Shooting at the Lord Roberts Centre

An hour or so up the road from us is the National Shooting Centre at Bisley.  It's where the outdoor meeting of the year is held every year and Portsmouth City shooters know it mostly for the ELEY finals that we sometimes qualify to shoot in (see here and here).

However, one of our members pointed out that there was nothing stopping us from booking some practice time on the Lord Roberts Range, so this weekend, that's what we did!

The Lord Roberts Range is a 50m semi-outdoor range (the points are in the building, but the targets are outside) with electronic targets, like what the international matches are shot on (and if you haven't seen one of those, scroll down to the bottom of this post to see a couple of recent ISSF finals).  The main difference between this sort of shooting and what we usually do - perhaps more than the distance or maybe even the weather conditions - is the number of shots: unlimited sighters, and 60 competition shots, all in one go.

When you are only used to doing a 10-shot indoor comp card, 60 shots on the trot is a whole other animal.  Even if you are used to doing outdoor matches on cards, those are only 20 competition shots at a time and then there's a break while you change your card.  That's not the case here; you can and have to just keep shooting and shooting and shooting.  And when you finish, you get a big print out of all your shots, your final score, and the placement of all those shots.

And just to be clear, the placement of these shots is recorded pretty accurately, down to the tenth of a point.

Here's Adam and Marian showing us how to do it in style (the monitors don't actually flicker like you see, that's just the video recording).

We had a great time up at the Lord Roberts Centre and we'll be sure to go again in 2017, though we might wait for it to warm up a little first, as it is already a bit chilly.

Felix Gordon Hoadley

This is the first of what I hope will be many posts about the club's history.  To begin with, I thought it would be fun to go all the way back to the beginning and the first secretary of the club.

Felix Gordon Hoadley was born in Brighton in 1888 and when he was 25 years old he emigrated to New Zealand, but in that short period of adulthood, Private F. G. Hoadley made a big impact on shooting in Portsmouth.  He was the secretary and, for five years before emigrating, the captain of the newly established Borough of Portsmouth Rifle Club (as our club was previously known).

Hoadley was an exceptional shot who represented Portsmouth at Bisley.  In 1912, at the age of 24, he was within seven points of the King's Prize, achieving second place.  In that same year, the members of the club presented Hoadley with a B.S.A. rifle on the occasion of his marriage to Maud Smith.  It was only a year later that the club would say goodbye to their captain, secretary and cornerstone of their A team.  So important and well-liked was he that a 'smoking concert' was held in his honour at the "Cobden" Hotel on Arundel St (likely the Cobden Arms) attended not only by members of the Borough Rifle Club but by members of other clubs in the district as well.  It was at this event that he was presented with a silver watch with the following engraving:

"presented to F. G. Hoadley by the members of the Borough of Portsmouth Rifle Club, as a mark of esteem, June 1913"

On top of this, a purse of gold was presented for Hoadley's son, born that same month (Portsmouth Evening News, 26th June, 1913).

Felix Gordon Hoadley's farewell was well documented in the Portsmouth Evening News (26th June 1913, p. 5)

The Cobden Arms on Arundel St, Portsmouth (circa 1970, awaiting demolition)

Hoadley emigrated with his new family to the Dominion of New Zealand, a part of the British Empire, but still had every intention of returning to Bisley in the future to represent his new adopted homeland.  Unfortunately, with the advent of war the following year, it is unlikely he was able to do so.  He nonetheless maintained his shooting status, being described as "one of the finest marksmen in New Zealand" (New Zealand Evening Post, 18th October, 1917).  Sadly, his new life in the Antipodes was not long lived and Hoadley died of pneumonia in 1917 at the age of 29.

Hoadley's obituary (New Zealand Evening Post, 18th October 1917)

It's humbling to think that the organisations, clubs and teams we are involved with setting up and fostering in their early years may potentially live on as much as a century after we're gone.  Certainly, a number of individuals have made enormous contributions to our rifle club over the last century, but from what can be gleaned from the archives, F. G. Hoadley's efforts at the beginning were important in getting it all started.  Thanks, Felix!

