The Awards for All grant scheme has been busy dispensing festive cheer to clubs across Scotland. The scheme has agreed to a major cash injection for Alloa Rifle Club,  following hard on the heels on an award to Balerno & Currie Rifle Club. In recent years, both Orkney and Prestonpans have been given similar cash injections. The funds, in excess of £5,000 for each club, go towards investing in equipment for training young shooters and upgrading the ranges' facilities.

Want to become a club instructor? Want to make a difference in how your club goes about training shooters? sportscotland is here to help.....

For many years sportscotland has funded the High Performance programme for shooting in Scotland. The funding has influenced the success of Scottish shooters at the Commonwealth Games in all disciplines. sportscotland has now made funding available to develop Club shooting in Scotland. The first part is an enhanced Club Instructor's Programme which is on the attached file. The programme includes additional sport specific training, disability training, first aid, child protection and anti-doping. Participants will develop into a key role in their Club's future. The funding provided by sportscotland is detailed on the application form.

This is a fantastic opportunity for Clubs and for our sport to show sportscotland that additional funding will be used for maximum benefit in the future of our sport. With a closing date of January 15, 2015, an early application is recommended.

*****In addition, a series of club instruction and coaching courses are being staged at the Kincardine Target Sports Centre and details can be found here.*****

Seonaid McIntosh will return home from Luxembourg weighed down with three medals. Competing at the RIAC competition as part of a British team, she won the Junior Women's Air Rifle on days one and three, slipping to second on the middle day.

Steven Abbott, who has only recently joined Alloa Rifle Club, made home advantage count when he won SSRA Air Rifle GP3 in Kincardine. In a tight final, he held off a strong fightback by Robin Law to win his first SSRA GP, with Bearsden's Andrew Gutenmacher in third place.

With a number of competitors unable to attend, such as Seonaid McIntosh who was too busy winning gold medals and breaking British Junior records with a score of 209.4 at RIAC in Luxembourg plus Bobby Spence, who was stuck on Orkney and had to settle for watching Forbidden Planet, it was nonetheless an exciting day in Kincardine with the Alloa club well represented and Megalinks providing the scoring.

Graphical results can be found at

http://www.ssra.co.uk/megalink/Air_Rifle_2014-15/GP3/stats.htm. as well as on the Domestic Results page.

Watsonians hold their popular indoor Open Meeting on the 6th and 7th of December. Entry forms can be downloaded here. And don't forget that, further north, there is the excellent ADSRA Wappinshaw indoor event on Sunday November 23. Click here to find out more.

Alloa's Seonaid McIntosh fended off early leader Robin Law to win the final of the second SSRA Air Rifle Grand Prix at Denwood. Gabrielle Buckley took third place on a day of high scores in Aberdeen, with a new personal best from the host club's Sarah Brown. With a "new" announcer pressed into service for the final, there was also time for Tunnock's teacakes to be awarded in place of medals...well, you can't eat a medal can you? Scores and graphical results can be found here. Detailed results can be found here.

A reminder that the documents for bids for the National Shooting Centre are available. This exciting project to deliver a national shooting centre will be managed by sportscotland on behalf of Scottish Target Shooting (STS), the national governing body for target shooting in Scotland. The project will be a partnership between the Scottish Government, sportscotland, STS and external bidders drawn from shooting clubs, the private sector and local authorities.

The closing date for outline bids is 19 January 2015.

Interested organisations should contact sportscotland to be sent the full set of documents using this contact form.

NSC Bid Document Contact Form

Maria Bexley took the honours in the final of SSRA Air Rifle Grand Prix 1 at Glenrothes. Seonaid McIntosh was second and Robin Law third. Results are here http://www.ssra.co.uk/megalink/Air_Rifle_2014-15/GP1/stats.htm.

The results from the annual Scotland v North Island, New Zealand postal match are now complete and Scotland's Juniors did us proud with a win. The main team fell short against their Kiwi counterparts. Results from Scotland are available here and the New Zealand results here.

The deadline to enter teams for the SSRA Prone League is the end of October so act now.....

Scottish Target Shooting is seeking to appoint a new Chairperson. STS is the National Governing Body in Scotland and includes the four disciplines of Clay Target, Smallbore Rifle, Fullbore Rifle and Pistol.

