Sheppard has been coming to the Wingham Rifle Range since he was a child and while he's been placed in numerous prize shoots around the State and beyond, this is the first time he's taken home the big prize. However, it was a close run thing, Wingham Rifle Club member Tony Moon said.

Sheppard and Port Macquarie's David Morton both fired 325 for the two days of shooting, however, Sheppard counted out Morton on centres, winning with 325.42 to 325.39.

Wingham Rifle Club member Peter Thurtell was the early front runner, but he dropped off towards the end of the shoot to finish third with 324.45.

Port Macquarie's Bryce Drain won B-grade with 320.25 ahead of Sydney High School's Jeremy Chan on 319.43.

Shore school student Angus Langsford was successful in C-grade. He returned 317.20 to relegate the Sydney High School pair of Cameron Young (313.25) and Martin Lee (309.25) to the minor placings.

Daniel Galea from Nowra won the F Standard A-grade with 385.38. The runner up, John Simons won the award for the competitor who travelled the longest distance. Simons is from Broken Hill. He returned 385.32.

Women dominated the F Standard B-grade, filling the top three placings. Sandiswa Nzimande from Gosford took the main prize with 388.36, beating Linda Sweet from Port Jackson on 384.29.

Sue Bloomer from Grafton was third with 384.29.

Wu Lau from Hornsby won F Open with 389.46.

Michael Difford from Cessnock (387.35) and Jock Foster from Armidale (386.34) were second and third.

The two day championship attracted 96 shooters, which pleased club officials. There were fears the entry list could have been as low as 70, due to a clash with the Australian championships.

"The Australian championships started in Brisbane on Monday and attracted the upper echelon of shooters, including the NSW team,'' Mr Moon said.

"It's the first time they've clashed. We'll be writing a letter of protest and hope it doesn't happen again.''

Mr Moon said conditions were ideal on both day's of competition.

The shoot wasn't conducted last year because of COVID-19 restrictions. In 2019 the event attracted 110 entries.

Wingham Rifle Club members Duncan Robinson and Christina Adams will be competing at the national titles this week. Club events will be held at the Wingham range this Saturday.