Until recently the rifle club had been one of seven that used the facilities at the Hastings Regional Shooting Complex. 

Complex chairman John Tingle said time had run out for the historic range.

The overseeing body decided to end the rifle club’s memberships after the Police Firearms Registry withdrew its licence for the 1000 yard range.

“None of us wants to see any shooting facility closed down,” Tingle said.

“But it had been clear for some time that the Rifle Club was never again going to be able to shoot on that range. 

“Shooting was suspended in the interests of public safety in August 2013, because the targets at the western end of the range are only 800 metres from the airport tarmac and the line of fire points towards it.”

Tingle said a massive ballistics study commissioned by the Port Macquarie-Hastings Council had found that there was a very slight chance of a stray bullet striking an aircraft, and the Firearms Registry, Civil Aviation Safety Authority, Council, and the airlines imposed strict limitations on the hours of shooting. 

In 2012 a visit by the police range inspector found that these safety restrictions were not being properly followed, and shooting was subsequently suspended. 

Tingle said it was a sad end to a historic facility, but the extensions to the airport had taken the tarmac southwards across the “drop zone” of stray bullets from the range, and the view of Police, CASA, Council and airlines was that the risk to public safety was unacceptable.