Holwell Rifle Club's Sean Bett hoping to make GB team to take on USA

The 48-year-old is in good form and won his first England cap two weeks ago in the British 50m Smallbore Rifle Championships at the Tondu Target Shooting Club in Wales.

Now Betts, who has been a member of Holwell for almost 20 years is hoping to make the cut to take on the USA in the Dewar International Postal Competition.

He explained: “This is a shoulder to shoulder match at Appleton and there will be 60 of the UK's top shooters who have qualified for this from different routes.

“You are put in a line and shoot at the same time.

“We will be put into four teams of 15 and the top four from each will go on to make up the Great Britain Dewer Rifle Team under the National Small Bore Rifle banner.

“The selection shootings will happen in the morning and early afternoon. Results will be collated and the GB team selected.

“Then later in the evening when it cools down and is the optimum time for shooting, the top 20 shooters will fire a set of 20 shots at 50m and 20 shots at 100m.

“The aggregate score will then be kept a secret while the American team shoot theirs at their National Small Bore Meeting at Camp Perry where they will exactly the same.

“The official scorers will then reveal the winners”

Bett enjoyed his England debut in Wales, saying: “It went well – we ended up third behind Scotland, who had an awesome team, and Wales.

“But I did really well and got a decent score and it was all very close and we were only pipped by a couple of points as it was so close between the top three teams.

“Conditions were difficult – it was quite windy – and we just didn't do quite enough to get over the line.

“But it was great to get my first England cap. And the England team selectors were happy with how it went so, all round, it was a good first international match for me and I was quite pleased.”

Holwell Rifle Club members have represented both England and GB on many occasions.