F. G. Hoadley's final resting place, Sydenham Cemetary, Christchurch, New Zealand (from BillionGraves.com).

The 2016 Summer Report, pt 2: Shooting Outdoors

The Hampshire Long Range Open Meeting

In preparation for the ELEY finals at Bisley (see part 1) a number of our shooters were keen to get a bit of outdoor practice in beforehand.  As a result, a few of us went up to Andover Rifle Club to enjoy a fine day of shooting on their outdoor range.

This was a Double Dewar match, meaning two cards shot at 50m and two cards at 100yds.  Each card has a maximum of 200 points on it, so final scores are out of 800.  The shooting is a little different from the standard indoor shooting, which we do at 25yds; the targets are further away but they are also bigger, and therefore because they are bigger, we can shoot more than one competition shot into each target.

Let's compare:

A standard 25-yds indoor 10-bull (the shots have been coloured red to make them clearer in these pictures).

Zoom in on the 25-yd card and you see that there is only one competition shot per target.

A shot 50m outdoor card.  Only 4 competition targets.

Zoom in on one of the targets and you can clearly see 5 competition shots

A shot 100-yds card with two competition targets.

Zoom in on one of the 100 yds targets and you will see 10 competition shots.

So the upside of outdoor shooting is that there is less moving around from one target to the next.  The difficulty lies in changing light and wind conditions.

Matt Simmons, Jonathan Rowe, and Tamsin Rowe, all shooting at 100 yards for the first time!

Owing to the fact that none of us shoot particularly regularly outdoors, this match represented a steep learning curve for those of us for whom this outdoor shooting was all new and those more experienced of us who had to remember what we were supposed to be doing.  It was a great competition that presented Tamsin and Matt with their first outdoor experience, and Jonny with his first 100 yds experience.  None of us did astoundingly well, except perhaps Tamsin, who proudly took away the Phyllis Green Trophy (top lady in C/D class).

Well done, Tamsin!

The Bisley Weekend Aggregate

A couple of City shooters, Gordon Scruton and Jonathan Rowe, decided to not just do the ELEY final but go up and do the whole weekend aggregate of the annual Bisley meeting.  This involved three cards at 50m and three cards at 100 yds, making a sum-total of 120 competition shots (thus 1,200 points in total).  This was an awful lot of fun and we'd encourage as many of you as possible to set aside the weekend next year to join us.  There was camping involved, BBQing and lots of the infamous 'Bisley wind' to throw the shots off.

Particular highlights in the shooting over the weekend were Jonny's high placing in C Class at 50m and, to a lesser extent, Gordon's placement in A Class for his 50m.

The Dacorum Open Handicap Shoot

A little time after Bisley weekend, a few more shooters decided to go up to Buckinghamshire for a handicap shoot, this handicap was based on a shooter's declared average.  Much like handicaps in golf, this is a way for shooters with different levels of skill to enjoyably compete against each other.  This competition marked a couple more firsts for Portsmouth City shooters - for Mike McCormick it marked his first time shooting at 100 yards, and for Tom Sommerville it was his first outdoor shoot entirely.

Mike and Tom shooting on the 50m range.

No significant wins in this competition but it was a great, if slightly drizzly day and a fun time was had by all!

Havant's Final Fling 'Scottish Match'

This annual competition marks one of the last competitions of the outdoor summer season.  A Scottish match is one that is only at 100 yards, and in this case was 60 competition shots.  Portsmouth shooters, Ian Cooper and Gordon Scruton took part in this competition, both in A Class, and while neither got close to winning the class (well done to Cliff Richards of Havant for that) it was pretty close between the two of them.

That's the end of the outdoor round up, but the next part of this summer report will look at the indoor postal leagues.

