoming very Prictor-shaped afterhis tenth Queen’s Medal win. (Photo: Karen Robertson)Lord Methuen presents the Methuen Trophy to the Royal IrishRegiment. (Photo: Peter Campbell)35

again be a Gurkha / Royal Irish affair, with theGurkhas topping the Royal Irish by two points.Lunch on Methuen Day is a sumptuous affair;speaking from a totally non-biased point of view, yourreporter felt that the Royal Engineers’ weaponsdisplay, aided by the Lee Enfield Rifle Association,was unbeatable. Lunch at the Royal Irish Marqueewas excellent and with good company to boot. Buoyedby their lunch, the Royal Irish marched towardsanother Methuen victory: Practice 4 saw nine pointsbetween the Royal Irish and the Gurkhas, howeverthey slipped slightly in Practice 5 when the TA Infantrybeat the Royal Irish by one point. However, victoryfor the Royal Irish was assured, while at the bottomof the list the shock of the event was the ParachuteRegiment languishing in last place, also beaten bythree of the four civilian teams shooting alongside.Also shooting alongside, the Omani team beat Canadato win the Overseas match.Civilian shooting alongside the military service rifleevents entered its fourth year; numbers were onlyslightly down this year as some cost watching shootersgave the event a miss. An ill Pete Bloom also missedthe event but managed to visit during the Methuenon Wednesday - our best wishes are with you Pete.There were going to be surprises this year, especiallyin the Methuen, but then, they were the deserved resultof hard work.Monday morning brought the Bisley Bullet, Sitting andStanding: Bill Ellis (Artists), Mike Burns (British AlpineRifles), Alan Whittington (LERA) and Steve Sheldon(South Wales Rifle Club) took first honours in theirclasses with scores of 44, 61, 68 and 96 respectively inthe 200 yards match. A short walk to 100 yards forthe standing match saw Dave Houghton, Ken Vale(LHAC RC), Chalky White (RAFTRC) and Dave Green(Highpower Rifle Association) scoring 35, 25, 30 and42 points respectively.The afternoon brought the Kinnard, Stephens andWantage, grouped together as the Civilian 300 yardsmatch. The eventual winners of the SMLE, No 4 andAny Iron Sight classes began their march to victory.Bill scored 81 in the match, while Richard Seddonscored 90. The RAF’s Chalky White, was having thingspretty much to himself in the Any Iron Sights with ascore of 109, while the Practical Rifle boys were havingtheir usual tight match, Pete Williams won with a 149.The Monday Aggregate was a precursor for the finalresult, Bill Ellis won the SMLE Class with 149 points,Richard Seddon the No 4 Class with 160 points, ChalkyWhite the Any Iron class with 185 points and MarkBradley topped the Any Sights class with 276 points.A good nights rest was needed before people tackledTuesday’s course of fire - for some it is torture, forothers it’s all in a days sport. Bill Ellis scored 89 onthe Queen Mary, while Richard Seddon’s trundledown wasn’t fast enough as he could only manage 86points; a sprightly Chalky scored 130 and Steve Reeskept the HPRA in front with 192 points. TheChampionship had been decided - there were no bigsurprises with the Monday Aggregate winnersoccupying the top places in all four classes with somepretty dominant shooting.36CIVILIANSERERVICERIFLEby Peter CampbellForm books were consulted and results checked asWednesday would hold the finale of the serviceevents. This year there were four teams, the HPRAwere looking to retain the trophy and this year theyhad an extra team, in the shape of the London PracticalShooting Club, to look out for. LERA againdemonstrated retired service rifles of the Enfieldvariety and teamed up with the Royal Engineers towin the bragging rights for the best weapons display.The event started with the HPRA team posting thetop score on the range; the LPSA team were secondand the Omanis were third. In fairness they did havebipods, but then they didn’t have gas bits and had tobreak position for every reload. Fire and movementfollowed and the gap opened up between the militaryand the civilians. HPRA were snapped out of anycomplacency when South Wales won the next twopractices, five points gained in the 100 yards snapsand eleven in the 200 yards rapids. The team captain’swords must have been harsh, complacency could notbe allowed. In Practice 4, HPRA recovered theircomposure and the 16 points lost had been regainedtogether with four more. HPRA had won by acomfortable margin with 1298 points, 94 points morethan their 2001 result. The shock of the match, whenthe scores were scrutinised, was simply how wellpeople had done, HPRA’s score was good enough foreighth overall and South Wales were fourteenth - someunits would be getting a severe talking down!NRA Chairman John Jackman congratulates Alan Canavan andthe Highpower Rifle Association. (Photo: Peter Campbell)

The world of cadet rifle shooting remains the nurseryfor the majority of future competitive shots; thetraining and experiences of cadets shape their futureenjoyment and success on the range. Coaches andinstructors want to expose their cadets to as muchmatch pressure as possible, to help them learn vitalmental strength and a determination not to buckle.The 2002 Schools Meeting gave a number of cadets ataste of shooting under the most intense individualpressure - only one GP individual prize was wonwithout going to a tie shoot. Some cadets had theirfirst taste of this highly competitive, stressful andnerve jangling experience – a great preparation forfuture adult and, indeed, international competition;testimony to the crucial role that the Schools andISCRM Meetings have for the future of rifle shooting.Combined with good team shooting and a healthycompetitive spirit, this was a very successful meeting.With no sign of the target rifles, the Schools Meetingwas again a GP affair. The Meeting also started a weekearlier than usual due to the Commonwealth Games,so for many schools this meant that rather than givingup a week of holiday, the last week of term was missedand the majority of staff and cadets seemed happy tomake this sacrifice! Unfortunately the weather, in thefirst week in July, was cool and at times wet andovercast, although not as bad as the Main Meeting (Ihave team shooting mats that still look like they have notdried out from St George’s I . . . ). It is to the credit of thecadets that they kept up their spirits and shot to a goodstandard despite the glum conditions.The Snap shooting, which took place over the firstthree days, saw some close competition betweenOratory, Sedbergh and Oundle. Oratory took firstblood winning the Marling with 325, ahead of Oundleon 300 and Campbell on 295, with Oakham fourth on285. Sedbergh took the honours in the Schools Snap,their 356 beating Oratory with 344 and Oundle 340.The Devonshire and Dorset Falling Plates saw OratoryA beat Sedbergh C in the final ahead of UppinghamC, with Old Sedberghians taking revenge by winningthe Simon Pattinson Open Challenge Cup. TheSchools Aggregate comprises two of the snapcompetitions and Oratory proved worthy winners, 32points ahead of Sedbergh, with Oundle in third.Interestingly, Ampleforth specialised in winning theindividual snap events – C/Sgt Reutter winning theMarlborough Cup in a tie shoot with seven otherswhilst his team mate, UO Hewitt won the FinancialTimes with a 50, again after a tie shoot.Target rifle shooting was occuring at 300 and 500 yardsfor those schools who preferred not to concentrate onthe GP. Wellington College won the Victoria CollegeSCHOOLSMEETINGby James PostleTeam Trophy ahead of Greshams A, with DollarAcademy in third and Marlborough in fourth. CadetFirman of Greshams and WO R Hinde of Wellingtonshared first place for the Silenta Individual trophy with70.8 apiece, whilst Sgt Adamson of Dollar won theVictoria College Individual Shield with 69.9 on countbackfrom Cadet N Hall of Marlborough. L/Cpl Noelof Victoria was third with 69.6.However, the majority of teams were plugging awayat the Wellington and Iveagh competitions for the firstthree days. The Cadet Rifle Aggregate trophy wassettled prior to the Thursday, won outright by theEpsom Captain, Sgt Matthew Read scoring a total of67 over the two ranges. The Wellington was settledin a tie shoot between ranges in the Ashburton – UOHeathcote of Ampleforth proving the victor(continuing to prove that this was the school full ofindividual stars!). The Iveagh tie was held at 300 afterthe Ashburton and won by Cpl Park of Epsom, aheadof seven others. The Devon went to Epsom with 325,ahead of Oratory on 320, whilst the Schools Staff waswon by Capt Craig Stewart of Dollar Academy – goodto see the Commandant of the UK Cadets showinghow it should be done!Ashburton day was bright with only a light breeze.The Reserve got the proceedings going with the threeleading competitors tying on 42, made all the moreamusing for CRO Tony Clayton when it was pointedout to him that Cadet Athkravisoonthorn of Epsomwas from Thailand, making this ‘Thai’ shoot veryappropriate. Cadet Goldsmith of Oratory was to beatthe aforementioned cadet to win the Reserve, CplDruce of Exeter came third. The Pairs Match was wonby Cadets Bond and Smith of Oundle, scoring 118 tobeat the duo of Taylor and Pimblett of Sedbergh on115 and Naumann and Rayner of Merchant Taylorson 113. The Fours match was just as close withUppingham showing they have plenty of good shotsfor the future, winning with 230 from Oratory on 227and Cheltenham on 225.In the Ashburton, the holders Uppingham looked ina strong position after the first distance. Theirimpressive 248 total won them the Kinder and theywere six points up on Epsom in second with 242, withOratory trailing in third with 235. Uppinghamcontinued to make good progress at 300 yards andthe runners between the scoreboards were reportingthat, after the first four firers, Uppingham still had sixpoints on Epsom. As the final four shot, the balancebegan to swing and Epsom pulled away to win thesecond stage with 244 and the Ashburton Shield witha total of 486, the second highest Ashburton winningscore with the GP rifle. Uppingham came second with37

479, having scored 231 at the longer range, but holdingoff the charging Oratory who finished third with 474.Sedbergh, Oundle and Wellington College occupiedthe next three places.A tie shoot was held to decide the winner of theSchools Hundred, Cpl Fry of Uppingham beating CplJonathan Kent of Epsom. The Spencer-Mellish tie sawCpl Mijic of Malvern holding his nerve over UOHeathcote of Ampleforth, SUO White of Harrow andCpl Kent of Epsom. Rutland and Cheltenham trophieswent to Uppingham whilst the Garry and theenormous Lucas trophy went to Epsom College.It was excellent to see many cadets staying on for theMain Meeting, most swapping the GP for their targetrifles to compete with (and in a number of cases beat!)their adult rivals.The scoreboard - Epsom have now won the Ashburton Shieldeight times in the last 13 years, and come second three times.(Photo: James Postle)MATCHRIFLEby Alex HendersonFriday 28 June and the Match Rifle Meeting began -as it so often does - at the beginning, with the AnyRifle Competitions. This is the annual occasion wherethe likes of Roland Greenwood produce their highpowered,large calibre contraptions in order todemonstrate why the rest of us prefer 7.62. The windwas brisk but mostly readable for the start, and DavidCalvert won the 1000 yards shoot with the only scoreof 75, following this with the only score of 74 at 1100to take that too. In the afternoon, however, the windbecame far more entertaining and Calvert was notcareful enough to be the only score of 94 (ex 100 thistime) at 1200 yards, and gallantly let Paula Baillie-Hamilton take the third cup from him. Well, it wasn’tpure gallantry - she had more Vs than him and shebeat him in the tie shoot too. Needless to say,therefore, that Calvert won the AR Aggregate by ahandsome margin over Stuart Collings and GuyBlakeney, proving that he fully intended to be a forceto be reckoned with in the Hopton this year.Saturday saw the start of the Hopton with some verychallenging conditions. Nick Tremlett produced theonly score of 75 at 1000 in the Whitehead, while nooneat all managed a full house at 1100 - the nearestbeing Nick Hinchliffe with a 74. However, both ofthese took the precaution of scoring 68 at the otherrange, just in case anyone should accuse either of themof being a competent coach. The cup was won, after atie shoot, with a score of 145. Nigel Cole-Hawkins,Mike Baillie-Hamilton and Stuart Collings competedin the tie, Collings dropping one too many before theother two went shot-for-shot. In the end it was NigelCole-Hawkins who let experience show through,retaining his current form, and has still failed ever tohave won a tie shoot. One more pot for the Baillie-Hamilton mantelpiece.38After lunch John Knight was the only scorer of 75 at1100 yards in the Halford, but there was a faircollection of 73s and 74s. As one might expect whenletting target riflemen loose at 1200 yards withaperture sights and RG, there were one or two magpiesto be seen. This is where ‘scoped sights, rested riflesand heavy loads really pay off. Once the RG detailhad finished, a confident troop of match riflemenshowed them how it ought to have been done.“Magpies? Pah! Magpies are for amateurs!” Therewere outers, hits and clear targets all over the placewith the odd cheer when a shot strayed into the black.There was one point where targets 40 to 45 inclusiveall simultaneously showed an identical 3 o’clock outer.A not insignificant proportion of the entrants failedto break 60 ex 75, so David Calvert fully deserved towin with a very creditable 71. Guy Blakeney, whomade the only other score that broke 70, came arespectable second. At the close of the first day, DavidCalvert had racked up a six point lead in the Hopton,but with 700 points to go the race was far from won.Sunday began with the Cottesloe. As last year, therewas a tie for first place for scores of 100, Guy Shaplandbeing the best of the nine competitors, taking thetrophy from Michael Hissey on his eighth shot of thesudden death. John Knight took the opportunity toknock himself off the lead of the Hopton by taking his‘scope to pieces and failing to check it, resulting in amiss and a hit as his first scoring shots in the Cottesloe.He was slightly less than happy when he found hewas now nine points behind Calvert. Yet another tieshoot followed soon after for the Wimbledon, addingfuel to the debate over whether or not V bulls shouldcount. Because they do not as yet, except in ties, therewere five people tied on 98, with Nick Brasier, whoput in the only 25, winning the trophy.

Since there is no 1200 shooting in the RG Aggregate,the Wimbledon marked the conclusion of the meetingfor those who choose to make this sport harder than itneeds to be. As usual, it was close at the top, withJane Messer winning, finishing a couple of points clearof Guy Palmer and David Luckman.As so often happens, the wind decided to stop blowingfor the 1200 Armourers. Instead it started to howl,and a similar selection of magpies and outers were ondisplay as were in the Halford. Jo Campbell-Smithtook the first place from her father, with 93 and 92respectively, being two of the few people to break 90,while not a few ended below 80. Guy Blakeney addedto his Any Rifle successes by winning the SundayAggregate, but David Calvert was still leading theHopton at the close of the day, although his lead overthe irrepressible Stuart Collings had been narrowedto two points.Monday began with the Edge at 1100 yards still withwind well into double-figures. Those who had failedto take 12 minutes off their sights from the Armourersremembered to do so pretty quickly. Some of themeven remembered to turn the sights the correct wayrather than starting with 24 minutes of left wind,which was deemed excessive, as well as expensive.The heavens opened briefly towards the end of thesecond detail, temporarily obscuring the targets almostentirely. This caused some difficulty for those withGalilean sights who found they were aiming at a targetthat wasn’t there, which is generally considered ratherworse than failing to aim at a target that was there,which is what everyone else was doing.The weather continued through the 1200 yards detail,with a fiendish wind blowing the bullets between theraindrops, resulting in a good spread of scores.In the afternoon there was the FW Jones, a club shootfor teams of four. The English VIII Club fielded a teamof Tremlett, Collings and Hinchliffe coaching anequally formidable team of shooters. Unfortunatelyno-one thought to tell them that the rules of thisparticular match require them to get the holes as nearthe centre of the target as possible. No marks wereawarded for artistic merit or for even distribution ofshots across the target. “Did you see the wind get upto 20 there?” asked Hugh Butcher. “Oh yes, we sawit.” “But didn’t you have a hit then?” “Yes” said JohnPugsley, “that’s when we saw it.” With the Palmacoaching squad calling irrelevant wind, the EtonianShooting Club were able to make a series of luckyguesses and knocked the English VIII into secondplace by a handful of points.On Tuesday we dispensed with sighters in order toget out of the rain quicker. This, coincidentally, is oneof the rules of the Albert - the final match in theHopton. Will Meldrum led the field after the firstrange with a creditable 100. He reluctantly had toreduce this to a mere 75 when it was pointed out thatthe five extra tie shots he fired were entirely irrelevant,as the Ranken he thought he was firing concurrentlyshould have been shot at 1100 yards. Guy Blakenyheard of this and thought it sounded like fun, so hefired another five tie shots too, this time at 1100. Noone,including him, is quite sure why. Luckily for Will,when he did fire his Ranken at 1100 yards, he manageda similar performance and won the trophy, so his 1000yards practice was not wasted.As so often happened in the Albert, the conditionsworsened substantially over lunch, resulting in somepretty gloomy faces accompanying some pretty dismalscores off the 1200 yards point for the conclusion ofthe Hopton. Only two people broke 70, both of whomhad had their own difficulties earlier in the day. Inthe end there was yet another tie shoot, with RobLygoe winning over Chris Hockley, Will Meldrum andGeorge Barnard, respectively.David Calvert did, indeed, win the Hopton, narrowlyover George Barnard, with Nigel Cole-Hawkins andNick Tremlett a few points behind.Wednesday was Elcho day, where traditionallyeverything is different. This year was no exception:having shot the Hopton with up to 20 minutes of leftwind, we were confronted by a headwind, flickingback and forth through zero. The Scottish coachescursed, as it was the strong blustery gales the previousyear which set them at an advantage over the English.Likewise, the English breathed a sigh of relief, thathere was a wind they could read at last. It was prettyuneventful at 1000 yards, as it normally is, apart froma couple of points thrown away by the Scots throughhaving telescopes set wrongly (which with no sightersis costly), leaving the English with a comfortable lead,with the Irish a few points behind. At 1100 yardseveryone had the chance to close the gaps, but in factthe coaching prowess of Collings and Tremlett,together with superior shooting all round meant thatthe English extended their lead by a further 20 points,while the Irish and Scots battled it out for second place.As the match went into its final range the Celts were alittle despondent - that kind of lead is too great to bemade up except with the help of an English disaster.David Friend managed an impressive 223 ex 225,equalling the record score for the Elcho (eleven pointshigher than anyone else on the range) and putting paidto any suggestions that the English were in any moodto countenance disasters.Stuart Collings made up for not having won theHopton by producing a very impressive victory forEngland in his first year as Captain; the Scots whowere almost 50 points behind, with the Irish a further30 and the Welsh 40 more, all left the range with theirtails between their legs promising something differentfor next year.39

TARGETRIFLEby Karen RobertsonThursday 4 JulyThe space between the Match Rifle events and the GrandAggregate has been partly occupied for several yearsby an open Club team competition. Sponsors nameshave come and gone, but the Opening Shot is now afixture for the early arrivals and the growing group whochoose to treat the MR competitions as valuable TRpractice as well as the exalted few who take bothdisciplines seriously. A moderate breeze and partialcloud cover made for difficult conditions, as both thelight and the wind changed almost shot by shot. Notthat it made any difference to the result; a team from theBritish Commonwealth RC (where one qualifies formembership by having been a member of a Great Britainor NRA team) won for the fourth time in five years.The day also sees a rush of short-term participants forthe Public Schools Veterans Match for teams of five at500 yards. Four teams made 248 in the A teams match;OGRE were the winners with 248.39. Second placedBelfast Royal Academy, on 248.36, surprised everyoneespecially as the last-minute fifth member of their teamhad been prised away from butt marking and had toshoot with borrowed kit. Old Oakhamians won the BTeams match with 245.25 and OGRE won the C Teamsmatch with 241.26 although, oddly, it was OldEpsomians who took the Schools Veterans Aggregateas another rather successful team, who shall remainnameless, had forgotten to hand in their claim card!Friday 5 JulyFriday was another day of changing winds, butinterspersed with showers that turned to drizzle as theovercast thickened in the evening. In the Astor, one teammade six 35s at each distance; OGRE at 300 yards,Windsor RC at 500 yards and Manydown RC at 600yards. But it was OGRE who continued in style,averaging 104 ex 105 to finish on 624.81, pushingDungannon RC (making their first appearance in themedals) into second place. Further down the range,Northern Ireland won the Cadet National for the firsttime - top scorer was Matthew McCullough with 104.12giving a hint of things to come, while fellow AthelingsMatthew Cloughley and Paul Boyle showed their formwith 103.9 and 102.13 respectively.David Luckman won the Century after a tie shoot withDick Horrocks and Ireland’s Ross McQuillan all on100.18; forty-six others attained the highest possible scoreof 100. The Admiral Hutton saw the prize list expandagain with 93 making 50 ex 50, and a five-way tie on50.9. David Rowland of Old Guildfordians took theCandlesticks with 25.5. The special prize of a NRA goldmedal for top cadet went to sixth placed Jonathan Kentof Epsom with the best of the 50.8s, whilst in ninth placeAnna Calvert (shooting in her first full Meeting) beatfather David by a V bull.Eleven competitors had started in style with 150 in theFriday Aggregate. Twenty-four V bulls won a place in40the tie-shoot where Jim Paton from Canada took thehonours from Toby Raincock and Tom Rylands.Saturday 6 JulyBroken cloud and near flat calm gave zero-checkingconditions for the Donegall. Amongst a record 206possibles, six Bo Dereks* meant a tie shoot; Peter Chanceof Club 25 taking the honours with 25.3.The wind rose a little as the day progressed, and somecare was needed for the Telegraph. Nonetheless, 85 werecaring enough to make an HPS, with a three way tie on75.14 between Mark Davidson, Canadian Pat Vamplewand Toby Raincock; Mark winning the cup with a 25.4.A steady trickle from the left continued well into theevening, giving even the late details of the Lovell at 1000yards something to watch for. The result was “only”nine possibles with two scores of 50.8. Peter Barry’s fine25.4 in the tie shoot reserved the trophy.Magnificent consistency throughout the day gave DavidCalvert the Saturday Aggregate with 175.21, while TomRylands had lost only one point in two days to take theTucker Aggregate.* Bo Derek - a perfect (50) 10Sunday 7 JulyThe early details had the best of it, as a near-calm overcastgave way to broken cloud and rising winds in theafternoon. David Luckman shot the only 25.5 in the 11-way tie shoot for scores of 50.9 in the Alexandra. Onehundred and sixty-nine HPSs combined with 12 Tyrosmaking 49.5 or better to run the NRA out of bars. Thechange in conditions for the afternoon showed clearlyin the scores; only 40 possibles in the Daily Mail with75.14s from Nick Brasier and Gabrielle O’Leary. A closetie shoot ended without extra time, Nick’s 25.4 winningby a V bull. The extra quarter-minute diameter of the900 yards bull encompassed 85 10-shot groups in theDuke of Cambridge. Eight of these made 50.9 and laterChris Belk of OCRA took the tie-shoot.Gabrielle O’Leary slipped just once over the entireweekend. A 49 in the Lovell and HPSs in the other fiveevents took the Weekend Aggregate, the SundayAggregate and top of the Sunday Leader Board with250.35. Hot on her heels were George Cann, Nick Brasier,Tom Rylands and Alwyn McLean all on 249. Gabriellewas one of nine with a full house in the Clementi Smith,but the trophy went to Toby Raincock of Old Epsomians– even Parag Patel couldn’t match 50.9/75.14/50.8 for175.31. The others were Burger, Shaw, Rylands, Rowley,O’Leary, Warburton and Kent. Nothing unusual there?– wrong. The Kent was Jonathan Kent, 17-year oldnephew of Paul with 50.10 in the Donegall, the only ‘Bo’in 27 HPSs.Monday 8 JulySummer remained absent. Another overcast day withdrizzly showers. The Times - 149 possibles at 300 yards.

