Prince William demonstrates shooting prowess before Australian soldiers

SYDNEY - Prince William demonstrated his shooting skills when he took part in a live ammunition firing exercise with Australian soldiers.

He used a F-89 Minimi machine gun during the event held in front of soldiers of the third Royal Australian Regiment at Holsworthy Army Barracks.

According to The Telegraph, the Prince, 27 scored a rating described as “excellent” by one senior officer - despite using a rifle that he had never fired before.

The second-in-line to the throne, who was wearing civilian clothes and sporting protective ear plugs, lay on the ground to fire at a target 100 metres away at the Holsworthy Army Barracks on the outskirts of Sydney.

He scored a rating of 104, which represented the average spread in millimetres between all the bullets from his four five-round groups.

Prince William, who is on the fourth day of his first foreign tour representing the Queen, fired an F-88 Austeyr personal rifle, used by the regiment’s soldiers who served in Afghanistan in 2008. He also fired a F-89 Minimi machine-gun. There was no score for this exercise but he hit his target with all the 100 rounds fired from the “belt”.

The Prince posed for a group photographs with the uniformed soldiers, who then presented him with a brown “slouch hat” to protective him from the scorching sun. (ANI)