Author Archives: Captain Comms

The Boar Hill Remembrance Sunday Shoot 12 November UPDATE

 

Update

A highly successful shoot with over 40 taking part. Huge thanks to all those who turned out to shoot and also those who took the time to com along and help.

No Boar hill Event would be complete without Barry and his famous Venison Sausages that he donates to the club and event. Many thanks to all.

The scores are on the Results page. The Individual was won by George C. with 100.14 and the teams by Wandsworth with 365.28. the teams were a bit tricky to sort out as not all clubs could field 4 shooters so the final scores are open to a bit of interpretation. There was enough 4’s to keep it like that although If I made it teams of 3 then it would have changed a bit but there you are.

More importantly we raised £260 for the Royal British Legion and that’s up from the 203.58 from last year.

See you next time.

This sunday is the annual remembrance shoot in aid of the Royal British Legion and veterans far and wide.

The event is primarily Target Rifle although all are welcome. We will run the usual system of getting the TR shooters through first, then the scoped non MB rifles and the ‘louder ones’

its 2×10 at 300 and 600

Entry is £5.00, proceeds to the legion for all those attending.

We will be welcoming guests from Sussex, Wandsworth, Chichester, Horsham, Bookham and probably one or two I have forgotten. The TR event will be in teams if there are enough to make them up.

We will see a welcome return of our very own Barry Springer and his fantastic BBQ skills along with the home-made venison sausages. If anyone wants to make a further contribution to the legion in return for a sausage then this is all in a good cause.

So if you are a Dorking member please make our guests welcome and steer them in the right direction if they look lost and if y ou are a visitor then welcome.

A Whyte, Garrick Cup and some Photos

Update

Scores added to the results page – well shot everyone some great scores, particularly from Euan R who managed a 149.23. Pretty Good shooting and the competition was tight at the top. I think its time to make the targets smaller!

The warning to the TR shooters was well heeded as we had a total turn out of  – 4. Disappointing. Still there was plenty of room for everyone.

On a brighter note Graham B.s’ son-in-law Andy Caton cam along to the last Gallery Rifle shoot and took some excellent photos. They show the club in its true ethos, namely a collection of shooters (men and women) enjoying a day out and their sport. Long may this continue. The photos are excellent and don’t show anyone really in an angle where they can be identified but if you have any objection to an image that you think is you then contact the club and I will remove the image. See the Photos Page.

The AW and G cups are on the programme for tomorrow, Sunday 29 October. It is a TR shoot with 2×15 at 300 and 500 yards. Scoped Rifles are welcome to shoot alongside.

Note to the TR boys – this is a bit of a use it or lose it event. I am about to work on next years program and the some of these events are not well supported from a TR point of view. We can use the range time more widely for more popular shoots if they remain poorly supported.

I have managed to sort out some of the scores for the Barclay and these have now been posted. See you tomorrow and make sure you respond to the home office consultation on Firearms restrictions.

Potentail Ban – Update

Link to the Home office Brief

Click to access Offensive_and_Dangerous_Weapons-Consultation-.pdf

 

Link o They work for you – the best way to lobby your MP

https://www.theyworkforyou.com/

The home office Document

Offensive_and_Dangerous_Weapons-Consultation-

The message below cam to me via a source – it shows what further measures the Police would like. If you dont have a MARS and think a Lever Release isnt included or that this doesnt apply to you – they will get to you eventually so please act now to stop additional legislation

The below was obtained by a shooting organisation through a FOIA request, it is from an ACPO – whatever it is now called – position paper from 2015. We have no reason to doubt its authenticity and much fits with  long standing police aims. They are now working through their ‘wish list’ to be done in stages as the opportunity arises and of course depending how much fuss is kicked up by shooting organisations and the shooting community (that’s us).