Competitors during the Schools Meeting.(Photo: James Postle)The ever successful Epsom Team with the Ashburton Shield andother trophies. (Photo: James Postle)Jonathan Kent of Epsom shooting in the Spencer Mellish tie withGP. (Photo: James Postle)Jonathan then went on to have an excellent TR Meetingculminating in his second Queen’s Final. (Photo: James Postle)George Barnard and David Calvert fight it out for the Hopton inthe Albert at 1200 yards. (Photo: Karen Robertson)David Friend scored a magnificent 223.29 in the Elcho - elevenpoints more than the next highest on the range! (Photo: John Knight)Joanna Campbell-Smith (pictured left) gets ready to fire in theAlbert at 1200 yards. (Photo: David Pollard)It all got a bit damp at times!(Photo: Karen Robertson)

Nine 50.10s, tie shoot two 25.3s, and at last John Pugsleydropped a whole point for 14.1 giving Nick Harvey thespace to take the prize with 15.1. Then – shock horror -finally someone won a competition outright! There were77 possibles in the Wimbledon but only Paul Kent made50.10. There was also the only 50.0 of the Meeting, fromIryna Reder of Cheltenham College. Perhaps it was justa fluke - earlier in the day Iryna had made 50.9 for tenthplace in the Times.The Conan Doyle at 900 yards produced 87 possiblesincluding 50.9 from Angus McLeod and Julian Gould ofWest Suffolk RC. The tie shoot was more of a struggle -24.0 from Angus beat 23.1 from Julian.In the Monday Aggregate there were scores of 150 fromAlice Ogilvie, Kelvin Ramsey and Nick Brasier but SherriGallagher of the USA topped the lot with 150.24. Alice,Nick and Sherri also had full houses in the StockExchange together with John Pugsley; Alice and Nick’s27 V bulls apiece led to a tie shoot where Alice’s 25.5won her the trophy. Three perfect scores in the Brigadier(previously the Nine Hundred Yards Aggregate) fromDavid Calvert, Alwyn McLean and David Luckman; theRAF beating the Army in the resultant tie shoot. GlynBarnett had the highest of the five scores of 200 in theHowcroft Newspaper Aggregate with 200.31. It wasencouraging to see three young shooters only drop onepoint in the three shoots that make up the YoungRiflemans Aggregate; the top shot amongst these wasCadet Peter Law of Dollar Academy with 174.21.Over at the Leader Board Gabrielle had not had the bestof days and Nick Brasier’s 150 gave him a two pointlead over John Pugsley, Tom Rylands and AlwynMcLean.Tuesday 9 JulyThe dismal weather continued with rain showers whichdisrupted much of the first stage of the St Georges.Despite the weather there were lots of possibles - 88 inall with six scores of 75.13 from David Calvert, AngusMcLeod, Bruce Horwood, Steven Thomas, Ali Cross andRobert Steketee of the USA all going into the tie shootfor the Bronze Cross. A perfect 25.5 from Angus wasunbeatable. Five of the above then had to tie shoot forthe Gurkha Appeal; a sudden death finish gave the largeKukri to David.Nick Brasier’s 75.8 meant that there was little change atthe top of the Grand Aggregate Leader Board still twopoints clear of Pugsley and McLean; Rylands droppingone point and one place into fourth.The afternoons matches on Century were all cut to 2 and15 at 500 yards due to puddles which rendered parts ofthe 600 yards firing point unusable (due to the increasedsafety area because of the ricochet hazard from 18 inchesof standing water between 500 and 600 yards).Hertfordshire triumphed in the County Short Seniormatch, despite a lack of 75s, whilst Northumberland tookthe honours in the County Short Junior. The RAF had asolid win in the Inter-Services Short but, twelve pointsbehind, in second place were the UK Cadets, ten pointsclear of the rest of HM Forces! The County Long Range42went to Norfolk with 586.51, beating second placedSurrey by ten points - not surprisingly this also gavethem the Victor Ludorum.Wednesday 10 JulyThe sun finally emerged and the heating promptly gaverise to thundery showers, which fired off at intervalsthroughout the day. Around the showers the wind wasboth strong and variable. Those shooting with 5 minutesleft at 600 yards could console themselves that at leastthey weren’t having to cope with the Corporation.The Bronze Badge and the OTF Short Range Aggregatewent to Canadian Jim Paton for his 105.17, the best ofthe 32 scores of 105 achieved in Queen’s I; other winnerson 105 included Paul Charlton (Volunteer Force), KipMorton (Loder), H Zulkeflee of Malaysia (Faunthorpe)and John Payne (Queen’s Veterans) together with JeffJenkins of Canada on 104 .10 (Admiral Campbell). Thecut for the Queen’s Second Stage was 102.10.In the concurrent team events, the Families went toAndrew and Paul Sykes for their pair of 104s. TheLuckmans (who in the last eight years have had one gold,four silver and three bronze medals in this event) had tomake do with another silver for their collection. OGREcarried on grabbing gold medals with the Rifle Clubswhilst Dollar Academy took the Anstey.Coping best in the Corporation was Richard Stewart ofthe North London with the only 50.9; ten others musthave been thrilled to bits to be able to say “I’ve just got apossible in the Corporation!” One of the ten, IainRobertson of the RAF, had the best of the three 154s inthe RPA (Wednesday) Aggregate with 21 V bulls, JohnsWebster and Bellringer were just behind with 18 and 17respectively. The 500 Yards Aggregate went to GlynBarnett with 185.27 whilst the Donaldson Aggregatewent to Ant Ringer with 180.26. Just one V bull separatedIan Shaw and Nick Brasier’s full houses in the NewZealand Aggregate - 37 V bulls to 36 gave Ian the victory.The Short Range Aggregate, comprising all the 300 yardsshoots, usually has a fairly high set of scores; it was nosurprise to see nine scores of 210. David Calvert of theRAF also usually has a fairly high set of scores so it wasno surprise to see him winning with 36 Vs. David washotly pursued by a name to watch for the future – 20-year old Peter Holden made 210.34 for second place. Butit was not only at 300 yards where David excelled – hisone point dropped in the Corporation together with thezero points dropped in all the other long range shootsgave David a total of 249.30 for the Stickledown RangeAggregate, three points ahead of John Bellringer, JeremyThompson and Iain Robertson, also picking up the PalmaAggregate along the way. However, that point meantthat Geoff Atkinson of Dorking & District RC slippedthrough to win the Elkington with the only 150.Evening brought little respite, and the DonaldsonMemorial Final was shot in tricky changing light andwind varying considerably around about 8 left as cloudsscudded across an unfriendly sky: the result was astraight win for Australian Andy Powell with a 75.9.

For many today was all-change in the Grand Aggregate,but despite Brasier dropping four points on the day tofinish on five off, Pugsley had also dropped four, so thetwo point margin remained. Tom Rylands gained apoint, on seven off, whilst Sherri Gallagher, whose 153.20helped her to the Amazons and the Sudan along the way,rocketed into fourth position.Thursday 11 JulyA moderate breeze was ready for the first detail of thePrince of Wales. As the morning progressed it becamemore variable, making conditions generally tricky,resulting in only 25 possibles with an average 8 V bullseach. Lindsey Golland won outright with a score of 75.12but most interest was focused on the outcome of theGrand Aggregate. Brasier’s 73.6 gave Pugsley, Rylandsand Gallagher a chance to take the Gold Cross; Rylands’74.10 came closest but it just wasn’t enough. Nick Brasierwon the Grand Aggregate with of 698.87 ex 705 withTom Rylands in second place on 697.88. Glyn Barnettand Alwyn McLean made 74 each for third and fourthplace respectively on 696, whilst Sherri Gallagher in fifthplace took the Olle Beckett for top under-23 and the Altonfor top lady. The Admiral Hutton Tyro Trophy went toChris Cotillard from Jersey with 687.69, seven pointsahead of the rest of the pack, whilst the Conwey FentonMemorial for top UK Cadet went to James Headon ofDollar Academy with 687.67An excellent example of team selection could be foundin the Bank of England as OGRE A beat OGRE B intosecond place by just a few V bulls. What’s so specialabout that you might ask? Well when the competitionis based on four Grand Aggregate scores and both teamsscore 2756 points then that’s a bit special! There werethe usual strange names in the Fulton Pairs, which thisyear was won by the subtly, but not very aptly, namedNorfolk ‘n’ Chance, whereas ninth placed “2 NRA GoldMedals and £500” either needed to work on their nameor their score!Simon Cane, Parag Patel and Susie Kent all managed toset their sights accurately for the TWP SightersAggregate - only two of their sighters in the Grand failedto hit the middle for scores of 128 ex 130. Simon hadslightly more V bulls and so took the pot. The new VBull Aggregate resulted in two competitors with 92 Vbulls in the Grand Aggregate; counting back on theirCorporation scores gave David Calvert the edge overAdam Jory by six Vs to three.Glyn Barnett’s 74.10 in the Prince of Wales meant thathe picked up the LVA Communications Aggregate(previously the rather strangely named 1400 YardsAggregate) as well as the All Comers Aggregate, butadding the scores from the Donegall and the Lovell stillmeant that Nick Brasier came out on top in the Toye,Kenning and Spencer Aggregate. The Century RangeAggregate went to Tom Rylands on 701.97, two pointsclear of John Webster in second. There was a closelyfought tie between Martin Millar of Comber and AdamJory of Guernsey both on 180.24 for the Northland;Martin remembered V bulls mean prizes and scored 25.3in the tie to Adam’s 25.2. Back in fourth place Julie Cane’s179.26 gave her the Imp. Adam made up for hisdisappointment by winning the Lord Tedder with ascore of 393.54. The Berryman had two scores of 199from Richard Stewart on 199.25 and Ed Wood on 199.21and the OTF Long Range Aggregate went to Doug Gassof Newcastle with 173.18.In the individual squadded competitions comprising theGrand Aggregate, 21 X class competitors appeared on aprize list without making the HPS for the event (14 inthe Corporation and 7 in the Prince of Wales). For Aclass the total was 22 (Daily Mail 7, PoW 4, Corporation11 including three scores of 48!). O class broadly neededone off with a good V count, except for the Alexandrawhere only HPSs were enough, and the Prince of Walesand the Corporation where two off might do. And Tclass? Four off made the list in the Corporation, threeoff in a couple of others, but mostly two off was needed.With the rocketing standard of competition over the lastfew years has come serious consideration of whether tocut a “cooking” bull sighter. It seems unlikely thatanyone would yet be willing to take the risk with a placeon the leader board in the equation. Even in the outsidecompetitions, one might surmise that such factors as thesmall bull at 300 and the ever-present possibility of adifficult wind on Stickledown combine to limit the risktakersto the Century. Certainly that was where boldnessdid dramatically affect this year’s result. In the 500 yardselement, Ross McQuillan accepted V5 for 50.9 to tie on100.18. David Luckman cut two 5s to make 50.9 for hisplace in the tie-shoot, and went on to win. Joining Davidand Ross, Dick Horrocks had cut one 5 to make 50.10,while Tom Rylands accepted 5V for a 50.8, missing thetie-shoot by one V. It is, of course, relativelystraightforward to find those who, with hindsight, mighthave won by going for the extra one or two Vs. The listincludes Peter Bysshe, Steve East and Simon Belither inthe Donegall, David Calvert and Iryna Reder in theTimes, James Lewis and Deon Burger in the Alexandra,Jonathan Kent, Toby Raincock, David Rowland andGRH Smith in the Hutton, and Nigel Cole-Hawkins,Dave Dyson, Paul Gray, Parag Patel and Nick Tremlettin the Duke of Cambridge. In the Conan Doyle, eitherJulian Gould or Angus McLeod had the potential for anoutright win (both with 50.9 converting a 5), whileDorothy Hume and Roy Jobson could have joined Julianand Angus in the tie-shoot. What is more difficult toidentify (if only because most of the prize lists excludescores of 49) are the shooters who decide to cut a bullsighter and finish 49.9 dropping the last - although their“friends” will usually relate the full details later at theclubhouse bar!Bright sunlight between scattered clouds gave changingwind and light for the afternoon matches on Century;the Universities National went to England whilst theOverseas went to Jersey. There was disappointmentfor the UK Cadets in the AG Bell where the Canadiansgot the better of them by five points. On Butt 19 the PWRichardson went to Mike Cosway with 50.9 but the majorexcitement of the afternoon was happening at the otherend of Century where the National was taking place . . .43

John Pugsley ponders.(Photo: Tony de Launay)Nick Brasier: “Can anyone lend me a 600yards scoresheet for the Prince of Wales?”(Photo: Tony de Launay)Tom Rylands: disapphearted - never.Kitty Jack shot 103.11 for Scotland in her first National Match.(Photo: Steve Green)The victorious Irish National team.(Photo: Peter Campbell)David Richards taking a rest from talking.(Photo: Tony de Launay)“I think I’ve got neck ache.”(Photo: Tony de Launay)Kerrrannngggg! Ant Ringer practices hisrock star moves. (Photo: Tony de Launay)“Do you want to comeplot?”

John Jackman congratulates Scott Murray on his victory in the StGeorge’s. (Photo: Tony de Launay)ointed - yes: down-(Photo: Tony de Launay)Serge Bissonnette - always a welcome andwitty visitor.(Photo: Tony de Launay)“149 and how many?!” (Photo: Tony de Launay)“It’s ours!” the Irish make off with the National Match Trophy.(Photo: Karen Robertson)“Don’t look now Alice but there’s a guy with a camera behindyou!” (Photo: Tony de Launay)up and see my wind(Photo: Tony de Launay)How do we manage to load ourselves downso much these days? (Photo: Tony de Launay)Kkkkkkk . . . olapore!(Photo: Tony de Launay)

The National Match - a personal viewby Paul CharltonFor me the National Match is the main reason I decidedto elect to be available to shoot for Ireland, the countryof my maternal grandfather, rather than England. TheEnglish XX selection procedure requires that five of theteam be new caps and a further five are not regularmembers of the National team. From this, it is probablefor a good county shot to be selected as a reserve, or toshoot in it once or twice. But to shoot for England morethan five times, one really needs to be one of the greatsof shooting. As I was not, I made myself available toshoot for Ireland. As it is I have now been selected forthe National nine times (including being mistakenlyselected for England in 1991).For those of us who have been shooting for a long timeit is expected that however well the other teams perform,England will pull the rabbit out of the hat, and slam thedoor in the face of the most competitive team whoventures to get close to the English score. In fact Englandhave had the highest range score at 600 yards each yearsince 1992, when they still increased their lead over theScottish team in second place. Normally the Englandteam starts well, continues well and finishes well, so forany of the other teams to beat them needs a near faultlessperformance.Scotland came close in 2000, showing that England werebeatable at 300 and holding on at 500. However, ingeneral, despite the self-handicapping selection process,the English Juggernaut has successfully crushed allbefore it in short range matches since 1965 when Scotlandrecorded their 34th and most recent victory in theNational Match.This report cannot be impartial. I write from memory,which was preserved that night in too much alcohol.For me the 2002 National Match began with seeing thatmy name was on the list, double checking start andassembly place and time; I was scheduled as openingshooter with Martin Townsend as my coach, andthereafter as his plotter. If I recall correctly the weatherwas reasonably good, yet the ground was still dampbetween firing points. As the teams settled in andweighed triggers I became aware that MatthewMcCullough was causing some concern as he wasscheduled to shoot in the Ireland team, but had not toldanyone that he was also part of the UK Cadet team inthe Alexander Graham Bell. Whilst his AG Bell scorecould be counted for the National, Matthew made thedecision that he also wanted to shoot in his first NationalMatch and so shot each distance twice.All the teams, in what looked like a fickle wind, madegood starts. England posting six 35s in a total of 680.86whilst Scotland managed only two 35s for 676.60 butIreland had four 35s for 681.62 and Wales only one 35for 648.45. I certainly felt it was a wasted opportunityand resolved to try harder. As a team we felt happy tobe in the lead, but knew from our experience in theMillennium Match that England would have their tailsup and come back strongly. Sights being wound the46wrong way, according to one shooter, had not helpedthe English score.The Irish start at 500 yards was a farce. Despite havinghad an orderly retreat between ranges and setting upour coaching headsets in good time, when I fired thepilot shot (an inner) we were told to hold on as therewere no register keepers in place for our targets. Thedelay took several minutes and certainly was not helpful.Despite my normally cool demeanour I knew that myfirst to count needed to be exceptionally good to counterthe extended delay.Going back to the scoreboard with a 35.7 was thereforea really good feeling - good for me and probably goodfor the team. The wind twitched more as the shoot wenton. Several halts were called. The loss of communicationwith the end target caused concern, as it seemed likepoints were being dropped when a halt had been called.After Matthew had strolled along for his fourth shoot ofthe afternoon to close the Irish innings with another 34,I wandered down the line to check on my friends.England had struggled a little, but had not wound sightsthe wrong way this time. They posted another 680, butwith fewer Vs whilst the other teams had all improvedon both their 300 yards scores and their V counts.However over half the Irish team had 35s whilst Englandand Scotland had eight each and Wales two.So going back to the final distance England trailedIreland by six points but were ahead on Vs. On theindividual front on 70 points were one Scot (JamesHodge) three English (Tom Rylands, John Pugsley andNick Brasier) and three Irish (Adam McCullough, EricaMcMullan and Ross McQuillan).Back at 600 yards the Captain did not have an Irish teamhuddle. We knew what we needed to do. I was nervy.I even checked that we had a register keeper. Anothergood shoot was followed by a plotting stint. Again itseemed like the Irish points were bleeding away, butinners were appearing on English targets so maybe wewere holding on. We finished a little worse than at 500,a few felt they had dropped far too many but our lowestscore was a 31 with only one total below 100. I spent farmore time than usual checking and double-checking theregister cards and scoreboard as the crowds began togather around until finally “I think we’ve done it . . . “Only Tom Rylands managed to convert his 70 to 105.12for top score of the match whilst Matthew McCullough’ssterling efforts paid off with a 102.9. The result wasIreland 2041.221, England 2036.226, Scotland 2012.198and Wales 1975.161.Not only Irish eyes are smiling . . .Unsurprisingly celebrations stretched into the earlyhours. The singing started at the pub on the common(London & Middlesex) where several champagneconsumption records were set, eventually ending up atthe Surrey where our hosts generously greeted us andfeted us with song and drink. Many friendly opponentscame to the party, and the Surrey bar ran at maximumcapacity until the staff turned to selling breakfast.

Friday 12 July - The Morning After . . .Friday brings the Kolapore, and subsidiary fixturesalongside. Anton Aspin must have had a premonition,as there were no Irishmen in his record-breaking team.However, just down the range the Combined Serviceswere taking on the Home Countries. While the militarytwelve decimated the Home Countries teams, the Irishturned up in dazed bunches. Some had been to bed,one or two all too obviously had not. Nobody reallycared – the magnificent deed had been done, and on thisdull and calm morning just being there was enough asfrom all across Century Range friends came to offer theircongratulations on Ireland’s greatest day.Flat calm. Overcast. Near perfect conditions except forsome rain late in the morning and again towards theend of the afternoon. The record performance in theKolapore was a pointer to the way the day would go.Great Britain and Jersey were level after 300 yards on398.58 but an excellent 399.63 at 500 yards gave GB athree point lead over Canada now in second place. TheUnited States made a tremendous effort at 600 yards fora 398.58 but all eight GB shooters put them all in for thenew record - only three points dropped in the entirematch for a score of 1197.175.Great Britain also triumphed in the Under 25 TeamMatch; Susie Kent getting in a bit of practice for theafternoon’s shooting with a very nice 150.19.Being beaten in the tie shoot for the St Georges BronzeCross had obviously rankled with David Calvert so hewent out and won the Silver Cross instead; 26 othersalso must have thought they were in with a chance aftertotalling 150 but David’s 27 V bulls were just not goingto be topped. Those on 148.20 tie shot for the last threeplaces in the Final.A score of 147 in Queens II would usually mean a fewbitten fingernails; a score of 148 would bring smug grinsto many faces; a score of 149 and you’d be back in theClubhouse with a well-deserved pint or two . . . but notthis year! If you didn’t have a 149.17 you weren’t gettingin and even then you’d have to tie shoot for the finalfour slots; previous Queens Prize winner Ant Ringer justmade it, Susie Kent being last girl in. Seriously easyconditions together with excellent ammunition resultedin 46 scores of 150 and 67 scores of 149; the Silver Medalwent to the RAFs Iain Robertson with 50.10, 50.8, 50.10;two Vs clear of the field and of the previous record.Another V bull shortage for Martin Millar on 404.48 asthe Fulton Aggregate went to Glyn Barnett with 404.58.Only one full house in the Marjorie Keir Aggregate -Adam Jory of Guernsey was two points ahead with his260.34 but a fine performance from Cdt Sgt GeorgeWilliams of Greshams School gave him a well deservedsecond place.Saturday 13 JulySummer showed its face again. A sunny, warm morninggradually clouding over, giving variable light for theQueen’s Final, and by the start of the 1000 yards shoot,the cloud had thickened to near overcast. The wind,although light, was almost straight down the range,giving rapid changes either side of zero that could takethe unwary to the magpie.Sixty-six people went into the final of the St Georgescarrying a 75, in pole position were David Calvert, AntRinger, Colin Brook and John Pugsley all on 75.14. Onlynine people managed possibles at 900 yards with ScottMurray of Canada totalling 150.21 for the Gold Cross.Closely in second place was Peter Chapman with 150.20and in third Mary Boston with 150.18.Ireland went out full of determination for the Mackinnonin an attempt to do the double. England had other ideasand from the start didn’t let anyone come close; when ateam attains the top score at both ranges there is not alot anyone else can do. The Dominion Prize for theaggregate of the Kolapore, Overseas and Mackinnonwent to the United States.Saturday Afternoon - The Queen’s Prizeby Iain Robertson (SM)For the last two years I have written at least part of theQueen’s Final report from the point of view of thescoreboard, from where, too often, I have had agrandstand view of the greatest event in the world’s leastinteresting spectator sport. This year I found myself witha different angle.Friday afternoon had been delightful. So many peoplecame up to give congratulations. I knew all of them,but I was surprised that so many knew me. It was also adelight to tease some very good friends. Richard vanLingen was, I think, the first to ask how I had done as Icame off the point at 600, and the temptation wasoverwhelming to reply “Dropped two”. When I wentto weigh in and he figured out how I had not actuallylied, the abuse was spectacular.Mindful of the Mackinnon the next morning, I had aquiet Friday night. Karen forced me to discuss what itwould be like to win (and made me promise not to drinktoo much if I did!), and very privately I had thoughtthrough how the Gold Badge could fit on my jacket withthe aid of the sling keeper. You have to believe that it’spossible.Came the day and the time. I have shot the Final before,and used to be a subscriber to the view that it is the mostfun event of all – nothing to lose and all to play for – butthis was different. I was having a great year and I wasgoing forward in the lead. Unfortunately 99 of theworld’s best were at most a single point and a hatful ofVs behind, and it was clear that it really was anybody’sPrize. Controlling the adrenaline was a major issue, andI was working hard to use routine as an antidote tonerves.Despite being one of the earliest arrivals on the range,and sorting all my kit in good time, the start came uponme at a rush, and the 900 yards shoot progressed in ablur of intense images. I chased the wind as it flickedbetween two minutes left or so and a bit of right. Itobviously wasn’t entirely straightforward – the shooters47

