Malta Opens Impressive New National Shooting Ground
Malta has just opened its new National Shooting Ranges in Ta’ Kandja, the state of the art trap and skeet range will play host to ISSF Shotgun World Cup. The World Cup runs from the 5th to the 15th June and will put the new range to the test with over a dozen skeet and trap qualification and final shoots being held.
Over 400 shooters from 61 countries are set to descend on Ta’ Kandja to compete in the competition that was held in Moscow last year. The International Shooting Sports Federation (or ISSF) organises four world cup competitions a year for various disciplines. Malta Sports Shooting Federation president, Saviour Portelli, told the press that the inaugural event at the new range “is a great opportunity not only for the youngsters taking part in this event but for all those others who will be following them in future.”
Portelli continued: “I hope that the local public will come here to give their support to our shooters who have been training very hard in the last few months and I’m sure they will do everything they can to get the best possible result.”
Here’s a short video from Malta’s Education and Employment Ministry looking at the new shooting ground:
Built on the remains of an old scrap yard overlooking Malta’s airport in Ta’ Kandja in the south of the island, the new shooting ground is a multi-million dollar project. The range was part of a major government scheme promised before the last general election, with the project estimated to cost around 7 million Euros. The ranges were opened on the 18th May by Malta’s Prime Minister Joseph Muscat.
The site covers 25 acres, built on government-owned land, and will cater for a number of diverse shooting disciplines with ranges for trap and skeet, a 25-50m range, a 300m rifle range and a dynamic range complex and space for paintballing.
The state of the art shotgun range includes a number of innovative systems including a 15m tall collapsing shot net which will trap and help recycle lead pellets fired on the 360m long shotgun range. The range estimates that up to 1,000kg or 2,200 lbs of lead shot will be recovered per week.
Managing Editor: TheFirearmBlog.com & Overt Defense.com. Matt is a British historian specialising in small arms development and military history. He has written several books and for a variety of publications in both the US and UK. Matt is also runs The Armourer's Bench, a video series on historically significant small arms. Here on TFB he covers product and current military small arms news. Reach Matt at: matt@thefirearmblog.com
More by Matthew Moss
Comments
Join the conversation
Not that great in technical terms, only 2 cool gadgets about this: Goverment owned and a freaking Paintballfield!!! Wuhu!
I was planning on moving to Malta when I retire so... BONUS !