The History of the JRA

The JRA was founded in 1896 making the club over 100 years old. Its membership then consisted of individuals from the local parish rifle associations and was affiliated with the National Rifle association in England. Rifles of fullbore (large bore) and smallbore were the main weapons shot. Revolvers and pistols were shot to a lesser extent.

In 1902 a team from the West Indies was represented at Bisley in England in rifle shooting with Jamaicans included on that team. The first wholly Jamaican team to visit Bisley was in 1937. The following year they won the junior Kolapore Cup for the first of many times.

The first annual regional shoot between former Colonial islands such as Jamaica, Trinidad, Barbados and Guyana was the Benson and Hedges Cup in 1973. Bermuda joined the competition in 1989. The distance at which this competition was shot was over 300, 500 and 600 yards.

Jamaica was the first host nation to introduce target shooting to the Commonwealth games in 1966. The events were shot at the club's present location on Mountain View Avenue. The events consisted of rifle and pistol disciplines, Jamaica's Billy Machado won the bronze medal in the center fire pistol event. The club has several hundred members on roll but a lesser number as active shooters.

Jamaica's success in this sport is associated with notables shooters such as Bernard Cridland, Major John Nelson, Hugh Tomlinson, Carl Smith, Jose Nunez, Al Govia, Dennis Lee, Gilbert Bellamy, Major T. Martin, Ronald Brown Jr., Stewart Wishart, Jennifer Rowe Hall and many more.