“So I just squeeze gently and the thing goes bang?” Lord Romseyis instructed in the art of triggering. (Photo: Tony de Launay)“You owe us drink Robertson!” Chalky White realises that he willbe spending his evening in the RAF Club. (Photo: John Knight)The camera crew get it wrong!(Photo: John Knight)The camera crew get it right!(Photo: John Knight)Silly grins all round from Iain Robertson and Glyn Barnett.(Photo: John Knight)Gary Rasmussen of the United States - thrilled to bits with thirdplace. (Photo: Tony de Launay)“Ouch - that hurt more than a tetanus jab!”(Photo: Tony de Launay)The traditional procession leaves Stickledown.(Photo: David Pollard)

to my right seemed to be dropping points, but GinnyMeasures shooting with me was holding the V well, andI was quite prepared to steal wind from anyone. Werattled the shots down, and I was lucky that all but oneof my dodgy wind calls stayed in. With the last nineshots filling the doughnut, I got up feeling happy, butsure that with only four Vs I would be off the lead.The scoreboard showed two scores of 225 and eightscores of 224 as we lay down at 1000. I found myselfpaired with Andy Luckman, who was ahead of me byone V bull. At this stage I was back to the “fun shoot”mentality – pulling back a whole point on both DaveAllen and Nick Brasier was a tall order, but it would begreat to try. Meanwhile Andy and I could shoot againsteach other just for the hell of it.The shoot started well, with a V bull sighter convertedand a row of bulls to follow, chasing the right-hand sideas the wind dropped from about 2½ towards zero. Andydropped a point round about his fifth shot. With six orseven in the bull, quite suddenly I realized that thingswere going really rather well. With that realization camethe adrenaline. The wind was swinging rapidly throughabout 30 degrees and needed careful watching. As itchanged sides Andy was caught for a magpie, and downthe range were lots of solid inners. With that cue I madethe two-minute change needed. Suddenly I had ninebulls in less than straightforward conditions – there wasa good chance I had made up the point. As the tenthbull came up I was really struggling mentally. Load,windage, shoot, plot had become automatic, and theconscious part of my brain was filling with “stay calm,don’t hyperventilate, do it right, don’t crossfire, don’tscrew this up.” Subconsciously I was aware of the buzzof the crowd behind, but the mental focus was so intensethat I was no longer processing sound.The eleventh shot went down on autopilot, and thenthere was another big wind shift. I put my guess on thegun, wanted to get it away quickly, but tensed over thetrigger release. Forcing the shot was an error, and thewind call was out anyway as it ended up high right inthe inner. 298 might still be enough – ignore it, go on.With the wind now running from the other side, andhaving run out of ideas, I lifted the correction from theplot. The shot went away smoothly for another V. Twoto go – do it right. Wind changing sides, put zero on thegun, look for trends, still zero, go on, little breeze – checkagain.The wind was flicking from the right. I guessed andadded a half from zero. Reading the plot would havebeen a better idea, as it indicated 1 to 2 requiredwhenever right wind had showed. With elevation nearthe bottom of the group, and short 1 on the wind, thefourteenth sneaked out low left. Add ¾, go again andit’s done. Was that hard work or what?With a huge sense of relief I put my rifle down andlooked behind. I was faced by a crowd several ranksdeep and a TV camera at eye level. How had theysneaked up without me noticing? Looked down thescope, to find the last shot central in the V bull. Gavemyself a pat on the back, which turned to a great surgeof satisfaction – Iain, that was a cracking goodafternoon’s shooting! But was 297 enough? The V countwas a bit thin and expecting eight others to drop two,three or maybe even four points was a tall order; on theother hand I must have been doing well if the camerawas here, and there’s Martin Farnan looking busy andchecking things – maybe I have done enough? Roundabout shot 11 I had missed one of Andy’s shots, and Iwas confused about how many he had left to fire, buteventually, with a silly grin developing, I could leavethe firing point.Range officer first, to hand in my card. Martinapproaches. “Iain, without prejudice, we may need youat the top of the hill”. Shake hands. Marvellous. Sillygrin firmly in place. TV man asking for interview. Mustpack my kit so someone can look after it. Take sling offarm and do up sling loop – don’t want Gold Badge fallingoff on the way down the hill. Martin next to me talkingin radio. “That’s it then it can’t be beaten”. Karenstanding behind gesticulating. Hug Karen. Whisper inmy ear. “Martin’s wrong. Glyn Barnett’s got one moreV than you.” Karen doesn’t make mistakes. Don’t care.Bloody marvellous. Second in the Queen’s! TV manasking how it feels. About five minute interview inwhich I very quickly realize that TV man thinks I havewon. This could be fun! Describe size of V bull andexplain how close it was. “So, then you could say youwon by inches?” “No I lost by inches – the guy who wonis down that way”. Cameraman and sound man fallabout laughing. TV man terminates interview forthwith.Bloody marvellous. Martin apologises profusely. Noworries (though I will take the mickey later). Walk uphill to scoreboard and apologise to all in RAFTRC whowere savouring a night of celebration. Neil Moxon hassomething alcoholic in his hand. Take it and empty it inone. Glyn turns up. Bloody well done mate. Marvellous.SECOND IN THE QUEEN’S!Her Majesty the Queen’s Prize was won by Glyn Barnettof OGRE with a score of 297.38, from Iain Robertson ofthe RAFTRC with 297.37 and Gary Rasmussen of theUnited States with 297.36. In the concurrent events, theFreddy Payne Memorial Trophy went to Ken Westlingof Canada, eleventh overall with 295.31. With the samegun score, Jane Messer finished twelfth on countback totake the Ambala Goblet. The George Twine Memorialtrophy went to Cdt Sgt George Williams of GreshamsRC, 23 rd with 294.34. Would first in the Grand and eighthin the Queens beat first in the Queens and third in theGrand? Yes it would by a single point and so NickBrasier ended up as the British Open Target RifleChampion closely followed by Glyn with Jane Messeronly needing eighth in the Grand and twelfth in theQueens to pick up third place.Another successful Meeting was over and whilst themajority packed up their kit and set off for home, manystaff, competitors and volunteers remained at Bisley forthe next big event - the XVII Commonwealth Games.49

2002BISLEYGENERALMEETING2002The Chairmen welcomed those attending and the noticeconvening the meeting was taken as read.The meeting then unanimously re-elected HRH ThePrince of Wales as the Association’s President.The Chairmen welcomed Vice-Presidents who wereattending Bisley this year and particularly those fromoverseas, namely: Mrs MacDonald-Stewart and MrSandy Peden from Canada, M Robert Chombart and MPhilippe Ginestet from France, Mr Cliff Mallett fromJersey, Mr Alan Le Page from Guernsey, Mr MiddletonTompkins from the USA, Mr Jimmy Cantlay fromZimbabwe, and Mr Norris Gomez from the West Indies.The Chairman recorded that the NRA has lost one of itsstalwart Vice-Presidents, Lt Col Larry Orpen-SmellieOBE, who died recently after his fight with cancer. Hewent on to say that “he was with us to the end showinghis same stoicism, energy and humour as ever. We shallmiss him greatly and offer our sympathy to Jean who Iam pleased to see is with us here tonight.”The Vice-Presidents and Auditors were re-elected withthanks to the latter for additional and uncharged helpwhich they had rendered since the last financial yearend.The Chairman announced that the only election forCouncil had been for the Regional Representative forthe East Midlands and that Mr George Barnard had beenelected.Chairman’s Speech“Since I took over as Chairman of Council last October Ihave sought to communicate. Naturally, in view of ourcircumstances, there has been much more to say aboutour finances and how we organise ourselves than I hopewill be the case in future years as we stabilise our affairsagain. However, communication will still remain highon my list of priorities.I hope that most of you will have read my Journal articlesand the open letter which I circulated at the end of lastweek. I hope that I have brought everyone up to speedwith events and I have not received any written or otherrequests for further information at this time.Accordingly, I should like to devote my words thisevening to matters of current interest to us as membersof the NRA generally and particularly in relation to theBisley Meeting.MembershipThe events of last year, the price increases for shooters,the new structure for affiliation and direct membershipfees, after dropping the charges for car parking, put extrastrain on our membership committee and in particularon Heather Webb, our Membership Secretary. Queriesand misunderstandings were legion, but, in the finalanalysis, we have lost, net, some 170 members leaving4,400 direct members and lost some 20 clubs leaving 760affiliated clubs. Underlying these regrettable figures,50we have, nevertheless, recruited 208 new members and17 new clubs. We are learning more about the make-upof our affiliated clubs and the number of shootersindirectly involved which appears could be in the orderof 36,000.It is very important for us to have some form of linkwith and knowledge about civilian shooters which canonly add to our strength. Going forward, the strategyof the membership committee is to increase directmembership, hopefully reducing cost in real terms, andto increase and know more about affiliate shooters. Thecommittee policies and initiatives going forward will beconsistent with these objectives.I shall touch on a few facts and figures relating to thedevelopment of membership and shooting. UnderPhyllis Farnan, supported by not only our own staff buta number of volunteers around the country, there hasbeen an encouraging increase in probationary courses.Last year 33 shooters went through these courses atBisley and the figure will be nearer 50 by the end of thisyear. In addition, the team give support and advice toclubs. Club officials should be aware of this facility andcall upon it. These cover not only target rifle, but alsogallery rifle and muzzle loading pistol.We thank the team of dedicated coaches.Then there are Range Conducting Officer Courses runboth at Bisley (up to at least eight this year) andregionally (some 35) held by regional assessors. We havesome 40 or more volunteer assessors. Since January, 188new RCOs have qualified. In turn, 164 competitorqualified RCOs have contributed to our resources forthe Bisley Meeting. In case anyone asks, therequirements seek to be strict and in practice noteveryone passes at the first attempt or at all. We arealso developing a course with the Muzzle LoadersAssociation of Great Britain.Also, as part of our arrangements with the MoD, some24 students have qualified as Club Instructors and afurther 17 have completed Skills courses in target rifle.In addition we have run courses for the DEFRA WildlifeUnit in Gloucestershire and for the Chessington Worldof Adventure Capture Team to give you other examples.As I have indicated, members should know of thesefacilities provided. Details are posted on our web siteor else interested parties should contact the ShootingAdministrator, Phyllis Farnan.Ever mindful of the cost of shooting, another initiativeis being examined, provided there is found to bedemand, and that is the provision of targets at Bisley bythe hour both at short and long range. Recently, albeitat a busy time, this has been found to be popular. Pleasewatch the web site and be in touch with the Range Officeto indicate your interest, but please do not expecteverything at once.

The Bisley MeetingOne of the pleasures which I have had after over 40 yearsof coming to Bisley is to be present during the firstfortnight of the Annual Meeting. It is easy to fail torecognise that we host a range of many individual andteam events for the Services, both those events belongingto and run by the Services such as HM The Queen’sMedal for each of the Services and the Territorial Army,but also of our own sponsorship.These occasions have given me an opportunity to betterunderstand our relationship and the views of the manysenior serving officers whom I met. I am pleased to saythat the relationship is a genuinely warm one. I gainedthe clear impression that the current view at high level,particularly, of course, with the Army, is one which paysfull attention to the need for marksmanship and targetrifle shooting.This partnership with the MoD in fullbore rifle shootingis a mainstay for our own future, a pillar of our charitablestatus and particularly in the politically correct worldthat seems not to understand both the important side ofwhat we have been about since 1860, but also theharmless recreation we provide for those who canparticipate in shooting both here and around the countryas individuals and with clubs.Major General Richard Dannatt, Assistant Chief of theGeneral Staff and President of the Army Rifle Associationcame here on Queen’s Medal day with many other seniorofficers.In the Journal I touched upon our part in negotiatingwith the MoD on your behalf the terms for use of theMoD ranges. I am now more certain that the will is there.It is not a breach of the Secrets Act to admit that theMoD is under severe budgetary constraints, stricter rulesfor health and safety and the like, as well as localdifficulties with personalities and local Councils. Theseare the constraints, but I can assure members that wewill, if anything, increase our efforts in assistingmembers regionally in accessing ranges, so far as can beachieved.At the later Methuen Trophy Inter-Services teams shoot,some four civilian teams took part alongside and I waspleased to present the civilian trophy to the High PowerRifle Club.The Sultan of Oman’s Armed Forces team won theInternational Service Rifle Match and once again wonmost of the service rifle silver.General Dannatt also asked to come here to witness theAshburton, and I invited him to present the prizes. Hewas most interested to meet as many schools as possible.He assured me of the commitment to marksmanship andtarget rifle shooting and, in particular, he reinforced adetermination to provide service cadets and CCF cadetswith the new target rifle by next season.I was particularly impressed by the service cadetshooting events. Units from throughout the UK takepart and, again, there was a capacity turnout of over500 from the three services. I admire their enthusiasmand was pleased to learn that not only is access to rifleshooting a major incentive for youngsters to join thecadets, but to the services advantage by some 40% ofcadets going on to join regular forces.Like the schools’ CCF, they are looking forward to theissue of the new cadet target rifle - the L81 A2 for thetechnically minded.We are all sure that the absence of a regular target riflehas been a major issue of falling support for theAshburton (down by 6 to 33 entries this year – althoughthe earlier date has been a factor and clashes with otheractivities) even though some shoot alongside with theirown school target rifles. Insofar as we can we shall givefull support to CCRS in encouraging the return of schoolsto the Ashburton.Epsom won the Ashburton Shield by seven points overUppingham. The Oratory won the Falling Plates. Thisevent, with 57 entries, is increasingly popular, which isprobably not a surprise. Finally, the Cadet Nationalmatch was won for the first time by Northern Ireland.The Historic Arms weekend was again organised by RaeWills and David Mumford and staffed entirely byvolunteers to whom we are all grateful. There were 281competitors for some 800 match entries.The Match Rifle meeting had 160 entries which is slightlydown not least owing to fewer overseas entries. 109 firedthe full Hopton course, and it was won by Wg Cdr DavidCalvert at his third outing in this event. England wonthe Elcho Shield with David Friend, Queen’s Prizewinner in 1977, achieving a record score of 223 and 29 Vbulls.In the Pistol and Gallery Rifle events the entry was upfrom a modest 30 to an equally modest 41. We havealready started to consider how this can be increasedfurther for next year as the potential support must besomewhat greater. We thank Tony Oldroyd for hisparticular interest in promoting these events.In the Target Rifle the Grand Aggregate entries are 1,124compared with 1,082 last year partly due to an increaseof 58 in overseas entries at 247. Of course, some havecome over early in preparation for the Games or for thePalma Long Range Championship next year. However,overall entries are 23 down at 1,298.The impact of the changes to the charging structure andthe impact of the 10% surcharge, the re-allocation ofmarker costs to teams and the discount for youngershooters will all be examined in due course as will thequestionnaire on self-marking. However, I understandthe result of the survey indicated 70% support for thestatus quo with some 850 voting.I am very pleased to see so many younger shooters takingpart this week.Royal Ordnance, Radway Green, have produced anothervintage batch of 155 grain ammunition; you will haveall seen how many possibles have been achieved at allranges.51

We must thank those organisations which sponsor ourevents. Martin Farnan has posted a list of new andrenewed sponsorships on the Chief Executive’snoticeboard.I take this opportunity to thank a number of people andhope that I do not miss out anyone.Firstly, we welcome, most importantly, the support ofMilforce provided this year by the Rifle Volunteers underLt Col Ian Blewitt and the cadet Milforce contingentcommanded by Lt Col Alan Wise and thank them for allthey do behind the scenes and at the ammunition points.I thank Major Ron Tomlin, Range Officer PirbrightRanges, for all his help throughout the year.And then there are the Chief Range Officers, TonyClayton on Century and Stephen Brooks on Stickledown,together with the Chief Butt Officers, John Gardner andPeter Alliss, and the range officers, stats staff andparticularly all the volunteers who have worked tosupport this year’s meeting.This is also an opportunity to thank Peter Hobson whohas donated a Land Rover to our shooting division andlent a further one for the Meeting. Thank you, Peter.Sky TVThose present during the Match Rifle Meeting may haveseen cameras; they will be here again on Queen’s FinalDay. Council approved the Shooting Committee’srecommendation that Sky TV should make two tenminuteprogrammes to be shown in the autumn. Thesewill show Match Rifle and Target Rifle, but also othershooting disciplines and aspects of Bisley. Dates fortransmission are not yet known, but will be advised. Thevideos will be available to us for promotional purposesafterwards.TeamsWe congratulate Martin Townsend on his successful tourto the West Indies. Winning all four team matches it isquite clear that the team had a most enjoyable social timeas well.We wish John Bloomfield and his TR team, Philip Hakimand his Under 25 team, Simon Fraser and his AthelingsTeam and Paul Monaghan and his F Class Team all goodwishes for their forthcoming visit to Canada. Theoccasion will be the first for F Class WorldChampionships. Back here we wish Anton Aspin andhis Kolapore team success on Friday.Commonwealth GamesI do hope that many of you will come to the Games atsome point. His Royal Highness, the Earl of Wessex willbe coming down on Thursday 1 August. Medalceremonies for the various events take place between 27July and 3 August with the Pairs on 28 July and FullboreSingles on 2 August.I really do hope that shooting gets some TV publicity.Certainly, the BBC will have a team down here to do so.Countryside MarchI should like to commend to you the Countryside Marchon 22 September. Indirectly, this demonstration for52freedom of activity is much in our own interests too. Itis planned to have coaches leaving from here to join theMarch; please do get in touch with the NRA Office afterthe meeting if you would like to come via Bisley.StaffI just want to say a word of thanks to our staff. Ourfinancial predicament was not their fault, but all haverallied round not only to ensure that we try to run atight ship, but also in accepting the changes which needto take place to secure our future. I have muchappreciated their support and contribution to ourplanning.I am sure that everyone in this room wishes MartinFarnan a speedy recovery from his accident lastSaturday. He should be resting, but he would be one ofthe last to leave his post at such an important time asthe Bisley Meeting. We thank you, Martin.In particular, I should like to thank David Hossack whocame to our assistance at the most fraught and difficulttime at the end of 2000 and took on the role of ManagingDirector of the newly created National Shooting CentreLimited, assisting Colin. He relinquished that post atthe end of June, but has kindly agreed to remain on theboard and to give such assistance as he can as we goforward. We have appreciated his help and support verymuch.I turn, now, to Colin Cheshire. He would be one of thefirst to recognise that events of recent years have beencontroversial. However, he was asked to become ChiefExecutive to embark on a five year programme ofimprovement to celebrate the Millennium year 2000,which proved to be so successful, and, latterly, toaccommodate the Commonwealth Games resulting inBisley becoming truly the National Shooting Centre. Ashe is due to retire shortly after the Games I am sure thatit is right to thank Colin this evening for his drive,enthusiasm and for these achievements and to wish himand his wife Angie a happy retirement.I can now inform you that there were no fewer than 31scores of 105 in the first stage of Her Majesty The Queen’sPrize and the winner of the Bronze Badge is Jim Patonof Canada with a score of 105 with 17 V bulls.The lowest score qualifying for the second stage is 102with 10 V bulls finishing 30.1 at 600 yards.”Comments from the FloorMr Jim Hallam, Vice-President, speaking as Chairmanof the South London Rifle Club remarked that somequarter of the members of his club are under 40 and fromGresham’s School. The feeling of the members of hisclub is that the NRA is ‘Bisleycentric’ and he wonderedwhether regional championships are being considered,for example.In response, the Chairman thanked Mr Hallam andreported that he had attended a meeting of regionalmembers of Council in May as referred to in the Journal.A programme is being developed for the future whenthe NRA, itself, will have an increased emphasis onmembership, particularly away from Bisley. Because

plans are in such an early stage he felt that he could saylittle more at this stage. We want to get out into theprovinces and help and this, hopefully, will include theencouragement of regional events beyond what is donealready by County Associations and their openchampionships.Mr David Hossack, former managing director ofNational Shooting Centre Limited, said that he hadenjoyed working with the NRA for the previous 18months.“It has been my pleasure to be working with Colin overthose eighteen months and I have really enjoyed thatand I have just realised again how much he has done forus all. But it’s not only Colin, I went into the office theother day at 11.30 in the evening, after having had a drinkor two in the North London, and there were Martin andPhyllis still working. They were working on our behalfat 11.30 at night far beyond the call of duty.I think one of the things that Colin has been responsiblefor is how good the Estate looks at the moment. Duringhis period of tenure the Estate has improved no end.It’s looking wonderful now, and he’s got a very goodrelationship with the Estate workers. I think we reallyought to pay a tribute to the Estate workers, they workbloody hard, they really do over very long hours.It is not only the Estate, the Range Office, they are thefirst port of call for many of us, they get a lot of rubbishthrown at them and on the whole everything is dealtwith great good humour and great patience and I thinkthey require our thanks because they are very patient.The membership, again; Heather has also beenmentioned this evening. She is often also the first personone calls at the end of a telephone - also great patienceshown.I think what all this is coming round to is when you aretalking to people at the NRA remember that they areoften putting in a great number of hours beyond the callof duty on our behalf and I think we should rememberthat thank you.”There were no further questions or issues raised and theChairman closed the meeting thanking all for comingand for the support received at his first Bisley Meeting.Susie Cornfield - an apologyThe extent to which the second volume of the Millennium Imperial Meeting two-volume set was drawnfrom Susie Cornfield’s great work published in 1987, The Queen’s Prize, was not made clear in theacknowledgement which prefaced Volume II. Those who have read it will readily appreciate that the vastbulk of what is written of the period between 1909 and 1986 comes from a pen superior to those whichcovered the next 12 years of the NRA’s history and which amended, without permission, the original. Thisnote is written for the avoidance of doubt and too reiterate our gratitude to Susie Cornfield whose copyrightwe have breached and to whom we therefore owe a sincere apology.Is the “other half” giving you grief about the amount of spare kit lying about?Thought about selling it but never got round to it?Well here is the perfect opportunity to gain those extra brownie points!THE NRA SMALL ADS ON THE WEB SITEA measly £5 buys you 30 words plus contact details on our web site for two months.We will accept accompanying pictures for an additional charge.Not only will we accept For Sale ads, we also accept Wanted ads(& even Lonely Hearts!)Just e-mail the Membership Secretary, Heather Webb, at membership@nra.org.uk,or write c/o NRA Offices, Bisley Camp, Brookwood, Woking, Surrey, GU24 0PBenclosing either cheque or credit card details.Please note that this service is for NRA members only.No trade or business ads will be accepted on this part of the web site.However if trade or businesses wish to advertise with the NRA they canbecome Trade Members. Please contact the Editor for details.Any transaction involving firearms or ammunition must involve the necessary certification.If you have any items that you would like to donate to young shooters, please contact us as above.53