 

  1. End Section 2 – all to be Section 1.  They have been trying for this since 1973 – latest excuse is that it will be more efficient and cheaper to have one certificate. Rubbish and the potential impact on shotgun ownership is huge

 

  1. All, yes all, semi-automatic firearms to be prohibited as Section 5. If it has to be done in stages they’ll do shotguns first and then .22 RF – starting by changing law to say that nothing bigger than .22  RF is permitted in semi-auto

 

  1. Introduction of magazine capacity limits for rifles – not specified but assume 10 or possibly less, 5?

 

  1. Reclassification of LBR and LBP to Section 5 and therefore prohibited – they have never liked them and claim people can saw down the barrels to make them pistols

 

  1. End the miniature rifle range exemptions which the police claim allows an unregistered trade in .22 RF rifles.  Again they have never liked the old exemptions and have tried to deny their use over the years

 

  1. Prohibit .50 calibre by moving to Section 5 as per current proposal

 

  1. Airguns – ‘further restrictions should be placed on such weapons’. The announced consultation is to determine whether England should follow Scotland and licence as firearms. Police will claim it’s an anomaly in England and therefore the law should be standard across the UK so licensing for England is necessary

 

  1. Old spec deacts – police want to make it a criminal offence to be in possession of a deactivated firearm that has not been deactivated to the CURRENT standard.  Anyone with an old spec deactivated firearm will have to have it done to the current standard if they wish to keep it. Creates lots of new criminals.  Coincidentally the Government has now stopped its prison closure programme…….

 

  1. Antiques – requirement for antique dealers to keep registers like RFDs do for non-antiques. Reclassification of some antiques to Section 1

 

  1. ‘Shotgun cartridges to be licensed’ – not sure what this means given you have to produce a certificate when buying – assume it  means the same treatment as Section 1 ammunition, limits on numbers held and entry of each purchase on certificate

 

  1. Mandatory training and testing of individuals before a certificate is issued.  Not clear who does the training and decides if a person meets the standard

 

  1. New powers of entry to search without a warrant – they may have got this already, or claim to have. Basically it’s to allow them to take firearms from a certificate holder without having to show good reason

 

  1. Abolishing court appeals on firearms certification matters. Courts to be replaced by a ‘non-binding tribunal’.  Currently the police are bound by court decisions but a tribunal would limit the rights of the individual and for the police to be unaccountable. This is quite worrying as it would enable to Police to make up the law and do what they want without proper oversight

 

  1. ‘Family members’ to be consulted prior to grant or renewal of a certificate on the suitability of the applicant.  Police want this to find ‘evidence’ of non-suitability.  ‘Have often do you argue with your spouse?’ ……

 

  1. The current Home Office Guidelines on Firearms law to become mandatory and binding – but only after the police have re-written them.

 

So there you have it – as we said, winter is coming.  If they get the current proposals through relatively easily expect things from the above list to be presented for ‘consultation’ quite quickly.   The shooting organisations are moving into action and so will you by writing to your MP to object and request him/her to object to any changes to the current firearms legislation currently being proposed/suggested.

 

Another Attack on Ownership Looms

I received this message below from a member with is also a member of another club. For those of you who have been down this road before it is not welcome information.  We don’t have any 50Cal’s in the club but there are pleny of MARS and Lever Release items legally owned (following home office approval owned by members. If you have been under a rock you might have missed this information.

The message is repeated below and I have remove d names etc but you get the drift. I expect there will be some sort of web site where we can log on and make a comment . You can also contact your MP. You can do this using the very good @they work for you’ web site below

https://www.theyworkforyou.com/

Message Text below – published for your information.

Gents – please read below an update e-mail from Chris Stevenson of the.50 Cal Shooting Association who has an inside track on the proposed Government consultation and proposed new restrictions.

It appears that the Government intends to pass primary legislation as soon

as JANUARY 2018 !

Oh, and apparently the Home Office REALLY doesn’t like lever release firearms

so it looks like those will definitely by subject to some form of proposed restriction.

The consultation period will be very brief (no doubt to try to restrict the number

of well reasoned representations from shooters) so it is really important that you

watch out for when this consultation opens and you submit your representations

swiftly.

Anyone who understands how Governments work will realise that this is just

the start of the ratchet process. First they ban anything over 10,000 ft.lbs. then

incrementally every few years they will reduce that limit…..

