Motueka Pistol Club

The Motueka Pistol Club (MPC) came about in 1990 via two keen shooters posting notices around Motueka town asking for anyone interested in pistol shooting to attend an inaugural meeting. 

The meeting took place on the 3 rd of October 1990 at the Laura Ingram Kindergarten and was well attended with 26 keen people.   At this meeting, it was resolved to form the MPC, form an Incorporated Society and to appoint an interim committee to get things moving.

After some searching, a suitable site was found on a forestry block in the Rocky River area of the west bank of the Motueka River.   The forest owners gave their approval for the club to set up in this location.

Clearing work began in December 1990 as well as the formal requirements of land owner approval, police approval, the club becoming an incorporated society and becoming affiliated to New Zealand’s pistol shooting parent body, the New Zealand Pistol Association.   A pistol club must belong to the national body

After working bees and bulldozer work, the site was ready to use.   The inaugural shoot was held on the 26 th of January 1991 with 29 paid up members.

The club has concentrated mainly on practical pistol shooting (IPSC – International Practical Shooting Confederation) which is a very exciting form of pistol shooting.   We have had a very active interclub competition between the Nelson Pistol Club, the Cable Bay Pistol Club and the Marlborough Pistol Club while over the years many club members have travelled to matches all round New Zealand.

1992 saw the club with its first two sets of Falling Plate Racks.   This is another exciting part of practical shooting where two shooters shoot against each other to knock down six round plates as fast as they can, the first with six plates down is the winner.   This match takes place at distances of 15, 20 and 25 metres.   Additionally, the club has also run Speed Steel matches where you shoot at 5 steel plates at various distances with the fifth plate being the stop plate.   This is timed and you shoot to hit the five plates as fast as you can, another exciting part of the sport.

It was clear after some years of operation that we needed to improve the range in order to keep members and visitors safe and to allow us to expand the types of matches we were holding.   Therefore, in January 1999 after much fund raising, we invested $14,000.00 in a major earth works rebuild of the range.   This was a huge step forward and proved to be very successful for the club with membership over the years of between 30 and 40 members.