SHOOTERS descended on Gympie at the weekend to take part in the Wide Bay Regional Target Rifle Championships at the Gympie Smallbore Range.

Gympie's Matt Murillo was the top shot of the day, taking home gold in the small bore silhouette shootout.

Hosted by the Gympie Smallbore Rifle & Silhouette Club and organised in conjunction with the Maryborough Rifle and Pistol Club, Saturday's action saw competitors from as far as Toowoomba and Mundubbera visit Gympie for their shot at glory.

Among the different events was the Prone Silhouette Match, the Pronte Target Match and the Bench Rest Match.

Photos View Photo Gallery

The Gympie region was represented well, with club president Mark Brown, vice-president Chris Davy, Shannon Peters, Roy Bagus, Ray Turner and Sandra Turner from Gympie and Jimmy Wardell from Goomeri.

Club vice-president Chris Davy has had years of practice but the old saying 'practice makes perfect' rang true.

"It's a challenging discipline and some people think it is quite easy and a lot of practice goes into it," he said.

"The experience passed on from the older shooters to the younger ones counts the most."

Top 3 - Johnny Patswald Toowoomba (Silver), Matt Murillo Gympie (Gold) and Shannon Peters Gympie (Bronze). LEEROY TODD

Despite not finishing in the top three, Davy said it was great championship as always and the standard was increasing.

"The club did not do too badly, there were quite a few first places by the club with Murillo and Mark Brown," he said.

"I finished ninth in the prone but sometimes you do well and sometimes you don't.

Jimmy Wardell from Goomeri LEEROY TODD

"The championship is always fantastic, you have to be good on your game. We have people from Lismore coming to compete and and the standard is rising.

"Where we might have had 2-3 tied last year, this year there might be 4-5, our young shooters are getting better.

"Target shooting is in the Olympics and you can build up to that."

Shannon Peters Gympie. LEEROY TODD

As the winners celebrated their victories, they were also thinking about the Childers Cup at Childers on June 23-24.

"We have competitions every two months and preparation is on a Friday because that's our practice," Davy said.

Cheryl Doessel from Mundubbera. LEEROY TODD

"There is about 80 per cent work, so time is of the essence. On a Friday it is exactly what you would shoot in a comp.

"We have a 40-shot match and you get four minutes to shoot a set of five.

"Targets are different distances and you shoot the same sets of five twice and then move to the next distance to shoot the next target."

Davy said there had been people coming and trying shooting on a Friday and the club catered for everyone.

"We have about 30-35 people on a Friday and we regularly get about 3-4 new people coming and having a go," he said.

For more information, email enquiries@gympiesmallbore.org.au or phone Brian Cooper on 0417 707 778.