Mildura Smallbore Rifle Club History

(from some old incomplete records, unsure of author)

Mildura Rifle Club with the support of the Cardross Rifle Club were the founders of Mildura Smallbore Rifle Club, no documents can be found but it would have been around 1950.

The Smallbore indoor 25 yard range was in the Agricultural Hall at number one oval in  Mildura.  When there was heavy rain the water ran down 12th Street and into the building.  The shooters had to shoot on duck boards with the water running under them.

All equipment for the range had to be taken away after each shooting night and then returned for the next shoot, the only thing left in the building was the back stop that stopped the bullets.

Mildura Rifle Club obtained one of the buildings from the former RAAF base which is  now Mildura Airport.  The building was relocated to Mildura rifle range and the Smallbore club shifted their about 1957, where the club shot 25 yard and 20 metre indoor shooting until the club moved out to the Koorlong Range.

At the Mildura Rifle Club the Smallbore club had a 100 yard range also shooting 50 yard and 25 yard where the club conducted the North West Victorian Championship for a number of years.  The shooting bay is still there on the right hand side as you enter the weigh bridge at the tip.

The early days of Smallbore rifle shooting was when most of the shooters had 303 Military rifles converted to 22 calibre, a few used sporting rifles.

 The thing that is always in ones mind is the polishing of the bolts trigger release on the door frame of the old club house and putting a spacer in the rifle bolt to reduce the travel of the firing pin.

And when the 1956 Olympic Games were in Melbourne, one of the clubs shooters was in Melbourne at that time.  He arrived home with a top class Smallbore target rifle, so we all had to have one.  That was the big change in Smallbore target rifle shooting.

 Years ago the Smallbore clubs of Mildura, Red Cliffs and Wentworth, had teams shooting against each other, they were good years of target shooting.

Red Cliffs Smallbore range was in an unused Fruit packing Co building at Red Cliffs.

Wentworth Smallbore range was in the old Wentworth Gaol.

W.R. Russell (Bill) (from his funeral Tribute)

Bill was a founding member of Mildura Small Bore Rifle Club Inc. when it was established in 1950. Originally Mildura Small Bore Rifle Club competitions were shot under Grandstand at Mildura No1 ovals in Eleventh Street, Mildura until 1957 when the club was moved to the site of the Big Bore Range at Ontario Avenue, which is now the site of the rubbish tip.

In 2003 the club moved to the current leased premises at Mildura Pistol Club at Magnum Road, Koorlong. Bill was a long serving member (over 60 years) of our club. Naturally he is a Life Member of our Club. Bill, over those many years, has held the positions of President, Secretary, Treasurer, Captain and was always willing to lend a hand to any working bee and projects the club undertook.

Bill was a keen fisherman, travelling to South Australia over many years to fish. Bill was also an active Board Member of the First Mildura Irrigation Trust for many years. Mildura’s newspaper the “Sunraysia Daily” mentioned recently in their “50 years ago” column that 5 members of the Mildura SBRC shot a possible (100 out of 100) on the night and this included Bill Russell, Ivan Bell, Dick McPhail and two others. In his later years he was a generous sponsor to our club with a donation towards the Club’s major event:- North West Victorian Championships which is held every Queen’s Birthday Public Holiday weekend in June.

The Mildura Small Bore Rifle Club Inc. honoured Bill with his name on the North West Victorian Prone Championship Sash in 2012. The Club will continue to honour his name on that sash in memory of a great club man.

If anyone has any further information or pictures about the history of the Mildura Smallbore Rifle Club, we would love to add it to this page.

Please send it to the Secretary