Wilmslow Rifle Club

Here are some questions (and answers!) to get you started...

WHAT DO WE DO?

We shoot smallbore (.22″ live ammo) rifles at our 25-yard indoor range. We only shoot prone, i.e. lying down, and at card targets. It’s a game of millimetres, where it might take years before you get your first perfect score.

HOW DO WE COMPETE?

The key to any sport is competition…and we have loads. We participate in national and local postal competitions (where a card is shot, witnessed, and scored by someone official), as well as running many internal club competitions.

Internally, we have several handicapped competitions, where your average is taken into account – they favour new shooters, and anyone can win.

WHERE ARE WE?

We’d rather not put our exact location on the web. Sorry! But we’re in Handforth Dean, just off Wilmslow Road.

HOW DO I START?

The best way to start is for you to come along on a shooting night and have a look at the place. We should be able to answer any questions that you may have.

Email me (I'm Mahinda, the club secretary) on [email protected] and I’ll arrange a first visit.

I shoot on Mondays, but would be able to make arrangements for you to meet someone if you could only come on a Wednesday.

Note that you won’t be allowed to shoot on your first visit to the club.

CAN I SHOOT?

Usually, yes!

We accept anyone from crack shots to complete beginners. Even if you’ve never picked up a rifle before, we’ll make sure you’re shooting straight in no time.

Young, old, male or female (or non-binary), able bodied or disabled - you can join as long as you’re 14 or older. This is one of the few sports where people of any gender can compete on a completely level footing.

Note that anyone under the age of 18 will have to be accompanied by a parent.

While our range is not wheelchair friendly, we will do whatever we can to help.

HOW DO I BECOME A MEMBER?

We have a system of tiered membership. New applicants are granted probationary membership after filling in a couple of forms.

Once a probationary member has been shooting regularly for six months or more, he/she will be put forward for full membership.

As I’m sure you can understand, the Home Office and police force require us to keep close tabs on our members. Membership is subject to checks and references.

WHAT DO I NEED?

We have a selection of club rifles and other equipment (jackets, slings, gloves, mats and scopes).

There’s plenty of expertise around, and everyone will try their best to get you shooting straight.

WHEN DO WE SHOOT?

We shoot on Monday and Wednesday evenings, and Sunday mornings. But note that Sunday mornings not for beginners.

BUT ISN'T SHOOTING EVIL?

No not at all -in fact it’s an Olympic Sport I. Just like archery, fencing, and the javelin, all of which also use potentially lethal weapons.

Shooting gets a lot of bad press in the news, especially from the other side of the Atlantic. That just isn't us – target shooting is a whole different mindset.

You might be surprised about target shooting and target shooters in general. It’s all about millimetres – keeping things very steady, being in complete control of your body and focussing on every…single…breath.

If you want to be Rambo, you should probably try paintball instead!

Sometimes it’s the smallest things that matter.

We had a head-to-head competition between two shooters who both scored identical cards over ten shots, but one had declared a higher own start, putting them in the advantageous position.

It all came down to this shot, which if it had been in, it would have marked the advantaged shooter down by one point (it’s an odd competition that runs against the normal rules).

The edge of the brass gauge must be entirely within the ring, i.e. you should see a little bit of white all around the circumference.

This shot is just out, which made all the difference.

Some “arty” shots of the outdoor shoot courtesy of one of the club members.

And finally, the Clay Discs competition, where teams of two attempt to explode oversize Polo mints at 50m.

If you think they at difficult to see in the zoomed out photo, then they are even less clear when squinting down the sights.

There now follows a brief intermission while we enjoy a buffet lunch.

If you ever wondered what the difference between 50yds and 50m is, then wonder no longer. The 50 yds targets are at the front and the 50m ones to the rear, or just under 5m further away.

The 50m range uses four targets (the top two are for sighting in) and we make 5 shots on each target (20 shots instead of the usual 10).

The targets at 100yds are considerably bigger than those we use at 25yds, but, as our sights aren’t telescopic or magnifying, the dot we shoot at looks exactly the same size.

It’s our annual outdoor club shoot, where we not only shoot outdoors instead of inside, but we shoot at 100 yds and 50m (yes the switch between imperial and
Metric makes no sense and bugs us as well).

One of our members achieved great success at the Cheshire & North Wales County Championship this weekend lifting the Class B trophy - outstanding shooting Jack - well done 👏🏻

Did you know that different brands of cartridge perform differently in different rifles …. And even different batches of the same brand can perform differently - we visited the Eley Factory today to use their test facility to try and find the cartridge that works best with one of our members rifles