Written by: David Minshall
Friday 3 May – Sunday 5 May saw three days of training and competition shooting at Bisley with the Long Range Rifles Branch of the MLAGB. Ranges booked were 500, 600, 900 and 1000 yards. Shooting was mostly with muzzle loading rifle, but there were also a handful of black powder breech loaders used at some distances.
After a disappointing start, with shooting on Friday morning rained off, all proceeded as planned for the rest of the weekend, including the Friday afternoon 1000 yard range booking. The remainder of the weekend mostly saw good sunny spells, which made for pleasant conditions; the playful wind though offered good opportunity for training!
Saturday’s 500 yard practice session was followed by competition at 600 yards for the Volunteer Trophy. This is fired with open sighted muzzle loading rifles, and will usually see a mix of .451 military target rifles and .577 Enfield rifles. The winning score was made with a Parker-Hale Volunteer, second place an original Whitworth military target rifle (that the firer borrowed!), and third place an original Turner military target rifle – all .451 calibre.
Sunday morning was another practice session at 600 yards, with competition in the afternoon at 900 yards for the B.C. Baker Cup. The initial testing wind at 900 yards gave way to calmer winds but some light rain spells. There top three places were separated by just 2 points! Nice to see a good tight competition at the top.
Once again we had shooters from throughout the UK, plus Jersey, France and the Netherlands.
