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The Sporting Shooters Association of Australia (Victoria) was incorporated as a public company on October 1, 1973. We exist to promote the shooting sports and protect firearm owners' interests.

With more than 40,000 members, SSAA Victoria is a leading body representing licensed firearm owners in Victoria. SSAA Victoria has more than a dozen branches and more than 30 sub-clubs and disciplines within the organisation.

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SSAA Victoria News

Shooters welcome Premier’s pledge on public land access

Victoria’s leading shooting and hunting organisation, the Sporting Shooters Association (SSAA Victoria), has welcomed Premier Allan’s pledge not to “put a padlock on our public forest”. “Access to public land for hunting is one of the most important issues to our forty-four thousand members”, SSAA Victoria Hunting Development Manager David Laird said. “This is the clearest statement that we have heard from the Government on this issue in over a decade, and as we commence working with the new Great Outdoors Taskforce, it gives us the confidence to put the case for hunting in good faith”. Mr Laird said that the Premier’s pledge is consistent with recent conversations with the Government. “We are pleased with the Premier’s statement but not surprised. It is consistent with the approach that she and Senior Ministers have taken to hunting issues since the leadership change a little over a year ago”. The place of recreational hunting across public land tenures has been a live issue since the early 1970s. “SSAA Victoria has been actively advocating on these issues for over half a century”, Mr Laird said. “It hasn’t always gone our way. However, it is worth noting that over the past ten years, more than half a million hectares have been added to the public land available for deer hunting in Victoria”. SSAA Victoria has also been active on this issue throughout the year, “we started the year with an opinion piece on this issue,” Mr Laird said, “that woke a lot of people up”. Victoria’s shooting and hunting organisations combined to release a joint statement on land access in May, “we played a leading role in bringing that together,” Mr Laird said. “Public land access is one of those issues where there is so much common ground”. SSAA Victoria expressed its support for access to other outdoor recreation activities. “The Association’s position is clear”, Mr Laird said, “where there is no compelling, evidence-based rationale for excluding the public from public land, it needs to be available. That holds for deer hunting, fishing, four-wheel driving, mountain bike riding, rock climbing, camping and exercising the family dog. We prosecute our position based on our values and principles; we don’t horse trade”.

Victorians on target at the silhouette nationals

A group of Victorian shooters travelled to Tasmania recently for the:

Lever Action Metallic Silhouette (LAS) Nats 21st – 25^th March 2024 at SSAA Westbury Range.
Scoped Rifle Metallic Silhouette Nats (RMS) 29^th Mar – 1^st Apr at SSAA Tas State Range Runnymede.

For the LAS shoot the team consisted of Mark Butler, Greg Norton, Mick Manini, Grace Manini 15YO (Open Junior) Sarah Manini 13YO (U15 Junior) Grace and Sarah both learned to shoot in the Youth Traning Scheme at Springvale. For Scoped RMS we had the same team with the addition of Colin Robinson Lever action kicked off with a practice day on 21^st for everyone to sight in and get their settings for the 3 different rifle classes being shot over the next 3 days, Rifle, Pistol Calibre Rifle and Smallbore rifle. This was an important day as there would be no sighting in sessions on the mornings of each shoot. The club provided a fantastic, cooked breakfast each morning and the weather gods smiled on us for the entirety with chilly mornings and beautiful sunny days. A total of 37 Shooters representing all states except NT along with a 3 member NZ team were in attendance.

Rifle Cal – Open sights off hand to 200m Mick Manini 2^nd A grade with a total of 40 Sarah Manini 1^st B Grade & 1^st U15 Junior with 39 Grace Manini 2^nd B Grade & 1^st Open Junior with 38 Mark Butler (44) Greg Norton (49) both AAA grade out of the placings

Pistol Cartridge Rifle – Open sights off hand to 100m Sarah Manini had a breakout day, shooting 55 to win A grade and a score that would have put her in first place in AA grade, she also took 1^st place in U15 Juniors. Sarah had a long run of 17 Consecutive Pigs. Grace Manini took first place in Open Juniors with a 36. Greg Norton (AAA) and Mark Butler (AAA) both had a 52 and Mick Manini (A) had a 37 to finish out of the placings in their respective grades.

