.22 Prone Rifle

The Prone Rifle Section meet at the Club on Wednesday evenings and shoot a single discipline ‘Prone Rifle’ – that is: lying on your front, forming a tripod with body and elbows to support the rifle. This is typically shot with a .22LR single shot target rifle with Iron Sights.

If you’re right handed the left hand supports the fore-stock, and the right hand is on the pistol grip / trigger with the butt in the right shoulder. The weight of the rifle is taken by a sling – wrapped around the left upper arm, and connected to the fore-stock. The action of pushing the right shoulder into the butt tensions the sling and holds the barrel on target.

Typical equipment (aside from rifle and sling) is a heavy-duty leather or canvas jacket with ‘top-grip’ rubber on the elbows, a glove to protect the left hand from the sling, ear protection and a spotting scope / stand. Shooting mats to lie on are available at the club – and we make use of the motorised target changers.

For interior shooting (at PGC) this is shot at 25-yards (under National Small-bore Rifle Association (NSRA) rules), onto a ten spot target – with one shot fired into each spot.

On exterior ranges this can also be shot at 50m (under International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) rules), 50-yards and 100-yards (the latter two under NSRA rules).

We principally shoot postal competitions organised by the Dorset Small-bore Rifle and Pistol Association (DSRPA). There are two seasons per year, Summer and Winter.

The Winter Competitions are:

• Team of 5 – (10 rounds of one card per team member) we typically enter a single Team.
• Team of 3 – (5 rounds of two cards per team member) we typically enter one or two teams.
• Individual – (10 rounds of one card per person).
• Short Range Championship – an individual competition of four cards in the first round, three in the second – and then a final at Piddlehinton range.

The Summer Competitions are:

• Team of 5 – as above.
• Pairs – (10 rounds of one card per member).
• 100 yard Individual – (10 rounds of one card per person).
• 100 yard Team – (scored from the same cards as the Individual competition).
• 50 yard Individual – (10 rounds of one card per person).

During the summer season we shoot at Queen’s Park range in Bournemouth once a month, shooting 100-yard Individual, 100-yard Team, and 50-yard Individual competitions.

Members of the club also shoot the DSRPA competition meets (all cards are shot shoulder-to-shoulder) at Dorchester’s Piddlehinton outdoor range. These are:

• English Match – 50 yards and 100 yards – typically takes place in May.
• Double Dewar – 50 yards and 50 metres – typically takes place in July.
• Singapore Cup – 50 yards and 100 yards – typically takes place in September.

While all competitions have to be shot with single shot .22LR target rifle – it is possible to shoot prone with air-rifle, and we have air-rifles with hand-stop / sling hook, and iron sights that can be used for this purpose.

We also have a harness (to hold up the sling on the upper left arm) and elbow pads, so that anyone who wants to try Prone Rifle, but doesn’t have a shooting jacket or other equipment, can get a feel for it and decide if they like it first.