2002BARBARBARIANSARIANS TOURTO JERSEY2002by Rory WhiteJim Scobie won the event by three Vs with 99.13; PeterColey was third, five Vs behind. Back to Crabbe Rangefor the afternoon shoot at two and five where therewere additional entries from the newly arrived NRAChannel Islands team. Top Barbarian for the afternoonwas Alan Bishop with a 98.9, the same score as GuyPalmer who was still leading the Grand. A cocktailparty was held at the clubhouse in the evening wherethe Barbarians and the NRA team were welcomed andmany old acquaintances renewed.The Barbarians Team: Jim Scobie, John Moran, Toby Coleridge,Peter Coley, Stuart Clark, Richard Bailie, Guy Palmer, Alan Bishopand Rory White.The Barbarians Rifle Club was founded in 1999 withthe express purpose of encouraging the enjoyment ofthe sport of rifle shooting. Following a successful tourto Canada in 2000 and a shoot against the CanadianNational Team at the Imperial Meeting in 2001, a teamwas invited to attend the Jersey Rifle AssociationSpring Prize Meeting 2002.A team of nine shooters accompanied by three partnersendured the usual choppy ride on the Seacat, the onlyadvantage being the cheap Duty Frees, to arrive atLes Charrieres Country Hotel on Wednesday 29 May.The team Captain, Richard Bailie and Adjutant, PeterColey arranged a practice session on Crabbe Range tojoin Jersey for their usual Thursday afternoon shoot;a reminder to most of the Barbarians how small is the200 yards V bull! Good conditions prevailed as wasto be found for the rest of the weekend.Friday was a free day to revisit the hostelries, bettingshops and other attractions of the island before theteam dinner at the Windmill Restaurant in the evening.Cliff and Nora Mallett were the guests of honour.The Grand Aggregate was completed on Mondaymorning shooting at 300 and 600 yards. Goodconditions again prevailed and Toby Coleridgeachieved a possible to come fifth by six Vs. GuyPalmer unfortunately cross-shot achieving ninety-fiveand losing the Grand Aggregate by two points!The highlight of the meeting was the team matchagainst Jersey in the afternoon under Queens 1conditions. Despite leading by three points at 300,and being only one point behind after 500, theBarbarians lost the match by five points. Guy wastop score again with a possible, this time getting allhis shots on the same target and two Vs ahead of Toby.At the other end of the scoresheet Stuart Clark, RoryWhite and John Moran were in competition not to bethe man dropped from the eight, which closely wentto John, not helped by shooting the whole weekendwith a borrowed rifle. All in all a creditable team resultagainst stiff opposition.Both teams met in the evening at the Portelet Hotelfor the official dinner where a cut glass trophy waspresented to Jersey by Richard Bailie, hopefully to becompeted for annually.Once again the Barbarians achieved their objective ofencouraging the enjoyment of the sport of rifleshooting; we are grateful to our hosts, the Jersey RifleAssociation, and look forward to future tours.The serious business started on Saturday with an earlystart for a full day, shooting a Queens 1 and 2. Ourstar man from the Surrey RA, Guy Palmer,accompanied by Jo, his own register keeper, was topscore in both events dropping only one point all dayto lead the Grand Aggregate by three points. SecondBarbarian was Toby Coleridge, six points behind.Unusually for a visiting team, on Sunday the morningshoot was at long range held at Les Landes, adjacentto the familiar racecourse normally visited after theAugust Prize Meeting. Targets and all equipment hasto be transported to the range and roads closed to deterthe walkers! It was well worth the effort: we enjoyedshooting and marking on the efficient portable targetsat 900 and 1000 yards. Our Scottish representative,Adjutant Peter Coley and Captain Richard Bailie with Cliff andNora Mallett, guests of honour at the team dinner.(Photos: Rory White)54

2003IRISHOPENAND NATIONTIONALAL MATCHMEETING2003GeneralFollowing Ireland’s historic win in this year’s National Match the Irish Rifle Club (Bisley) has decided thatnext year’s match will be shot in Northern Ireland.The Match will be coupled with the annual Irish Open and shot over the Bank Holiday weekend 24 - 26 May2003 at the military Training Centre at Ballykinler in Co Down.Ballykinler Training Centre is 30 miles south of Belfast and on the coast between the towns of Newcastle andDownpatrick. It is in an area of outstanding natural beauty and the range complex is overlooked by theMourne Mountains (see page 20 for photograph).The Meeting will be held on two south facing 600 yards gallery ranges, No 2 range will use 10 lanes and theprincipal range No 3 has 24 lanes. A narrow strip wood separates the ranges.Shooting ProgrammeFri 23 May Limited practice for National Teams pm/eveningSat 24 May 2+15 @ 300 yards Warm-up shoot2+10 @ 300, 500 & 600 yards Irish Open Stage ISun 25 May 2+15 @ 300, 500 & 600 yards Irish Open Stage II2+15 @ 600 yards Final for Top 24Mon 26 May National MatchAccommodation and FeedingMilitary accommodation and feeding will be available for booking at a very reasonable cost via the Meetingentry form.Information Pack and Individual Entry FormDetailed information on the meeting and web site links to the Ulster Rifle Association, Dungannon Rifle andPistol Club, and Comber Rifle Club will be published in late Dec 2002 on the NRA web site, www.nra@org.ukThose interested in shooting the Irish Open element of the Meeting should contact Peter Campbell at theaddress listed below. Individual entry forms will be e-mailed or posted on 10 Feb 2003 to those who haveindicated by e-mail or letter their intent to enter. National teams will be dealt with separately as a blockbooking; please liaise with your National Match Captain or Secretary.Mr PMG Campbell, 15 Coolsara Park, Lisburn, Co Antrim BT28 3BGTel: 02892 668344E-mail: no4t.303@virgin.netRange space is limited so an early indication NOW of intention to compete would be appreciated.Volunteers, supporters and spectators also welcome - please let the organisers know if you would like to helpout with the Match in any way.••• WANTED •••7.62mm FIRED CARTRIDGE CASESTOP PRICES PAIDFOR CLEAN, UNDAMAGED BRASS.COLLECTION FROM BISLEY CAMP,OR ELSEWHERE BY ARRANGEMENT.For further information please contactA. FORD TEL/FAX 0121 453 6329ALSO REQUIRED - .303 BRASS, G.P.M.G. LINKS,CHARGER AND STRIPPER CLIPS, ETC.CARAVAN OWNERSThere are a number of South Africanvisitors next year for the Imperial Meetingand the Palma and World Championships.A number of them have asked to rentcaravans for the whole period (about 3weeks). If anyone can offer suchaccommodation please contactthe South African Liaison OfficerChris HockleyTel: 01793 783284or e-mail hockleyfam@aol.com56

THECOMMONWEALOMMONWEALTHGAMESAT BISLEY- SOMEREFLECTIONSby John JackmanGenerally, the Games were considered most successfuland to all the world ran smoothly. As well as manyVIP prize givers from the UK and CommonwealthGames Federation we were visited by a number ofsenior officials from Manchester including theChairman of M2002, Charles Allen, the Lord Mayor ofManchester and Sir Christopher Chataway amongothers. We were also visited by Herr Horst Schreiber,Secretary General of the ISSF and Graeme Hudson,Commonwealth Shooting Federation President. Allexpressed great satisfaction at what they saw.Their Royal Highnesses The Earl and Countess ofWessex made a formal visit and HRH presented themedals in a pistol event, including the gold to MickGault. Prince Edward returned to make a second andunofficial visit to see the final of the fullbore rifle eventwon by David Calvert.The Lord Lieutenant of Surrey and a number of MPsfrom both main parties visited. In particular, KateHoey made a long visit and followed it up with a verysympathetic article in the Daily Telegraph, particularlydrawing attention to the lack of BBC coverage andexpressing views on the flaws in the pistol ban.In view of the success of the Games and the effortsput into spectator appeal, it would have been better tohave had more visitors to Bisley, but M2002 insistedon handling this and overestimated the numbers,thinking that people would come without M2002 publicisingthe events as much as they might have done.The BBC was present in force, but the coverage on UKtelevision was sparse and appeared to be in inverseproportion to the number of cameras on site. However,it was positive coverage and, for example, sympatheticto the plight of home pistol shooters. Coverage wassubcontracted to Visions television and I have exploredthe position with their managing director with whomI have a mutual acquaintance and who, from his youth,is familiar with Bisley. In essence, he reported thatthe coverage was largely paid for by Commonwealthcountries such as Australia who wanted live coverageand as for the BBC and UK coverage, he believes itcame down simply to the BBC’s view of audienceinterest and ratings. There are rumours of ‘politics’,but I think we should look to the bright side andrecognise that this is the first BBC coverage of eventssince the days of radio broadcasting of HM TheQueen’s Prize Final ceased in the 1960s.It should also be remembered that Sky Sports haveput out two programmes on shooting based on recentevents. I hope that some of you will have seen theprogrammes; comments would be welcome.There were a number of press articles which were allpositive, particularly supporting the view that wedeserved greater BBC coverage, and in support of theplight of pistol shooters. I saw no adverse commentsin the letters pages. The Scotsman on Sundayproduced an objective article although, perhaps nosurprise, it was blemished by comments from thosewho suffered at Dunblane. Tony de Launay said thatthe views of those in the Press enclosure were mostpositive.Many shooters believe that we should do more in theway of PR. In fact we support the work of the BritishShooting Sports Council. Barred from spendingmoney on political lobbying ourselves by our Charitystatus, nevertheless we have a duty to encouragemarksmanship. The reality, however, is that muchdepends on the conduct of shooters themselves andwhat they do to present a safe, family, sport to peoplearound them and to their local media. The less we areregarded as a ‘Gun Lobby’ and more of a ‘TargetShooting Lobby’, the better. The more we avoid theword ‘hand-gun’, but rather use ‘target pistol’, thebetter. Words and terms do count as the politicianshave reminded me.The Sportsman’s Association arranged for a dailydemonstration outside Bisley. At the level done, I thinkthey put across a message which was receivedsympathetically by visitors.Co-ordinating our effort with the NSRA and throughthe BSSC we have taken an initiative to exploit theapparent improved image provided by theCommonwealth Games to approach the Home Officeand the Department of Culture Media and Sportthrough Sport England to seek concessions for targetpistol shooting.Mr Caborn, the Minister for Sport, visited Bisley duringthe Games in apparently bizarre circumstances. Hecame in as a guest of M2002 and neither the NRA, northe NSRA were informed and none of our officers methim. Leaving aside rumours about how he came inand left the ranges, nevertheless, I learned from AlanRobertson of M2002, that he was suitably impressedby his visit. I have written to the Minister and I hopethat he can be persuaded to meet with us sometime inthe future.Whilst the Games were managed by Manchester 2002Limited in accordance with a Venue Hire Agreementand under a venue manager (Alan Robertson),nevertheless, much resource in people was providedby the NSRA, CPSA and NRA. Our thanks go to ourvolunteers. Furthermore, the NRA had to come to theassistance of M2002 in running their fullbore and pistolevents as their squadding and statistics process provedinadequate. We have made charges to recover theseresources. We have certainly learned lessons to protectour interests when we run any future internationalevents.57

THEGAMESFROM A MEDIAPERSPECTIVEby Tony de LaunayA fortnight before the Games were due to start theomens were not good. Exiting the tractor the port kneelocked and the excruciating pain started. A week laterand that well known surgeon Arthur Oscopy wasprobing and nibbling to repair a “bucket handle tear”in the cartilage (my GP’s description), leaving me witha photograph of the offensive shred to boot. Thegalling thing is that the starboard knee was actuallythe one originally scheduled for a wash-out treatment.Be that as it may, three days later, stick and reportingnotepad in hand, it was off to the ranges and theinevitable moniker “Hopalong”, courtesy of oneDouglas Watts.My dual role, press hack and volunteer media liaisonofficer for the three Bisley shooting bodies, wassomething which seemed to cause a degree ofuncertainty in Manchester’s accreditationbureaucracy. However, it did not matter when youknow more about the geography and where yourfriends are – and when you are doing an impressivelame duck imitation. When the shooting got going inthe hands of the Bisley organising crew it wassmoothness personified.The media centre was in the Lord Roberts building, atthe top of the stairs in an air gun hall that could haveprinted the papers as well as providing shelter for thecorrespondents. The centre was run by Charlie andWes, with panache and everlasting good humour;nothing was too much trouble for them. Among theirsupport staff was Simon Dixon doing a marvellousmobile interviewer job, armed with recorder,constantly up-dating on-line quotes and non-quotesfrom winners and others for the M2002 web site. Aswell as pay as you go phone points for laptop userswe got tea and coffee – and hot water to make it with.And thank you to Cadbury’s for the never endingsupply of chocolate chip and orange peel cookies.What was significant was that as well as the Telegraphand Times, many other papers took more than just apassing interest. Broadsheets and tabloids fed off theservice provided. Jonny Saunders of Radio 5 Live dida magnificent job with his roving reporting andgenuine enthusiasm – and, like the others, awillingness to listen and learn. A special word too forMike Sinclair of the Press Association. His constantstream of news, as well as sports results, onto thenewswire was the source of much of the well informedand positive comment in the papers. Theoverwhelming reaction of the reporters present wasentirely favourable to the sport, and they were asappreciative as any of Mick Gault’s triple gold successin the pistol events. So, on to some of the interestingmoments – in no particular order.My personal favourite had to be standing next to someof the correspondents up on the shotgun ranges, anddiscussing with them the chances of the youngestcompetitor in the women’s individual double trapevent, admittedly with a sense of wondering disbeliefas she smashed one after another of the pink disks.“Do you mind” said the lady next to me, “that is mydaughter you are talking about”. Jan Kerwood was amum in agony at that moment, not knowing whetherto watch or hide; I know she watched while proudfather Dan Kerwood stood there transfixed at thedrama unfolding before him.When the final clay burst like a pink powder puff Janwas gone, selling the security guards a succession oftwinkling dummies that had them grasping at thinair, reaching daughter Charlotte a split second beforeIan Coley, the England coach. Ian had all of five yardsto travel; Jan had covered thirty! Dan was left gulpingat the top of the hill. That result got top column inches.So what about our Mick Gault, a man with a missionthrust upon him. The expectations were almostgrossly unfair after his wondrous performance to bagfour golds in Kuala Lumpur. That he got another inthe air pistol pairs was down to grit, nerve, hisshooting partner Nick Baxter and a touch of lady luck(richly deserved and we all need some). Thestupendous final of the air pistol individual title, inwhich he went from fourth to first in the last four shotsfor victory by a fraction of a point, had to be seen andheard to be believed. That was a noisy, knowledgeablecrowd rooting for their champion - they certainly hadbeen given something to cheer for.The cameras were everywhere but not much footage made it ontoour screens. (Photo: David Pollard)58His third gold in the 50m pistol was as convincing adisplay as you could wish to see, garnering a newrecord by a whole three points, and the whole was

But it was a story for the Indian shooters, who wereall on major Government cash bonuses for any medalswon. Anjali Bhagwat took four golds with three newrecords in women’s smallbore and air rifle events, andJaspal Rana took four in the men’s pistol events.Talking to them with the help of Indian journalistKamesh Srinivasan you had to be impressed, perhapseven a little awed, by their absolute and unswervingconfidence in their ability to win the gold medals. Itwas almost as if they, and nobody else, had the rightto win. They proved it. India has emerged as theCommonwealth force that, along with Australia, is theone to beat.Mick Gault - three Golds and one Bronze.(Photo: John Knight)capped by a bronze in the standard pistol. The firstgold was the key to the next two, relief mixed with aninstant freeing up of the pressures. Tom Redhead hiscoach was one instrument in that success: Mrs Gaultand family was the other. Tom continually told Mickto leave the politics to him; thank you Mr Gault forpartly ignoring Tom and making the pungent truthknown to those who wanted to listen.Fullbore rifle, and the name was Calvert, a shootingmachine that would not take no for an answer. Heearned one gold with Martin Millar, and the other onhis own (with a new record score). He never lookedlike faltering, becoming the most bemedalled fullborerifleman in the history of the Games. Sorry DavidDodds of South Africa and Diane Collings of NewZealand in second and third, it was just not your story.David Calvert - Northern Ireland’s most successful Gamesmedallist. (Photo: Jim McAllister)The BBC came in for some stick, and quite rightly so.Let me hasten to say that the 70 strong outsidebroadcast crew on site, with their miles of cabling andtheir lorry loads of kit, worked their socks off. Theywere as dismayed as the UK shooting fans at thepaucity of the coverage on home TV. If you were inIndia you could get all you wanted, we learned, butnot at home. At 10.35pm on the night of Mick Gault’ssecond gold medal, after a shooting free newsprogramme on BBC 1, I telephoned the BBC to askwhy there had been no mention of the gold medal.The highly embarrassed lady said two things of note.First, she volunteered that there had been many othercomplaints received by the BBC about shootingcoverage. Second, she had been instructed to replythat “the BBC was concentrating on the major sports”.Ironic, really - domestic sprinters had just been leftwrithing on the lovely new track, and shooting hadthe third largest number of competitors. And the BBCbroadcast a radio programme one evening that weekdevoted almost entirely to those complaints, and thenlater, in response to criticism, said “What complaints?We had no complaints”. Do we detect a teensy weensyinconsistency? Was the coverage smothered, and ifso by whom? As they say, this one could run and run.Visitors we had in numbers, from the Earl andCountess of Wessex to the very sporting Mayor ofManchester – who hit some clays when entreated tohave a go. We had Richard Caborn MP (Minister forSport) and Kate Hoey MP (not the minister for sport).You can read Kate’s pithy pronouncements elsewherein this issue, but a big thank you to her for hercontinuing support and interest. The Earl of Wessexprovided a light moment for two ponderingcorrespondents as they were musing about life in theentrance hall of the Lord Roberts building. “What areyou two doing”, said a breezy Earl as he swept throughthe vestibule. “Just wondering where our next storywas coming from” came the reply. The Earl startedvisibly and shot upstairs.But it was Caborn who provided the real forensicmystery. He suddenly appeared on site on theMonday without announcement, did a whistle stoptour in the hands of Alan Robertson the M2002 venue59

Somewhat unsurprisingly, according to other sources,this back door entry was denied by Caborn’s office,which said that he had entered through the front gatepast the well-behaved Sportsman’s Associationprotesters. Whatever the truth, at least he came tovisit, even if no one knew he was there. It provided atalking point for idle moments, with exotic theoriesbeing developed. If he did come in through the backdoor, then it must represent one of the very fewexamples of a politician sent to Siberia actuallysurviving to return to his post.The Mayor of Manchester paid a surprise visit.(Photo: John Bloomfield)manager, and disappeared without even a puff ofsmoke. Not even the three Chief Executives of theshooting organisations had known he was there,leading to some deserved hard words later withM2002 suits. What Robertson did confirm was thatthe Minister had asked not to speak to any of theshooters. Initially there was no information on howthe Minister had entered the site but, ratherconfusingly, it was suggested that it had been by carthrough Siberia and along the Century butts, emergingfrom the markers tunnel.Enough of that sort of trivia and scuttlebut. Rememberinstead the smiles, the relief and a little bemusementon the faces of the winners. Remember the exhaustionand dejection from those who narrowly missed out.Remember lots of good humour from the also-ransand the stories of co-operation all round for those whoarrived a tad short of the right equipment. That iswhat the “friendly” games are about. The facilitiesproved themselves to be world class and Bisley didnot let them down, providing the unique atmosphere.Manchester can be proud of their Surrey outpost.And for all those who were there as volunteer helpersor as spectators there will be the memory of an eventthat will almost certainly not happen again in Englandin their lifetime. Thank you Manchester for theopportunity of being able to be part of it. Who willforget the scenes of the closing ceremony with all thedignitaries standing in the teeming rain as theManchester to Melbourne handover took place.Somehow that spoke volumes.Finally, there is in my bag an enduring souvenir, agarment of sartorial splendour, a veritable ‘piece deresistance’ – a M2002 flat cap. I was told that you aresupposed to wear it back to front. As I doubt that Iwill ever have the bravery (or foolhardiness) to wearit any which way round, that dress instruction canpass me by. All I need to go with it is a ferret . . . oh noI do not!Bisley’s own policeman keeps up to date with the Sportsman’sAssociation. (Photo: Jim McAllister)Volunteer David Cole models the Manchester Ferret Cap.(Photo: John Knight)60

The Fullbore Rifle Badge Match - Jane Messer, Alice Ogilvie andIan Shaw receive their badges. (Photo: Jim McAllister)The crowds gather at the Clay ranges.(Photo: Lynne Johnson)The crowd go wild as Mick Gault steps up for the 50m PistolSingles Gold. (Photo: David Pollard)England’s Charlotte Kerwood wins Gold in the Women’s DoubleTrap Singles Final. (Photo: David Pollard). . . and the Gold Medal for Most Pins on a Hat goes to ArthurClark. (Photo: John Knight)Richard Faulds in the Men’s Double Trap Singles.(Photo: John Knight)The Sportsman’s Association picket at the front gate.(Photo: Jim McAllister)Rajyavardhan Singh contributed two golds to the Indian team’stally of 14 gold medals in shooting. (Photo: David Pollard)

