Torfaen Smallbore Rifle Club

WHAT IS SMALLBORE TARGET RIFLE SHOOTING?

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Smallbore Target Rifle Shooting uses .22 calibre target rifles to shoot at targets, at distances from 15 to 100 yards. Torfaen Small-bore Rifle club has a 25 yard indoor range and access to outdoor ranges for 50 and 100 yard shooting during the summer.

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Shooting is one of a small number of sports that is open to almost anyone irrespective of any disabilities, age, gender and fitness, which do not by themselves define who will be good or bad at shooting as they do with some other sports. You can enjoy shooting as a recreational sport with friends but you can also take it as challenge requiring discipline and effort with the goal of competing at club, county or international level. For most, it’s a mixture of both. You can see examples of top international shooters shooting in the Commonwealth Games or Olympics on You Tube.

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Most Smallbore shooting is done in the prone position (i.e. lying down). There is also 3 Position shooting, which is done in the prone, kneeling and standing positions. These notes refer to Prone Shooting as that is how you would start. You can move on to 3 Position (if you want to), when you’ve got to grips with prone shooting.

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When you first start shooting, the club will provide all the equipment you need to learn to shoot, together with the necessary coaching. All you need to bring is yourself and enthusiasm. If you want to buy the equipment as you progress you can do so, but you don’t have to. You will only be able to buy a rifle as a full club member, and Firearms Certificate (FAC) holder following a probationary period see Do I need to join a club.​

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More detail on the History of Smallbore Rifle Shooting is available from our History Section.

Shooting is accessible all over the country with a variety of indoor and outdoor ranges. Small-bore rifle shooting at 15-25 yards is usually shot on indoor ranges whereas 50 yards or meters and 100 yards, are shot outdoors.

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Anyone can start shooting as soon as you are physically strong enough to hold a firearm safely (with supervision) and you can continue well beyond retirement age. Once you are proficient, you can enter a variety of competitions. Some of these are run at the range where people come together to compete, such as the Torfaen 50m Open shoot, held in April each year. Others are run as postal competitions, where you shoot a competition target at the club which then gets posted off to the competition organiser. See our Types of competitions link for more details

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The governing body of the sport is the National Small-bore Rifle Association (NSRA) and you can either use the Club Finder on the NSRA website or our own Links page. to find a club in your local area.