Scottish Target Shooting is one of the most successful sports in the history of the Commonwealth Games and has the potential to be more successful in the future. The outstanding success in Delhi led to a commitment from the Scottish Government to provide a National Training Centre in 2016. The completion of this ongoing project would ensure future success for the sport. Target shooting participants range from Juniors to Seniors into their 70’s and 80’s and is also available to disabled participants. It is truly a “sport for all”. Led by the current Chairman, STS has completed a review of its Governance Policies during the past four years. Up to date documentation has been prepared, involving all four disciplines, and STS is now moving into the implementation phase of the project. The new Chairperson will be responsible for overseeing the completion of the implementation phase.

Chairperson of the Board of Directors

The role is unpaid although reasonable expenses will be reimbursed. The Term of Office will be four years including a review after two years. As Chair, you will lead the Board of Directors and will contribute to the strategic direction of STS. You will Chair Board meetings which are held approximately six times per year and are normally held on Wednesday afternoons at thesportscotland offices in Edinburgh. You will also be required to Chair the Annual General Meeting which is held at the end of April. You will be expected to attend and report on behalf of the Board at meetings with our Key Partners.

The interviews will take place in November 2014 and the appointment will be ratified at the Annual General Meeting in April 2015.  The interview panel will consist of one member from each of the four disciplines.

STS Chairperson Objectives 2014.pdf

STS Chairperson Key Responsibilities 2014.pdf

Seonaid McIntosh came in a highly creditable 11th at the ISSF World Championships in Granada and her score of 617.0 in Junior Women's Prone Rifle is believed to be a new British and Scottish Junior record.

Jen McIntosh placed 18th in a field of 130 in the Women's Air Rifle with 414.6.

In the Men's Prone both Jon Hammond made it through to the Qualification Round of the Men's Prone, but were well down the field in 50th and 53rd place respectively.

Results from the recent West of Scotland Association shoot held at Alloa's Tullygarth range can be viewed here.

Saturday and Sunday saw the conclusion of the SSRA's 2013-14 3P and Prone grand prix series. Bobby Spence won the Men's 3P series narrowly from Jamie Hodgson and Sheena Sharp won the Women's 3P series. It was a hint of what was to come. At Gagie on the Sunday, good conditions ensured some excellent scores, with Scotland coach Sinclair Bruce leading from the front with a great win in A Class while Sarah Brown won B class. Jacqueline Smith took the honours in C class and Gavin Riome D class.

In the ISSF style final - Bruce's first as an athlete under the current rule set - Sharp held her nerve to win, beating Matthew Thomson by 0.3 points. There was also the added drama of a shoot-off between Fiona Crowden and James Henderson. Thus Sheena took the honours in the Prone series by a good margin.

Graphical Megalink results can be found here:
3P - http://www.ssra.co.uk/megalink/2014-3p-gp5/stats.htm
Prone - http://www.ssra.co.uk/megalink/2014-prone-gp5/stats.htm 

And finally, a word on the winnings! With SSRA events sponsored by RWS ammunition, the final shoot of the season saw many athletes pick up their haul of top of the range RWS R50 ammunition and some shooters in C&D class walked away with 900 rounds each. You do the maths.....just one more reason for shooters of all levels to sign up for the next SSRA events next season.

The West of Scotland Association is holding a Double Dewar competition at Alloa's outdoor range on Saturday 13 September. Click here for details on how to enter.

After a day of high scores at Denwood, Sheena Sharp took the honours in SSRA Grand Prix IV as part of the Grampian Open event. This followed hard on the heels of a new Scottish and British record of 582 in Women's 3P for Jen McIntosh the day before.

The Prone competition was a well-attended event which attracted athletes from the south of England and Northern Ireland as well as young shooters and others new to the Megalink electronic target set-up the SSRA offers. The GP series has one more act to play out, at Denwood in two weeks' time for 3P followed by our now-standard magic trick of moving an entire range set-up down to Dundee overnight for the final Prone GP of the series at the Gagie range.

Results from the Prone event can be found on the Domestic Results page and, including the 3P event, here with graphical results:
3P - http://www.ssra.co.uk/megalink/2014-3p-gp4/
Prone - http://www.ssra.co.uk/megalink/2014-prone-gp4/

Seonaid McIntosh picked up two medals - both Silver - in the Junior Women's Air Rifle and Prone - at the recent Nordic Junior Championships in Copenhagen.

Sheena Sharp was runner-up in the Earl Roberts final during the NSRA's National Rifle meeting at Bisley.