FULLBORERIFLEPAIRSRESULESULTSTS300 500 600 900 1000 TOTALAL1 Northern Ireland Martin Millar 49.8 50.10 49.7 72.9 73.7David Calvert 50.9 50.10 50.7 74.8 73.11 590.862 South Africa Peter Bramley 50.9 49.6 49.6 73.7 71.8David Dodds 50.10 50.7 50.10 74.12 73.10 589.853 England Glyn Barnett 49.8 50.10 50.9 74.9 71.8Jane Messer 50.8 50.9 50.9 74.9 70.5 588.844 Guernsey Nick Mace 50.8 50.8 50.8 75.7 69.4Peter Jory 50.7 49.6 49.6 74.9 69.6 585.695 Jersey Colin Mallett 50.6 49.8 50.5 72.4 69.6David le Quesne 50.8 47.6 49.5 75.9 74.6 585.636 Australia Colin Cole 49.6 50.5 49.5 75.13 71.4David Gardiner 50.6 49.6 47.5 71.7 73.8 584.657 New Zealand Diane Collings 49.6 50.8 49.7 74.9 72.7Mike Collings 50.8 49.7 49.3 74.6 66.5 582.668 Canada Mohamed Rahman 49.6 49.6 49.3 72.5 74.5Patrick Vamplew 50.6 49.8 48.6 74.8 67.7 581.609 Scotland Alice Ogilvie 49.6 49.6 49.6 74.12 70.6Ian Shaw 50.5 49.7 50.8 70.6 70.5 580.6710 Wales David Davies 48.7 49.6 49.6 74.9 71.5Gabrielle O’Leary 50.7 49.5 50.7 73.8 67.5 580.6511 Malaysia Zulkeflee Hamsan 50.8 46.6 49.4 73.9 71.4Zainal Abidin Md Zain 49.8 49.7 49.6 73.5 70.4 579.6112 Guyana Mahendra Persaud 43.2 50.8 49.5 74.10 73.5Ransford Goodluck 50.9 50.9 48.4 73.6 67.3 577.6113 Namibia Christoffel Honey 50.7 50.7 47.1 74.3 66.2Schalk van der Merwe 49.5 50.7 46.3 74.8 71.6 577.4914 Bermuda Sinclair Rayner 46.1 49.7 45.3 68.4 67.1Nelson Simons 50.5 49.6 49.6 72.6 65.4 560.4315 Falkland Islands Derek Pettersson 49.5 47.4 47.4 69.4 68.2Gareth Goodwin 47.1 48.6 48.5 70.6 67.4 560.4116 Barbados Karl Branch 47.1 49.7 50.3 68.3 69.5Louis King 44.1 49.5 45.1 72.6 67.4 560.3617 Jamaica David Rickman 50.5 48.4 44.1 73.8 72.2Carl Smith 47.3 47.5 46.5 69.2 62.3 558.3818 Trinidad & Tobago Carl Awong 46.4 47.2 49.6 66.1 66.4Norris Gomez 50.8 46.3 49.7 72.6 64.1 555.4219 Isle of Man Craig Leece 49.6 46.2 44.3 73.7 67.2Charlie Kennish 50.5 46.3 46.3 66.3 65.4 552.3820 Malawi Jaggi Sohal 44.1 48.2 47.4 71.5 60.2Godfrey Simbwa 44.2 45.1 44.0 67.2 63.1 533.2021 St Helena Colin Knipe 13.0 44.2 27.1 59.3 55.062Reginald Legg 29.1 45.4 39.1 53.1 61.4 425.17

FULLBORERIFLEINDIVIDUNDIVIDUALAL RESULESULTSTS300 500 600 300 500 600 900 1000 TOTALAL1 David Calvert NIR 35.6 35.5 35.3 50.9 50.10 50.8 75.11 74.10 404.622 David Dodds RSA 34.4 34.4 35.4 50.7 50.9 50.8 75.13 75.4 403.533 Diane Collings NZL 34.5 35.7 35.6 50.5 50.5 49.4 74.11 75.11 402.544 David le Quesne JER 35.5 34.4 35.5 50.4 50.8 50.9 73.9 73.6 400.505 Colin Mallett JER 34.3 35.4 35.3 50.7 50.7 50.8 74.9 72.7 400.486 Glyn Barnett ENG 35.6 35.5 35.6 50.9 50.9 50.9 73.7 71.8 399.597 Peter Jory GUE 35.6 35.5 35.4 49.7 50.9 50.7 72.6 73.7 399.518 Zulkeflee Hamsan MAS 34.4 35.4 35.4 49.5 50.8 50.5 73.7 73.6 399.439 Colin Cole AUS 35.3 35.7 34.4 50.8 50.8 49.5 74.8 71.6 398.4910 Peter Bramley RSA 35.4 35.5 35.5 50.8 49.9 49.5 75.7 70.5 398.4811 Martin Millar NIR 35.7 34.3 34.4 50.8 50.7 50.6 72.7 72.8 397.5012 Ian Shaw SCO 34.3 35.4 35.4 46.5 50.10 50.9 74.8 73.6 397.4913 Nick Mace GUE 35.5 35.4 35.5 49.7 50.8 49.8 73.10 70.6 396.5314 Alice Ogilvie SCO 34.4 34.6 35.6 49.7 50.7 50.8 74.12 69.3 395.5315 Jane Messer ENG 35.6 35.4 34.6 49.6 50.9 50.10 71.7 71.4 395.5216 David Gardiner AUS 34.5 35.5 35.4 50.9 50.7 50.8 71.6 70.8 395.5217 Norris Gomez TRI 35.4 34.3 35.3 48.5 50.6 50.5 73.8 70.7 395.4118 David Davies WAL 34.2 35.4 34.4 49.6 50.6 49.7 72.6 72.5 395.4019 Patrick Vamplew CAN 35.6 35.6 33.4 49.6 48.6 50.8 74.8 70.7 394.5120 Zainal Md Zain MAS 35.5 35.3 34.4 49.5 50.5 50.7 73.10 68.6 394.4521 Mike Collings NZL 35.4 35.4 35.4 50.8 47.3 50.6 70.8 71.4 393.4122 Gabrielle O’Leary WAL 34.5 35.6 34.3 50.7 49.5 50.5 73.9 66.3 391.4323 Mahendra Persaud GUY 33.3 35.4 35.4 47.4 48.2 50.5 74.8 69.7 391.3724 Gareth Goodwin FAI 35.4 35.5 33.2 49.5 49.6 50.4 68.4 71.9 390.3925 Edward Legei KEN 35.2 35.4 30.3 49.7 50.5 49.5 73.5 69.5 390.3626 Mohamed Rahman CAN 34.4 33.2 35.5 49.6 50.6 49.5 69.6 70.7 389.4127 Ransford Goodluck GUY 35.7 33.5 33.2 48.8 50.5 48.5 71.1 71.6 389.3928 Craig Leece IOM 31.1 34.3 34.1 50.7 49.5 50.6 72.5 69.7 389.3529 David Rickman JAM 34.2 34.4 35.5 47.2 50.8 49.5 71.6 69.3 389.3530 Carl Awong TRI 34.3 35.5 34.5 47.6 49.4 50.5 70.4 69.2 388.3431 Christoffel Honey NAM 33.1 33.2 33.4 50.6 49.6 46.2 71.6 69.6 384.3332 Schalk van der Merwe NAM 33.2 33.2 32.1 45.2 47.5 49.4 72.9 67.4 378.2933 Nelson Simons BER 34.4 34.4 35.3 48.5 49.5 50.5 66.4 61.3 377.3334 Carl Smith JAM 33.4 35.5 34.4 47.5 47.3 44.3 71.6 65.4 376.3435 Benjamin Mason SAM 33.3 34.4 33.3 48.4 47.3 48.5 67.2 64.4 374.2836 Sinclair Rayner BER 32.4 33.1 34.3 47.4 49.2 48.6 69.5 59.3 371.2837 Karl Branch BAR 35.1 33.4 35.4 48.5 49.5 46.2 65.3 57.2 368.2638 Jaggi Sohal MAW 32.1 32.2 33.2 45.1 46.1 44.1 70.5 65.4 367.1739 Derek Pettersson FAI 28.1 35.1 35.3 44.1 48.3 49.6 70.4 54.5 363.2440 Charlie Kennish IOM 33.3 33.4 34.2 46.4 47.3 49.3 70.7 46.1 358.2741 Godfrey Simbwa MAW 27.0 31.1 33.1 43.4 45.4 45.3 68.4 58.1 350.1842 Colin Knipe SHE 29.1 32.1 34.3 38.0 45.4 43.2 64.3 54.1 339.1543 Reginald Legg SHE 20.0 26.1 26.0 35.0 39.1 39.1 62.1 60.3 307.0744 Louis King BAR 28.3 35.2 33.3 00.0 00.0 00.0 67.5 65.4 228.1763

The Northern Ireland pair at work on Century.(Photo: Lynne Johnson)Fullbore Pairs winners David Calvert and Martin Millar ofNorthern Ireland (Photo: Lynne Johnson)Fullbore Pairs Victory Ceremony - South Africa (Silver), NorthernIreland (Gold) and England (Bronze). (Photo: John Bloomfield)HRH Prince Edward returned to watch the Fullbore IndividualFinal and to congratulate the winners. (Photo: Karen Robertson)HRH Prince Edward with South Africa’s double silver medallistDavid Dodds. (Photo: John Knight)David Calvert is chaired from the range in the traditional manner.(Photo: John Knight)David Calvert is chaired to the podium by his fellow competitors.(Photo: Lynne Johnson)David Dodds, David Calvert and Diane Collings show off theirmedals. (Photo: John Knight)

BBCBBC WRONG TO TURN BACKON SHOOTINGSTARSby Kate HoeyThe Daily Telegraph, Monday 12 August 2002Kate Hoey MP pictured at Bisley during the Commonwealth Games(Photo: John Knight)As the debate continues over if, when and where thiscountry might host the Olympic Games, one piece ofthe jigsaw is already in place. The National ShootingCentre at Bisley, Surrey, would be the venue for allshooting events whether the games were awarded toLondon or Manchester.The home of shooting since 1890, it has had £6 millionof Lottery money invested over the past two years andis now a state-of-the-art centre for all the shootingdisciplines. The new clay ranges are first-class andthe recently opened Lord Roberts Block has the finestpistol ranges in the world, as well as media andcorporate facilities to match anything at the SydneyOlympics.It was a superb venue for the Commonwealth Gamesshooting events. However, unless you were luckyenough to be there you wouldn’t know any of this -that is if you relied on the BBC. Their coverage ofshooting was scandalous.Blink and you probably missed it. The 70 BBCaccreditedstaff at Bisley were dedicated to their job.It wasn’t their fault that the footage used on air wasscant. The nightly three-hour review of the day barelymentioned the sport and yet it was among our mostsuccessful.Of course shooting sports are difficult for television,even though the exploding coloured clays now maketrap events visually easier. Not that this preventedAustralia, Canada and New Zealand from havingmaximum television coverage, or India showing thefinals live. At the very least the BBC could havecovered the medal ceremonies of the British winners.Shooting had the third-largest number of competitorsoverall at the Games, just behind swimming andathletics. England’s team of 37 did well, winning 18medals, five of them gold.Whoever took the editorial decision to minimise thecoverage needs to explain why they did so. Why wasthere no interview with the Games’ youngest goldmedallist, 15-year-old Charlotte Kerwood, whotriumphed in the women’s double trap?It was particularly shameful that Mick Gault’s threegold medals were not given more exposure. Here is asportsman who has now won eight Commonwealthgold medals and, at 48, is a legend in pistol shooting.Gault has never been invited to the BBC’s SportsReview of the Year, nor has he had any recognition inthe Honours List for his many years of winning goldagainst the best in the world.I felt privileged to watch him win the 50 metres pistolsingles - but as Land of Hope and Glory rang out, Iwas not alone in feeling angry at the shabby way wehave treated decent men and women who had theirsport taken from them by the l997 Firearms Act.Since then the pistol shooters of England, Scotland andWales have been unable to fire a single round and havehad to go abroad to train and compete. Yet the HomeOffice exemption meant that the very same activitytook place safely for the two weeks of the Games.So a sport which is illegal in this country, ostensiblyon grounds of public safety, became temporarily legalbecause without shooting being offered Manchesterwould not have been eligible to host the Games. In1997 some of us argued in Parliament for exemptions65

to allow the sport to continue in safe surroundings atspecialist centres like Bisley.As a London MP, I know that in some areas it is easierto buy an illegal gun than it is to find a taxi in the rain,which made the sight of competitors’ pistols beingescorted from Heathrow to Bisley in armoured carsfarcical. If only the same effort went into tacklingarmed drug dealers.Ironically, by allowing target pistol shooting to takeplace the Home Office have demonstrated that theytoo recognise that the sport can be pursued safely.That is why, now that the Games are over, the HomeOffice must review the ban and allow competitiveshooting to begin again.This is what the peaceful demonstrators who kept avigil at the entrance to Bisley throughout the Gameswere calling for. Surely any reasonable person cansee that target pistols can be stored safely in the secureareas at Bisley under the scrutiny of the SurreyConstabulary to allow training to take place.The general secretary of the International ShootingSport Federation, Horst Schreiber, who watched Gaultbeing presented with his medal by Prince Edward,praised the unique facilities at Bisley and said helooked forward to the World Championships beingheld there in the future.The successful organisation at Bisley gives theGovernment an opportunity to admit that they got itwrong - the ban on handguns was put through on atide of ‘emotional correctness’ and should beamended. It saddens me that all over the worlddemocratic governments have more trust in theircitizens to participate in one of the oldest Olympicsports than we do. Since the ban, gun crime hasincreased. Only the law-abiding citizen has suffered,while those who want illegal guns can easily obtainthem.Gault and the other target pistol shooters have shownremarkable discipline and dignity despite the biasshown against them. The country should be proud ofthem and their achievements, and so should the BBC.Reproduced from the Daily Telegraph of 12 August2002 with the kind permission of Kate Hoey and theDaily Telegraph.GUNLAW OFF-TARGETby The Daily Telegraph, Tuesday 13 August 2002On the streets of Britain’s biggest cities, an illegalhandgun can be bought for as little as £50.The black-market supply of these weapons hasincreased enormously since the break-up of the SovietUnion, and changes in European frontier regulationshave made it much easier to smuggle them into thecountry. As Kate Hoey, the Labour MP for Vauxhall,wrote in our Sport section yesterday, there are someinner-city areas in which it is now easier to buy anillegal gun than to find a taxi in the rain.What a farce it was, therefore, that guns belonging tocompetitors in the shooting events at theCommonwealth Games were transported fromHeathrow Airport to the National Shooting Centre atBisley, Surrey, in armoured cars. Did anybodyseriously believe that criminals would risk ambushingthe competitors for their guns, while there werealready more than enough illegal weapons in thecountry to keep the underworld armed to the teethfor at least the next 10 years?The truth is that the Firearms Act, 1997, whichoutlawed the ownership of most handguns in Britain,did nothing to discourage their illegal use. Indeed,the number of crimes in which handguns were carriedincreased by no less than 40 per cent in the two yearsafter the Act became law.The only people who suffered from the ban,introduced by the Major government in an attempt tobe seen to be doing something after the Dunblanemassacre, were those who owned and used their gunslawfully.Among the hardest hit were Britain’s competitiveshooters, who proved again at the CommonwealthGames that they are the equals of any in the world.England alone won 18 medals, five of them gold, whileNorthern Ireland won two golds, and Scotland andWales five medals between them.The effect of the Act on these competitors has been toforce them abroad to train. This has not only beenhugely expensive and inconvenient for most of them,putting them at a great competitive disadvantage. Ithas also been a national humiliation.Bisley has been the home of shooting since 1890.Newly modernised, after the investment of some £6million of lottery money, it has some of the finest pistolranges in the world. Yet Britain has been exposed bythe Act as one of the very few countries in the worldthat does not trust its law-abiding citizens to ownhandguns.As Miss Hoey argued so powerfully yesterday, therenovation of Bisley and Britain’s successes at theGames should give the Government its cue to amenda hastily introduced, ill thought-out and unjust law.Daily Telegraph Editorial of 13 August 2002: with thekind permission of the Daily Telegraph66

HPS Target Rifles LtdPO Box 308, Gloucester South,Gloucestershire, GL2 5YF,England, UK.Tel: +44 (1) 452 729888 Fax: +44 (1) 452 729894E-mail: HPSTRLtd@aol.comFullbore Rifle StocksTR 701Traditional StyleHandgrip withRising CheekpieceandTelescopic ButtPlate Mounting.Machined from High Tech aircraft alloy, with low profileforend, fully adjustable cheekpiece and fully adjustableand telescopic buttplate, using polished wood at allcontact points with the shooter’s skin.NEW - TR 702With Pistol GripTelescopic Butt Plate Mountingand Thumbwheel HeightAdjustment on the CheekpiecePrices from £685 (TR701) and £779 (TR702) including VATDepending on action to be fittedAvailable to fit to several different makes and models of action, including:RPA - Quadlock, and Quadlight (incl magazine);Remington 700 (incl magazine);Accuracy International Palmamaster; Musgrave;H&H Millennium; Barnard; Swing; Paramount; Keppler.Plus many more - subject to confirmation.RFD Glos 187

OF NRAPRESENTRESENTATIONTION OFNRA TROPHIESTO THE LORDMAYOROF LONDONby Karen RobertsonOn Thursday 3 October, the annual Presentation ofInternational Shooting Trophies took place at theMansion House in London. The ceremony ofPresentation of International Shooting Trophies to theLord Mayor of London for safe keeping dates fromthe last century; it has certainly happened since 1891and perhaps even earlier than this. The trophies usedto be paraded through the streets of London in an opencarriage and then left in the Mansion House.Nowadays the trophies are presented but thenreturned to Bisley. The National Match Trophy is nolonger presented due to the problems of transportingit to London; a framed photograph is used instead.Winning teams attending this year included the GreatBritain Kolapore team captained by Anton Aspin, theEngland Elcho team captained by Stuart Collings, theEngland Mackinnon team captained by John Jackmanand, for the first time, the Ireland National teamcaptained by Major Alwyn McLean. Also present werethe Athelings team with their Commandant MajorSimon Fraser, and the UK Cadet Rifle Team to theChannel Islands with their Commandant Major RonCross.The Presentation is a comparatively informal occasion.John Jackman, as Chairman of the NRA, said a fewwords explaining the historical significance of theoccasion, and extolling the successes of British shootersover the year. The Lord Mayor of London, MichaelOliver, welcomed the teams to the Mansion House,expressing his pleasure at continuing a traditiondemonstrative of the City’s continuing links with theAssociation. The Lord Mayor his Sheriff, MartinClarke, met each team in turn; the Captains introducedtheir teams and gave a brief history of each match andtrophy.Afterwards the teams were treated to a guided touraround the spectacular rooms of the Mansion Houseby the Lord Mayor and Sheriff.The Presentation ended in time for lunch in town. TheEnglish teams made their way to the HQ of theHonourable Artillery Company, responding to aninvitation regularly issued to follow the MansionHouse visit. The Irish, having no precedent to fall backon, repaired to a local hostelry to continue thecelebration of their win.Skittle & Practical ShootingWhy not come down and join us, everyThursday night. All shooters are welcome whohave an FAC or who are Full Firearms membersof another club (with confirmation from your clubsecretary). If you fancy something different whynot try this, shooting calibres from .22 to .44/.45We have full disabled facilities as well as amplefree parking. There is a fully licensed membersbar as well as a cafe for anything from a baconcob to fish and chips. Give us a call, check outour web site or send us an e-mail and we will behappy to give you more details and pricing etc.Thursdays 7 Till Late • Open 6 Days A WeekTue to Thurs 9am to 4.30pm or 6.30pm LateFri & Sat 9am to 5pm • Sun 10am to 1pmNOTTINGHAM SHOOTING SPORTS CENTRETel: 01159262016 Fax: 0115926201532B Byron EstateBrookfield Rd ArnoldNottingham NGS 7EUWeb: www.armstrongs-guns.co.ukE-mail: info@armstrongs-guns.co.uk10 metre system£695plus post and packingSCATT“PROFESSIONAL”electronic training and analysis systemFULLBORE SHOOTERSWhy not keep training during the wintermonths in the comfort of your ‘warm’ home!as used by:many of the world’s current National SquadsFull and Smallbore•Gold Medal winners in both theOlympics and Paralympics•European Air Rifle Championship winners•World Cup winnersFor further details contactDIVERSE TRADING COMPANY LTDTel: (020) 8642 786124 hour fax: (020) 8642 995968

Ireland Captain Alwyn McLean discusses the National MatchTrophy with the Lord Mayor.The Lord Mayor is introduced to the UK Cadet Rifle Team to theChannel Islands.The Lord Mayor and the Sheriff meet the Athelings CommandantMajor Simon Fraser.The Athelings wait in line to be presented.(All photos: Karen Robertson)George Barnard, David Friend and JohnKnight of the England Elcho team.Paul Monaghan of the England Elcho teamwith the Elcho trophy.John Jackman introduces his Mackinnonteam to the Lord Mayor.69

Once upon a time an enthusiastic British shooter could book a cheap flight to the USA, be patient through UKcheck-in procedures, and that was enough for a shooting holiday on the other side of the pond. On arrival,customs would invariably wave you through with good wishes for the shooting. Sadly, those days have gone.Now, a visitor who wishes to take a firearm into the USA must have a valid Form 6. This must be accompaniedby a valid hunting licence or invitation to an event.The information supplied with the Form 6 seems clear enough. When I applied, the instructions said the formmust be posted in triplicate, but now a single faxed copy is required, which makes much more sense. The forminformation says you should apply 60 days before needing the permit.These are the main points I discovered earlier this year, but I do not claim that this list is comprehensive.• Do not expect the Bureau of ATF (Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms) to contact you if there are any problemswith your application. I had to make several telephone calls. On each occasion they told me somethingnew, which was not covered by the information with the form.• Make sure the invitation is issued on headed paper from a “national, state or local firearms tradeorganisation”. Printed email messages are not sufficient, nor letters from the organising club of an NRAregistered event. Robbie Roberts (nrawc@raton.com) from the Whittington Center was very helpful inmy case.• Make sure you specify a model, even if there is no particular name. Use a generic description like singleshot, bolt action, target rifle. If you put “none”, they will delete it on the grounds that it might be anassault rifle.• If you can, supply a fax number as well as a telephone number (include the country code). Your Form 6may have to be faxed to get it to you in time.The Bureau of ATF web site is http://www.atf.treas.gov. You can download a PDF version of the Form 6with its instructions. There is also a list of frequently asked questions, and another document about ammunition.The history of my application is:9 March Posted application with copy of UK FAC, printout of email invitation and covering letterrequesting an email confirmation of receipt.6 May Telephoned Bureau of ATF to check progress. They said the email invitation was notacceptable, but a letter could be sent direct to them.6 May Emailed event organisers to request letter.7 May Organisers sent letter.14 May Telephoned Bureau of ATF to check progress. Left message for the person dealing with myapplication.21 May Telephoned Bureau of ATF to check progress. Left message for the person dealing with myapplication.29 May Telephoned Bureau of ATF to check progress. Spoke to the person dealing with myapplication! The letter from the event organisers was not acceptable but they would accepta fax from the NRA. They would also fax my form to me.29 May Emailed organisers to request help.30 May NRA faxed information about event to Bureau of ATF.30 May Telephone message late at night from the Bureau of ATF requesting my fax number.31 May Faxed Bureau of ATF with a friend’s number because I would not be home to switch on mycomputer.3 June Telephoned Bureau of ATF to say that fax had not arrived over the weekend. They had beenbusy. Gave my number; they assured me that the form would be faxed within half an hour.Eventually arrived after nearly four hours. The second rifle had been deleted.4 June Telephoned Bureau of ATF to ask why rifle had been deleted, and why the invitation theyhad finally deemed acceptable was not attached. The rifle was considered unacceptablebecause I had not specified a model number. The invitation was not to hand.4 June Emailed organisers to request invitation on NRA paper.5 June Invitation letter arrived by fax.EpilogueOn arrival at Denver, I presented my documentation to the Customs Officer, who said: “What’s this?”.706 STHEFORM6 SAGAby Carol Painting

