Ole Smokey and Military Rifle

Sunday 3 May 2026

Today was our first of our “free” shoot, with the Club covering members’ range fees for the day and was well attended by 33 members.  It was also our Collector’s meeting, with some interesting .303’s and Martinis on display.

The Ole Smokey rimfire benchrest shoot was won by Ben G with a perfect 500/500, the first to do so in the Club with outward scoring, and an outstanding effort. 

He was closely followed by Alan C on 498, Teon J 475, Vanessa S 451, Liz D 448, Sandy C 446, and our newest junior Kalem on 429, an excellent effort given he’s only just received his firearms license.

Alan C won the Military Rifle shoot with an impressive group of 34mm at 50m with a Martini Henry .22.  He followed this up at 100 yards with a group of 72mm with a .303, followed by Derek B on 85mm and Ben G with 111mm.

We also had some entries for the Centrefire grouping.  Ben G shot a cracking 8.5mm group at 100 yards, followed closely by Kevin S with 25mm, both under the magic 1MOA.  At 200 yards Ben G shot another good group of 22.9mm (0.45 MOA), Kevin S 37.8mm (0.74 MOA) and Alan C with 57.9mm.

Alan N did very well on the R O Davie light rimfire with 486/500, with Ben G on 484.

Thank you to our volunteer range officers Col Fitz, Ian J, Tony H and Bill Y – without volunteers our Club simply wouldn’t run.

Our next shoot is Sunday 31 May, with round 2 of the Gleniffer Shield (off the elbows, no front or rear rests) and round 1 of the Handicap shoot – the great equalizer.