Welcome to the Harwell Target Shooting Club News page! Here you’ll find the latest updates, event announcements, and important notices for members and visitors alike. Stay tuned for what’s happening at the club.
Harwell Shooters Celebrate Triple Triumph in Oxfordshire Winter League
Harwell Shooters Celebrate Triple Triumph in Oxfordshire Winter League
Harwell Rifle Club enjoyed an excellent season in the 2025/26 Oxfordshire Rifle Association Smallbore Prone Winter League, with strong performances across all divisions and several individual honours.
The standout result came in Division 3, where Harwell B secured the divisional title with 16 points and an aggregate score of 2282. The team, made up of Oliver and David, produced a consistently strong campaign, winning five matches and finishing clear at the top of the table. Oliver Bailey also topped the Division 3 leading averages with an impressive 96.3 average.
There was further success in Division 4, where Harwell D also claimed the championship. Violetta and Simon guided the team to six wins from nine matches and 18 league points, finishing ahead of Chinnor B. Both shooters featured prominently in the division’s leading averages, with Simon averaging 93.7 and Violetta 92.9.
In Division 6, Harwell E produced another title-winning performance, sharing top spot on points with Chinnor D but taking first place on aggregate. Tracy and Richard won seven matches during the season and finished with an aggregate of 2099. Tracy also finished second in the Division 6 leading averages with 89.8.
Harwell’s top team, Harwell A, competed strongly in Division 1 and finished fourth in a very competitive field. Gavin and Jamie both featured prominently in the division’s leading averages, each recording 97.4 averages across the season. Gavin also won the Class A individual award with a 10/12 aggregate score of 979, sharing the highest aggregate score in the competition.
Harwell C also delivered a solid Division 4 campaign, finishing third overall. Connor and Andy helped the side to six wins during the season, with Andy recording a division-leading 94.6 average.
Across the league, Harwell shooters featured heavily among the leading averages and award winners, underlining the club’s depth and consistency throughout the winter season. Winning three divisions and collecting individual honours made this one of the club’s strongest Winter League campaigns in recent years.
Harwell Shooters Shine in the 2025 Summer Leagues
Harwell Shooters Shine in the 2025 Summer Leagues
Harwell Target Shooting Club members have enjoyed a fantastic summer season, competing successfully in both the Oxfordshire Rifle Association (ORA) and Middlesex leagues. Across the board, Harwell shooters produced outstanding results, bringing home several league and division titles.
Strong Performances in the ORA Prone Leagues
Harwell shooters delivered consistently high scores across all prone disciplines — from short-range indoor to long-range outdoor matches.
In the ORA Individual Prone Leagues, Jamie topped his division with a superb season average of 98.4, while Gavin followed closely on 97.2.
At 50 m prone, Simon won his division with an average of 184.6, and Oliver placed highly with 190.9, alongside Andy and Connor , who also represented Harwell strongly.
At 100 yds, Harwell’s team continued to perform impressively — Jamie achieved a season average of 190.5, Oliver reached 190.6, and Simon maintained 183.3, helping the club to strong finishes across the outdoor series.
In the ORA Club Pairs Prone competitions, Harwell pairs also excelled:
- Simon & Andy won their 100 yd Division 1, finishing with an outstanding average of 367.1.
- Jamie & Gavin secured 3rd place in the 50 m Division 1 with an average of 385.0.
- Oliver & David placed 2nd in the 50 m Division 2, with 374.8.
- Simon & Connor also placed 2nd in the Indoor Prone Division 2 with 184.4, demonstrating Harwell’s depth across the team.
Benchrest Excellence
Harwell’s benchrest competitors were also in top form throughout the season.
In the ORA Individual Benchrest League, Alun dominated Division 1, completing the season with a perfect 100.0 average, including several strings of 200× scores. Gavin finished runner-up with an excellent 99.5 average, while Simon also performed strongly with 98.6.
In Division 2, David averaged 98.2, securing several 200-point rounds.
The ORA Club Pairs Benchrest League saw further Harwell success:
- Alun & Gavin won Division 1, scoring an exceptional 199.4 average and multiple near-perfect results.
- Simon & David finished 2nd in Division 1, only narrowly behind the leaders after several superb performances.
Middlesex Long-Range League Success
In the Middlesex Individual Long-Range Rifle League, Harwell continued to impress:
- Gavin won Division 2 (50 m) and the Any Sights competition.
- Oliver took the Division 2 (100 yd) title.
- Simon claimed Division 3 victories at both 50 m and 100 yd.
All three — Moffatt, Bailey, and Edwards — qualified for the end-of-season finals, each earning Middlesex plaques for their achievements 2025 Long Range Results Round 10.
