Colmsliehill ISSF Summer Series
About
Photo courtesy of David Owen
During the summer months, on the first Saturday from May until September each year, the Pistol and Gallery Rifle AMG run a series of Open events (currently at Colmsliehill range) where the individual competitions are the ISSF cartridge pistol disciplines, mostly shot with ISSF-compliant air pistols due to restrictions on the ownership of cartridge pistols in mainland UK.
Before the pistol ban in 1997, these events were very popular and Open competitions occurred throughout the UK, both at national and regional level. With the loss of our ISSF pistols, many people moved over to shoot other disciplines (notably Gallery Rifle). However, a few dedicated individuals kept the ISSF pistol competitions alive, using air pistols (both single and multi-shot) as substitutes.
Free Pistol (Olympic event)
Course of Fire: Unlimited sighting shots, followed by 60 shots to count.
We shoot this at 25m, using the reduced size SPA1/PL19 targets with single shot UK-legal free pistols, or using PL7 targets with .177 air pistols.
Standard Pistol (Commonwealth Games event)
Course of Fire:
FIVE sighting shots in 150 seconds on PL7 targets at 25m, followed by:
FIVE shots in 150 seconds, FOUR times
FIVE shots in 20 seconds, FOUR times
FIVE shots in 10 seconds, FOUR times (total of 60 shots which count)
Sport Pistol / Centre-fire Pistol (Commonwealth Games event)
Course of Fire (Total of 60 shots which count):
FIVE sighting shots in FIVE minutes on PL7 targets at 25m, followed by:
FIVE shots in FIVE minutes, SIX times
FIVE sighting shots, each in THREE seconds, on PL17 targets at 25m
FIVE shots, each in THREE seconds, SIX times
Rapid Fire Pistol (Olympic event)
Course of Fire (Total of 30 shots which count):
FIVE sighting shots in EIGHT seconds, each on a separate PL17 target at 25m, followed by:
FIVE shots in EIGHT seconds, TWICE
FIVE shots in SIX seconds, TWICE
FIVE shots in FOUR seconds, TWICE
(Note: the Rapid Fire event is shot in two half-courses separated by a significant time interval, as above, and so we only shoot one half-course.)
Photo courtesy of David Owen
Over the years, firearms that are viable alternatives to air pistols for these events and comply with UK mainland legislation, have become available. These guns can be possessed under Section 1 of the Firearms Act (as amended), with the appropriate permissions on individual Firearm Certificates in place. These now include single shot .22LR pistols (suitable for Free Pistol), multi-shot .22LR semi-automatic pistols (for Standard Pistol, Sport Pistol/Standard Handgun, and Rapid Fire Pistol), and .38/.357 revolvers (Centre-Fire Pistol). Though not compliant with the maximum size dimensions specified by the ISSF for international competition, they are now a viable alternative to air pistols in the Summer Series.
For those of you not familiar with ISSF pistol shooting, the rules do require that shooting be done with the gun held in one hand only, though we do relax this restriction for very young competitors.
We welcome people who are interested in the ISSF pistol disciplines to join us for these events, and though we take the competition seriously, we are a relaxed and friendly bunch of people of all ages, who are always ready to offer help and advice to those who wish it. All you need to enter the majority of the competitions we shoot is a single-shot air pistol suitable for use with the ISSF 10m Air Pistol competition; these guns are fortunately still extremely accurate at 25m. If you would like to give these competitions a try, do get in touch, either by filling in an entry form, or by making an enquiry via email.
