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!