A Successful Summer Season
From 20 yards indoors to 100 yards outdoors, and even in the precision world of benchrest, Harwell shooters have shown remarkable skill and teamwork throughout the 2025 season. The club can be proud of its results across both county and regional competitions — congratulations to everyone who represented Harwell so well this summer!
The Bisley National Rifle Meeting – A First-Timer’s Experience
The Bisley National Rifle Meeting 2025 – A First-Timer’s Experience
This year was my first time attending the National Rifle Meeting at Bisley for smallbore, so I decided to enter the Weekend Aggregate as a good starting point. The weekend kicked off on Friday evening in the LMRA clubhouse, where I had a few pints with fellow competitors. Sadly, we missed the evening meal, but after some rather nice banana rum, we made our way back to the caravan and settled for fried egg on toast.
Saturday: The Wind Awakens
I woke on Saturday with a slight hangover. Unfortunately, we’d used most of the eggs the night before, but Gavin kindly cooked up the last of them into scrambled eggs. Luckily, my first shoot wasn’t until 12:00, giving me some time to recover.
I arrived at the range around 11:00 to get my bearings and assess the wind. To say I was surprised would be an understatement — it was easily the strongest wind I’ve ever shot in. Coming from relatively sheltered local ranges, the open smallbore range on Century presented quite the challenge.
As noon approached, the nerves kicked in — something I hadn’t felt in a while, but expected for my first competitive smallbore event. Gavin helpfully distracted me with a sausage bap and assisted with setting up my targets, which was no easy task with the wind fighting against bulldog clips. Before he left, he gave me a parting message: “Don’t stuff it up!” Naturally, I immediately stuffed it up.
I chose to shoot 50m first, unaware that the course of fire — 3 details of 20 shots (an English Match) — counted differently: the first two details for the 50m comp, and the third for the Dewar (paired with a 100-yard detail). My first shoot was all over the place. I finished with a disappointing 177 — my worst score of the season.
Thankfully, I settled down during the second detail, and with the wind dropping slightly (though still gusty), I managed a much-improved 191 — my best score of the weekend. These two details made up the score for the 50m comp. Unfortunately, that initial 177 held me back, and I finished 28th out of 52. In my third 50m detail, the wind returned, and a few missed changes saw me scoring 183.
The Astor: Team Spirit and Drama
After the 50m shoot, I had a few hours to kill before Harwell TSC took part in the Astor for Oxfordshire. I browsed a few trade stalls and enjoyed an ice cream while Gavin shot his 100-yard detail.
The rest of the Harwell team soon arrived, and we helped Alun bring the bench to the firing point. For this team event, Gavin had arranged for Leah Brough from Andover — an international shooter — to act as our wind coach. The Saturday wind gave her plenty to contend with, especially as most of us were unfamiliar with wind coaching. We even had a lively debate over wind direction terminology — Leah opted to call it based on the flag direction (i.e., where the flag was pointing), which initially confused a few of us.
The Astor is a Dewar course, starting at 50m. Most of us performed reasonably well, though poor Alun was struggling with shoulder pain. He was offered the chance to withdraw, but refused to let the team down. By the time he completed the 100-yard shoot — in horrible wind conditions — he had lost all feeling in his arm and needed help removing the rifle from his shoulder. He collapsed just as the targets were being changed, but thankfully Andy caught him, and both he and Leah cared for him until medics arrived.
Alun made a good recovery, and within an hour he was back in the LMRA enjoying a Coke with us before heading home.
Harwell performed admirably in the Astor, especially considering it was the first time in years an Oxfordshire team had entered. While we placed at the bottom, we weren’t far behind the teams above us — a solid foundation for future competitions.
Saturday Evening: Food, Lessons Learned, and Restraint
On Saturday night, Gavin and I joined David and Kevin — who were doing Lapua batch testing at the Lord Roberts Centre — for a delicious Chinese meal. Having learned my lesson from Friday night, and knowing I had an 08:30 detail the next morning, I limited myself to one pint and wisely avoided the banana rum, even when we made it back to the LMRA just in time for last orders.
Sunday: Calm Winds and Mirage Madness
Sunday morning came far too early, and I grabbed a slightly questionable sausage sandwich for breakfast before heading to the range. Conditions couldn’t have been more different from Saturday — the flags hung limp, showing no wind at all. I was relieved to be shooting my 100-yard details in the calm.
Unfortunately, as I settled into position, I couldn’t find stability. The target wobbled in my sights, leading to some poorly placed 8s. Between details, I managed to sort out my hold (something I definitely need to work on), but then a new challenge emerged — mirage.
The mirage made it nearly impossible to spot shots. At one point in detail 3, I fired three sighters, thinking they formed a triangle in the bull. Confident, I sent my first two scoring shots straight down the middle. However, when I walked down to collect the target, those sighters turned out to be scoring 8 and two 9s — all to the left of the bull!