The 2016 Summer Report, pt 1: The ELEY Final

It will not have escaped the notice of some of you that it has been some time since I’ve contributed to this blog – many apologies. Here’s a summary of how the club and its shooters have been doing over the summer:

Portsmouth City was proud to send 5 shooters to the NSRA/ELEY final this year. This was an excellent number to get to the 50m outdoor final from a total of 12 shooters who took part in the competition. For J. Rowe and M. McCormick, this competition was about besting their scores and standing compared to last year, while at the same time being in higher, more competitive divisions. While for the ladies, this was L. Haskett and T. Rowe’s first time shooting in these finals and thus their first experience of the infamous wind on the Century Range.

Here’s how everybody did:

G. Scruton (191, 188 – 379), Class A: 20th place

J. Rowe (192, 186 – 378), Class C: 4th place (achieved 4th place in Class E last year: 185, 192 - 377)

L. Haskett (189, 185 – 374), Class E: 2nd place

M. McCormick (177, 179 – 356), Class E: 7th place (achieved 9th place in Class F last year: 170, 182 - 353)

T. Rowe (179, 177 – 356), Class F: 9th place

So overall it was a great Sunday afternoon of shooting for Portsmouth City.  The next post will stay outdoors and review some of the other 50m and 100yd matches that City shooters have taken part in over the summer.

Five Portsmouth City Shooters Get to the NSRA/ELEY Final!

So after two rounds of four cards each, we now know which of our shooters have now earned a place at the ELEY final at Bisley this year:

A Class: Gordon Scruton (1st Round: 393; 2nd Round: 396)

C Class: Jonathan Rowe (1st Round: 384; 2nd Round: 387)

E Class: Lauren Haskett (1st Round: 371; 2nd Round: 383)

E Class: Mike McCormick (1st Round: 379; 2nd Round: 378)

F Class: Tamsin Rowe (1st Round: 364; 2nd Round: 367)

So, congratulations to Jonny and Mike for repeating their achievement of last year and getting to the final once again.  The match will be 50m outdoors at Bisley on August 14th.

Portsmouth City is well represented at the Bisley National Meeting

This weekend three of our members, Marian Nevatte, Jonathan Rowe and Michael McCormick, took part in the NSRA/ELEY final up at Bisley.  These three had already proven themselves by getting through the 1st and 2nd rounds of this national competition, so now they were able to simply enjoy the experience of shooting outdoors at the annual national competition.

I'm pleased to say that Mike McCormick, in his first experience shooting outdoors, achieved 9th place in Class F.

Jonathan Rowe, taking part in his second ELEY final, bested his 7th position last year in Class F and this year achieved 4th place in Class E.

And our club captain, Marian Nevatte, did us all proud by getting 6th place in Class B!

Here were their scores (they were shooting two sets of cards at 50m outdoors).

M. McCormick - 170 (79, 91), 182 (91, 91)

J. Rowe - 185 (91, 94), 192 (97, 95)

M. Nevatte - 192 (96, 96), 188 (95, 93)

If any of you would like to try this next year, let one of the committee know down at the club so that we can add your name to the list of competitors for the NSRA/ELEY match next season.

The 2015 NSRA/ELEY National Postal Competition

This is just a quick announcement to say that the cards have arrived for the 1st round of the NSRA/ELEY competition.

Those of you who agreed to shoot this should now find the cards in your pigeon-holes.  There are 4 cards and they all must be shot on the same day and you must have them shot by 22nd December 2014.  As this does put significant demand on the firing points please don't everyone leave it to the last week.

The competition is a knock out where those who shoot well move on to a second round of 4 cards, and if you do well on those you make it to the final, which is a shoulder-to-shoulder outdoor shoot during Bisley week - definitely an experience worth shooting well for!

Last year Portsmouth City Rifle Club managed to field 10 shooters for this competition (with one making it to the final at Bisley) and I'm delighted to say that this year we have upped that to 12!

See you at the range!