HISTORY OF NEWBERRY PISTOL CLUB

The club was started by a small group of men in Newberry SC, who shot .22 pistols on Monday nights, in their basements. It moved to a hardware store, the Coca-Cola plant, then to its present location when in 1974, members converted the County Fair Grounds horse stable into a pistol range. 
Some city police would occasionally stop in to improve their marksmanship skills.
They had matches with other clubs in the state and competed in the Florida Southeastern Championships, where they did very well. Mr. Tom Stewart, an early member was an expert marksman and did quite well, winning several awards. 
In 1976 the club started a muzzle loading conclave at Kings Mountain State Park. It grew into a large 3-day event and was enjoyed by shooters and their families from several surrounding states. It was held in September and grew to 150+ competitors until the the park became unavailable in 2000.
Joel Sexton, MD started a Jr. Air Pistol program in 1983 and Barry Heffner started an Air Rifle Youth program to teach youth marksmanship and firearm safety. Young participants competed in the Jr. Olympics, National Air Pistol Championships and World Shooting Championships.
Excerpted from Newberry Magazine Nov/Dec 2011 issue, by William A. Smith Jr. et al