Club History
History of the 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 3rd 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.
MPC Rocky River Range December 1990
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 26th 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.
1999 Range 1 – of two ranges formed with high earth walls
The club was gathering more and more equipment, however at the Rock River site, we had no means of securing this gear. With voluntary work, a covered in trailer was built and the range gear was transported to the range each Sunday for the weekly events.
By 1996 the club has so much gear that the trailer had been outgrown and it was decided to sell this and put the funds into the purchase of a 6-metre shipping container this being located to the Rocky River Range.
The forest block was sold to various other forest or investment companies with us always getting along well with the new owners. Then, in August 2007 the forest was sold to a private individual. While we had a license to occupy the land with 7 years still to run, the new owner found a loophole in this agreement and we were forced out
This was a serious issue for all our members as to have a license to own and shoot a pistol, there is a legal requirement to shoot at least 12 times in a calendar year. As a club, we expect our members to attend more than this in order to prove their interest in the shooting sport. Without a range, we would have difficulty meeting our legal obligations
The hunt was on for an alternative site which was not an easy task. In the meantime, we were able to shoot at the other clubs around the district, we continuously held club meetings and continuously kept the local arms officer informed of where we were at. He stood by us the whole way.
We eventually found a site in a forestry block in the Dovedale area in the Eatwell Forest owned by Tasman Pine Forests Ltd. We approached TPF and they granted their approval for us to set up in their forest.
Proposed MPC Range – Dovedale 2007
It was not until March 2009 that we able to let a tender with initial spending of $5000.00 to Taylors Contracting to begin the earth works. Unfortunately, due to many issues this did not start until April 2011. In all this time we were fund raising and trying to keep our members legal attendances up to speed and trying to meet all the formal requirements that we needed to have in place to create a pistol shooting range.
Once the earth works started, things moved pretty quickly with the development of three pistol ranges and a 400-metre rifle range with our original shipping container relocated to the new site. The inaugural shoot at the new Dovedale range was held on Sunday 17th of July 2011 some four years after having to vacate the Rock River site to the great relief of all members with 14 attending. The official opening shoot was held on 20th of November 2011 with the firing of an 1862 Brown Bess Flintlock rifle, fired by our long-standing Treasurer Sheila Budgen. George Rutlidge the senior district arms officer who stood by us over this time was invited to this event which he attended.
When the outdoor hunting community discovered that we had a 400-metre rifle range, we started to get a lot of enquiries of how they could use this range. The forest company was adamant that no person was to use the range unless they were a member of the club, and that included their own staff. To this end, we decided to create what we called an associate membership.
We continue to have a fairly constant pistol shooting membership of between 35 and 40 members while the associate member has grown to 150 with continuous enquires for membership.
Dovedale Pistol & Rifle Ranges March 2025
Dovedale Pistol & Rifle Ranges March 2025
The club has a very robust training system for new pistol shooters, which we believe is equal to any of the larger clubs in New Zealand. Following the tragic events of the Christchurch mass shooting and subsequent law changes—including the requirement that a qualified Range Officer (RO) be present whenever anyone is on a certified range—our club was compliant because every pistol shooter who completes our training programme becomes a Club-level Range Officer. However 2023 we were faced with the challenge of how to cover our Associate Membership. It was impossible to have an RO on-site seven days a week, given the range is open daily. We therefore created our own Associate Member Range Officer course and club induction. All participating Associate Members were trained through a series of night classes. Some chose not to participate and, regrettably, had to relinquish their membership. Fortunately, these vacancies were quickly filled by new applicants. The club is rightly proud of this process, and we believe we were one of the only clubs in New Zealand to implement such a scheme.
While pistol-shooting membership has remained reasonably steady, it has been encouraging to see younger men and women joining. Pistol shooting, like any sport, is graded. Shooters begin in D Grade and move upward as their confidence, experience, and skill improve—progressing through C, B, A, Master, and finally Grand Master Grade.
From early 2025 the club has seen outstanding results, with several members travelling to competitions in both the North and South Islands. This culminated in the club achieving its first Grand Master shooter, who was selected for the New Zealand team to compete at several overseas events.
As of 2025, the club is in a strong position in terms of both membership and equipment. The next major project is the construction of a substantially improved firing point for the rifle range—an investment expected to cost around $20,000. However, before beginning this work, remedial work must be completed on the ephemeral stream running along the eastern side of the rifle range. This stream, which typically flows only for a few months of the year, caused significant damage during the June/July 2025 storm events. We must obtain Tasman District Council approval before carrying out the required work, and as of November 2025 we are progressing through this process (see photos of storm damage below).
Storm Damage from Two Storms June & July 2025
The road suffered damage in a number of places, mainly from the boom gate on to the range. There were at least 35 fallen pine trees across the road from the boom gate to the range and one tree feel across the boom gate itself
As the club continues to evolve, we intend to keep updating this historical record of the MPC.