Coming from behind with the best 100 yard card of the day, a 197, Sheena finished runner-up in testing, windy conditions where much of the rest of the field had to settle for 193s. Ken Rowley won the event with 772, just one point ahead of Sheena. Bill Vaughan, the only other Scot to reach the final, was tenth.

In the Home Internationals, England's main team took the honours with 90 points off, with Scotland on 144 and Wales 164. The Ladies match was won by England with 68 off ahead of Scotland with 117. And England also won the Junior match with 55 off to Scotland's 93. Sheena Sharp was Scotland's top scorer in the matches with 393 ex 400.

Details of the teams and scores can be found here.

Target Tokyo is a nationwide search for shooters across all disciplines and events in shotgun, rifle and pistol who have the focus and motivation to become Olympic champions. It is a golden opportunity to develop your potential and become part of Britain's Sporting Elite at the 2020 Olympic Games.

Are you:
• A male or female shooter aged over 14?
• Currently competing in any shooting discipline/event in shotgun, rifle or pistol at county level (or equivalent) and above?
• Focused, committed and competitive?

If so, UKSport want to hear from you - http://www.uksport.gov.uk/forms/targettokyo/

The results of the 50m competition held at Alloa's Tullygarth range are now available here.

From SSRA Chairman Ian Thomson: "Congratulations to all Athletes, Officials and Volunteers and Spectators for putting on such a fantastic show at Barry Buddon. The feedback I had from competitors was that the range and the organisation was fantastic and that the spectators 'made' the event. A Team Manager said 'the officials in all areas carried out their duties in a quiet, relaxed and efficient manner'. The feedback from spectators was that they thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience. The highlight most commonly quoted was Jen's fight for the silver medal in the last event of the competition. It was certainly an entertaining, although nail-biting finale to the event with the spectators applauding every shot. The event has provided our sport with fantastic PR and publicity and it's all thanks to the people involved."

http://results.glasgow2014.com/sports/sh/shooting.html

While Jen McIntosh hit the headlines with her record-breaking medals in Prone and 3P, Sarah Henderson did well in her first Games - had there been a final for Women's Prone she would have been in it thanks to her seventh place. One Isle of Man wag pointed out that Sarah's and Jen's scores would have earned Scotland gold had the Pairs event still be on the schedule while Seonaid McIntosh gave her all in Women's Air Rifle, where her sister reached the final. Seonaid also notched the dubious achievement of being put in a bin on the range during the unofficial training phase. Range staff have a list of suspects, pictured left.

After an immense opening ceremony which had the audience jigging in the aisles, the Scotland coaches and athletes proved, as DJ Milo played the strains of the Shamen song, that they really could "Move Any Mountain".

Below, a curated collection of photos from the Games pulled together by Shooting's Team Leader, Donald McIntosh.

Some of Scotland's target shooters took the chance to try out the Commonwealth Games range at Barry Buddon.

From left, back row: Maria Bexley, Iain Malone, Sarah Brown, Mary Melvin, Willie McAulay, Billy Crawford, Rhona Dove and Brogan Smith. Front row, from left: Jackie Smith, Sheena Sharp, Ashleigh Tayor, Mel Mutch, Jonty Barron and Adam Dove.

More pictures from Barry Buddon can be found at http://www.clach-sbrc.org.uk/barrybuddon/

"I would just like to say thank you for such an amazing experience," said Jackie Smith. "Brogan and I had a fantastic day. To see Brogan get a new PB at the Commonwealth range was just the icing on the cake."

"We were made most welcome not only by Peter Underhill but also the happy workmen who showed a lot of interest. It was all very well organised. The atmosphere and ambience of the range was awesome reminding me of some of the settings in Europe. The range is something Scotland can be proud of," said Maria Bexley.

"A fantastic experience and I will not forget it in a hurry," said Ashleigh Taylor.

"Great day. Wonderful experience. Can't beat doing your first 60-shot match on a Commonwealth range," said Rhona Dove.

The visit to Barry Buddon was one of the best experiences that I have had in small bore target shooting.

It was even better than carrying the Queen's Baton," said Willie McAulay.

A timely reminder too that Alloa's 50m Open event is being held at the Tullygarth range on Saturday and Sunday 2-3 August. Contact Willie McAulay for more details.

In the Haig competition, defending champion Tom Hodgson surrendered his seat in the chair - but not without a fight. He lost out in a tie-shoot to Bill Copland, left, as the man from Banff got the better of his Dumfries opponent by just one point.

