Sunday 6 September 2026

A busy day, with 4 new shooters completing their Safe Shooting Course under the tuition of Luigi, and a family of 4 trying out target shooting on P650’s.

Again some nice groups in the centrefire match.  At 200 yards Tony H shot an outstanding 16.7mm group, all in the bullseye, but just a whisker outside the Club record of 16.0mm.  Ben G was close behind with 26.2mm, and Kevin S with 41.4mm, all under the magic 1 MOA.

Some very close scores in the 100 yards grouping:  Ben G 9.5mm, Bruno K 10.0mm, Alan C 10.5mm, Kevin S 19.8mm.  Again, all well under 1 MOA.

Ole Smokey – Pennie L 420, Olivia B 487

Handicap – Alan C 501, Tony H 486

R O Davie – Alan C 491

Our next shoot, and the last competition shoot for the year, will be Sunday 11 October with the opportunity to catch up on any missed matches.  Range officers will be Alan C and Bill Y.

This will be followed by the end of year BBQ and marksmanship awards on 22^nd November.  See you there!

Sunday 2 August 2026

Fortunately the rain held off for round 2 of the very enjoyable Field Rifle shoot (George Joannidis trophy):  Derek B 460/500 (new Club record), Alan C 421, Lainey B 419, Ben G 412, Kevin S 408.

In the Ladies’ Competition Lainey B scored 489/500, closely followed by Liz D with 465.

Lainey B was once again the only Junior entrant, posting a very good 488/500.

Two entries for the RO Davie Light Rimfire – a new Club record from Alan N with a remarkable 495/500 who clearly has been doing a bit of extra practice.  Sandy C scored 439.

A couple of Ole Smokey entrants also with Alan C on 493/500, and Col Fitz on 468.

Thanks to our volunteer range officers for the day Bill and Tony – without RO’s the range can’t operate.

Our next shoot is Sunday 6 September with Round 3 of the Field Rifle (taking advantage of the dry weather) and Round 2 of the Handicap.  See you there!

Sunday 19 July 2026

Good English weather for today’s shoot with drizzly rain and an awkward fishtailing wind, but good fun anyway.

The RO Davie light rimfire (scope at 6.5x) produced some good scores in trying conditions:  Ben G 485/500, Tony H 473, Peter J 468, Vanessa S 460. I should point out that this is Vanessa’s best ever score, including for the heavy benchrest events.  Well done!

Despite the conditions there were some cracking 3-shot groups in the 100 yard centrefire and all under 1MOA:  Tony H 4.7mm (new Club record), Ben G 6.8mm, Alan C 6.9mm, John H 13.2mm, Derek B 22.0mm.

Groups at the 200 yard targets opened up a bit in the windy conditions, but all managed to achieve under 1 MOA:  Ben G 24.4mm, John H 45.1mm, Tony H 49.3mm.

Our next shoot is Sunday 2 August with the second round of the Field Rifle, together with Ladies’ and Juniors matches.  See you there!

Sunday 21 June 2026

The second of our “free” shoots for the year was well attended, with the Club covering members’ range fees for the day.

The first scheduled competitions were the Junior Shield and Ladies’ Competition.  We only had one junior entry, who also happened to be the only lady entry, so Lainey B did a Steven Bradbury and won both events with some very good scores:  489/500 in the Junior Shield (a new Club record, which would have scored a perfect 500 with inwards scoring), and 490/500 in the Ladies’ Comp.  Well done!

Next was the challenging Field Rifle (George Joannides trophy):  10 shots from the bench, 10 prone at 50m, 10 at 25m kneeling or sitting, 10 at 15m standing deliberate, followed by 10 shots rapid.  Scores were excellent, considering the top score last year was 408/500 and the average 356.  Derek B 435, Ben G 425, Alan C 421, Alan N 415.

A few entries also for the R O Davie light rimfire:  Alan N 486, Alan C 479, and Ben G 386 (4 of 5 targets shot).

Also some great centrefire groups:  at 100 yards Alan C 7.1mm (best so far this year, with .223) and 15.0mm (with .308), Ben G 13.3mm.  At 200 yards Alan C 17.3mm (0.34 MOA). Ben G 30.3mm (0.6 MOA).

Thanks to our volunteer range officers Olivia and Col Fitz – without you we wouldn’t be able to hold these events.

Our next shoot is Sunday 19 July (new date), with the R O Davie light rimfire and the 100/200 yard centrefire.  See you there!

Sunday 31 May 2026

A perfect shooting day, even if the ground was a bit boggy underfoot.

There were some outstanding centrefire groups, with Bruno K setting a new Club record with a cracking 16.0mm group at 200 yards.  This is 0.31 MOA and will be hard to beat.

At 100 yards Ben G managed a 10.7mm group, with Bruno K on 14.0mm, Derek B 15.4mm and Olivia B 23.5mm – all under 1 MOA.

A few hardy souls braved the difficult Gleniffer shield, 50 shots off the elbows with no front or rear support.  Derek B 443/500, Ben G 401, Tony H 339.

Only one taker for the Handicap shoot today, so Tony H off a handicap of 25 does a Steven Bradbury and wins the day with a score of 503.

R O Davie:  Peter J 462/500

Ole Smokey:  Pennie L 466/500 – a personal best, well done!

Thank you to our volunteer Range Officers Bill, Alan N and Alan C for running a safe and efficient range.  Our next shoot is Sunday 21^st June with the first round of Field Rifle (if it’s not too boggy), together with the Ladies’ Comp and Junior Comp.

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.

The updated 2026 program has been posted on the club website. Note the extra shooting day on Sunday 19 July, and the free shoots on 3 May, 21 June, and 22 November. The end of year BBQ and prize presentations has been moved forward to 22 November, and the shoot on 20 December will be something different like metallic silhouette or 100/200 yard rimfire for those who can make it along in that busy week before Christmas.

The rain held off long enough to post some good starting scores for 2026.

R O Davie light rimfire (Club record 493/500 by Ben G in 2025): Alan C 489, Derek B 489, Olivia B 483, Tony H 470, Sandy C 449, Liz D 431

Gleniffer Shield off the elbows (Club record 451/500 by Derek in 2025): Derek B 452, Olivia B 421

100 yard centrefire grouping, best 3-shot group (Club record 5.0mm by Alan C in 2025): Tony H  17.9mm (0.7 MOA), Derek B 29.3mm, Olivia B 36.6mm

200 yard centrefire grouping (Club record 17.3mm by Derek in 2024): Tony H  45.7mm (0.9 MOA), Derek B 71.6mm, Olivia B 78.9mm

Thanks to our volunteer range officers Alan C and Col Fitz.  Without volunteers, our Club wouldn’t be able to host range days like this.

Our next shoot is Sunday 3 May, which is also our Collector’s meeting so bring along your antique or collectable firearms for a shot.  Range officers will be Ian J and Col Fitz for the morning session, with Tony H and Bill Y in the afternoon.  Also, don’t forget our Annual General Meeting on Wednesday 8 April at the Bellingen Citizens’ Room, more details to follow.

A very hot day for our first shoot of the year, with the Centrefire 100/200 yard group and the first round of Ole Smokey rimfire benchrest.

I’d love to post the scores, but the pile of shot targets went missing. One minute they were on the table at the firing line, next minute they were gone. If by some chance you know where they are, please let me know. Otherwise, we’ll re-shoot those matches over the course of the year.

Our next shoot is Sunday 8th March with the RO Davie Light Rimfire, and the Gleniffer Shield (off the elbows). RO’s are Alan C and Col Fitz. See you there!

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.