The 2011
NRA Imperial Meeting
The 2011 NRA Imperial Meeting - Civilian Service Rifle Championships
by John Morgan-Hosey
The last week of June saw the largest gathering of Civilian Service Rifle shooters in the country take part in the National Rifle Association’s Imperial Meeting. The Championships consist of a series of matches adapted for competition using manually-operated rifles, taken from the British Army’s Pamphlet 20 – Competition Shooting.
Sight class averaged between 4 or 5 competitors and with only 2 or 3 competitors shooting in Historic.
The Service Optic Class is for any rifle with optical sights limited to x4.5 magnification, there are no restrictions on slings and the rifle may be magazine rested but rests, bipods or monopods are not allowed. Minimum trigger weight is 4.5 lbs. In practice, this class is mostly shot with straight-pull AR15 derivatives with the odd Styer AUG appearing.
The Practical Optic Class is for any rifle with optical sights not limited in magnification, slings and/or bipods can be used but they must remain fitted to the rifle at all times during a match and must be folded when in the ‘Standing Alert’ position. Minimum trigger weight is 1.5 kg. This class is mostly shot with Remington 700 style rifles with detachable magazine conversions or AR15s with higher-power scopes and bipods. Any Iron Class is for any rifle with iron sights, no restriction on slings but rests may not be used. Historic Class is for any SMLE, No.4 or No.5 rifle of service pattern ‘as issued’ with no attachments or modification.
There is a dedicated following of stalwarts who usually shoot CSR over the winter months at Bisley competing in a series of league matches and it is a welcome change not to be competing in the freezing wet and windy conditions that we have all become used to.
The four days of shooting started on Wednesday 29 June 2011 with the Practical Rifle Imperial Match. This event was designed by and for those shooting the discipline of Practical Rifle. As well as the normal Imperial Trophies, the results also counted toward the Practical Rifle Annual League Trophy. Although this match did not form part of the CSR Championship aggregate, it was used by many competitors as an
The majority of matches remain unchanged from those shot by the three Services, with only the rapid- fire and multiple-shot stages extended in time to compensate for civilians not using semi-automatics. They are scored in four separate classes - Service Optic, Practical Optic, Iron Sights and Historic. Service and Practical Optic classes are the most popular with an almost equal number of competitors, the Any Iron
opportunity to check their equipment and confirm zeros from 100 to 600 yards before the CSR events over the following four days.
Derived from the old Practical Rifle Match it consisted of 9 Stages shooting in the standing, kneeling, sitting and prone positions at a variety of targets including MoD pattern Figure 14 window targets, Figure 12 and Figure 11 targets. Sighting shots are usually given at
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