A day at the Bunbury Rifle Club

But after a day at the Bunbury Rifle Club I can say shooting rifles is one of the most cerebral sports available.

When I arrived at the range at 9 am on the dot I was greeted by George Wittorff to the loud crack of rifles and the unique smell of gunpowder from the ammunition – made by the members themselves.

George is strapping himself into a vest designed for iron sight target shooting when I arrive and he tells me he’s preparing to shoot a classic style of shooting called target shooting.

“There are two types of shooting, target and F-Class. I’m shooting target today which is what I prefer,” he said. “You may hit the target more accurately in F-Class but I think target shooting is a greater challenge.”

George introduces me to arguably one of the clubs most passionate shooters, Kevin Davidson who would be guiding me though my first shoot on the range.

“I first shot a .308 rifle when I was 12 years old as a member of the naval cadets,” Kevin said.

“I loved it and I’ve been a part of the Bunbury Rifle Club for 17 years now and I think the challenge of shooting is very personal to each member.”

For Kevin the sport is an opportunity to pit himself against the elements and hopefully come out on top when he hits the target.

“There are so many factors that come into play when shooting, the distance, the wind and mirage all affect how you’re going to line up your shot,” he said.

As Kevin shows me some of the ammunition we would be shooting George Wittorff has finished firing and comes over to give some of the club history.

All clubs in Australia were originally organisations of militia type units used to defend England’s colonial settlements including Bunbury which was formed in 1877 and whose members included John Forrest and Newton Moore.

When the Australian Army was formed most of the units were disbanded and seen as unnecessary, but John Forrest argued the South West was poorly protected by the Australian army and the government granted them permission to continue operating as a defence unit.

But after the Port Arthur Massacre in 1996 all ranges were required to become sporting organisations and follow an increasingly strict set of guidelines.

The Bunbury rifle range has moved around in the past from Marlston Hill to Picton, before finding its current location in Ludlow, just south of Capel where it’s run by the Australian Army who have just completed a 20 month long upgrade of the range.

The history of the club is illustrated throughout the clubhouse with pictures of competitions won and past members dating back to the 18^th century.

As George tells me of the history, Kevin is preparing the club rifles for me to shoot.

The sound of guns firing continues into the morning but I can hear the loud crack of the rifles is occasionally interrupted by the sound of a significantly quieter firearm.

On the far side of the range, club member Rod Davis is sighting up a small .22 rifle which he explains is for the younger shooters. 

“We have all ages come to the range to shoot from 15-year-old all the way to 80, we really don’t have any restrictions on that,” he said.

“We have a 100 meter competition coming up for the younger shooters so I’m bringing the sights in for some of the smaller guns.”

Rod said target and F-Class shooting isn’t the only shooting they do at the club and once a month they have service and field firearm days.

“We shoot old service weapons from World War II but we’ve shot firearms from as far back as the Bore War,” he said.

“And we have days where farmers or hunters can come and shoot if they haven’t shot for a while or need to sight up before they go hunting.”

Back over on the range it was my turn to sight up and put some rounds down the range, which I had been looking forward to.

Kevin lays next to me feeding precise advice into my ear about the wind direction as I line up the target, “aim directly at the centre,” or “left of the target a smidge,” he would say.

Firing the rifle for myself helped me experience what the shooters had been telling me all day, that there is a precise science to shooting a gun and it’s not just an aim and blast away affair.

It takes a great sense of judgment and calculation to hit a target that is sitting nearly a kilometre away.

Firing rifles for competition is truly closer to a game of chess than any other sport.

Anyone interested in visiting the Bunbury Rifle Range for a free first shoot can visit http://www.wara.asn.au/clubs/South-West-Districts-Rifle-Association/Bunbury-Rifle-Club to get organised.