.22 LR Silhouette

This is a new section to the club, introduced in late 2025.

The .22 LR rifle is the everyday, do-everything rimfire in New Zealand — cheap, low-recoil, and hugely popular for target shooting, training, plinking, small-game or varmint control and youth introduction to shooting. Here's your chance to practice on targets within the safe and structured environment of a gun club.

There is no age restriction for this discipline. All participants are supervised by fully licensed and experienced range officers and instructors. As long as you are old enough to hold a .22 rifle, you can participate in this discipline. We have members that are school-aged through to well past retirement age. The discipline is an equal opportunity sport; men, women and children all compete equally.

Our discipline uses a .22 calibre sporting rifle (single-shot, bolt-action or semi-automatic) to shoot at targets set at various distances from 25m to 50m. Participants initially will shoot from a sitting position at a bench. Once competence has been gained, the participant will join the senior group where they will be taught shooting from standing, sitting and kneeling positions. 

• Junior members fire 10 practice rounds and 10 scoring rounds. 
• Senior members fire 20 practice rounds and 20 scoring rounds.

Scoring is recorded as simple hit/miss, and the club will track each participant's progress through the year, with end-of-year prizes.

We shoot on the first Sunday of every month from 1:00pm through to 4:30pm on Range 2 (directly in front of the main gate). Registration starts at 12:45pm where an attendant will be available to open the gate for non-members. 

The section supplies rifles and ammunition for shooters to use for a small fee, and there is a range fee for non-members. You do not need to be a licensed firearms user to participate. However if you are licensed you are more than welcome to bring your own .22 rifle and/or ammunition. 

For more information, click this link to contact the Club secretary, or click this link to email the .22 LR  Silhouette section leader.

When are the matches?

Every 1st Sunday of the month, rain or shine. Registration at 12:45pm. Matches start at 1:00pm. We should be finished for the day by 4:00pm.

Do I need to make a booking?

No, but you can email the section head, silhouette@rrgc.nz, and let us know. This will allow us to better run the matches as we will know how many competitors are likely to turn up.

Do I need to bring anything?

Eye and ear protection. If you wear glasses, these are satisfactory for eye protection.  Earmuffs or ear plugs for ear protection. If you will be participating as a shooter, then we do recommend earmuffs and not earplugs due to proximity.

I have a firearms licence and own a .22 rifle. Can I use that?

Absolutely. Bring it along and we can provide additional instruction on how to use the firearm safely.

Anything else I need to bring?

Drinks and snacks. In winter a thermos of coffee or tea always goes down well. In summer a bottle of water will help keep you hydrated. 

What is the on-range etiquette?

When using firearms, safety is paramount and is the top priority for anybody and everybody on the range. The Range Officer will make themselves known to you before the match starts. It is their responsibility that everyone shoots safely and has a bit of fun doing so. All instructions from the Range Officer must be followed immediately and without question.

If you disagree with an instruction from the RO, you still must comply at the time during the match, but can query the instruction after the match. The RO is running a match for multiple participants, not just a single person, and will ensure that the match can proceed safely and in a timely manner for all participants.

If you are not a current licensed firearms holder, an instructor will be assigned to you. Their responsibility is to ensure you operate the firearm in a safe manner at all times, teach you how to safely operate a firearm and can help when you get misfires or jams. We were all new shooters at some stage, and understand that in our excitement mistakes can happen. The instructor is there to take control of the firearm should a mistake be made.