Easton College is about to launch a pioneering course aimed at improving the skills of sporting rifle users.
Safety will also be a key factor in the training, the result of a new link between the college and Diss-based Riflecraft, best known for its work with military and police rifle shooters.
The partnership is being launched at the East Anglian Game and Country Fair at the Norfolk Showground, Costessey, on April 28-29 with the first college course starting towards the end of May.
Ian Revill, head of agriculture and environment at Easton College, said the idea was to ensure that people who used rifles in their work or in sport could do so to the highest possible standards.
"We don't have a culture of formal training for civilian rifle shooting in this country; more often it is handed down from father to son or learned through shooting clubs," he said.
Easton is a specialist land-based Norfolk college which already trains students in agriculture, land management, gamekeeping and deer management.
Mr Revill believed there was now a great opportunity for people who used rifles to further develop their skills and become even more safety conscious.
"Using a rifle in a way which avoids risk or distress to other countryside users is important in a rural landscape increasingly more open to the public," he said. "Being highly competent to cull pest animals in a humane and safe way is a skill which must be achieved by those who take up pest control or sport shooting."
Jenny Ainsworth, head of Public Services and Sport at the college, said: "Riflecraft trainers can offer our students a real insight into the tactical use of firearms by the police and military, whose training is among the best in the world."
Andrew Evans-Hendrick, chief instructor at Riflecraft, said they used trainers from a military background who between them had more than 150 years of operational firearms training and experience. As well as police and military work, the company had trained around 2,500 civilians over the past decade.
But the partnership with Easton allowed them to open up to a much wider audience in a more formally marketed and administered way.
He believed people from all over the country might be attracted by the courses which would be presented in a series of modules in the college classrooms and at nearby rifle ranges. Tuition would include general rifle use, long-range shooting, moving targets, reloading, night, safari and deer shooting.
"Police forces encourage new firearms certificate applicants to voluntarily undertake formal training," he said. "And many experienced rifle users do not realise the full potential of developing their skills
, as well as possibly increasing the accuracy of a factory-bought rifle through customisation.
"Employers often neglect their obligation to ensure that their staff are competent to use rifles if this is part of their job role. The partnership with Easton College will bring together the expertise of both parties to enhance the experience for trainees."
For more information call Jane Strudwick at Easton College on 01603 731200 or Andrew Evans-Hendrick at 01379 384200.