 

Dear member,

Last Friday Andrew Mercer (NRA), and Paul Dale (BASC) met with the home office regarding such matters as the club license fees. However they also took the opportunity to raise the issue of the proposed ‘ban’ on .50 and ‘rapid firing’ firearms, in an attempt to establish what exactly is the background to this consultation.

Apparently .50 and lever release firearms have been on the agenda for a while now, the Home Office have taken the opportunity to include these additional firearm controls in the latest raft of prohibitions on acids and the mail order of bladed weapons.

The following points are not set in stone, and until the consultation is open we cannot assume that these are 100% accurate, they may be subject to change.

  1. The consultation process will open very soon, possibly next week.
  2. The consultation will be short, and the outcome (if this results in changes or a ban) will be enacted as primary legislation (law) in JANUARY 2018.
  3. The restriction will apply to anything that is capable of generating a muzzle energy that exceeds 10,000ft/lbs
  4. The concern over civilians having access to .50 rifles has been elevated following the theft of a .50 rifle from an RFD, however the Home Office believed that the theft was from a regular shooter. They will be corrected on this matter. The stolen firearm was completely functional, in that it was taken with its bolt.
  5. The other primary concern is that of the potential “material destructive” capabilities.

The following observations and comments were raised at the meeting.

  • Andrew pointed out that the FCSA is a very well run club, with an excellent safety record. No criminal use in the UK.
  • If these rifles are banned, then the compensation payments bill will be very high due to the extraordinary cost of such rifles and associated equipment.
  • We do not use section 5 ammunition, we use target ammunition that is not designed to have any destructive capabilities.
  • BASC are most upset that this consultation has been announced without any prior warning, as this in contrary to an agreement previously put in place to eliminate any ‘unexpected surprises’.
  • The Home Office REALLY doesn’t like lever release firearms.

I spoke with Andrew at length after his meeting. We discussed the above, in particular points 4 and 5.

If the Home Office is concerned that these rifles might fall into the hands of criminals (point 4 above) then we need to provide a solution. The solutions discussed (between the Home Office and the NRA) were as follows:

  • Complete ban
  • Grandfather rights – i.e. you can keep and use your .50, you can never sell it to another shooter, when you die it gets destroyed.
  • Make .50 rifles section 7.3, this was deemed impractical as we travel vast distances between ranges, we have no armoury to store the rifles in at a range.
  • Improve home security, separate the bolt and keep this in a separate safe in a separate room. Possibly require a monitored alarm system for the premises. I prefer this option.

The Home Office believe that these are material destruction devices (point 5). This is clearly rubbish when using section 1 ammunition. Andrew advised that to counter this argument we need to state the exact properties of a target projectile, or mil spec ball, impacting on a variety of targets. I have witnessed Amax turning to dust on the surface of a sand backstop, ball ammunition has similar properties. However rather than rely solely on a statement from us, we are calling in an independent ballistic expert, a non-member, and using a private range facility will conduct a series of tests. The evidence gathered will be used to prove our point.

BASC is on our side. However not all shooters are, yet. One worrying development that I leaned of today is that one police force are now reluctant to issue a variation for anything over .300 win mag, even to FCSA members. Hopefully this is just one police force and not a new national trend. Unless the entire shooting community backs this opposition campaign then expect to continue to see a never ending wave of consultations, resulting in the eventual ban of everything we enjoy.

Social media continues to be a huge problem, some outrageous comments being posted, along with photographs of military looking weapons that would scare the hell out of the average Guardian reader. So please don’t get involved in any such online discussions, please don’t post photographs and whatever you do don’t get angry. Everything we do online is being watched, angry folks with guns can expect an unwelcome visit from the law, especially in the current political environment.

As soon as the consultation goes live I’ll send out another email, with advice on how to respond.

 

The Barclay Cup

For those of you checking the site for the results of today shoot I am sorry to advise there is a problem with the scores. Th majority of the cards were placed on the table and the stats team (me) forgot to pick them up.

Dont worry they will be safe but I will have to pick them up next time and post them then – Apologies, it was bound to happen sooner or later!

We stayed at 600 yards due to the dodgy weather (that cleared a bit) so it was worth coming along. You have to remember not to be put off by the weather as we can shoot from under the gazebo at 600 and keep all the gear out of the wet etc.