2002CHANNELISLANDSTOURREPORT2002by Alastair BrownIt was a great privilege to be invited to Captain the2002 NRA Team to the Channel Islands. I wouldparticularly like to thank Jonathan Holmes and IanMollan for fulfilling their team management roles ofVice-Captain and Adjutant, and of course DavidCalvert for agreeing to be Chief Coach. All teammembers shot well and toured hard, and we enjoyedmuch success. I would also like to record my thanksto Peter Sirett and Cherry Le Poidevin for theorganisation they did for us in Guernsey, and to CliffMallett for co-ordinating things for us in Jersey. Hereis team diarist Alastair Brown’s recollection of events.Rupert ClarkLMRA MatchThe NRA Team to the Channel Islands commencedits highly successful 2002 tour with a match againstthe London and Middlesex Rifle Association, whichtook place on Tuesday 28 May, at Bisley Camp. Ateam of eight plus two coaches and a reserve pair shota Queens II under NRA match conditions. Victorywent to the NRA Team, with Ian Davison and KrisCressy setting the early pace with scores of 149. Moreimportantly we were able to have a final run throughof team shooting procedure, and set our thoughts onthe task ahead. The match was followed by a fantasticdinner in the LMRA, which set us all up very nicelyfor the next day’s short drive to Poole and impendingferry journey to the other side of the English Channelto our first destination, Guernsey. Our thanks are dueto Robert Stafford and Roger Hanley for putting onthis match for us - it set us up well.On to GuernseyOn the morning of Wednesday 29 May, the team setoff in five cars, each laden to the roof with rifles, bagsand wet weather gear, including towels, for sunnyPoole, to catch the ferry to Guernsey. Following a shorttrip across the Channel, we disembarked to be met bysome of the Guernsey Rifle Association, who relievedus of all our rifles and determined to meet us at therange in two days time. This would allow us all adays rest to recover from our journey, and do a spotof essential acclimatisation.Intrepid ExplorersThe Peninsula Hotel, which was very quickly rechristenedthe ‘Portcullis’, provided perfectlyadequate accommodation for the team over thefollowing three days, including a swimming pool andeasy access to the beach, all run by enthusiastic andhelpful staff. Following a short-lived burst ofunpacking, the team re-grouped at the hotel bar todiscuss the important matter of the evening’sactivities, an event that became an essential part ofthe daily team routine henceforth. A certain amountof interest in eating out was generated, and armed witha very out-of-date copy of the Good Beer Guide from1997, a small group of six team members set outenthusiastically in search of a particular pubapproximately two miles away (we had to lie to theVice-Captain and told him it was a five minute walkin order to coax him out of the Portcullis) in which todine, leaving most of the rest of the team to commencethe first of many interesting encounters with theMaitre’d and his international team of staff. It wasduring this foray into the Guernsey wilderness thatJonathan Holmes first expressed his concern for thegeneral map-reading skills of certain team members,but after a mere half hour of brisk walking we were toarrive at Chandlers Hotel in Vale. Unfortunately, itturned out that Alastair Brown’s pre-warning phonecall to the pub staff alerting them of a wandering bandof hungry shooters had been interpreted as a hoax bythe staff, and there was apparently limited chance offood. Following a rapid flurry of smooth talking thebar-steward, and mumblings about the miles we hadtravelled especially to sample their fine bar food, wewere finally able to coax out of the kitchen some steakand ale pies and fish dishes, washed down with aperfectly adequate selection of real ales. Future‘tourees’ should note that there is a fully equippedand functioning skittles alley to the rear of the pub,which in conjunction with ample beer supplies becamehighly amusing as the evening wore on. The Vice-Captain subsequently decided to return under his ownsteam to the Portcullis, and confirmation of hissuccessful return to the hotel was only confirmed byhis presence at breakfast, as we had clearly missedhim en route in our taxi back to the hotel.Anyone for Golf?For the first full day in Guernsey - a well-deservedday off for the team already - we split off into smallergroups to pursue a variety of activities on the island.David Calvert managed to whip up some enthusiasmfor a round of golf, as six or so team membersembarked on a mammoth divot-creation exercisearound the local greenery. Other members went offto look for horse riding, and the remainder predictablyheaded straight into the main town in search ofdisposable cameras and to check out what optionswere available for the evening’s entertainment.Guernsey MeetingOn Friday 31 May, we set off early from the Portcullisfor our first day of tour shooting at Guernsey RifleRange, where we were to become once again reunitedwith our rifles and prepare for the main match againstthe island to be held the next day. Guernsey’s riflerange is set on the north-east corner of the island, andfiring is done from raised firing points, which go backto a distance of 600 yards onto targets backing ontothe sea. This means that whilst not shooting, one might71

Guernsey Range.NRA Team with GRC after the match.NRA vs GuernseyAlistair Brown 49.4 50.8 50.3 149.15Ian Mollan 50.5 49.7 50.7 149.19Ian Davison 50.6 48.5 44.5 142.16Jonathan Holmes 50.7 48.6 49.6 147.19Stuart O’Brien 47.5 50.6 48.5 145.16Richard Shouler 50.5 49.4 49.7 148.16Rupert Dix 50.8 50.6 50.9 150.23Lizzie Smallwood 48.7 50.6 47.4 145.17NRA 1175.141GRC 1157.107A happy Rupert Dix after his 150 in Guernsey.NRA vs JerseyAlistair Brown 49.6 50.6 49.7 148.19Ian Mollan 50.3 49.2 50.5 149.10Ian Davison 49.7 45.5 50.7 144.19Jonathan Holmes 49.6 49.7 48.5 146.18Stuart O’Brien 49.7 50.4 49.5 148.16Richard Shouler 49.5 50.8 49.6 148.19Rupert Dix 48.7 49.4 49.6 146.17Mick Buckley 48.7 50.7 47.4 145.18NRA 1174.136JRA 1168.126Jonathan Holmes displays the latest fashion shooting trousers. The team in Jersey. (All photos: Rupert Clark)72

e required to stand at one of the look-out posts andstare avidly out to sea, warning the range officer aboutoccasional passing ships and fishing boats. With theaid of Dr Mollan’s extra strength binoculars thisproved to be a fairly entertaining pastime, especiallygiven the close proximity of the beach in the oppositedirection!Individual scores for the team from the first day’sshooting were on average high, due to a moderatestrength, but fairly constant and easy-to-read easterlywind. Jonathan Holmes scored the only 100 of theday with 12 V bulls, winning the Parker Tankard, withthree members of the team close behind scoring 99s.On the back of good all-round scores from the LMRAmatch , this made team selection for the match thenext day increasingly challenging, and Rupert Clarkhad to admit that based on gun scores alone he wouldnot have made it into the team as a shooter. Most ofus greeted this news with a smirk, as we hadn’t fullyappreciated that he had even brought his rifles on tour.That evening we were treated to a Vin d’honneur inCastle Cornet, by St Peter Port harbour.Guernsey MatchAfter another entertaining evening around the island,the NRA Team congregated at the range for the secondday of shooting in Guernsey, commencing with theGuernsey Can at 500 yards and 600 yards in themorning, followed by the match against the GuernseyRifle Association in the afternoon. This time threeteam members - Rick Shouler, Ian Davison, and DavidCalvert, - all managed to score clean 100’s with goodV counts in the morning, and Stuart O’Brien with a 99appeared to have regained some of the form whichhad eluded him on the previous day. The final teamselection was made and announced during lunch. Thecourse of fire for the team match in the afternoon wasa team of eight shooting a coached Queens II on twotargets, with a self-coaching reserve pair shootingalongside. Despite some jovial pre-match banter, itwas clear from the outset that the NRA team wasbenefiting from its well-practiced matchorganisational skills, and took the lead by the end ofthe first range, scoring 394.47 ex 400. This formcontinued at 500 yards, with the NRA Team scoringanother 394 ex 400, this time with 48 V bulls. By thestart of 600 yards it was clear that we had a tremendouslead on the host team that we managed to maintain.The Guernsey Rifle Club finished on 1,157.107 and theNRA Team made 1,175.141 ex 1,200. Rupert Dix topscored with 150.23, a very pleasing result for his firstappearance at this level. Ian Mollan and AlastairBrown followed up with 149s with 19 and 15 V bulls,respectively. Mick Buckley and Tim Bedwell workedtheir magic as the NRA Team Reserve Pair, and wontheir match with 290.26 ex 300. After a joint dinnerwith Guernsey Rifle Club in the evening, the next daysaw us packing our belongings and heading off fromGuernsey in high spirits, hoping for a third and finaltour victory in Jersey.On to JerseyHaving had plenty of sunshine and at most a slightbreeze during our shooting in Guernsey, we wereslightly dismayed to arrive to near-winter conditionsin Jersey on the Sunday morning. We arrived atCrabbe Range and shot the Sunday afternoon of theJersey Spring Meeting, as preparation for the matchthat would follow on the Monday. Alastair Browncame second in the Crabbe 3 competition with 99.12,and several other NRA team members achieved scoresof 98. The Crabbe 4 competition saw three scores of100 in the afternoon, with the total average team scorebeing a 97.10. Clearly with the entire team on form,selection for the match the next day was once againgoing to be causing our Captain another headache.Jersey MatchFor the match versus the Jersey Rifle Association thefollowing day, Rupert made some minor changes tothe team of eight from the Guernsey match, movingMick Buckley to the main team, and putting LizzieSmallwood in the reserves alongside Tim Bedwell,Kris Cressy and Mike Wood. Lizzie promptly shot a50.4 at 300 yards versus Mick’s 48.7, which was greetedby applause from behind the firing point and jeeringat the Captain. For the rest of the first detail the NRAteam didn’t quite have the form that we had found inthe Guernsey match, and we finished 300 yards with391.48 ex 400. This prompted a need to remain focusedon the task ahead, and stick to our well-rehearsed teammatch drill and organisation that we had practisedduring the cold and wet weekends in March and Aprilback at Bisley. We gained an extra point at 500 yardsto put in a score of 392.43. The reserve four had acracking 500 yards, scoring 198.23 ex 200, easilypropelling them into the lead versus their opponentsfor the final range. The NRA team of eight remainedconsistent at 600 yards, and finished with 391.45, towin the match by six points, scoring 1,174.136,practically the same as our score during the Guernseymatch two days earlier. The NRA team reserve fouralso won their match, and this concluded a verysuccessful tour, leaving us undefeated in every matchagainst the LMRA, Guernsey and Jersey. On theevening of the match in Jersey we were treated to yetanother fine meal at a joint dinner with the JRA. Thiswas followed by another very well-deserved night outon the town, and more uncontrolled disco dancing.Final Day and HomeUnfortunately the Jersey weather deteriorated, andmost of our activities for our final day off had to beindoor-based, although some team members werelucky enough to get invited to the inaugural RoyalJersey Potato-vodka tasting session at Casa diCottilard, albeit for breakfast on the Sunday morning.The rest of the day was spent visiting various parts ofthe island and getting rained on. On the followingmorning we bid farewell to Jersey and boarded theferry for the return journey back to the mainland,feeling victorious, refreshed and invigorated.73

WHAHAT ABOUTTRAININGRAINING?by Bob Maddison, National Coach, Moving Target ShootingAfter the July Meeting, Bisley suddenly goes dead! Yes,there is a minor revival for the August small-boremeeting and then a few club matches in the Autumn,but after that there is a sudden absence of fullboreshooters. So what happened to all those resolutions todo better next year? Can action really be postponed untilJune? The stark answer is no. If you want to see a realimprovement in your shooting, then you must considerit to be a year round activity. Just turning up at Bisleyand shooting a few matches, hoping to win the Queen’sor the Grand, simply is not good enough for a seriousshooter. So what must be done to improve things?Training is not just about shooting matchesTraining is all about trying to sort out those problemsthat you experience in a match. Training is not aboutjust shooting another match course of fire. This meansputting a lot of effort into your sport between matches.I come to Bisley regularly throughout the year and find,during the winter months, an absence of shooters onCentury and Stickledown. Yet the Pistol Galleries, theSporting Rifle complex and the Bisley Field Target airrifle ranges are in full use every weekend throughoutthe year. Where are the match and target rifle shooters?Yes, I know the excuses: “I can’t use my caravan”; “It isexpensive to hire a firing point/marker”; “It is cold, wet,windy”; “I don’t want to wear out my barrel”.These are but excuses, not reasons, for not shootingregularly throughout the year. Most members livewithin three hours drive of Bisley, many much closer,so the first excuse is gone. The cost of a firing point,even including the marker fee, is still not that high inrelation to the other costs of shooting. The weather isoften as good for shooting as it is sometimes in July.Training does not require you to use that pristine barrel;you can use your worn out spare rifle!Your first task is to set yourself an achievable objectivefor the coming year. This must not be to win a particularmatch or aggregate. In shooting we share with golf anadvantage over most other sports in that our personalperformance has its own indicator which is totallyindependent of our fellow competitors. Just as acompetent novice golfer can have a round with TigerWoods, and both can enjoy it and benefit from theexperience, any competent novice can shoot alongsidethe Queen’s Prize Winner and enjoy it. Scores, as such,do not matter. Yet it is also perhaps too easy to set scoreobjectives that are unrealistic. In match and target rifleshooting, the match is short and the highest possiblescore is numerically low. Thus it is tempting to set anHPS as an objective for the season. Unless you arealready scoring HPSs, this would be foolish. One squallyrain shower during the match and your objective isblown. Much better to say that you will average 73 (ex75) or you will not shoot below 72 or that you willaverage 50% V bulls. Beware of such average figuresbecause these could lead you to going absent whenmatch conditions are not perfect!Likewise, you must set yourself an objective for eachtraining session. It is best to break down the act of firinga shot into its component parts and choose to concentrateon one of these. The typical actions are: “get intoposition”; “read the wind”; “set up a stable sightpicture”; “release the shot”; “follow through”. Youmight also add to this: “maintain concentrationthroughout the session”. You might think of otheractions to add to this list. If you start a training sessionwith the principle objective to improve on one of these,you will do well.So how do you train? Obviously you will have someopportunity to prepare for a match with your club. Thiscan legitimately be in the form of a competitive match.But for informal training, the last thing you should lookfor is the score.Train regularly on the range at BisleyDuring the winter months you can have an entire rangeto yourself. There are many fine days when shootingcan be a real pleasure; there are many days whenshooting is a real challenge. So why not shoot during agale? No, you might not be putting every shot into theV, but if you are learning to read the wind, this can onlybe of benefit to you on a calmer day. There is no realreason why you should not shoot alone without even amarker. The only real disadvantage is that you will notget any feedback from the target to help you read thewind. But think about it. Fire 60 shots (or more) thenwalk down (Century of course!) to examine and patchyour target. What does your group look like? If it iselongated horizontally, then you are not coping withthe wind and so, even without a marker, you havelearned something. Of course, if you have a marker, orif there are group of say four shooters, things can bemuch better. Two shooters on the firing point, onemarking and one walking down to the butts is near idealand minimises the cost to the individual. Four of youcan get in a lot of shooting in one day like that.In accordance with the principle that for informaltraining, scores are irrelevant, you must learn toconcentrate solely on technique (this presupposes thatyour sights are adjusted to put every shot somewherenear the centre of the target). By making the scoreirrelevant, it is easier to concentrate on the trigger, holdor whatever. This also raises the more general problemof concentration. In shooting sports, momentary loss ofconcentration is the major cause of loose shots: those outin the white, or worse! Thus you must make yourselffire more shots during a training session than you wouldin any match. This is the only way to improve yourability to concentrate. Just think about the small-boreshooters. Their typical match is 60 shots not 15. So whynot emulate them?Take up small-bore shootingThere can be few people in Britain who live more than20 minutes drive from a small-bore club. If you need74

help in finding one, contact the NSRA. Most clubs havean indoor range, but many also have access to an outdoorrange at 50 yards/metres or even 100 yards. Club riflesare generally available, and ammunition at cost, whichis a fraction of the cost of any fullbore ammunition. Ifyou want your own rifle, a second hand BSAInternational will leave enough change from £100 to payfor many months of ammunition, and will out shoot youfor some time to come. When you do move up market,there are plenty of more modern second hand pronerifles available at very reasonable prices. There can beno excuse no to get started.I hear: “it is boring”; “the rifle/trigger/sling feelsdifferent”; “there is no wind indoors”; “there is no recoil”etc. The truth is that any prone shooting can be boring(all those central 5s/10s!), but the real problem is a lossof concentration. If you have your own small-bore rifle,it will not be too difficult to have the trigger set up tomatch your fullbore rifle, nor is it too difficult to alterthe woodwork to bring it even closer into line. If youhave a rifle like the older UIT Standard Rifle (eg theAnschutz 1407) then it will have a stock very like that ofa current target rifle. If you can shoot on an outdoorrange, you will find that at 50 metres, the windagecorrection is not too different from that needed on afullbore rifle at the longer ranges. The different recoil isnot quite what you might think. Because the fullborerifle has a much higher muzzle velocity, most of theperceived recoil occurs after the bullet has left the barrel.The small-bore rifle is much more sensitive to variationsin hold or poor follow-through than its big brother. Thismay be one reason why some fullbore shooters findsmall-bore so difficult. The fact is that if you can copewith the effects of the recoil of the diminutive .22, youshould have little problem with a 7.62. Flinch is adifferent matter though!The real advantage of taking up small-bore is that youcan continue to train, near to home, throughout the year.The other big plus is the longer course of fire. This istypically 40 or 60 shots, and will be a big help to you inmaintaining full concentration in a 15 shot match atBisley. When I look at the Bisley score boards, I see thatmany of the top target rifle shooters also figureprominently on the small-bore score board in the Augustmeeting. These are the shooters who became addictedto small-bore shooting and decided to take it just a littlebeyond the training for fullbore concept.What about air rifle shooting?Do I hear “pull the other one?” The fact is that ISSF airrifle shooting (from the standing position) is technicallymore demanding than cartridge rifle shooting, andrelatively speaking, modern air rifles and theirammunition are more precise then their cartridgeequivalents.Of course a match air rifle has a very sensitive trigger.It is also virtually recoilless. Until you have fired amodern match air rifle using pre-compressed air, youhave never experienced using a precision shootingmachine. Nevertheless there are plenty of recoiling airrifles that make ideal fullbore trainers. The NSRA stocka starter pack with air rifle, pellet catcher, targets andpellets for under £200. The rifle is complete with sightsand is spring operated. It feels just like a fullbore rifle toshoot. This type of air rifle has a very significantperceived recoil, most of which is caused by the pistonreaching the end of its travel after the pellet has left themuzzle. Sounds familiar? Although the trigger is quitegood, it is fairly heavy and any fullbore shooter wouldfeel at home with it. The only problem is that most airrifles are not designed for use with a sling (biathlon riflesexcepted) and so you might need to improvise a little.The big advantage of using any air rifle is that there arefew formalities. You can shoot at home such as in thegarden (keep the neighbours informed) with only asimple back stop (chipboard faced with several layersof corrugated cardboard). A good location is to shootfrom or into the garage. Many air rifle shooters have setup a six yard range indoors. The cost of shooting isminimal with good quality match pellets less than apenny a shot.With a better quality match air rifle (second-hand fromunder £200) you might want to take up the standingposition. This is very demanding of the shooter, but hasthe big advantage that when you go back down to theprone position again, everything seems so very stableand it seems you can’t miss. If you want to make it reallydifficult, then visit the Bisley Field Target Organisation(BFTO) in the bottom corner of Camp. They shootregularly at up to 50 metres with air rifles. The effect ofANY wind is unbelievable. A day on a Field TargetRange will teach you more about wind than a lifetimeof shooting on Stickledown.What about dry firing?As a moving target shooter myself, dry firing is anintegral part of any match. We are allowed to dry fire afull series immediately before shooting the series tocount. Many small-bore shooters spend lots of time dryfiring at home, in lieu of shooting live on the range. Dryfiring is just that. You do everything needed to fire ashot except to load a cartridge. Some shooters havedoubts about their firing pin. Most modern rifles can bedry fired with impunity. If you do have any doubts,you can use a spent cartridge which has been deprimedand fitted with a small piece of rubber in place of theprimer. A piece of rubber ‘O’ Ring can be used, or apiece of india rubber from the end of a pencil. However,most rifles can be part cocked. Push the bolt forwardand just engage the locking lugs without closing it fully.The trigger is cocked but the firing pin is not engaged.When the trigger is released, if the bolt is clean and welllubricated, it falls with a good clunk but there is no stresson the firing pin.If you are at Bisley, why not look for a space on the firingpoint where you can dry fire. Obviously you must keepthe RCO and/or any shooters informed, and you mustmake it clear that you do not have any live ammunitionon the firing point. Dry firing like this will allow you toexperience all aspects of firing a shot except the recoil,and of course there is no feedback from the target.75

If you belong to a small-bore club, you can dry fire on asmall-bore target with your match or target rifle. Again,full safety precautions must be observed. But why notdry fire at home? As long as you can set up a target infront of your rifle, you can dry fire. (Hint: use as long arange as practicable to avoid the problem of focusing onboth foresight and target.) You will need to make up asuitable aiming mark to correspond with your normalsight picture, but this should not be a problem.Dry firing allows you to rehearse your trigger technique.Try it whilst wearing ear defenders and in a darkenedroom. By removing the normal sensory stimulation, youbecome very aware of the sensation of releasing thetrigger. Also, by dry firing over an extended period inperhaps relatively comfortable conditions, you willbecome more aware of any shortcomings in the fit ofyour rifle and the sling. It also emphasises the need tomaintain concentration over a long period.Check out your equipmentOne advantage of shooting fullbore at Bisley is that thereis very little restriction on the clothing and otherequipment you use. If you want to be a serious shooter,perhaps taking up 300m ISSF shooting at some time, youneed to look carefully at your equipment. I see moreand more fullbore shooters using ISSF specificationshooting jackets. The winter period would be a goodtime to look into this possibility. You do need to knowthat the ISSF specification will change in 2005 to a thinnerjacket. Shooters are already buying new jackets to thenew specification and so there should be a lot of the older76GUNSMITHSFULL GUNSMITHING FACILITIES• Custom rifles for any discipline• Re-bare-barrellingelling• Restocestocking• Pillar bedding• Calibre converersions• Custom bolt handles• Trigrigger modificaications and regulagulations• Minor repairpairs to full restorestorationstions*Come and visit us at our showroomOpening hoursMonday to Friday 9.00am till 5.00pmOpen most Saturdays 9.00am till 5.00pm*Tel: 01788 579651 Fax: 01788 577104Units 4, 5 & 8, Hunters Lane, Rugby,Warwickshire CV21 1EAthicker jackets around second-hand soon, which will beacceptable for match or target rifle shooting. However,if you are really serious about a jacket, consider havinga bespoke jacket made. Firms such as Mouche, KurtThune, Sauer, as well as Andrew Tucker, will make youa jacket either in double canvas or with an outer leathershell for round about £300 - £400. Bisley has a residentMouche agent (Tenring Sports Services at the back ofthe Fultons annex). You can be measured for a Mouchejacket at Bisley and get it a few weeks later. At the sametime, think about a modern synthetic sling and a goodshooting glove or mitt for the support hand.Many of the jackets used regularly at Bisley weredesigned to provide some padding against the recoil ofthe rifle rather than to give support to the position. As aresult, if the rifle and sling are not fitted correctly, theycan be uncomfortable over the course of fire. As fullboreshooters are often more concerned with weatherprotection (plus some padding), they are not tooparticular about clothing fit. Take any opportunity totry out a modern shooting jacket, and to adjust your rifleand sling to make optimum use of it. You might besurprised by the results!The winter season is also the time to check out your rifle.The action, bolt and trigger should be cleaned, and thebedding carefully checked. If rebarrelling is thought tobe necessary, you should consider a new rifle or at leasta new barrelled action. This will then leave you with aspare which can be used for training when the actualpoint of impact of the bullet is not too important.What about physical fitness?I have already mentioned mental fitness (ie your abilityto concentrate fully on firing perfect shots every time),but physical fitness is also important. Judging by thenumber of cars driving round and round camp duringJuly, this might not be given the importance it deserves.Yes, you do need to carry a heavy rifle to the firing point,but so many of the journeys seem to have little to dowith shooting per se. The least painful way to keep fit isto walk more. Nevertheless, all shooters would benefitfrom some specific physical conditioning. If you do goto a gym, insist on a programme of general physicalconditioning to maintain muscle tone rather than poweror speed training.Where does this leave the recreational shooter?I fully accept that many shooters do so simply as arelaxing hobby, and have no aspiration to win anythingat all. Their reason for shooting is to enjoy it. If any ofyou feel that you are being pressurised into becomingserious shooters, then I apologise unreservedly. The factis that even the most laid back recreational shootersooner or later gets an urge to shoot better. Shooting isan insidious virus that gets into the system by pretendingto be only a relaxing hobby, but which soon starts totake over your life. Shooters are not alone in this - Iunderstand that golfers and fishermen are equallysusceptible to the more serious aspects of their sport. Ihope I can help some of you addicts to take control ofyour addiction; after all if you are going to take yoursport seriously then you may as well aspire to the top.