And Graham Shedden, right, won the Freuchie event at Lauder ahead of Stephen Blackwood and Ali Littlejohn and thus claimed the impressive Wilkinson Sword for the first time. He reached the Haig final too.

Steven Brown (George Watson's College) won the C&D competition and the Sgian Dubh ahead of Ali Littlejohn and Willie McAulay.

In the Home International matches, the Scotland main team won by 23 points while the Ladies team lost by three points. Details of the match can be found here.

Below, a selection of photos from the final day of the NSRA's 2014 Scottish Meeting courtesy of Cliff Ogle and Robin Thomson.

A number of shooters, and support staff linked to Scottish teams, have been fortunate enough to carry the Queens Baton as it tours Scotland on it's final journey to the Opening Ceremony of the Commonwealth Games in a few weeks. Below are pictures of some of those who have carried it, we know there have been others and would be delighted to add them if pictures can be sent to the webmaster.

James Brown came away with the honours in A Class at the Alloa Triple Dewar competition staged over two days at the Tullygarth range. F Howden won B class and Simon Melville won C Class. Watsonians won the team competition ahead of Dumfries and Alloa. Results and prize money can be found here.

An immensely detailed record for The Scottish meetings has now been published and our thanks go to Bill Hamilton for his diligent work in compiling this. The "Scottish winners" spreadsheet is available via the Competition History tab at the top of this page. Find out more about how it all came about here.

George Lawson, Chief Range Officer at the Scottish Meeting at Lauder, is appealing for a volunteer Range Officer due to a call-off. The volunteer would be needed from Saturday 28 June to Thursday 3 July to help run the range. He would prefer someone for the full time but would be happy with more than one person doing days or half days. Training will be given if necessary.

Could anyone willing to help out please contact George directly on 01890 882020 as soon as possible.

After a lengthy drive from Munich, the small GB team at the World Cup in Maribor got down to work.

Jon Hammond came close in the Men's Prone - 624.3 in the Men's Prone good enough for 11th place, 1.2 off the final.

Jen McIntosh built on her solid shooting in Munich to qualify for the final of the Women's 3P with 578. Shooting in an unfinished finals hall with no proper lighting on the targets, she finished in 6th place.

The SSRA AGM will take place at the Lauderdale Hotel in Lauder on Saturday June 28. The agenda can be viewed here with the minutes.

Jen McIntosh placed 16th in the Women's 3P at the World Cup in Munich, with season's best of 581, three points off the final. Jon Hammond and Neil Stirton both shot in the Men's Prone, with Jon also in the Men's 3P, but were well off final place.

Seonaid McIntosh made her World Cup debut, shooting in the MQS part of the Women's Air Rifle.

The full Scotland team line-up for the Glasgow Commonwealth Games has been announced at Stirling Castle and can be read here.

The smallbore and air rifle team line-up is:

Men's Prone rifle: Neil Stirton and Jon Hammond.
Men's 3P rifle: Jon Hammond and Neil Stirton.
Women's Prone rifle: Jennifer McIntosh and Sarah Henderson.
Women's 3P rifle: Jennifer McIntosh and Sarah Henderson.
Women's Air Rifle: Jennifer McIntosh and Seonaid McIntosh.

After the successes at Delhi in 2010 and their appearances for Great Britain at the London 2012 Olympics, Jon Hammond and Jen McIntosh are all in good form to defend their respective Commonwealth Games titles while Neil Stirton has been busy rewriting the record books this year. Sarah Henderson will appear at her first Commonwealth Games but her form too has been blistering. And Seonaid McIntosh, Jen's younger sister, fully merits her place after delivering some great performances both in the UK and in Europe.

Pictured: Seonaid McIntosh, Sarah Henderson, Jon Hammond, Neil Stirton and Jen McIntosh.

Shown left, a line-up of athletes who will represent Scotland in July and August at the Games face the media for interviews and photo shoots in the grounds of Stirling Castle. Can you name the people who have used the shooting range at Meadowbank? PS It's definitely a trick question so there will be a prize for the winner. Probably.

Fiona Crowden took the honours in SSRA Prone Grand Prix 3 at Caithness.

The third event in the series was shot on the Wick Old Stagers range on a bright sunny day, with entries from shooters representing most areas of the country. The 22mph gusting wind throughout the day, however, made conditions very challenging with local knowledge being evident.

