Scottish shooters descended on Bisley for the annual National Smallbore Meeting from 22nd to 29th August. As usual, the Bisley weather gave a challenge throughout, with initial strong ‘right-to-left’ winds, with periodic ‘left-to-right’ and everything in between, mostly sunshine but with a wild storm during the Roberts. Every day is different, but always a challenge to new and experienced shooters alike.

The Weekend Aggregate

The Weekend Aggregate was split over 2 days with shooters completing 60 shots at both 50m and 100yards. Bill Baird was the leading Scottish shooter with 5th place in class X, while Frankie Calder won class A, Kirsty Noble was 5th, Robin Thomson won class B ahead of Sheena Sharp in 4th, and Tony Lin Baledent winning class C with Ian Sellar in 6th. Some really impressive results from the group!

Championship Aggregate

The main squadded championship aggregate is shot over 4 days (Mon-Thurs) with each class shooting at the same time to negate any changes in conditions. This requires consistency through the week to compete at the top of the classes, and a great deal of patience when shooting in challenging windy conditions.

There were a number of good performances for individual competitions – Lenny Thomson winning competition 4 in class X and Sheena Sharp winning competition 5 in class B.

In the main aggregate competitions, Lenny Thomson was 8th in class X, with James Paterson 10th, Kirsty Noble was an excellent 5th in Class A (and promoted), having had to change rifle during the aggregate following her stock breaking in two. Sheena was 2nd in class B (and promoted), with Robin Thomson in 4th. David Thompson was 10th in C-class.

As a result of their aggregate performances, a number of the Scottish shooters have qualified for the GBR Dewar team trials next year, and James Paterson qualified for the Wakefield team in October.

Home Countries Internationals

Based on performances from the main aggregate, two Scotland teams were selected - for the mixed team of 10 and a men’s team of 5.

This year there were new caps for Iain McLaren and Mark Ferarri, who was selected for a Scotland team for the first time, Kirsty Noble received her first Bisley meeting cap, and a return to the international stage for Gordon Winch after 20 years.

James Paterson and David Simpson top scored for Scotland with 383 ex400 in breezy conditions, with both Scottish teams finishing comfortably ahead of Wales and behind England.

A full list of the Scottish caps history can be found on the STS website here

Scottish Team of 10
Front (left to right) : Bobby Spence, Lenny Thomson, Charles Allan (capt), Ian Henderson (Sec), Sheena Sharp, Robin Law.
Back row (left to right) Mark Ferarri, James Paterson, Kirsty Noble, Gordon Winch, David Simpson, Iain McLaren.

Scottish Men’s Team of 5
Front (left to right) : Lenny Thomson, Charles Allan (capt), Ian Henderson (Sec), Robin Law.
Back row (left to right) : Bobby Spence, James Paterson, David Simpson.

The Roberts

The Earl Roberts (or British Open Championship) is held on Friday morning for the first stage, with almost all the Scottish shooters getting through to the 2nd round. The second stage on Saturday morning was more competitive with only the top 20 shooters getting through to the showcase final

in the afternoon. Lenny Thomson qualified in 6th with 393, with Sheena and James in 17th on 390.

The final is shot on Saturday afternoon over a double dewar of 40 shots at 50m and 100yards, with each shooter having a ‘spotter’ behind them to mark the shots for the spectators information. The first two details at 50m were in largely calm weather conditions and some good scores were posted. James started with 198 and 196 to lead after the 50m details, with Lenny on 393 (with Brown, Corish, Wilson) and Sheena on 389 (leading the ‘Bobs’).

The wind begun to pick up during the 100yard details and scoring was more challenged. James shot 196 and 190, while Lenny shot 194, 192 and Sheena 192, 187. This left a 3-way tie on 580 between James, Richard Wilson and Sian Corish, and Lenny one point further back. The shoot-off involves a single card at 100 yards, with Richard keeping steady in increasingly blustery conditions to win, with James in 2nd and Sian in 3rd.

Sheena won the ‘Bobs’ B,C&D class section while David Thomson was also placed in the Bobs final.

Other Notable Performances

Kirsty Noble shot in the Randle Match (v USA) for the first time, shooting early morning to avoid the worst of the weather.

Kirstty shot an impressive 397/400, and even took some time to do some 3 position shooting on century range (to sight is a temporary rifle and stock ahead of some other British Shooting competitions), James Paterson was 3rd in the County Champion of Champions Match

Bisley 2027

Next year’s Bisley meeting is booked for 14-21st August 2027. We need to see more Scottish shooters there to compete, and give us a better chance of winning the top prizes and competing alongside some of the best shooters in the UK.