Our primary function is to select teams to represent England in National and International Small-bore and Air-gun competitions.  We are a Member Body of the English Target Shooting Federation (ETSF), who coordinate and recommend teams to represent England at the Commonwealth Games, Commonwealth Shooting Federation (CSF) and Commonwealth Shooting Federation European Division (CSFED) Championships.  The other ETSF Member Bodies are the Clay Pigeon Shooting Association (CPSA), the English Pistol Association (EPA) and the English 20 Club, (Full-bore Target Rifle shooting).  We are part of the structure whereby English athletes can feed into the British Shooting Academy, for selection to shoot for Great Britain in ISSF World Cups, Continental Championships and, ultimately, the Olympic Games.

The ESSU is basically a national shooting club^*, for which Members can apply for selection as team members in regular shooting competitions in the UK between the Combined Services, Army and Police.  Members can also submit an Expression of Interest, (Eoi), via links on this website if they wish to represent the ESSU or the ESSU Academies (Rifle and Pistol) in competitions outside of the UK, such as InterShoot (Holland); RIAC (Luxemburg); ISCH (Germany), Dortmund (Germany) and others.  Dependent on the number of Eoi's submitted, a Team Manager may be appointed to coordinate and accompany the travelling Group.  This facility is intended to encourage Members to venture out of the UK to compete against athletes from other countries, but such representation will not qualify an individual as an 'England International' athlete unless selected to compete against other national teams.  Team selection is dependent on having achieved a Minimum Consideration Score, (MCS), in the specific event during the preceding year, or to current members of the Team England National Squad (TENS).  England Team entries may only be made in advance by the ESSU Teams Manager or by the Manager appointed for that competition.  Exceptions to this are the annual NSRA matches against other Home Countries that take place during National meetings at Bisley and in Scotland where team selection will be made by appointed Team Managers, based on performance during the early part of the Championship week.  Those selected for an England international team are entitled to purchase and wear an England 'Podium' tracksuit and/or Polo shirt.  These have a specially designed 'English Rose' logo and an "England Shooting Team" motif.  All other Members may purchase and wear our range of ESSU merchandise, displaying the 'Lions-head' logo and an "England Shooting" motif.  Pictures and order-forms are available on this website under "ESSU Merchandise",  Pictures of the England Team wearing the 'podium' polo shirts are on the CSF Championship report.

In common with the Rules of the other Home Country Governing Bodies, anyone who wishes to compete as a member of an England team must be a current Member of the ESSU.

We run separate Academies for the Rifle and Pistol disciplines, each under the supervision of respective Head Coaches and their Assistant Coaches, where week-end training sessions are conducted for members to train and develop their skills with the objective of representing England at international level.  Click here for additional information about our Academies.

We organise annual Championships for Rifle, Pistol and Air-gun that usually take place at Bisley during or near to the May Bank Holiday weekend.  This meeting is open to all comers, but the competitions will decide the English Champion in each event, which title is restricted to Full ESSU Members.

We hope that this will give you an idea of what the ESSU is all about and that you would wish to join us.

You can make an on-line membership application or download a printable form from the MEMBERSHIP menu.

We hope that you will find this site useful.  If you have any comments or suggestions please contact us.

^*We are NOT a 'Home Office Approved Club' in respect of firearms aquisition and use, and therefore cannot support any application to Police for a s.1 firearms certificate.  All shooting Members must therefore be a member of a HO approved club through which such applications must be made.