ORANGE'S Greg Eslick made an outstanding return to competitive shooting at the Central Western Championships at the Orange range on the weekend.

Eslick gave up the sport in 1996 due to family commitments but has been for just over a year.

The weekend's championships, hosted by the Orange and District Pistol Club, was his first competition he had shot in since coming back.

He admitted to feeling nerves but he stayed in control to win the men's B grade air pistol with a score of 536 to beat club mate Max Wicks (533).

Eslick's brilliant comeback continued when he shot the men's D grade 50m pistol for the first time and shot a grade break score of 480 to finish second to finish second by four points.

"That was the first time I've shot 50m pistol in competition," Eslick said.

"I had a brilliant weekend. I'm here for the long haul now."

Eslick was not the only Orange shooter to perform well with a numbers of competitors featuring in the top three.

Rebel Lindsay-Egan took out the Junior Air 40 D grade event with 294 and won the D grade 10m Women's Air with 288.

Maisie Harvey showed she was still on target finishing third in the D grade 10m Women's Air with 269.

Garry McKay was third in the D grade 10m Men's Air with a score of 464 and Djuro Cikaric shot 447 to finish third in the D grade 25m Centre Fire.