Seven Metre Bell Target Air Rifle League

By Ed Massey

Back in 1995 I joined the Bridgend and District Air Rifle League, a .177 Air Rifle 7 Meter Bell Target rifle league that was established 112 years ago. cleanly, or the pellet goes in but leaves a mark on the out side of the hole is scored as a 5. If a pellet impacts the plate between the hole and the first

The object of this format of shooting is to put a .177 pellet through a 9.525 millimetre hole on a 5 inch metal plate, from seven meters, (twentyone feet), the face of which is painted white. The centre of the plate stands 5 feet vertically from the ground and level with the firing line. The plate is marked with concentric rings at 1 inch, inner, 2 inches, Magpie and 3 inches, outer. Set in a black painted metal box with a light running a 100 watt pearl bulb. With an aperture in the front measuring 6 to 8 inches in diameter and a bell behind the plate, (bell target). The “bell” is usually a rotary saw blade. These rings indicate what is scored. Straight through the hole, with out leaving a mark on the plate, is scored as a 5.1, the maximum single score from one shot. Not going through the hole

ring, but does not enter the hole, this is a 4 and as the shooter hit’s the plate further out from the centre then the scores decrease accordingly, 3, 2 and outer or 0. If any part of the pellet straddles the line by any amount then that shot is marked up, from example, from a 3 to a 4 and so on. Each match is shot between two teams with maximum of 10 shooters per match, each member shooting shoulder to shoulder, (one shooter at a time on the firing point), with an opponent. Each shooter is given 7 scoring shots and a sighter. The sighter is the first shot and does not count. It is basically for the shooter to know his / her rifle is working properly and the sights are properly adjusted. Yes, we have lady members as well. In fact every team has at least 1 lady member. We also cater for younger members starting as young as 10 years old. The maximum points that can be scored from any individual shooter is 35.7, that is 7 clean shots of 5.1. Only 5 people have achieved this in the 112 years and, amazingly, 2 of them have achieved it twice. Any scores of 35 to 35.7 is called a possible and that shooter is applauded by all present.

To the right, myself and my pairs partner Simon Williams, of St Brides ARC centre, with Kevin McNally, of Tondu Cricket Club, the league chairman at the time, left. Collecting our Handicap Pairs runners up commemoratives

Each shot is painted out once the score has been recorded. Each match has a score caller from the away team and a painter from the home team. Both teams make a written record of these scores on a scoring sheet and this is then passed on to the fixtures secretary whom correlates these in a permanent record and each league and competition has its own table showing a teams progress in the form of a news letter.

April. Monday evenings are league matches.

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Best 7 from 10, a 6’s and a Handicap 7 from 10. We also shoot a competition that involves Pip. This is where the little pip that appears in the centre of the pellet mark on the plate scores and not the hole of the pellet mark left on the painted face of the plate.

Our club is 1 of 6 in the Bridgend area, but ours is the only one with a dedicated range building. Converted from an old sheep shed many decades ago and recently extended to give more room. All the teams shoot in or near pubs and clubs. In fact the other five teams shoot in social or sports clubs. It is not unusual for two teams to share a venue.

Ours is St Brides Air Rifle Club. Situated, up the hill, behind the Fox and Hounds pub in St Brides Major in the Vale of Glamorgan in South Wales, just south of Bridgend and not far west of Cardiff.

The league season starts in September and finishes in April. Matches start at 20:00 Mondays and Thursdays. There is a break through Christmas. Our team organise our own Christmas gathering for an informal shoot using very old, antique, air rifles. Other teams organise their own. We also break for Easter Monday. lowed by the presentation of cups, trophies and other awards. When all awards have been presented we can relax and enjoy the rest of the evening with a live singer and dancing and, of course, copious amounts of alcohol. The presentation evening is usually on a Saturday evening in July. Starts at 19:00 for 19:30 to eat. The turn out is very good, with more that 100 people in attendance. The festivities usually finish around 01:00 .

All new members are instructed in the safe handling and use of an air rifle, regardless whether they have handled an air rifle before, they are also instructed in range and safety protocols along with the scoring formats. Each new member must enter a no fewer than six and up to ten scores to be eligible to shoot for a team in all competitions. This is to give them a handicap and an average to work from. When not shooting competition on a Thursday evening, we practice going should to shoulder with another member of the team. These evenings allow us to reset our sights, experiment with changes to our stance. Trying to find that little advantage that will help us to achieve a better score and feel more comfortable in the aim. The rifles we use are, as I mentioned earlier, .177 calibre piston or CO2 pre-charged types, to a muzzle pressure of no more than 8 feet pounds. We also have rifles available to new members who can be aged from as young as 10 years old. In fact, as long as they can point the rifle safely down the range and shoot the target then they can join, although height is a contributing factor. We have club junior rifles for the younger members. We can lend club rifles to older members, but most members prefer to purchase their own rifles as soon as possible because there may be in a situation where other people are using the club rifle and the sights not zeroed to any one person or constantly being re-zeroed.