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ATTRATTRACTINGNEWMEMBERSby Malcolm Brown, Chairman Carshalton Rifle ClubThe following article was written as a reply to a questionnaire sent out to clubs in the London and South-East Region bytheir Regional Representative Chris Law and was referred to in his report on page 14 in the Summer 2002 Journal.Attracting new people into the sport needs to be takenseriously at club level and must have the support of allmembers. All old prejudices and ideas need to bescrapped and a fresh approach needs to be made. TheGun Control Network and other protest groups havemade it quite plain that they will not rest until they havedestroyed all target sports. Now all clubs andindividuals have got two choices: fight back with all thelegal means possible or roll over and die. Unfortunatelytoo many clubs have taken the second option. I amdelighted to say that my own club members refused totake this attitude and appointed myself and theSecretary, Ian Stockley, to look at ways and means topreserve the future of the club.With the banning of pistols, the club suffered a morethan two-thirds drop in membership and our first taskwas to try and stem the loss of members and build themembership back up again. Before evoking a plan ofaction, a complete survey of the range was done to seethat everything was up to specification. The range, beingconstructed in 1972, was in reasonably good conditiondue in part to the efforts of past Secretaries making surethat regular maintenance was carried out. The one majorthing that required immediate attention was thatsomehow toilet facilities for disabled shooters had beenoverlooked.We sought advice from the local health authority whofurnished us with details on what was required to meetcurrent legislation. Conversion of the ladies toilet wascarried out and, when complete, we asked two disabledshooters from another club that uses our range to inspectall of the disabled facilities and report back to us anyfailings we may have missed. Other than an alterationto a wheelchair ramp, there were none. This type ofwork is necessary, if not vital, and any club who ignoresproviding disabled facilities does so at their peril. NRAofficials have probably wondered why we are so insistenton ladies and disabled toilet facilities being open whenwe visit Bisley. We are only trying to make them awarethat the Disabilities Discrimination Act will require allsporting venues to provide facilities for disabled peopleby 2003. Venue does not just mean major complexessuch as soccer and cricket grounds or Bisley, it alsoapplies to clubs, and to ignore the Act could lead to aclub being closed. I know of one club in the GreaterLondon area whose members were lucky enough toobtain a grant to rebuild their range. However, theyfound themselves getting the final part of the grantwithheld as they had neglected to install a chairlift. Thevarious discrimination acts are a minefield of legislationand it is very easy to overlook certain aspects. One hasonly to witness how the golf clubs have fallen foul ofthe Sexual Discrimination Act to see what I mean.78Now consider what to do about attracting new members.We realised that to get potential members interested, wehad to extend our activities to cover other disciplines oftarget sports, not just stick to .22 prone rifle - in otherwords, diversify. Now what first was the question weasked ourselves. A check of our club guns showed wehad two gallery rifles in .22 and .38 calibre. These hadonly been used occasionally in the past, so it was decidedto encourage the membership to try out this differentdiscipline. To start off with, we invited our old pistolmembers to try out this new (to them) discipline. Thiscourse of action took a lot of persuasive talking and, attimes, outright bribery, but we were pleased to find thatwe managed to get three of our old members to rejointhe club. With a growing interest also being shown byour normally dedicated .22 prone shooters, we soonfound ourselves with a thriving gallery rifle section.Maybe there is a lesson to be learned here. At club level,we can no longer allow one discipline to dominateanother. Sadly, this is exactly what happened with manyclubs prior to the pistol ban with the result that whenthe ban was enforced, people gave up and refused evento consider taking up another discipline. I have got bittermemories of people saying things like “that’s it, theyhave taken my pistols away, sell up all the assets andlet’s have a share out.” Unfortunately, many clubs didexactly this. The same situation could happen again,too many clubs have adopted a fortress attitude and arerefusing to alter their old ways. I’ve witnessed too manyinstances where clubs do not encourage youngsters - “wedon’t want damn kids running about the place”; women- “they are only fit to make the tea, anyway I come hereto get away from them”; ethnic minorities - “someonepass me the smelling salts”. Go on, admit it, you’veheard these remarks too.We now turned our attention to what else we could do.One of the clubs using our range had introduced airpistol, to replace cartridge pistol, as one of their activitiesafter the ban. Taking a leaf out of their books, it wasdecided to add this activity to our range of disciplines.We had a stroke of luck when an air pistol turning targetframe was discovered gathering dust in a member’sgarage. The frame was recovered, overhauled, and putback into use.With these new activities up and running, we felt it wasnow the time to try to encourage the non-shooting publicto take up the sport. But how? In a word, ‘advertise’.Advertising can take many forms and if a proper planof action is not drawn up, considerable sums of moneycan be wasted. To start, we looked at ways to get ourclub known with a minimum cost outlay. A check wasmade to see if we were still listed with the Leisure

Activities of the local borough council. We found thatnot only were we listed on the central library computersystem, but we had also recently been listed on theLondon Borough of Sutton’s web site. My Secretaryoften jokes that we are between a man who plays spoonsand a lady who does funny things with snakes, well Ihope he’s joking! A lesson here for all clubs: checkwhether you have a mention on the Internet; it will notcost a penny if you go about things correctly. TheInternet can be a terrific source for not only advertisingyour club but also for getting information to enable aclub to be run correctly. The Metropolitan Police site isa fine example of what information can be found. In thesite’s Firearms section is a wealth of information, suchas how to apply for a firearms certificate. How manyinstances have you heard of people complaining thattheir application/variation has taken ages to beprocessed. In a lot of cases it is their own fault, thoughthey will not admit it. The police have, over the years,had more and more paperwork thrown at them and anyincorrectly filled-in form is likely to be placed at thebottom of the pile.Getting back to our listings. We noticed that our contactdetails took the form of a PO Box number - this wasaltered to a name and telephone number. The use of POBox numbers to contact club officials no longer servesany purpose, the days are long gone when clubs neededto keep a low profile. The various politically correctgroups have put all country and target sports in thespotlight so let’s take advantage of this and make it easierfor people to contact us. Too many clubs have adoptedthis secret attitude which will deter rather than attractpotential new members. Officials of other clubs I havespoken to on this matter say they use the Box system toprevent receiving abusive telephone calls. It is true tosay this can happen; my Secretary has received a fewcalls of this nature but these calls have been simply dealtwith by dialling 1471 to get the last caller’s phone numberand reporting the incident to the local Firearms Officer.What these abusive callers do not realise is that they arecommitting an offence by making a threatening orabusive call to a club secretary, who is responsible tothe Home Office for firearms matters relating to his orher club.The next item dealt with was to ensure that the club waslisted with all the National Associations and club finderlists of the various sports magazines. It was no surpriseto us to find that a lot of clubs only provided scantinformation on their whereabouts, even at national level.It is no good complaining that our national officials donot inform them of what is going on if you refuse orinadvertently fail to provide the necessary contactinformation.One final thing only needed to be done to cover localsources of information. We visited the only two targetsports retailers with shops in our catchment area andprovided them with our details to pass on to any of theircustomers who made enquiries about club whereaboutsin the surrounding area. This action has proved verybeneficial to us in the long term. To date we have hadover 40 enquiries from their customers, with roughly 50per cent being turned into applications for membership.One suggestion from a retailer was for us to considerintroducing Sport Crossbow into the club. I must confessI’d never heard of this activity, but we decided toinvestigate further if this form of target shooting wouldbe viable for the club to introduce as one of its activities.We now felt confident enough to embark on anadvertising campaign with the local Press and variousmagazines. In the Greater London area, there has beena glut of so-called free newspapers appearing over thelast few years and we decided that this was a mediumworth exploiting. Just putting a display advert in themain advertising section serves no purpose, advertisinghas to take a different form. You will find that newsand sports editors are desperate for items and relymainly on outside sources to fill space. Even on nationaltitles this practice goes on. The days of the staff reporterare long gone; news gathering is more and more beingdone by free-lancers or agencies. In my professional lifeas a Media Consultant, I have witnessed this at first hand.The complete naivety of some of the young journalists,fresh out of college clutching their media studies degree,is amazing. They are completely ignorant of what goeson outside their little world and will accept anythingpeople, especially ones with an official looking title, tellthem. The GCN and other anti-sport groups haveexploited this to the full, which may go some way toexplain why so much anti-gun coverage has appearedover the years.We decided that any sporting achievement the clubmade would be publicised. We have been successful inour aim and have had a feature published including anappropriate picture taken by the paper’s photographer.Our contact details were included in the article. Theresponse we received was very encouraging. Enquirieswere received from people as diverse as youngsterswanting to include shooting in the Duke of EdinburghAward Scheme, Girl Guides and Boy Scouts seekinginstruction for their marksman badges, not so youngpeople wanting something to do in retirement, andmothers, wanting to get their sons and daughters to dosomething other than watch TV all the time.Attracting people such as these into the sport can havemany advantages, some may not be obvious at first. Itdawned on us that, maybe, we would be seen ascontributing something to the local community and thatlocal community leaders and councillors would look atus more favourably. Over the last few years, we havebeen proved correct in our assumption. Council welfareofficers and local support groups have asked us foradvice and help in their work, and just recently we heardthat the Mayor of the London Borough of Sutton hadpraised us for putting a team in the Inter BoroughCompetition. As for parents of youngsters, if a club canpresent itself as responsible enough to look after theiroffspring, you can be sure of getting word of mouthadvertising via school gate chat and parents associations.79

Up until now the club had not incurred any great costsin advertising but the time had now come when we hadto consider what to do to make our club known to awider audience. Initially, we placed a small semi-displayadvert in the magazine Target Sports to see what reactionwe would get. It is true to say we were a little bitdisappointed to find that there were no enquiries fromanyone living in our immediate area. A quick tour ofthe local newsagents uncovered the reason for this aswe found that Target Sports was not generally ondisplay. Note was taken of all the sporting magazinesthat were on display for any of our future advertisingplacements.Not to be daunted by our first foray into magazineadvertising, we embarked on a campaign to place ouradvert in four magazines over four months. We choseShooting Sports, Air Gunner, Angling Times and CountyLife. Doubt was expressed about Angling Times but wereasoned that maybe a few anglers might be interestedin trying out a different sport, plus Angling Times has alarge circulation in the Greater London area.The overall response we have got from all our effortshas been astounding. Currently we are getting enquiriesabout membership running at around two to six a week.We do not expect to turn all of these enquiries intoapplications for membership but we are pleased withthe amount we have had. Five years ago ourmembership stood at 45 full and probationary memberswith no applications to be processed. Today our fullmembers total 120 with another 40 people on probation.Applications being processed amount to a little over 50.However this number of people coming into the clubdid create a few problems. We found that our Instructorsand Range Officers were finding it difficult to cope. Toovercome this problem, ten members were sent on anNRA Range Conducting Officer’s course, and lateranother ten, sent on an NRA Target Rifle Instructor’scourse. This has relieved the pressure a bit but it madeus realise that you must have proper instructors for thediscipline you are engaged in. If you want to hold on tonew people coming into the club, you must keep theinterest going and not let them sit in the corner twiddlingtheir thumbs. Make them feel welcome and graduallyintroduce them to all that is going on. Do not expectthem to get involved with all the disciplines you mayhave on offer. As my Secretary often says, if all a personinitially wants to do is sit down with a cup of tea and aKit-Kat and watch what’s going on, that’s fine. In theend, they will decide what they want to do.The procedures Carshalton Rifle Club carried out toattract new members may not work for all clubs as theymay have different aims and circumstances but we feelthey could form a good basis. I have listed out below afew points which may help clubs in their future plans,but be prepared to fine tune or alter tack if circumstanceschange. Also expect to get a few disappointments alongthe way. You will not get an instant influx of membersand a long-term view must be taken.80a) Do register your club with the Leisure Services ofyour local council. This department is normallybased in the main local library. If you have a LocalSports Council, register with them as well, you mayfind that you can apply for a grant or interest-freeloan if you need to improve your range facilities inthe future. I know of at least two clubs in theGreater London area who have recently received agrant to improve their range facilities.b) If your range is leased, make sure there are noclauses preventing you from doing things and alsocheck the length of time of the lease. You have alegal protection if your club has been on the samesite for 50 years or more.c) Make a thorough survey of your range and clubroom. Is it warm in winter and cool in summer? Isit clean and tidy? Can you cater for disabledpeople? Are there toilet facilities for both sexes?Can you provide refreshments - at least a cup oftea and soft drinks? Above all, does it meet all safetyrequirements?d) If your club operates under a Home Office Licence,seriously consider becoming Home OfficeApproved and get an MoD clearance certificate.e) Display any awards, Instructor’s Certificates, RangeOfficer’s Certificates in a prominent position. Don’tleave them gathering dust in a drawer.f) Get all your existing members involved in any plansfor the future. Is your club one that has good oldJoe as Secretary/Treasurer/Maintenance Man/Tea-maker/General Dogsbody for years and yousee no reason to change things now? Wrong!!!Everyone has something to offer, however small.g) Encourage everyone, especially the young, to wearany casual clothes with the club name or emblemattached if they are socialising away from the range.It does not cost a fortune to have a design screenprinted or embroidered onto a sports shirt or othersuch top. Remember, designer label clothes are allthe rage at the moment and who knows, your clubshirt may get a cult following. It is all advertisingand a way of getting your name known to thepublic.h) Finally, before you decide on what new disciplineyou want to introduce, make sure you can do it.For instance, you advertise that the club caters forrapid-fire air pistol then find out your first brighteyed and bushy-tailed enquirer expects you toprovide instruction in the discipline.One final note, try and form a friendly relationship oreven affiliate with other clubs in your area. They maybe able to pass on some useful tips to you in times ofdifficulty.

LETTERSFrom Neil FawcettCompetitor MarkingI am disappointed at the way this matter is being handledby the NRA and protest most strongly both at the biasof the wording of the questionnaire and the grosslyunconstitutional manner by which the NRA seeks tocompel competitors to respond.The NRA view is abundantly clear to anyone readingthe questionnaire – the Association has absolutely nowish (intention?) to change the current system and has,quite disgracefully, loaded the questionnaireaccordingly.Not content with that, the Association then seeks amandate to enforce its view by insisting thequestionnaire is handed in before competitors are issuedwith their squadding cards.There is clearly some middle ground between ‘fullcompetitor marking’ and ‘paid marker’ systems and itis this middle ground the NRA should be exploring bycanvassing competitors’ views in an open, unbiased way.It is accepted that not all competitors wish to do markingstints and they should, therefore, be able to elect to buyout from marking duties.Competitors who do not elect to buy out would becommitted to do the marking stints for which they aredetailed and should not expect to be able to buy out onan ad hoc basis during the meeting. Thus, the NRA wouldknow well in advance the number of hired markersrequired and can plan accordingly.I would suggest among the reasons for a wish to returnto competitor marking is the apparent decline in thestandard of marking. Competitor markers are able toraise and drive up the standard of marking generally.In a similar vein to the NRA questionnaire the followingstatements might be considered:“A return to (a form of) competitor marking may necessitate aslight reduction in the shooting programme for the meetingbut the standard of marking will be improved.”There are many aspects to consider on the subject of apossible return to competitor marking and the NRA isperfectly entitled to its views on the matter. However, ifit is properly to serve its members, it must be seen to belistening to them, gathering information from them(fairly and without bias) and then act accordingly.[Reply from Martin Farnan, NRA Shooting ManagerThe actual number of votes cast in connection withcompetitor marking, as reported in the Umbrella TentMeeting, was as follows:Wishing to keep fully paid marking 595 (67%)Wishing to revert to competitor marking 269 (30%)No preference either way 6 (0.7%)Abstained 18 (2.3%)Total votes 888 (100%)The voting was therefore more than 2 to 1 in favour ofremaining with the present system. There were a numberof comments in the Suggestion Book suggesting that thequestionnaire had been biased. I point out that thewording of the questionnaire was put to the TR Sub-Committee and that proposed amendments wereincorporated before distribution. In addition a numberof those known to be in favour of competitor markingwere asked for further points in addition to those shown,but no suggested additions were forthcoming.I am sure that you will agree that it would have beenunfair to simply put the question “Do you want to revertto Competitor Marking - Yes or No?” without alsomaking the competitors aware of the consequent knockon effects. Since only two possible advantages had beenidentified against seven disadvantages the questionnairemay, at first sight, have been thought to have been biased.This possible misconception may have occurred onlybecause of a wish to give all competitors the fullestpossible information on which to base their decisions.There is no possible middle ground as you suggest. It iseither competitor marking or it is not. The reason (aswas indicated in the questionnaire) is to do with the timebetween shooting blocks mid-morning and midafternoon.With full marking this is only 15 minutes (togive the markers a breather). However, if we revertedto competitor marking, this would have to be 45 minutesto give competitor markers time to exit the butts, collecttheir kit and get down to the firing point in time for thenext detail. This is why a full hour would be added tothe shooting day plus all the other attendantdisadvantages which were listed in the questionnaire.]From Paul Charlton,Chairman of the Irish Rifle Club (Bisley)The National MatchI would like to thank, on behalf of the Ireland Team,through the Journal those many people who haveheaped heartfelt congratulations upon us since wesucceeded in winning the National Match for the firsttime since we first competed in 1865.Following our success, we have decided to invoke ourright to hold the 2003 National Match in Ballykinler,County Down, Northern Ireland. The Match itself willbe held on Monday May 26th. This will be precededby the Irish Open, which is normally a two day event.It is likely that all of Northern Ireland’s CommonwealthGames Gold Medallists will compete in theMatch, and this may help to generate some goodpublicity for shooting in Ireland.Entry forms and forms to allow possession of Firearmsin Northern Ireland will be available next year, but ifyou wish to be part of this unique occasion, pleaseregister your interest by following the instructions onpage 56 of this Journal.81

From Yvonne Laceby-StevensShooting ExcusesThe traumatic experience of F Sgt Silver will, I am sure,never be capped. However I feel the following mightwell qualify as the most charming reason for a bad score.In 1958 as a member of Lloyds Bank Rifle Club, I tookpart in my first Bisley Meeting. I found myself ontarget 100 on the last detail of the day paired withS/M Riorche Scots Guards, a top shot of the time. Thegods of shooting threw every trick at him and he had atruly disastrous shoot. I was brash enough tocommiserate to be told “Nay, nay, I may be a big manbut at heart I’m a softie and couldna bear to beat a lassie.”A great shot and a fine man - just one of the manycharming people I was lucky enough to meet duringmy shooting days.From Tim ElliottNRA Aunts & Uncles Scheme - July 2002Once again this scheme worked admirably and mywarmest thanks goes to those who helped. I am not ableto contact all my Aunts and Uncles personally (I do notconsider emails an appropriate medium for this), but Ihave spoken to many to express my gratitude.Numbers, now that more non-first-timers are seekingguidance, were higher than ever and I reacted to a recorddemand, especially from overseas, for electronic copiesof the Imperial Meeting Guide, which I update each year.With the return of the cadet 7·62mm rifle for cadets nextseason (well, you have to look on the bright side, don’tyou), I expect – and wish to anticipate – increasingrequests for an Aunt or an Uncle; thus, if any of myreaders not already on my list feel that they would liketo help younger shooters in the most painless andpleasurable possible way, do please get in touch withme. My planning for 2003 has already started.TJ (Tim) ElliottLark Hill, Haynes West End, Bedfordshire MK45 3RBTel/ Fax: 01234 740334 Mobile: 07950 523991E-mail: tje@easynet.co.uk82WANTED7.62mm Fired Cartridge Cases, clean andundamaged. We will better any offer you havereceived and can arrange collection anywhereor from Bisley Camp by arrangement.We also will pay 3p each for .303 cases,we pay the carriage.Other calibres also wanted, links, chargers etc.Contact us at Proofmark for prices on01803 812058 or fax us on 01803 814103Registered Firearms Dealers since 1962Devon & Cornwall No 140E-mail: proofmark@talk21.comFrom Carol PaintingFiring Out of TurnTowards the end of the Imperial Meeting I heard of twocases where shooters had fired out of turn for the samereason. In each case, the shooter who committed theoffence was squadded on the right. In each case, afterthe centre shooter had fired, the target went down andcame up again, so the shooter on the right went into theaim and fired. The left shooter then said that it was his(or her) turn, but had not stated that he (or she) had notfired when the target went down.We all know that to fire out of turn is wrong andpunishable by losing a point. In one of these cases theRO agreed with the shooter on the right that he hadbeen misled by the left shooter saying nothing; his scorewas allowed to stand. In the other case the RO ruledthat the penalty must be paid, but the left shooter lostno points.What happened to the spirit of the rules?From Tim ElliottCambridge University Rifle AssociationI am updating the Cambridge University RifleAssociation Database and should be most grateful if anyNRA members who were members of CURA, and whoare not already being contacted routinely, could let meknow their details - Style, Initials, First Name, Surname,Address, Telephone Number, E-mail address and so on.If you are being contacted and your personal details areincorrect or may have changed, that too would be goodto know.Thank you very much.Tim (TJ) Elliott (Chairman):Lark Hill, Haynes West End, Bedfordshire MK45 3RBTel/ Fax: 01234 740334 Mobile: 07950 523991E-mail: tje@easynet.co.ukFrom RJ MaddisonStuck RoundsThe advice on removing stuck rounds given in theJournal should be followed with caution. Before startingto tap the rod, its position should first be marked. If,when tapping out, the rod moves more than a fewmillimetres but not the cartridge, then the bullet is beingset back in the case. If this happens, do not proceedfurther without advice from a qualified gunsmith orarmourer. It could be dangerous if the propellant iscompressed in the case.Military ammunition is designed to be used under roughconditions and in fully automatic weapons. Hencemilitary bullets are firmly crimped into the case and alsosealed. However, some commercial ammunition is lessfirmly crimped and the bullet may move when ‘tappingout’. In particular, for accuracy, most home loads areonly lightly crimped if at all, many relying only on thebullet’s fit in the case neck to secure it. This is perfectlyadequate for range use or in the field, but the bullet willset back if ‘tapped out’ as described.

