Irish Practical Shooting Association - IPSA

Paul Smith's Shooting History

In the early 1970’s I was big into Rock ‘n Roll, like Thin Lizzy and stuff. But I had one big problem, I hadn’t got, or, could afford to buy a record player, or for that matter, any LP‘s. Yeh, those big black plastic things. At the time, some of my friends were in the F.C.A. and they told me about the craic and the great money they got every summer when they went away for two weeks on Annual Training Camp. So, as a way of getting some money, I signed up with their unit, E Company, 20 Battalion, which was based in Griffith Barracks.
Yeh, I got a bit of a shock, I had to get my hair cut, well, shorter anyway, stand up straight, keep my boots polished, crease in pants you know the routine. As time went bye, I began to like it and when we started training on the rifle, the old Lee Enfield, man, I just fell in love with it.

The Old Gang, early ‘70’s

Club Lee Enfield’s, Bisley, UK

We were first instructed on the Lee Enfield rifle in .22lr calibre before going onto the open ranges of Kilbride with the full-bore .303 Lee Enfield. What a rifle, it kicked like a mule and hurt just as bad if you didn’t hold it right, but the heavy bulls-wool tunic of the day helped a bit as padding against the recoil. I think everyone in the platoon had badly bruised shoulders by the end of the day, but we were damned proud of it.
As time went bye, we were instructed on the .303 Bren LMG, the Gustaf 9mm SMG, the Gustaff 84mm recoilless rifle to mention a few, but my real interest was always with the Lee Enfield rifle.

A couple of years before I retired from the MP’s in 2004 and I joined a civilian target shooting club near Leabeg, Blueball, Tullamore, Co. Offaly called the Midland Rifle Club (now the Midlands National Shooting Centre of Ireland & home of The National Rifle Association of Ireland) and I have never looked back.
I took up rifle target shooting in the club and was lucky enough to fall in with, and to be coached by some of Irelands best civilian target shooters.
I started off with .22lr & hornet rifles, quickly moving up through the full-bore calibres to a .243 Steyr SSG then to a Blaser R93 LRS2 6.5x55. At present I’m waiting on delivery of a new 6.5-284 calibre custom built rifle by Warner Tool Co, from the U.S.A.
Through my club, the MRC, I went to Bisley Camp in the UK and shot in an F-Class International Competition. During that first visit I was re-introduced to the Lee Enfield and relived all the old memories of years ago.

Midlands National Shooting
Centre Of Ireland

Collection of .50 Target Rifles, USA

The club bought some Lee Enfield’s for members to use when visiting Bisley Camp and eventually when the firearm & calibre restrictions were lifted / relaxed in Ireland, I bought my very own Lee Enfield No4 Mk2 and had it brought home.
Over the years I’ve shot some very fine rifles such as the Accuracy International .308 as used by our snipers in the Defence Forces, the RPA BMF .338 Lapua Magnum and 50 Cal rifles.

Accuracy International .308 on
1000yd range Bisley, UK. March 2004

On the Run, Practical Pistol
Shooting, Holland 2006

As time went on, and again due to the lifting of the firearm restrictions, I took up Practical Pistol shooting in Newry, Northern Ireland with the Northern Ireland Target Shooting Association (NITSA). In order to do this I joined the newly formed Irish Practical Shooting Association, (IPSA), completed the mandatory IPSC basic safety course and the IPSC competition licence course. I was sponsored by NITSA to complete a Range Officers course and have just finished an IPSC National. Through IPSA, I have travelled to The Netherlands twice to complete in the Dutch Open Level 3 Practical Pistol Competition and to Norway for the Moss Indoor Competition.

“The Bunker“, Moss, Norway 2006

The Dutch Open is divided between two pistol clubs in the Tiel & Druten areas of Holland. The Moss Indoor competition is unusual as it is held in an underground nuclear bomb shelter, strange but great fun.

At the present I’m training for the IPSC European Practical Pistol Championships which will be held in France, Sept ‘07.

Damned Poppers, Holland 2005

Blaser R93 LRS2 6.5x55 on 600yd
range Midlands, Tullamore.

The National Rifle Association of Ireland in conjunction with the Midland National Shooting Centre of Ireland hosted their second International F-Class Rifle Competition on 5 & 6 May this year at their shooting grounds in Offaly which included teams from USA, Canada, England, Scotland and Northern Ireland. This was the first time in over 100 years that a civilian team from the U.S.A. has competed on Irish soil. The last time was at Dollymount Strand in 1876, shooting for the Credmore Cup, where it was reported that approx 35,000 spectators attended !!!.

International F Class line up,
April 2006, Midlands, Tullamore.

To be continued . . .