The 157th Target Rifle Imperial Meeting was held at the National Shooting Centre, Bisley, from Friday 17 July to Saturday 25 July 2026. It remains the premier annual Target Rifle meeting in the United Kingdom, bringing together leading competitors from Britain and overseas for a demanding programme of individual, aggregate and team competitions.

This year, the weather played its part, with warm conditions at the beginning of the period giving way to cooler, cloudier conditions and initially difficult winds. More unusually, ammunition became a major technical consideration. The NRA's pre-meeting testing identified a temperature-related deterioration in the performance of the new GGG 2026 155-grain ammunition, particularly at long range, and this led to a deliberate decision to use the previous GGG .308 lot for the team matches and long-range competitions and significant individual shoots.

Within the Scotland squad, the 2026 Imperial was a test of consistency with the Grand Aggregate running over 5 days. But before we could all start with the TR Imperial meeting, this year was the first year of the Youth Imperial which culminated in a National Under 19’s match, with the Scottish Under 19’s team winning for the fist time in 17 years.

The warm ups on Friday started with Sandy Gill managing a 6th place in the Admiral Hutton. The Grand Aggregate began on Saturday with one of the youngest members of the squad showing us all how it should be done - Amelia Jallot coming in 7th in the Conan Doyal, Euan Munro was 6th in the Daily Mail and Alex Hunter 8th in the Donegall. The day ended with the leader board being put up outside the NRA offices showing Euan Munro in 6th place, Alex Hunter at 11th position, Bruce Logan 25th and Lewis Reid 29th.

Sunday was ‘Corporation Day’, a day that many dread as it can take you from near the top of the leader board down many places in the 20 minutes it takes you to complete the 10 – 12 shots. This year it was another younger member of the squad, Dorothy Harrison who made it into 7th place on the prize list.

Monday saw Alex Hunter making 12th in the Prince of Wales and Sandy Walker getting to 15th position in the Times. That evening the annual Scottish Bar B Q took place at Elcho Lodge, great to see over 50 people join for a social evening in the sunshine.

On Tuesday Lindsey McKerrell made 14th in the Lovell and St Georges stage 1 took place with a change of short range ammunition, Mark Joyce was top of the Scots by finishing 21st overall and another 17 other Scots made the second stage.

On Wednesday afternoon the Counties Long Range team shoot took place on Stickledown, but before that there was the first stage of His Majesties the King’s Prize. Mike Barlow was through to stage 2 in 22nd place with another 20 other Scots behind him. The King’s Prize marks the end of the Grand Aggregate and congratulations go to Alex Hunter as top Scot in the Grand Aggregate, finishing 30th. Other Scots who made it to the Grand Aggregate prize list were Sandy Walker 66th, Rory McLeod 75th, Lindsey McKerrell 83rd, Mike Barlow 86th, Bruce Logan 91st, Euan Munro 108th, Lewis Reid 114th and Jon Sweet 131st.

Thursday morning brought more Counties team shooting, short range this time followed by St Georges stage 2 if you had made it through. Lindsey McKerrell went into the final in 28th place along with Richard Dyball and Mike Barlow. After lunch, the National Match was held (there is a further report covering the Scotland Teams matches during the Imperial) and the Universities National and for the second year running the Scottish Universities beat the English to take the trophy.

At the end of the day, over on Stickledown, for those with stamina, the Donaldson Memorial final took place which included 4 Scots. Bruce Logan finished in 8th position, Rory McLeod 43rd, Iain Robertson 59th and Sandy Walker 69th.

With only two days left of this years Imperial, the warm, dry conditions continued with lighter winds, and more team shooting took place on Friday morning with the Scots shooting against the United Kingdom Armed Forces team and England (again, a separate report has been compiled with team results).

Friday afternoon started with the King’s Prize, stage 2. Of the 21 Scots who made it to this stage, George Wood took the highest Scot in 46th place, and was joined in the final by Euan Munro, Sandy Gill and Sandy Walker.

Alex Hunter, highest Scot in the Grand Aggregate, with his tankard.

Georges final was also held on the last Friday at 900 yards, where Richard Dyball finished 33rd, Mike Barlow 71st and Lindsey McKerrell 74th. Mike Barlow continued his campaign to win the Barlow and managed a 2nd place but had to share this with fellow Scot, Mark Joyce. Mike also managed a 5th in the Stickledown at 1000 yards.

Saturday is the last day of the 2026 Imperial and as there was still no sign of rain, the amounting dust on peoples cars, caravans, tents, clothes and kit was accumulating to high levels. Saturday morning saw the Scottish MacKinnon team gather to shoot 900 and 1000 yards (a report by the captain with more details is available) and a short prize giving afterwards for the Scottish Prizes. The Wilkinson Sword, awarded to the highest combined aggregate score from the Scottish Open and the Imperial Grand Aggregate, was won by Mike Barlow. The tankard for the highest Scot in the Grand Aggregate went to Alex Hunter. The Anglo/English District Crosses were won by Alex Hunter, Gold, Sandy Walker, Silver and Rory McLeod, Bronze.

Saturday afternoon is the last event of the Imperial meeting, His Majesty the King’s Prize Final. The top 100 who have made it through the previous stage(s) to shoot 2 + 15 shots at 900 and 1000 yards. This year the wind had picked up and although conditions were dry, there were may magpies across the range after 900 yards. At the end of 1000 yards, the four Scots were scattered across the prize list, Sandy Walker 19th, Sandy Gill 55th, Euan Munro 70th, George Wood 74th.

Below is a list of those who made the top section of the prize lists.