Each year, one club from the Channel Islands is permitted entry into the final of the Astor County Championship, shot at the Imperial Meeting in Bisley. This entry is awarded to the winner of the Astor Qualifier match. The winner also receives the Astor Rifles Challenge Cup, a silver tankard first presented at the inaugural match in 1906.

From 1906 through 1927, the match was entered by various sections of the islands’ respective royal militias. Since 1928, however, the match has been contested exclusively between the Jersey Rifle Club and the Guernsey Rifle Club. The match was not contested in 1910 and 1911, from 1915 through 1921, and 1940 through 1951.

The match is typically not shot shoulder-to-shoulder, nor on the same day in most years, meaning the match constitutes a “postal” match. As of 2021, teams from Jersey have won the qualifier match 64 times, while teams from Guernsey have won 30 times. From 1998 through 2008, the Jersey Rifle Club won the match 11 times in a row.

In 2021, the Jersey Rifle Club set the match record score of 629.80v ex 630.126v, beating Guernsey’s score that year of 622.66v. Guernsey’s record score in the match is 625.76v, set in 2009 under the captaincy of Peter Jory.

The Jersey Rifle Club has won the Astor final six times, in 1931, 1950, 1951, 1988, 1993, and 2014; a Guernsey team is yet to do so.

Representing Hampshire, the Old Elizabethan Rifle Club made eight appearances in the Astor County Championship final in the 1960s, winning the final itself in 1960 with a score of 583 ex 600, one point ahead of the Manchester Rifle Club. That year’s team comprised Guernseymen Dave Hamon, Osmond Roussel, Keith Cunningham, Mike Martel, Charles Trotter, and John Ross.

Shooting with Manydown Rifle Club, a Hampshire-based club joined by several Guernseymen and Old Elizabethans, the Astor final was won by teams including, at various times, Mike Martel, Adam Jory, and Nick Mace, in 1974, 1980, 1987, 1994, 2005, and 2006.

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