Congratulations go to Fiona Crowden for coming top of the pile in the A/B section and to Peter Richard in the C/D section with a commendable score that would have seen him hold his own in the A/B section. Thanks are also due to the Caithness Association for incorporating the GP within their weekend event and the provision of their famed spread of goodies, which for some entrants provided the highlight of the day. Results are available on the Domestic Results page. Please note this event was shot on paper targets.

Crowden also won the Aggregate competition and the Mowat Cup in the local meeting amid weather she described as "gorgeous and just windy enough to suit me!"

Click here for full results from the Caithness Small Bore Rifle Association's event.

Scotland's target shooters enjoyed a good haul of medals at Bisley's British 50m Championships with golds for Sarah Henderson in Women's Prone and Neil Stirton in the Mens 3x40 3P.

There was also silver for Stirton in Prone and two bronzes for Jen McIntosh (in 3x20 3P and Prone) plus two team wins. The men's Prone team of Jon Hammond, James Paterson and Neil Stirton did the business while the Women's Prone team of Jen McIntosh, Sarah Henderson and Fiona Crowden did the nation proud. Details of these Home Countries Internationals can be found here.

Now the action moves to Munich for the ISSF World Cup event. Jon Hammond, Neil Stirton, Jen McIntosh and Seonaid McIntosh (back from a solid performance at the Junior international in Suhl) will be part of the GB Shooting line-up.

Seonaid McIntosh came within 0.3 of qualifying for the final of the Junior Women's Air Rifle at the ISSF Junior Cup in Suhl this week, her score of 414.0 placing her 9th. Seonaid was also 12th in the Junior Women's Prone.

Jamie Hodgson won his first-ever SSRA Prone Grand Prix, on the Megalink-equipped Gagie range, capping a day in which he delivered two consecutive personal bests.

Conditions were sometimes challenging, with a wicked mixture of rain and wind, but it didn't stop Sarah Henderson producing another record performance, with a score of 624.2.

The C&D final was won by Brian Cooke-Duffy.

The previous day, Neil Stirton won the Men's 3P GP2 at Denwood while Maria Bexley took the honours in the Women's 3P event. An honourable mention has to go to Sheena Sharp who shot the 20-shot Prone section of her qualifying relay in under seven minutes with a maximum score of 200.

SSRA GP2 3P and Prone data from the Megalinks, including graphical score cards, is now available at:
3P - http://www.ssra.co.uk/megalink/2014-3p-gp2/
Prone - http://www.ssra.co.uk/megalink/2014-prone-gp2/

Our thanks go to all the athletes who made it a good day, as well as the brave souls who shipped the targetry from Aberdeen overnight in time for a 6.11am set-up on Sunday. You know who you are...

Jon Hammond set a new British Record of 629.1 shooting in the USA Trials at Fort Benning last week.

Rapid shooting and record performances were the order of the weekend at Denwood for the SSRA's Scottish 50m championships.

On the first day, Ken Parr won the Men's 3P title ahead of Neil Stirton, shown right and Donald McIntosh, third right. Jen McIntosh then took the Women's 3P event ahead of Manx shooter Rachel Glover and Shirley McIntosh.

The second day saw Sarah Henderson win the Women's Prone event in what is believed to be a British record score of 620. Shirley McIntosh took silver and Gemma Kermode, from the Isle of Man, the bronze. Gary Duff from Northern Ireland, who won the Men's Prone two years ago, repeated the feat by winning the final ahead of Neil Stirton and Mel Mutch.

The men's 3P final in progress. Winner Ken Parr is second from right.

While Glover didn't win the Women's Prone, it should be pointed out she raced through her 60 shots for a score of 616 - in just 15 minutes. She denied having a bus to catch, but saw the wind drop and decided just "to go for it". With some informed commentary during the finals fom Andrew Ross and Robin Thomson, the event attracted plaudits from athletes for its organisation and we hope those who were making their first trip to Denwood will come back for more.

The medallists in the Women's 3P final: From left, Rachel Glover, Jen McIntosh and Shirley McIntosh.

Pictured right, the top Scots in the Women's Prone Championship: Shirley McIntosh, Sarah Henderson and Susan Jackson.

The full results can be found here.

SportsAid Scotland have made a £1,000 award to Jonty Barron. Provided by SportsAid's long-standing partner, The Robertson Trust of Glasgow, this follows on from the recent award of £500 to Seonaid McIntosh.

The now traditional triple Dewar competition will be held at Alloa & District RC's Tullygarth range on Saturday and Sunday, June 21-22. This event is a useful warm-up for the NSRA Scottish meeting at Lauder a week later. Contact William McAulay for entry details.