The Eley Final: Harwell Takes Home Ammo
The final event of the weekend was the Eley Final — two 50m details shot in the afternoon. Remarkably, the wind remained calm, with only occasional gusts. Three Harwell shooters made the final: Connor in F-Class, myself in D-Class, and Gavin in C-Class.
We all shot well:
- Connor dropped 16 and 17 points for a total of 367, earning 2nd place and 750 rounds of Tenex
- I dropped 12 points on both targets, finishing 6th and winning 200 rounds of Match.
- Gavin dropped 10 and 13 points, placing 4th and also winning some ammo.
Final Thoughts
Overall, it was an incredible weekend — challenging, educational, and full of camaraderie. While there were a few stumbles (and one collapse!), I left with a renewed respect for wind, a few lessons learned, and a small stash of match ammo. Roll on the next one!
Harwell Newsletter
Club Overview
We are now well into the summer season, and I am pleased to see we are active at both Wantage and Culham Ranges. We recently competed in the Imperial Gallery Rifle event at Bisley, our scores can be found at https://nra.org.uk/results/liveresults/.
Website
Olly has done a lot of work in creating our new website which is being updated on a regular basis. Scores are on the website in the members area accessed using password:
see email for password
Branded Clothing
We are doing a second order on clothing. There are slightly different items on offer this time and as before you place the order via the online form by the 23rd of August. The order will be placed in the week of the 25th of August, and delivery is expected 4-6 weeks later, shortly after which you will be able to collect your items at the club range.
Once you have made your choices of garments you wish to order please make the appropriate payment to the club account.
Astor Team
No other team entered the Astor heats, so we are shooting as a team on Sat 9th August at Bisley. A big thanks to Gavin and Olly for making this happen.
Andy Jubber
Tracy Jubber
Oliver Bailey
Gavin Moffatt
Simon Edwards
Alun Lewis
Bisley Dates
I am conscious that we have not been shooting at Bisley on a regular basis. Personally, it has been an extremely busy year, and I have found it difficult to support these shoots. We are holding a meeting later this month to establish a way forward with this issue. Our aim is to set some dates for the remaining part of this year and look at creating a Bisley Calander for next year. If anyone would like to help setting up and organising our full-bore shoots, then please step forward and get in contact.
Social Event
We have been invited to see “The Moffatt Rifle Collection” along with a BBQ. This will take place on Sat 23rd August in Lambourne. The event will be entitled “Military Longarms into the Breechloading Era, and Trials Rifles that didn’t make it.” . Further details in due course but please let me know if you would like to attend so we have approximate numbers.
NSRA Bisley Week 9th – 16th August
As part of the event, Lapua are doing ammunition batch testing at the Lord Roberts Centre on the 9th 10th and 11th August. If you are interested register your interest at https://www.nsra.co.uk/news/batch-testing-at-the-bisley-national-rifle-meeting
Congratulations to our County Team Members 25/26 season!
We are delighted to announce that several Harwell Target Shooting Club members have been selected to represent Oxfordshire in the county teams for the upcoming winter season. Congratulations to Oliver Bailey for earning his place in the Prone team, and to Violetta Howard who has achieved selection for both the Prone and Ladies teams—an outstanding accomplishment!
A huge well done also goes to Andy and Tracy Jubber, who will be flying the flag for Harwell in the Benchrest teams this season. The club is incredibly proud of all our representatives—your dedication and commitment to the sport are an inspiration to us all. Best of luck to everyone competing; we look forward to following your progress and celebrating your successes throughout the season!
Astor Heats – Harwell Back in the Game
After a few years away, Oxfordshire has re-entered the Smallbore Astor competition. This county-level event is run in postal format, using the Dewer course of fire—20 shots at 50 metres and 20 at 100 yards—with a six-person team required.
Thanks to a little gentle persuasion from our club captain, we pulled together a full team of (mostly) willing shooters. We scheduled the shoot for 5th July 2025 so that Gavin could be on hand to provide some wind coaching—and perhaps pick up a few pointers in return when it was his turn!
Unfortunately, two team members couldn’t make the Saturday session. But as it’s a postal competition, they were able to shoot their cards earlier in the week.
We kicked things off with some practice, most of us using the opportunity to work through our Spoon cards. Then came the main event: three shooters on the line, with Gavin giving live wind calls—a first for Harwell in recent memory. For those of us listening, it was something like a cross between expert coaching and the Shipping Forecast… soothing, but requiring focus!
After a couple of details, it was Gavin’s turn to shoot—just as the wind picked up. A fair bit of time was spent waiting for the gusts to ease before he could take his shots.
The targets are being sent off for scoring however here is an estimate of the scores:
All in all, it was a great team effort and a welcome return to Smallbore team competition for Harwell.