What is it?

Classic and Historic Arms

Classic & Historic Arms shooting is designed to provide an opportunity for the owners of older firearms to shoot them in competition with others of a similar type over courses of fire that are contemporary with those firearms. This predominantly involves breech loading firearms from about 1860 to 1960 but there is also considerable scope for muzzle loading firearms. Modern reproductions are quite acceptable as long as they conform to the spirit of the original i.e. they do not have to be precise replicas as long as no advantage is gained.

Many of these firearms can also be used in other Disciplines and Competitions appropriate to their type e.g. Gallery Rifle, Muzzle Loading Rifle and Pistol, Service Rifle and Sporting Rifle.

Shooting Classic & Historic arms encourages the study of the development of their mechanisms over the centuries and facilitates the maintenance or rediscovery of the techniques required to keep them shooting accurately.

Heritage Pistol.

This refers to shooting with Historic Cartridge Pistols held under S7(3) of the Firearms Act for the purposes of research and study. Competition is not allowed by the Act but this is a valuable part of Historic shooting and collecting and has been supported by the NRA since its inception.

There are a number of Heritage Pistol sites and Bisley is one of them.

Equipment

The match rules will specify datelines and the type of equipment that may be used.

Take a look at our Classic & Historic Handbook which contains lots of useful information: CLICK HERE

Competitions

There are number of dedicated Competitions for C&H firearms during the year:

Historic Service Rifle Matches: February, March & October

Imperial Historic Arms Meeting: July

Trafalgar Meeting: October.

There are also competitions for certain Historic firearms in the Phoenix Meeting in May.

Club also host open historic events throughout the year such as those run by Historical Breechloading Smallarms Association (HBSA), the British Sporting Rifle Club (BSRC) & during the National Smallbore Rifle Association (NSRA) meeting.

How to get involved

In addition to contacting the Discipline Rep, a good way to get started is to volunteer as a member of a Competition’s Range Team. This is a great way to experience what is involved, to see what people are using and chat to them about how to get into Historic shooting.

To find out what volunteering is all about, and the next events: CLICK HERE