The Caithness Open takes place on June 7 and 8 with the Saturday hosting SSRA Prone GP3. Organiser Marty Simpson has released entry forms for the competitions, which can be found here.

Most of the team travelled onwards from Hannover to Pilsen in the Czech Republic for the Grand Prix of Liberation. Very much a higher standard of competition, close to World Cup standard in many years, this was a real test for the Scots.

Finals and Podium places where hard to come by this time - the Women's Prone Team fourth again, this time by a margin of 1.8, Sarah Henderson once more the top scorer with 619.4 and 18th place. Jen McIntosh shot a season's best of 580 in the Women's 3P, while Neil Stirton shot 623.6 in the Men's Prone for 19th place.

As the final selections for the Glasgow Commonwealth Games draw ever closer, a large combined Rifle & Pistol team headed to Hannover for the ISCH competition.

The highlight was the Women's Air Rifle, where Jen McIntosh qualified in fourth place with 416.4, and then shot a final of 186.8 to take the bronze medal.

There were some steady performances elsewhere, with the Women's Prone Team of Jen, Sarah Henderson and Fiona Crowden unfortunete to miss out on the podium by 0.4 - Sarah the best placed in 14th with 617.6.

Neil Stirton, left, delivered a Scottish record score of 627.5 on his way to reaching the final of SSRA Prone Grand Prix 1 at Denwood, but he was outpointed - quite literally - by Jim Main for the first win of the 2014 GP series. His surprise at winning was matched only by the surprise of almost two days of warm weather at Denwood. Stirton's score may also be in the running for a British record, subject to verification.

Click here for the Prone results. Stirton also won the Men's 3P event on the Saturday, beating Jamie Hodgson. Scores are available here.

A selection of Scots shooters made the annual pilgrimage to the Isle of Man's Easter Shoot event and did not disappoint. Sarah Henderson won the 50m Women's Prone title after an exciting final while James Paterson won the Men's 3P final.

Paterson beat good friend Mark Szymankiewicz to the gold medal with the final shot. "You didn't miss by any chance, James?" Mark was heard to quip somewhat hopefully after the 45th shot....to no avail as James' final score of 440.2 was well ahead of Mark's 431.3.

Seonaid McIntosh continued her dramatic rise with a personal best in the Junior Women's Air Rifle which almost eclipsed the existing Scottish Junior record of 416.5 and was just 0.2 off the Senior Scottish and British record. She finished second in the Air Rifle Open and was leading junior in the championship.

Sheena Sharp took the bronze medal in the Women's 3P final and Fiona Crowden won bronze in the Women's Prone final. A number of Scots ISSF judging personnel also assisted and, despite a few raised eyebrows that so many of their compatriots were selected for random equipment control checks (it really was just the luck of the draw) carried out ably by Iain Malone.

A detailed list of winners and results from the Isle of Man Easter Shoot is available here.

From left: Mel Mutch, Seonaid McIntosh, Colin Watson, Fiona Crowden, Sinclair Bruce, Jen McIntosh, Sarah Henderson, James Paterson, Sheena Sharp, Iain Malone, Janis Thomson, Robin Thomson, Diane Malone.

Bobby Spence from Orkney won the SSRA Air Rifle League with a haul of 30 points from the six rounds. His average of 599.6 gave him the title ahead of Sheena Sharp with 22 points and Mark Joyce with 21 points. Visit the Domestic Results page for the results across the competition.

The scores from this year's All Ranges event at Denwood (comprising shooting at 25 yards, 50 metres and 100 yards) are now available on the Domestic Results page.

Following revision of scheduling for the prone event in the Scottish 50m championships in May, any female shooters wishing to enter may make application online for men's detail 3 to submit their entry. Please note that the confirmation email from the forms site will quote the incorrect cost. Please contact treasurer@ssra.co.uk for correct remittance.

Neil Stirton, Jen McIntosh and Jon Hammond did Scotland proud at the ISSF World Cup in Fort Benning in the USA last week. Stirton scored 624 for a new British Prone Rifle record while McIntosh's score of 578 in the 3P event was also a Scottish record due to the new order of that event.

Neil found time on the way home from Atlanta to Aberdeen to talk about his record-breaking score.

