SERVICE RIFLE

Where it all began

As long as personal projectile weapons are used in war, people practise off the battlefield with them. In many cases, and at the beginning, this would have been to improve skills, enhance a soldier's value, and increase survival chances. As time passed, this exercise became a sport, a pleasure, and a skill in its own right. 

As time passed,  various shooting organisations were set up to regulate and manage the sport.  While there was always the rationale of military training behind shooting sports, the activity itself took on its own life. 

In the second half of the 19th century, the organisations we now recognise had their founding – the National Rifle Association (NRA) in Britain and affiliated bodies throughout "the Empire" (including New Zealand), the Schutzenbund in Germany, and in 1907, the International Shooting Union in France.  With the formation of the UIT shooting, it became a foundation sport at the modern Olympics.

In New Zealand, as in the UK, target shooting was a popular sport. The NRA, the OTC (cadets at school), and “miniature (smallbore) rifle ranges”, which used to be a feature of every town, were venues for participation. 

For full-bore shooting, people used military rifles because that is what there was and because the background of military preparedness required it.  The rifles may have been tuned up as much as possible, but they were still current military firearms, and many competitors came from the armed forces.

After WW II, there was a shift in government opinion and in shooting sports. For various reasons, Governments in the UK and NZ no longer saw the value in skilled marksmen among the population and reduced and then ceased all support. The use of the then-current military rifles for target shooting was discouraged and then prevented.  

Rifle technology changed from bolt actions used since the 1890s to semi-automatics (like the AK 47). In NZ, the semi-automatics of choice were the British (Belgian-designed) FN FAL or "SLR" (self-loading rifle) in .308/7.63 X 51 calibre. In the 1960s, the now-famous AR 15 (Armalite) in .223/5.56 calibre became the choice of non-red-bloc countries.

Target shooting

Target shooters shifted towards non-military firearms and more and more toward the emphasis on accuracy and less on simulating military shooting.  Target rifles became specialised single-shot devices. Although the NZ NRA continued, it became the outlet for long-range, accurate shooting, and many shooters took up ISU (now ISSF) style shooting instead.

The military rifles people owned ceased to be used for target shooting and either became objects of collectors' passion, were converted into hunting rifles, or languished in cupboards as unused heirlooms or dust collectors.

Some people who had them continued to use their service rifles for target shooting and derived pleasure from extracting the best performance from rifles not specifically designed for shooting at targets. Other shooters who were not part of the earlier generation of service rifle owners acquired them out of interest, historical value, or because they were relatively cheap and available compared to precision target rifles.  

NZ Service Rifle Association

In 1995, a group in Auckland put together the first edition of what we now call the Service Match Code. This book of conduct for running service shooting competitions combines ideas and parts from various other disciplines. (It is now in its fifth edition.)  

In late 1997, the New Zealand Service Rifle Association was incorporated.  A quick summary of its objectives as listed in the Constitution is:

• To promote Service Rifle shooting at the International, National, and Club levels throughout New Zealand.
• To provide a consistent set of rules and procedures
• To organise National Championships 
• To provide an organisation membership that would support individual ownership of Service Rifles
• To provide a central organising body for other external bodies to refer to.

NZSRA has undergone several changes but now affiliates clubs and individuals and is recognised by the police. Club activity is on the rise, and Clubs such as RRGC have a small but growing complement of service rifle shooters.

Service rifle is shot twice a month on the second and fourth weekends. You can obtain more information from the service rifle Section leader by clicking this link.

For further information on shooting generally at RRGC, please contact thesecretary@rrgc.nz