Bellingen Branch of SSAA NSW
The Bellingen Rifle Club 2026 program is now live on the website, to view or download. Our first shoot is Sunday 1st February – see you there!
I’m in the process of setting up a Facebook page (Bellingen Branch SSAA) to make it easier to send out timely updates.
Sunday 21 December 2025
After a fantastic BBQ lunch at the Dairyville Range prepared by Olivia, Col and Ben, the marksmanship awards for 2025 were presented.
Most improved: Liz D, who’s gone from an average of 416 last year to 467/500 in 2026.
RO Davie light rimfire: 1st Ben G 493 (new record), 2nd Olivia, 3rd Derek
Ladies: 1st Lainey 492 (new record), 2nd Olivia, 3rd Penne L
Ole Smokey benchrest: 1st Ben G 498 (new record, will be hard to beat), 2nd Alan C, 3rd Lainey
George Joannidis Field Rifle: 1st Olivia 408, 2nd Teon J, 3rd Alan C
Gleniffer shield: 1st Derek 451 (new record), 2nd Olivia, 3rd Ben G
Junior shield: 1st Lainey 482
Military rifle grouping: 1st Derek 9mm (new record), 2nd Alan C, 3rd Alan N
Handicap: 1st Teon J 516, 2nd Vanessa S
Centrefire 100y group: 1st Alan C 5.0mm (new record), 2nd Tony H, 3rd Lainey
Centrefire 200y group: 1st Bruno K 19.3mm, 2nd Ben G, 3rd Tony H
Awards were followed by the rimfire silhouette shoot, won by Peter J with an impressive 66.7/75, with Glenn S winning a $50 Coffs Guns voucher for being closest to the magic number.
Thanks to Dustin and Jon at Coffs Guns for donating the raffle prizes (including a pair of Vortex binoculars). Our first shoot of 2026 will be on Sunday 1st February, stay tuned for the program.
Perfect conditions for the centrefire grouping, with every entrant achieving under the magic 1 MOA (25.4mm at 100 yards, 50.8mm at 200 yards):
100 yards: Darren S 12.1mm (0.48 MOA), Derek B 15.5mm, Ben G 19.3mm, Kevin S 21.7mm
200 yards: Kevin S 34.6mm (0.65 MOA), Derek B 37.6mm
We also shot Round 3 of the Handicap shoot, with handicaps being calculated from an average of the previous 8 benchrest scores. Alan C 504, Darren S 502, Col Fitz 496, and Brett H 495.
Other entries:
R O Davie light rimfire: Ben G 493/500 (new Club record!), Alan N 464
Ole Smokie benchrest: Alan C 492, Brett H 442
Our next Club activity is the Christmas BBQ (with prize raffles) and trophy presentations, on Sunday 21st December at midday. This will be followed by the ever-popular silhouette shoot. The Bellingen Committee has decided that this year the Club will cover the range fees for all club attendees, to keep costs down at Christmas. Hope to see you there!
A lovely Spring afternoon for the R O Davie light rimfire shoot, being 50 shots with a light or multipurpose rimfire and a telescopic sight set no higher than 6.5x.
Liv B 492/500 (new Club record), Alan C 486, Derek B 484, Sandy C 465, Tony H 457
Four brave souls participated in the Field Rifle shoot. This match consists of 10 shots off the bench with a front rest at 50m, followed by prone at 50m, kneeling/sitting at 25m, standing at 15m, and rapid fire at 15m. It really is a test of those marksmanship principles of a stable position, controlled breathing, and smooth trigger release.
Olivia B 408, Alan C 367, Sandy C 359, Liz D 239
Our next shoot is Sunday 23rd November with the third rounds of the Handicap and Centrefire matches, together with any catch-ups for matches you may have missed.
Sunday 7 September
Great weather for the Fathers Day shoot, and some good scores in 5 different matches.
R O Davie light rimfire: Olivia B 488, Tony H 466
Ladies’ competition: Lainey B 478, Penne L 452
Field Rifle (George Joannidis): Olivia B 399, Teon J 370 who scored higher than his dad Peter J on 361, Ben G 349
Centrefire grouping 100 yards: Tony H 7.0mm (a cloverleaf group), Bruno K 11.7mm, Ben G 28.2mm
Centrefire grouping 200 yards: Tony H 46.7mm blaming the wind of course but still under 1 MOA.
Our next shoot is Sunday 12 October at Dairyville, range officers for the day are Derek B and Alan C.
Sunday 20 July
This was a catch-up shoot for the one cancelled in March due to the floods. A rather small showing for the Ladies’ and Juniors matches, and a few more for the Handicap Shoot, but two new Club records – congratulations!
For the Juniors there was only one entry, with Lainey B shooting an excellent 482/500.