"Many new rules, many new records. Before the decimal scoring was introduced, I used to sight in to a match using the sighting shots to let me know what strengths and directions I could use in an effort to hold the 10. Not any more, and now tactics have to change in order to gain the maximum score possible. Focusing on high-value 10s is something we all want as we strive for the few and far between 10.9s in a match but to try to hit an average of 10.45 across a 60-shot match to yield 627.0 is certainly a new challenge and looks to be what is going to be required to regularly make World Cup finals. The match at Fort Benning had a few more high-value 9s than I'd have liked but I was very pleased with the number of "deep" 10s, giving an average of 104.0 per string (624.0).

"A warm welcome to the season and I'm raring to go for the upcoming world circuit matches but even more so for the home Commonwealth Games!"

Alloa Rifle Club will be running a club coaches' course in Kincardine later in 2014 which allows club instructors to upgrade to club coach. The course had originally been scheduled for May-June. For more details, contact Willie McAulay.

Scotland have won the BSSRA Schools National match for the first time in five years, progressing from third place for the last three years to topping the podium. The A Team score was 23 points (on 20 cards) better than last year and put England into second place. The B Team were only four points behind England B so it was a close match. Read more about the match here and the full results can be viewed here.
 
Let's hope the win will motivate other Scottish Juniors to improve their averages in time for selection next year.

News has emerged of an exciting opportunity to gain sports funding...

Legacy 2014: Sustainable Sport for Communities Fund is a £1 million fund which will help communities to be able to realise their ambitions of owning and running their own sports facilities. The initial package of support available will focus on clubs and organisations delivering sport and physical activity in their community who wish to: take on ownership and operation of existing local facilities; build and operate new facilities; make better use of current facilities through capital improvements.

Applicants must also be seeking to make a wider difference in their community through their work. Making a difference in areas including health and well-being, employment and education are key aims of the Scottish Government’s legacy ambitions in addition to a primary aim of getting more people active.Clubs and organisations will initially be invited to apply for a package of support up to a maximum of £25,000 to cover the cost of investigating and progressing their ideas. This could include technical support such as architect and design fees, feasibility studies, community engagement, legal and financial support, mentoring support and assistance with organisational development.

The Legacy 2014 Sustainable Sport for Communities Fund is made up of an investment of £500,000 from the Scottish Government under the Legacy 2014 programme and £500,000 from The Robertson Trust. The deadline for expressions of interest is May 23.

The bulk of the Scottish team headed once more to Dortmund to take part in the ISAS competition on the indoor ranges in Dortmund.

Often a tricky place to shoot, with high targets and dull light, it proved no different this year and the Scottish scores were generally on the low side. Highlights included a solid 619.3 from Sarah Henderson in the Women's Prone, 409.4 from Seonaid McIntosh in the Junior Women's Air Rifle and 622.3 from Neil Stirton in the Men's Prone.

Jen McIntosh won the Women's Scottish Air Rifle title for the fifth time in six years when she won the final at the Police Scotland college by Kincardine. She had to contend with two members of her family in the final though - younger sister Seonaid and mother Shirley. In the end, she won through and Seonaid had to content herself with the trophy for the leading junior woman.

The men's championship was won by Newcastle University's Finbar Ryley, who admitted he had conquered his nerves in the final with a masterful display that ran the clock right down before each shot.

Full competition results for the 2014 Scottish Rifle Championships are now available here.

Pictured left: The line-up in the women's final; right, Shirley McIntosh MBE presented the trophies at the prize-giving.

The European 10m Championships were held in the Russian Capital of Moscow this year - not the easiest place to get into, or indeed out of as it transpired. Held in the huge Olimpiyskiy indoor stadium, orignally built for the 1980 Olympics, the ranges were on a scale not normally seen at these championships.

Jen shot exceptionally well, her score of 414.8 placing her 11th, less than a point off the final, and very much her best performance in this event to date.

Jen also teamed up with Ken Parr to shoot in the AIR50 competiton - an event for mixed pairs, which saw each pair squadded side-by-side and shoot 50 shots each. The top four teams then shot in two semi-finals, with medal matches then being help to decide the podium places.

Larbert's David Caughey capped a superlative day of shooting at the Balerno & Currie range to win the SSRA Speedway final - but only just. Having had to purchase some RWS ammunition from the club to get his bid going at all, Caughey then delivered 400 out of 400. Fiona Crowden kept pace with him, though, and by the end of the final had amassed 986 points to Caughey's 990 - but crucially, both had won 25 match points.