The next shoot is a Gallery Rifle one so get the toys out.

Stats to follow after that.

Gravett Cup and RCO Course

A late update of things as I have been away for a bit and am just catching up. The scores  for the Gravett cup are on the Results page. The master plan for security is to have the names in a First name / Last initial format but this only works if you know the names.  I am claiming that I didn’t prepare the file so they are not all in that format. Apologies I will try to do better in future but I am a bit time poor at the moment.

The clubs first RCO course was run at the weekend and all the delegates passed. This is excellent news and it ups the skills of shooters and RCO staff we have. We should be ever mindful of the legal issues surrounding our activities and the better recognised skills are always welcome. We need to be on top of all the legal and safety activities at all times and it is ever-changing.

We will probably run the course again next year so if you are interested make sure you register in time (not now!).

We will probably be revisiting the issue of competency cards at some point as a number of you have asked about it. If we do follow the NRA procedure then all shooters at Dorking will need to be certified and if not take a course either with us or the NRA.  If we go down this route then there are implications and administration for all. We will have another look at it and let you know.

See you on Sunday for the next shoot – the Barclay Cup being a 2 x 10 at 500 & 600. TR shooters first etc.

See you then.

Work Party Sunday 10th September Update

The work party took place on Sunday and was a great success. We got lots of essential jobs done and a huge thank you for all those that turned out to help.

Running the club takes a massive effort and any pair of hands is appreciated. I wont list all the stuff that got done or individuals by name – you know who you are – Many Thanks.

The manual targets have all been refurbished and fixed up. We need to store the Fig 11’s flat as leaning them up against the wall causes damage at the top. The target hut has been tidied up so please keep it that way.

Thanks again for all your help.

The next shoot is a TR 300/500/600 (I think) we have guests attending so please make them welcome and try to keep the Muzzle brakes away from the TR shooters.

 

Sunday 6 August Scoped Rifle 2 Update-Scores

Course of Fire added to the COF page. Read it and be prepared!!

The scoped rifle shoot is tomoprrow and I have created a course of fire to make it interesting. It will not be a spray and pray shoot and if you cant hold a decent zero at 300  you will not be allowed to continue. Fun though they are VZ 58’s are unlikely to qualify.

See you tomorrow.

170806 Scoped Rifle Shoot

Sunday Update

Scores added to the results page – well shot everyone. It seemed to go well but we need to work on the COF to make it run a bit quicker. It is still work in progress but it was fun all the same.

A couple of notices:-

We have ongoing security concerns and there seems to be all sorts of additional threats to us and our sport.

For security Reasons We have removed all the historic results. In future we will post the results with the names as First Name / last initial. Previously this was first initial Last name. We have resisted password protection on the site to date as everyone forgets them. We will see how we get on with the current set up.

The results historic results are available on request.

There was an incident where a member was called by someone purporting to be a police FEO. Beware of spoof calls / emails and ensure you are not being fooled.

If in doubt check.

Sunday’s Scoped Rifle shoot will be a further experimentation of the hand-held Fig 11/12/14 targets at various distances. Last time it seemed to work well so come along and we will see what we can arrange.  See you then.

Service Rifle 3 – Sunday 9 July 2017 – Updated

This weekend we are on Service Rifle again and the course of fire has been posted to the Course of Fire page. If this is difficult to find then there is a further link below:-

170709 SR 3 Course of Fire

I think I have got the details ok but I am sure someone will point out any errors! Anyway get your service rifles out, grab some ammo (don’t turn up with just 20 rounds) and enjoy yourselves.

Usual rules apply and I will see you then.

Update

Hot and busy day – Scores added to the results page. Well done all.

Appeal – We have a work party coming up and as usual half our tools have disappeared. If you have any spare tools (we could do with a couple of hammers (ours walked) in good condition you would like to donate to the club we would be grateful.

There will be a work party on Sunday 10 September so please come along and help us sort some things out – it will help the club and shift some of those holiday pounds!

Bring a spade as there is a trench to dig! (loads of other fun things as well)