The Ladies’ Match was also won by Lainey with a new Club record:
| Lainey | 492/500 |
| Olivia B | 488 |
| Vanessa S | 449 |
The Handicap Shoot favours those who shoot well above their average, and Vanessa had an excellent day:
| Participant | Score | Handicap | Final |
| Vanessa S | 456 | 55 | 511 |
| Olivia B | 492 | 12 | 504 |
| Sandy C | 437 | 66 | 503 |
| Alan N | 478 | 22 | 500 |
| Doug B | 455 | 44 | 499 |
| Lainey B | 481 | 13 | 494 |
We also had 3 entries for the R O Davie Light Rimfire, with Ben G shooting a new Club record with his new Tikka T1x:
| Ben G | 490/500 |
| Alan N | 476 |
| Sandy C | 453 |
Our next shoot is Sunday 3rd August at midday, with the R O Davie Light Rimfire round 2 and the Centrefire 100/200 yards.
A small contingent today for the Handicap shoot, and the Gleniffer Shield.
The handicaps are calculated in the same way as golf – the average of previous scores multiplied by 0.93, and subtracted from 500. The winner was Teon J with 516, followed by Derek B on 504, Ben G with 503, and Olivia B on 492.
The Gleniffer Shield (off the elbows, no supports allowed) had 3 entrants, all scoring above the magic 400: Derek B on 435, Olivia B 420, and Ben G 406.
Darren S put his .270WIN through its paces and shot some very respectable groups of 14.5mm at 10 yards (just over 0.5MOA) and 36.3mm at 200Y (0.7 MOA)
** Note: our next shoot is Sunday 20th July (to make up for the rained-out weekend in March) which will be the Ladies’ and Juniors’ shoot, together with round 2 of the Handicap match. The revised program is on the Club website. Range officers will be Tony and Josh.
Despite the rain, there were a remarkable 4 club records broken today: Ben G with 498/500 in the Ole Smokey Shield, Alan C with a cracking 5.0mm group in the 100 Yard Centrefire (which equates to about 0.2MOA), Alan N with a 29.1mm group in the Military Rifle at 100 yards with a Lee Enfield, and Derek B with a 4.5mm group in the Military Rifle at 50 metres with a Lee Enfield trainer. Further, if the Ole Smokey targets had been scored inwards instead of outwards, there would have been two perfect 500/500’s. It’s wonderful to see the standard of marksmanship improving each year.
Today was also our collector’s meeting, and in addition to some nice Lee Enfields belonging to members, Kevin Franklin kindly brought along a pre-1900 Remington rolling block and two European muzzle-loaders.
Scores in detail:
Ole Smokey rimfire benchrest (previous Club record 493/500 by Ben G in May 2024)
Ben G 498 (new record), Olivia B 491, Tony H 473, Liz D 467 (well done! Previous best was 416!), Pennie L 454, Tracey B 449, Sandy C 446, Kevin S 378.
100 yard centrefire grouping, best group of 3 shots (previous Club record 8.4mm by Tony H in 2024).
Alan C 5.0mm (new club record), Kevin S 14.3mm.
Military Rifle, using any military rifle with iron sights, at 50m (rimfire) or 100y (centrefire), best 3-shot group adjusted for 100 yards (ie multiply 50m group by 2).
Derek B 4.5mm at 50m = 9mm
Alan C 11.4mm at 50m = 22.8mm
Alan N 29.1mm at 100y (an excellent group with a Lee Enfield)
Alan C 42.8mm at 100y
Ben G 55.1mm at 100y.
Our next shoot is on Sunday 1 June at midday, with round 2 of the Gleniffer Shield and the Handicap match.
A large turnout today in perfect weather for the R O Davie light rimfire competition, using a sporter or multipurpose rifle with the scope dialled down to 6.5x. This was followed by the Gleniffer Shield, using any rimfire rifle “off the elbows” with no front or rear supports other than an optional sling.
R O Davie (Club record 488/500 by Ben G in 2024).
Alan N 485 (well done!), Ben G 484, Alan C 475, Teon J 465, Ian J 464, Bill Y 452, Liz D 450, Sandy C 406, Vanessa S 396
Gleniffer Shield (Club record 449/500 by Derek in 2024)
Derek B 451, Ben G 389, Ian J 355
Our next shoot is Sunday 4 May at Dairyville, which is also our collector’s meeting. Don’t forget also the Annual General Meeting on Wednesday 9 April at 7:00pm at the Mylestom Hall.
Due to the high likelihood of flooding at the range (particularly along Dry Creek Road), the shoot at Dairyville Range on Sunday 9th March is cancelled. We’ll have a catch-up shoot at a later date, to be advised. Regards, Derek
Bellingen Rifle Club 