With the excitement - and the tension - audibly building, a tie-shoot then ensued, in which both Scotland squad shooters delivered scores of 99.

Organiser Cyril de Jonckheere marked those cards and realised a second tie-shoot ten-bull card was required. This time, Caughey edged home - by the smallest of margins, 99 to Crowden's 98.

Richard Simpson was third, John Latimer fourth, Ian Henderson fifth, Bill Vaughan sixth, Tom Hodgson seventh and Jim Main eighth. After a sticky start Main turned a corner when he realised the value of having something to eat and promptly delivered a 100 score!

The top eight shooters will be put forward for the Scotland v North Island New Zealand postal match on 23 March at the same venue.

A video clip of the prize presentation can be seen here.

There were two Scots on the podium at Bisley as Jen McIntosh claimed the Women's Air Rifle Championship in the British Airgun event and her sister Seonaid took bronze.

With coaches and historians scrabbling for the record books on the second day of the event, it's understood that Jen is the first Scot to win this title.

In the Men's Championship, James Paterson was the only Scot to qualify for the final, finishing in 5th place this year.

In the other competitions, Jen McIntosh won the Class X aggregate, Sarah Henderson was third in Class A and Seonaid McIntosh won Class B. Sheena Sharp won the Veteran's event.

In the Home Countries International Matches, Scotland placed third in both the Main and Women's events - details of the teams and scores can be found here.

Larissa Sykes took silver, left, with Jen getting hold of the trophy and Seonaid, right. Thanks to Donald McIntosh for the photo! Pictured right, the rundown of the Women's Air Rifle final, conducted on Megalink electronic targets.

After a weekend of squad camp at Meadowbank Stadium in Edinburgh and the Glenrothes Air Rifle Grand Prix, Scotland's target shooters have been back in training as some prepare for the British Airgun Championships at Bisley. Watch a video of Orkney's own Bobby Spence as he takes part in a session of shooting 50m rifle kneeling.

Robin Law maintained his iron grip on the SSRA Air Rifle Grand Prix series when he ended Sunday's event at Glenrothes as champion for the 20th consecutive year. Jen McIntosh won the final, edging out sister Seonaid who had qualified for the final just 0.3 behind her, for silver with Bobby Spence in bronze position.

Congratulations to all of the high quality field, which included a number of Scotland internationals as well as several promising newcomers, for a hard-fought event on the freshly rebuilt Glenrothes range.

Results can be found here and on Domestic Results page.

A Scottish Schools Team has been invited to shoot in a match against England, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Channel Islands. The selected teams can be found here.

Jen McIntosh won the Women's Air Rifle final on Day Two of Intershoot in the Netherlands. Her scorer of 209.1 edged out Stine Andersen's 205.8, with the bronze going to Apurvi Chandela with a score of 185.4.

In the qualifying round, Sheena Sharp had headed the list of other Scots with Sarah Brown, Maria Bexley and Sarah Henderson.

Visit http://www.intershoot.nl/content/2014-results for more details.

A 13-strong Scottish Air Rifle & Air Pistol team will be in The Hague for the Intershoot competition tomorrow. Visit the link below for video

http://www.intershoot.nl/content/live-streaming-video

Anyone involved in the Scotland squads has known about the refurbished Meadowbank range being used for Commonwealth Games training - and now The Scotsman's Stuart Bathgate has given it a public airing. Click here to read the article.

Latest results from the SSRA Prone League and Prone Team League are now available from the Domestic Results page

Jennifer McIntosh won SSRA Air Rifle GP4 at Denwood with her younger sister Seonaid in second place and Sheena Sharp in third. A well-attended event saw a number of personal bests recorded. Scores can be found here with graphics of score cards available by visiting the relevant relay and then clicking on the shooter's name.

In what is fast becoming a normal start to the competition year, Jen McIntosh was part of the British teams at both the Meyton Cup in Innsbruck and the Munich Airgun match hosted by the Bavarian federation.

Jen's performances improved over the course of the four matches, 415.3 for 18th place on the first day in Munich was the highlight. Her preparations for the European 10m Championships will continue next week at Intershoot in the Netherlands.

Results from the early rounds of the SSRA Prone Individual League are now available from the Domestic Results page.

Online entry forms are now available for the Scottish Air Rifle Championships at Tulliallan on Saturday and Sunday March 8-9. The competition will be conducted on electronic targets and all classes of air rifle shooters are welcome. Visit the link here to get your entry in - but demand is expected to be high so don't delay...