If you do have a stuck round, then the cause should besought. One possibility is that the extractor did not fullyengage. If the headspace, as determined by the case fitin the chamber, is too great, then the case can be pushedtoo far into the action without engaging the extractor.Usually, when the cartridge is fired, it is forced backenough to engage and so ensure ‘normal’ extraction.However, an unfired cartridge can become stuck. Thiscan be corrected by a gunsmith. However, before doingso, he should carefully check the headspace as it maywell be that it is the extractor that is setting this ratherthan the case/chamber fit. This is not a problem as longas the actual headspace is not excessive, but can cause aproblem when attempting to extract an unfired cartridge.To check this, insert a dummy cartridge (obtainable forthe NRA Armoury) and push it forward with a finger asfar as it will go. Now close the bolt and then open it. Ifall is well the dummy cartridge will extract and ejectnormally.From Keith PilcherName of the NRA MeetingThis year the name of the NRA Meeting has beenchanged to the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Meeting and sothe old name is clearly not set in stone.May I suggest that in future it be named the NRASovereign’s Prize Meeting since it is many years sincewe had an Empire and continuance of this imperialconnotation could be taken as a slur on those manyindependent countries once part of it.It was after all following the Prince of Wales’ visit in1977 and a remark he made then that the name MotherCountry was changed for the British Kolapore team.Diamond Jubilee of Disbandment of the HomeGuardThe following letter has been received from the Hon Secretaryof the Newport (IW) & District Rifle Club (Founded 1944 byD Coy 19th Bn Hampshire Home Guard) and is reproducedat his request:As you can see from our club title, our club was formedfrom a disbanding Home Guard unit in 1944. In theyear 2004, therefore, we will be celebrating our DiamondJubilee along with a lot of other ex-Home Guard clubs.I have been asked by my committee to sound out ourfellow 1944 HG clubs to see whether or not there wouldbe any interest in holding some form of event(s) tocommemorate this momentous occasion.If there is sufficient interest then we could, for instance,hire a range at Bisley to conduct some competitions, aswell as holding shoots elsewhere around the country ifwarranted. The options are endless providing there issufficient interest.If you are interested I should be very grateful if youwould drop me a short note expressing such interest,with maybe some suggestions as to what form thecelebrations should take. Once I have some idea of thestrength or otherwise of the suggestion then I can takethe matter forward. It would be extremely helpful ifyou would reply as soon as possible; 2004 may seem along way off but it isn’t!If your club or association had its original roots in aHome Guard unit then please consider marking thisJubilee and respond to the Secretary, Mr DJ Aitken,Millfield Cottage, Millfield Avenue, East Cowes, Isle ofWight, PO32 6AS.Friends oF the nrARangeOfficeTargetsTargets available by the hour at weekends• £6 per hour (including marker) •• Century and Stickledown •• All year round! •(subject to availability)Slots may be booked on the day or bytelephone during the preceding weekCall the Range Office to bookor to check which distances are availableCall 01483 797777 ext 152or 0845 130 7620 ext 152NRA Members: When renewing yourmembership, why not encourage your familyand friends to support the National RifleAssociation and join our Friends scheme.Club Secretaries: Before renewing yourClub membership, remember you can savenext year’s member fee on each affiliatedmember that becomes a “Friend”.Actively support shootingKeep up to date with shooting interestsWatch out for special offersMembership starts from just £35(£30 if paid by Direct Debit)For more information visit our web sitewww.nra.org.uktelephone 01483 797777 ext 138or e-mail membership@nra.org.uk83

OBITUBITUARIESGeorge Frederick Arnold (GM SM SC2)Not entirely unexpectedly, George passed away notmany weeks after Jan, his beloved wife, had alsopassed away (see Summer 2002 Journal page 52). Acombination of infirmity and old age, plus the crushingblow of his sad loss, was too much for him and he lostthe will to live. He was 86.With George there was no middle way, everythingwas either black or white with no grey areas. He waseither for or against and whatever he decided to do,he did with maximum effort and enthusiasm.Born in Dover and living in Canterbury for manyyears, George developed a great interest in radio andtelephonic communications, which became his career.With the GPO (telephones) he progressed to seniormanagement, retiring as Shrewsbury Area TelephoneManager in 1978.It was this common interest which brought him intocontact with a man who happened to be a member ofthe Dorking and District Rifle Club. Friendshipdeveloped, which resulted in George and Jan visitingthe Dorking range to see what it was all about. Thebug bit and they both joined the club in 1950. George,being George, gave it his all and it remained his chosensport until his death.Over those 52 years he established himself as one ofthe all-time great rifle shots which some of his morenotable achievements reflect. He shot in HM TheQueen’s Prize Final on 19 occasions winning the GoldMedal in 1970 and the Silver Medal for the SecondStage in 1975; he appeared in the Grand Aggregatetop 50 on 19 occasions gaining the Silver Cross in both1954 and 1971 as well as winning the St George’s Vasein 1964 and 1969. He also shot match rifle, winningthe Albert in 1962 and the Halford in 1965. George’smajor team caps included 18 Nationals and 1384Mackinnons for England; he represented Great Britainin six Kolapores, three Empire/Australia matches andtwo Palma matches as well as nine overseas GB teamsincluding the captaincy of the 1972 GB Team toCanada.Wherever he resided, be it Kent, Shropshire, Surrey,Hampshire etc, George and Jan greatly influenced thewellbeing of the shooting in those areas. The EnglishTwenty Club also saw them devote much time andeffort into the redecoration and upkeep of theClubhouse.After his retirement he turned his attention togunsmithing and there are many who benefited fromthe expertise that he developed. He experimentedwith all sorts of barrel/action combinations so thathis own rifles were rarely the same from one shoot tothe next! Such was his unbridled enthusiasm andthirst for knowledge.In recognition of his services, he was elected as a Vice-President and Honorary Life Member of the DorkingClub in 1967 and was their elected President from 1987to his death. He was also a Vice-President of theEnglish Twenty Club from 1987.One little known achievement, as a young man in the1930s, was in 25 miles time trial bicycle races in whichhe won a number of medals. A man of many talents!The George and Jan inseparable duo will long beremembered worldwide and George, as an individual,has left his mark on the shooting scene in so manydifferent ways which will not be readily forgotten.He was the last of his line as none of his family survive.RIP.NEC MolyneuxPeter JonesIt is with great sadness that we report the passing,after a short illness, of Peter Jones.Peter was a stalwart member of both Swansea RifleClub and the West Wales Muzzle Loaders and RifleClub, having served Swansea Rifle Club as MinutesSecretary and as a Range Officer, for many years.Forced into early retirement from his career as a SeniorReporter for a Cardiff based newspaper due to a heartattack, Peter turned to target shooting as his sport andrecreation.Peter’s first love was small and fullbore pistolshooting, in which he was always amongst SwanseaRifle Club’s medal winners. In the aftermath of thepistol ban, he turned to classic and gallery rifleshooting but maintained an interest in pistol shootingvia black powder and air pistol.As an extremely well read man, Peter’s counsel wasoften sought by those of us with a less well rounded

education. Being a man of what may be consideredold-fashioned ideals and beliefs, he bitterly regrettedthe way the sport of target shooting had been vilified,without redress, by Government and media. This wasprobably why he was even more determined tocontinue shooting with what was left to us. Bisleycertainly remained the highlight of his annual shootingcalendar, with the Anno Domini/Phoenix, Imperialand Trafalgar Meetings as the ultimate venues.From both a personal and club level, Peter will begreatly missed. Our condolences to his wife Betty,daughter Debbie and sons, Simon and Tim.PM EvansMargaret Horton-SmithMargaret Horton-Smith died peacefully in WestlakeHouse, Horsham, on 17 May, a few days before her87 th birthday. A Memorial Service was held at HolyTrinity Church, West End, Woking on 31 May. Thiswas well attended by representatives of the NRA (ofwhich she was a Life Member), of the L&MRA (ofwhich she was a Vice President) and by neighbours,family, other shooters and friends.Margaret’s passing breaks another of those links tothe immediate post war years. David Horton-Smithwent on eight overseas tours between 1954 and 1971 .Margaret and David both saw the importance of theseboth as emissaries of rifle shooting and of GreatBritain. Many of their overseas contacts remainedlifelong friends and became subsequent visitors bothto Bisley and to their home.Margaret and David were married in September 1941,at St Columbas (Church of Scotland) Church, PontStreet, London. This was the height of the blitz, andat the time David, Staff Captain 2 nd London InfantryDivision, was stationed on the South Coast oppositeMr Hitler’s hordes, with the threat of invasionimminent. Margaret joined the WAAF, where she roseto the rank of Sergeant. She would never speak of herwar work, having signed the Official Secrets Act andthe most her family could glean was that she was likelyinvolved in Military Intelligence, and probably withthe French theatre of operations.Towards the end of the war David and Margaretbought a plot of land at Sheets Heath, Brookwood(roughly 1000m behind Century range) where theybuilt a family home in the immediate post-war years.Carving his way to the end of the jungle that was thegarden, David found his next door neighbours to beTaffy and Ida Owen, Taffy was a former comrade inarms, and Ida became secretary to the then NRASecretarys, Captain Le Mesurier and CommodoreRiall. Also a little further away on Sheets Heath wereJean and Larry Orpen-Smellie.It is for her association with squadding, which she didwith Jean for many years, and her work on the FrontCounter during the Meeting that Margaret will bemost remembered by shooters. With help fromdaughter Catherine and with David and son Robertshooting the Meeting, you could say that the Horton -Smith name was very much in evidence both on theranges and behind the scenes. It was a strange quirkof fate that both she and Larry passed away on thesame night, which prompted the immediate comment“I wager they stopped for a quiet G&T, and toremember old times on their way to the Pearly Gates.”Margaret displayed much stoicism in her latter years.After David’s death in February 1982, she moved to asmaller house at West End, Woking (to the right ofthe Century danger area . . . still well within hearingof the crack and thump from Bisley). Towards theend, her mental acuity declined as a result of adegenerative condition, but through the good officesof her carers, friends and neighbours, she was able toremain in her own home for as long as possible, beforea fall incapacitated her. After her move to WestlakeHouse, Horsham she was tirelessly cared for by thestaff and also by her daughter Catherine, who livedclose by.Margaret leaves two children, Robert and Catherine,and five grandchildren, to whom she remains ashining example of quiet personal integrity.Robert Horton-SmithEric McGibbon wishes to thank all the many friends andacquaintances who so kindly conveyed their condolenceson the sad loss of his son, Malcolm.At a small private ceremony, Eric scattered Malcolm’s ashesat the same spot on Stickledown where his late wife Josie’sashes rest.He is very appreciative of the so many kindnesses extendedto him for which, once again, he expresses his many thanks.85

David Jones.22 squad for many years and in the breaks betweencoaching sessions would keep the girls amused witha wonderful selection of yarns and tales from aroundthe world.Davy was a member of the RAF Target Rifle Clubalmost from its formation. He was RAF Target RifleChampion in 1986 and 1990 and also won the RAFClub Championship in 1992. He attended the BisleyImperial Meeting from 1972 to 2001 and was a regularfor Wales in the National and Mackinnon matches.During most Meetings you would find Davy workinglong hours in the RAF gunroom as the Club armourer,fixing triggers, bedding rifles and doing a multitudeof other jobs for his Club mates. He would alwayshelp many of the overseas visitors. The Kenyan teamwere regular clients at his bench in their early days.They would turn up with a selection of tatty old rifleswhich Davy would completely rebuild for them. Thereworked weapons then returned to Kenya and thenext year another batch of tatty old ones would appear.David Jones, known to all at Bisley as Davy or DJ,died on 7 June aged sixty-six after a long battle withTB.Davy’s association with Bisley was lifelong. He waspractically a Bisley local as his father, an Army Captainfrom Deepcut, met his mother when she worked inone of the Bisley clubs - possibly the North London.One of Davy’s earliest recollections was his fathertaking him rabbit shooting in Brookwood Cemetery.His early childhood was spent in India, where hisfather was serving, and at Starcross in South Devonwhere they lived on their return. As a child he couldremember the Americans as they practiced the D Daylandings along the South Devon coastline. Dave wasa popular lad who attended the local grammar schooland was well known around Starcross for carryinghis pet squirrel on his shoulder wherever he went.Davy was called up for National Service in the RAF atage eighteen. Attracted by service life, he transferredto regular Service in the trade of armourer and serveduntil the age of fifty-five, retiring in the rank of ChiefTechnician. His early career was spent on numerousshort detachments in places such as Nigeria. Thismobile lifestyle gave him the basis for a fascinatingand oft-repeated collection of stories about his travels.Davy and his wife Sue married in 1962 and were soonposted to Butterworth in Malaysia. He also served inRAF Germany at Bruggen and Laarbruch. He becameactive in shooting in the early sixties and first visitedBisley about that time. He also was a keen .22 shotrepresenting the RAF and won the Noble Trophy withRAF Brawdy in 1980. Davy also coached the WRAFDavy was a regular on overseas tours with theRAFTRC including Australia, Germany, Kenya, HongKong and more recently South Africa.Davy Jones was a great bloke, an asset to his club, toshooting and to Bisley. Helpful, generous and whoalways found time to talk (especially about shooting)and would always be happy to help out in any way.Our condolences go to his wife Sue, son Martin anddaughter Helen, also to his mother and brother Bob.We won’t forget you DJ.JE WhitePercy ButterfieldPercy Butterfield was born in Oldham in 1928. Hisinterests included target and game shooting, boating,gardening and motorcycling.Percy loved life and enjoyed it to the full. He hadbeen out in his boat, and was putting the cover on atthe mooring when he suffered a massive heart attackand died falling into the Menai Strait. He lovedshooting and was distressed when the governmentmanipulated the facts concerning the failing of thelocal police to engineer the confiscation of his pistols.He had two heritage pistols, he felt the loss of themfrom his position all the time. He enjoyed targetshooting in Bangor and also vermin control. Heintroduced his son Michael to the sport of shooting,providing him with a rifle.Percy was a widower and left two children Michaeland Lynn. We will all miss him.Mike Butterfield86

NRANRA TRADEMEMBERSBeechwood EquipmentUK distributors for the following:SAN and SIG Sauer rifles and pistols, SAUER and BLASERhunting and target rifles. BENELLI shotguns. TRIJICONbattery-free illuminated sights. HAKKO scopes and red-dotsights. EICKHORN knives and tools. Original MAUSER rifles.Examples of above rifles and shotguns may be seen at G Fulton& Son, Bisley Camp.PO Box 162, Weybridge, Surrey, KN13 9PJTel: 01932 847365 Fax: 01932 853994E-mail: sales@beechwoodequipment.comEdgar BrothersLargest UK importer; distributor and wholesaler of firearms,shotguns, ammunition, propellants, components, reloadingequipment, mounts, scopes, knives ,torches and shootingaccessories, with over 50 years experience of the shootingindustry. Trade only supplied at Macclesfield, but pleasecontact us at the following address for catalogues, otherenquiries and the address of your nearest stockist.Catherine Street, Macclesfield, Cheshire, SK11 6SGTel: 01625 613177 Fax: 01625 615276Alan D Wey & CoGun & Rifle maker. Manufacture, alterations, servicing andcomplete restoration of sporting guns and rifles. Best qualitystocking, 16-32 line chequering and Best London oil finishing.Service, spares and repairs for Blaser, Sauer and Mauser rifles.Stockist of Accurate Arms powders and other reloadingproducts. Custom Q/D scope mounts manufactured.120 Kings RoadWalton-on-Thames, Surrey, KT12 2RETel: 01932 886045 Fax: 01932 886218Praetorian AssociatesThreat awareness and protection; VIP protection; worldwidebodyguard and residential security; private aviation andmaritime security; special action security; key holding; specialassignment services; safety and survival; special action skills.Suite 501, 2 Old Brompton Road, London SW7 3DGTel: 0208 923 9075 Fax: 0208 923 7177E-mail: info@praetorianasc.comWeb site: http://www.praetorianasc.comShooting ServicesInternational standard target rifles and match rifles - all calibresincluding Any Rifle and F Class. Rebarreling and bedding.Ready proofed barrels kept in stock including Border andKrieger. Actively researching - and shooting - 5.56mm targetrifles. Manufacturers of the famous AGR COBRA precisionrear sight. Official stockists for RPA rifles and accessories.144 Clarence Road, Fleet, Hants, GU13 9RSTel: 44 (0) 1252 816188/811144 Fax: 44 (0) 1252 625980E-mail: Shootingservices@gifford-grant.comGeometrotec LtdCommercial loading of ammunition for pistols, rifles, shotgunsand weapons to 40mm. Shotgun cartridges for police andmilitary use, including riot control. Project engineers for thedesign and manufacture of small arms ammunition andproduction facilities. Manufacturers of ceremonial blanks,3pdr, 25pdr, 105mm.See our web page at http://www.geometrotec.comGreat Western Road, Martock Industrial Estate,Martock, Somerset TA12 6HBTel: 01935 823201 Fax: 01935 826208Robert George & Co LtdInvolved in the manufacture and wholesale of firearms, alsothe storage and use of explosives for approximately 22 years,RFD 1494 Met. Two contacts as regards firearms andexplosives; Mr Robert Murphy and Mr Alan Hill. Requirefunctions and testing of fullbore & small-bore weapons. Alsoactionising of shotguns.320 Hanworth Rd Tigh-a-phuistHounslowLonbain, nr ApplecrossMiddlesexRossshireTel: 020 8572 4520 Tel: 01520 744 399Fax: 020 8572 1174 Fax: 01520 744 422International School for Search and ExplosivesEngineersISSEE is a training school providing international training insearch techniques, explosive ordnance disposal, demining andthe recognition of firearms and explosives to the aviationindustry.Training College, Ordnance Road,Tidworth, Wilts, SP9 7QDTel: 01980 849026 Fax: 01980 846667E-mail: admin@issee.co.ukWeb site: http://www.issee.co.ukAdvanced Interactive Solutions LtdAdvanced Interactive Solutions Ltd (AIS) specialises in thedevelopment, design, construction, operation and support oftraining complexes and ranges for Private Companies, Military,Police and Special Forces including development from trainingneeds analysis, through to commissioning, to provide Video/Virtual Reality simulation systems, bullet protection materials,bullet traps and targetry.PO Box 1, Godalming, Surrey, GU7 1UJTel: 01483 426299 Fax: 01483 415953E-mail: marketing@ais-solutions.comSecond Chance Armour LtdManufacturers of ballistic helmets, shields and body armour.5 Townsend Street, London SE17 1HJTel: 0207 703 1005 Fax: 0207 703 5505E-mail: barron@supanet.comLate NewsChief National CoachThe NRA has appointed Andrew Penfold as thenew Chief National Coach (TR). An introductoryreport and details of courses for 2003 and 2004will follow in the next Journal.Stop-preSSIreland have rounded off a successful year bywinning the European Long RangeChampionships held at Bisley over the weekendof 26 and 27 October - a report will follow in thenext Journal.87

MEMBERSEMBERS’ PAGENo it’s not a new shooting aid or partof the Commonwealth GamesOfficials uniform - this is whathappens when you mess with thenew gate on Stickledown. ButtsOfficer and NRA poet, John Gardner,felt obliged to put pen to paper torecord the event for posterity.The SlingWe haven’t had a dit this yearSaid Martin with a frown,Like Douggie in his buggyOr the loos on StickledownI haven’t had a triggerNo incidents at allUnless, perhaps a mate of mineWho took a nasty fall?Who, it would seem, mistakenly(Or did not have the sense)To go around and find a gateBut tried to leap the fence.Normally level headedAnd not known for being rashTried the jump, oops a thumpHe came down with a crash.Don’t you dare, he threatened meDon’t say a single thingWould I embarrass you I askedYour poor arm in a sling.It was a nasty accidentCan’t fail but be much movedBy your plight, your sorry sightNow hopefully improved.Me, tell the world how sillyThere’s no need to mention moreI’ll not mention it (not much!)‘cause that’s what friends are for.We sincerely hope you’re betterHer indoors and meOur advice, stay off the aleAnd stick to drinking tea.Forbidden!Competitors and spectators duringthe recent Commonwealth Gamesat Bisley who took the trouble toread the M2002 signs dottedaround the Camp must have beenrelieved to see this list of Restrictedand Prohibited items. It was goodto know that Bisley would be keptclear of items such as firearms andammunition as well as thosedangerous alcoholic beverages,cameras and frisbees.It would be interesting to knowwhich competitor, spectator orofficial broke the most of theserules!dAnGer - ApproAch with cAution!88

Winter 2002 - National Rifle Association

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