I bought a Parker-Hale target rifle and the ex-owner told me a story behind a sticker on the stock :

"....The sticker that is on the stock is the original Bisley shoot sticker. That Rifle was owned by a friend of mine who shot many many times at the Bisley in England. He was also the sniper training officer during WW2 here in Canada. The army wouldn't let him serve overseas as he was needed to train our boys here before they went overseas...."

Can someone tell me what a "Bisley shoot" is?

Bisley was/is considerd the home of british rifle shooting. It has long been asscoiated with both civilian and military markmanship and in many ways was where both spheres of shooting came together. The vast majority of the prestigious rifle matches in the UK are shot at Bisley and it is very much an international venue. If I recall correctly it is the home of the NRA who moved there in the 1890's, the National Smallbore Rifle Association and possibly the British Sporting Rifle Club and a host of other smaller clubs....

Many of the indiviual range names such as "Short Siberia" are enshrined in British match shooting folklore as are the type of matches shot there. Many types and styles of firearm were developed expressly for shooting certain disciplines at Bisley and i think thats what you have there...I have only shot at Bisley once but some of the other Brits here are probably members of clubs that meet there and should be able to give you better details.

Regards

Pete

also see:
http://users.ox.ac.uk/~kebl1350/bisley.htm
http://www.surreyra.fsnet.co.uk/SRA/history.htm

[ 06-06-2003, 15:43: Message edited by: Pete E ]

Thanks for the info.

Bisley is also the "Mecca" for all the former Commonwealth countries' full-bore belly shooters.

Canada, Australia,South Africa, New Zealand, etc. commonly each send a "national team" to compete at Bisley every year.

In Canada, the team members are selected on the basis of merit shown in the annual National Matches. Something like the top 22 finishers in the week-long Bisley Aggregate shot at Connaught in the DCRA (Dominion of Canada Rifle Association)National Matches win invitations to Bisley as representatives of Canada. If some of the top 22 can't go, then persons finishing farther down the list are invited. Seldom do invitations go to people who finished lower than 30th in order to fill the team.

Ranges such as "Century", "Stickledown" and so on are as revered among Canadian shooters as to the Brits themselves. And winning the "Queen's" prize (the overall matches winner) at Bisley is an honour seldom equaled in one's lifetime. (During the reign of a King, it becomes the "King's" prize.)

Canada's DCRA also maintains a club house at Bisley, where it hosts other national teams and quarters its own team shooters during the annual Bisley matches.

If you do not belong to the DCRA, you should, if for no other reason, for its quarterly publication, "Canadian Marksman".

AC

[ 06-08-2003, 10:15: Message edited by: Alberta Canuck ]

About your "Bisley" rifle...you should check to find out the exact model from the former owner.

If it is a No. 4, Mk. 2 convertd by the late Joe Gibault of British Columbia to 7.62 Nato, it is a jewel. If it is a Parker Hale "Envoy" model, it is an even greater treasure. The barrels in the Envoys were "ball burnished", and are generally found to be exceptionally fine shooters.

AC

Pyrotek,

Bisley is also the home of our NRA.

Another good site to look at is www.nra.org.uk

I will be shooting at Bisley next Saturday.

Patrick

Thanks again ppl,

Canuck, What does an Envoy look like?

My Parker-Hale mauser is quite unusual, all the parker hale guns I see in a picture have a steel cross pin as recoil lug and a botton on both side of the stock to keep the pin in place---just like a Mauser 98. Mine doesn't have the pin or button, although it is described as M82, all M82 photos shows the button.

What is "ball burnished"? Too bad the barrel on mine is kinda spent.