Smallbore (22LR) – Open sights off hand to 100m The Manini girls got off to a bad start with a rifle failure and both lost their first ten targets, other members of the team stepped in to share their rifles with the girls, Sarah sharing with club captain Mark Butler and Grace with Greg Norton. Grace ended up having a good day (42), taking out first place in A grade and open Juniors after a shoot off against a member of the NZ team. Grace shot 5/5 in the shoot off to make sure she couldn’t be beaten. Sarah ended the day 2^nd in B grade and U15 Junior (36) but did shoot 10/10 Turkeys with Marks rifle, a feat many say has never happened before. Greg Norton (AAA) had a 57, Mark Butler (AAA) a 56 and Mick Manini (AA) a 37 to finish out of the placings in their respective grades. Sarah took out the 3-gun title for U15 and Grace took out the 3-gun title for open juniors. Sarah also won the Lightforce performance Lighting lucky shooter prize of a magnificent light bar. Consistently shooting good but not winning scores put Mark Butler into 9^th Place & Greg Norton into 8^th position overall, a respectable effort amongst Australia’s top LAS Shooters

Scoped RMS Nationals The scoped RMS nationals were held at the new Runnymede Tas State range with the silhouette range only finished a few days before the shoot, it was an absolute credit to the team that put it together. Practice day on the Thursday was busy with most shooters needing to dial in 5 rifles for the proceeding days, with the added bonus that there would be a short sight in period on the morning of each shoot. Day 1 Hunter Class, centrefire (to 500m off hand) Sarah Manini had never shot centrefire before and decided the day before she might give it a go. Mick offering her $50 if she shot 10 as an incentive, but thinking, no way, never. Well just to prove dad wrong and take the $50, she shot 10 with Grace’ s little 6.5 Grendel, also winning B grade and U15 along the way. Grace went in ungraded and shot her way into A grade with an 11 to take out Open Juniors Greg Norton came away with a 3^rd place in A grade with a 12. Hunter Class Rimfire (to 100m offhand) Greg Norton 1^st in A Grade (18) Grace Manini 1^st in B Grade (18) and Open Junior Sarah Manini 3^rd B Grade (9) and U15 Junior Day 2 – Centrefire (to 500m offhand) Sarah decided an 80-shot centrefire match might be a little too much and opted for a day shopping in Hobart with mum while the rest of the team battled it out. Mick Manini took 1^st place in B grade (20) Grace Manini took 1^st place in A grade (35) after a shoot off against fellow Victorian team member Colin Robinson who took the Silver. Grace also taking out open Juniors Greg Norton Ended the day with a 37 which was good enough to get the bronze in AA grade. Greg & Grace both losing several targets due to using a 6.5 Grendel which was struggling on the day to knock over the rams at 500m. Day 3 – Rimfire (to 100m offhand) Today was a good day for the Victorian Team, Sarah Manini shot a 42 to win A Grade and U15 Juniors, Grace Manini was third in AA grade (45) after yet another shoot off, this time dropping her guard to be beaten by the NZ Captain Eric Clausen. Grace won open Juniors Greg Norton shot a 53 to win the Silver in AAA grade and Colin Robinson shot a 61 to win AAA grade and equal with the 2^nd place getter in Masters grade. Day 4 – Air rifle (to 45yards offhand) Probably the Manini girls favourite event, but with more shooters in AA and AAA grades than any other, it was going to be a big ask, and true to form, both girls performed very well on the day, Grace shooting a PB of 57 to take 3^rd in AAA grade and 1^st in Open Junior. Sarah a bit off her best, shooting 51 to take 2^nd Place in AA grade and first in U15 Junior. Colin Robinson (M) shot a 61 & Greg Norton (M) shot a 57 to finish just out of the placings in Masters grade Both girls also won the Aggregate medals in their respective age groups Once again Greg Norton’s consistency placed him inside the top 10 with an 8^th place in the 5-gun Aggregate (Overall Placings) a top effort shooting against Australia & NZ best. Well done.

Anyone interested in becoming involved in Silhouette Shooting or the YTS program should email the secretary at msrc.secretary@gmail.com

Winchester Australia embrace unique opportunity that SHOT Expo brings to the shooting industry

Clive Pugh, CEO of Winchester Australia discusses the unique opportunity that SHOT Expo 2024 allows for shooters to engage directly with the shooting industry. [embed]https://youtu.be/8J8ZSq1amas[/embed]

SSAA Victoria Annual General Meeting 2024

The SSAA Victoria Annual General Meeting (AGM) will be held on Sunday 29 September from 2-4pm at the Hotel Bruce County, 455 Blackburn Road, Mt Waverley. Nominations to fill four Board vacancies opened on 13 May and closed on 14 June 2024. Four nominations were received by the returning officer. Pursuant to 11.6 of the SSAA Victoria Constitution, the Board for 2024/25 will be announced by the President at the AGM.

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