NRA Imperial Meeting – Target Rifle Events

The first Imperial Meeting was contested on Wimbledon Common, in south-west London, in 1860, when Queen Victoria fired the first shot and gave a prize of a gold medal and £250 to the best individual marksman. This set the pattern for the National Rifle Association’s annual prize meeting, which has always had the objective of promoting and encouraging marksmanship throughout the Queen’s (or King’s) dominions. The Imperial Meeting has been held every year since then, with the exception of the two World Wars, with the venue changing to its current location at Bisley in 1890.

The Queen’s (or King’s) Prize remains the premier award for the Meeting’s top shot, with the gold medal and £250 prize still given to the winner, and is regarded as the ultimate prize by Target Rifle shooters all over the world.

Originally for Volunteers (regular and reserve military personnel) using the issued service rifle of the day, today the Imperial Meeting is open to all-comers has grown to include many different disciplines. The largest entry is for Target Rifle, which dominates the final week of the Meeting and culminates with the final of the Queen’s Prize.

The competitions include both individual shoots, aggregates of multiple individual competitions, and team matches, the latter rising progressively from club or unit teams, through county and service teams up to full international matches between the home countries and between Great Britain and visiting national teams from overseas. As well as the visiting international teams, many overseas competitors come to compete as individuals in what, for many disciplines, is the largest and most prestigious competition of its type in the world.

In many disciplines, competitors are divided into classes based on their abilities. By shooting against people of similar ability, competitors of all abilities, even relatively novice shooters, have the chance to enjoy success, as there are separate prizes for the best in each class. Many of the competitors who shoot in the Schools and Cadets part of the Meeting stay on to shoot the Target Rifle competitions, with over a third of Target Rifle competitors being aged under 21, many in their first year of shooting. At the same time there are regularly competitors still competing aged over 80 – it really is a sport for all ages, and one of the few where men and women, able bodied and disabled, compete on an absolutely equal footing and directly against each other in fully open competition.

Host to the competition is NRA Bisley, the world renowned ranges complex covering virtually all forms of shooting from air rifle to 1200 yards full-bore shooting. Set in 3000 acres of heathland; Bisley is as unique in character as it is in the variety of ranges it offers.

The atmosphere at Bisley is second to none, with friendships made and renewed on the firing points every year, but the event does not end with the shooting: the famous Bisley clubs take over and, between shoots and at the end of each day, competitors enjoy the Bisley hospitality at its best.