North Manchester Target Club
10m Pistol, 10m Rifle, 6 Yard Pistol, 6 Yard Bell Target Club
Facilities
We currently have 6 shooting lanes, which are swapped beween 10 metres, 6 yards, or both, depending on what discipline members wish to shoot.
A description of each discipline is below.
10m Pistol and Rifle Shooting
10 Metre Air Pistol/Air Rife is an Olympic shooting event governed by the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF), and is shot with 4.5 mm (or .177) calibre air guns at a distance of 10 metres (10.94 yards).
There are some restrictions on the pistol, and it must be operated by one hand only from a standing, unsupported position. The shooter decides his or her own tempo.
Rifles cannot weigh more than 5.5kg (12.13lbs), and must be shot from a standing position. The use of specialised clothing is allowed to improve the stability of the shooting position and prevent chronic back injury which can be caused by the asymmetric offset load on the spine when the rifle is held in position.
The major competitions are the Olympic Games every four years and the ISSF World Shooting Championships every four years. In addition, the event is included in the ISSF World Cup and in continental championships, as well as in many other international and national competitions. It is an indoor sport, and on the highest level electronic targets are used instead of the traditional paper targets.
The NMTC currently shoots in the Dorset League, and inter club.
6 Yard Pistol Shooting
Originally organised by the NSRA.
More information to follow.
6 Yard Bell Target Shooting
At the end of the 19th century and in the first half of the 20th century, thousands of people in Wolverhampton, the Black Country and Birmingham, as well as other parts of the UK, engaged in shooting air rifles at a "bell target" – a metal target with a tiny hole at the bull’s eye.
If you hit the bull, a bell behind the hole rang. This form of target shooting was engaged in, mainly in pubs, all over the area, with hundreds of teams organised into dozens of leagues.
It was a form of marksmanship which was of great social significance to the working classes of the area and which served the country well in war.
Rules do vary, slightly, around the Country.