BENCH REST
In 1906, when the club was founded, Prone Rifle Shooting was the prime activity in the club. Small Bore Rifle shooting had been introduced to improve the general standard of marksmanship amongst the UK population following the embarrassment of the Boer War.
Benchrest shooting discipline had been introduced recently for the older prone competitors, who have mobility issues and wish to continue with precision shooting. The club has a large number of people who are new to shooting. It has been realised that it is good discipline initially to teach newcomers and probationers to the sport. Later on, newcomers may wish to progress to shoot in the club’s Prone Rifle and Fullbore sections and to other disciplines.
It is a non-aggressive sport. You will need to have inner calmness. It is also a great way to relax. You sit on a chair at a table to shoot with either telescoped or iron sights on a precision rimfire or air rifle at 25 and 50 yards. The more experienced will shoot with an air rifle at 50 yards. Scoped rifles have generally a greater accuracy than iron sighted rifles, but the photograph does show that it is possible to achieve a tight group of 5 shots at 50 metres with an iron sighted .22 rimfire rifle.
There are regular training sessions at 50 yards with competitions on Sunday mornings. The aim is to be able to score the perfect 100. Success and competence will not come overnight. There are a number of skills to be mastered and there is a continual learning process.
We compete in various summer and winter any sighted Hendon League competitions, which require targets to be shot and witnessed on or before specified dates. It is taking part that matters. Nobody will be bothered if you come last.