About Us

CORONAVIRUS UPDATE
The MoD are still restricting their ranges to a maximum of 30 attendees. This includes the sentries and range staff which means we can have approximately 26 shooters. Therefore, attendance is still via the booking system, a link to which will be emailed to members before each shoot.

RANGE REPAIRS
As everyone will know by now, B range at Ponteland is out of action until further notice due to repairs being needed.

Ammunition restrictions
The MoD has stated that ONLY traditional lead or lead-cored jacketed ammunition may be used on their ranges until further notice. This means that we can NOT use the modern mono-metal solids. If in doubt, ask us!

Tyne Valley Rifle Club situated in the North East of England. We regularly shoot at the Ministry of Defence outdoor ranges at Ponteland at distances of 100 yards to 600 yards and at Otterburn training area up to 1,100 yards.
We are partnered with Mayfair Shooting Centre – also located in the North East of England, for firearm and ammunition sales please check out their website linked here.

Shooting locations

Tyne Valley Rifle Club currently shoot on two range complexes in Northumberland. Ponteland Rifle Ranges a few minutes drive from Newcastle and the Defence Training estate at Otterburn in the North of the County.

Ponteland

Ponteland is what most people think of when they think of a traditional rifle range. There are two range facilities here, “A” and “B” ranges which are traditional “gallery” ranges with twelve and sixteen firing points respectively and manually operated target raising machinery at the butts. The Butt area consists of the gallery area (hence the name) where target marking personnel, if they are being used,  are suitably protected from firing by a large earth mound called the mantlet. Beyond the targets is a much larger earth mound, the bullet catcher.

Firing points at each range are at 100 yard increments. “A” range has points at distances from 100 to 300 yards and “B” range has points at distances from 100 to 600 yards.

Otterburn
The ranges we use at Otterburn are dotted around the vast defence training estate in North Northumberland. This is a sparsely inhabited area used by the military for all manner of training. The military use these ranges to train with everything from rifles and pistols to 155mm field guns and tanks. It is also used for bombing practice by aircraft, and attack helicopters practice firing rockets at mocked-up tanks.

There are number of rifle ranges we use here, all of which of which are merely large areas of moorland. On these ranges targets are either hammered into the earth with a mallet or we use the electronic reactive targets which are installed around the moor at various points at distances from 75 yards to almost 1,000 yards. These targets are great fun and can be set to appear in a pre-set sequence or at random.

Be aware though that this is sometimes a bleak and desolate place in the winter so you MUST come well prepared. Warm clothes, a hat and a flask of hot coffee or soup are the order of the day.

Remember as well that this is a military field-firing area which may have various types of nasty unexploded ordnance lying about it. You should never pick up ANYTHING you find lying about!