NATIONAL RIFLE JOURNAL ASSOCIATION Winter 2016 – Volume XCVII No. 4 £4.25£4.25 MATCH REPORTS A UTUMN ACTION, ToURING TEAMS, BIG GAME RIFLES AND More! NEW HOME FOR FROME T HE OPENING SHOT AT THE NEW FDPC RANGES OLYMPIC PISTOL T RAFALGAR MEETING 2017O SHO T CALENDAR 2 www.nra.org.uk NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION Winter 2016 – Volume XCVIII No. 4 5 CEO’S INTRO 34I OLYMP C TRAINING ON TARGET Andrew Mercer looks ahead to 2017 Bisley now offers an Olympic-standard training ground for pistol shooters 6 NEWS News from the NRA, CCRS, 37 NEW START IN SHEPTON Grove Small Arms Club and more Frome & District Pistol Club reports 8 YOUR VIEWS from its new Target Sports Centre Comment on clubhouse rent prices 40R EGIONAL REPORT 10 OUR VIEWS Nic Couldrey reports on the NRA Chairman John Webster responds goings-on beyond Bisley Front cover: John Webster 12 BATTLES AT TRAFALGAR Cover photo by Graham Walker 42 CLUB CALL Celebrating shooting heritage in style We’re in Scotland to visit Aberdeen Fullbore Managing editor: Colin Fallon Gun Club and Blair Atholl’s Jubilee Range Sub-editor: Ant Platt 15 AUTUMN ACTION WEEKEND Graphic design: Jess Riley Advertising sales: Callum Madden A showcase of the diverse shooting at Contributors: Simon Aldhouse, Mike the last Action Weekend of the year 46I NTERNATIONAL GALLERY RIFLE Baillie-Hamilton, Gareth Corfield, Reporting from the 2016 Invitational Nicholas Couldrey, Lee Davey, Chloe 16 F-CLASS CHAMP CROWNED in South Africa Evans, James Harris, Geoff Ives, Silke Lohmann, Katia Malcaus Cooper, Des Oleksandra Nikolaiev defends his Parr, Lindsay Peden, Alex Sadler, title as European F/TR Champion 49U CL B TOGETHER Michael Savage, Richard Stebbings, Derek Stimpson Silke Lohmann details the history of the 18 ROADTRIPPING Stock photography: Lee Bowditch, clubhouses on Bisley Camp George Granycome, Paul Deach, GB’s whirlwind tour of North America Matt Limb, James Marchington, brought home a huge haul of silver Silke Lohmann, Lulu Watson, 52 EXTRAORDINARY LEAGUES Graham Walker, Tim Webster James Harris has followed the NRA Shotgun Chief executive: Zillah Byng-Thorne 20 SIGHTS ON SHOTGUN Non-executive chairman: Peter Allen Looking for a new challenge? Get involved in and Handgun Leagues this winter Chief financial officer: Penny Ladkin-Brand Target Shotgun, says George Granycome NRA chief executive: Andrew Mercer 55 OBITUARIES Chairman: John Webster 22 GoING BIG Remembering Bob Aitken, Address: National Rifle Association, Bisley, Big game rifle is burgeoning in Britain, as the Brookwood, Surrey GU24 0PB Alastair Munroe and Philip Rowell T: 01483 797777 6th International Big Game Match proved F: 01483 797285 59 RESULTS W: www.nra.org.uk 24 ToMORROW’S TALENT To contact the NRA editorial committee, Classified results from shoots this season A new organisation is working please email: [email protected] The NRA Journal is published on behalf of toward developing the next the National Rifle Association by Future plc. generation of target shooters 60G ENERAL NOTICES Address: 4 Jephson Court, Tancred Close, Price changes and closing times confirmed Leamington Spa CV31 3RZ T: 01926 339808 26 ADVANTAGES OF AGE F: 01926 470400 Teams of shooters go head to head based 62 CALENDAR E: [email protected] on their ages, from U25s to 56-65s Plan for 2017 with our handy shoot calander © Future plc, 2016 29O SHO T REPORTS All rights reserved. Editorial 64 TRADE MEMBERS matter, pictures and text Action and results from Spires RPC, LMRA may not be reproduced All the trade members affiliated to the NRA and the last shoot of the 300m season without permission. Views expressed are not necessarily those 32T MA CH HIGHLIGHTS 66M ESSAGE 10 of the National Rifle The highlights from the Match Rifle scene Katia Malcaus Cooper speaks to Association. this season pro F-Class Shooter Olaf Jones National Rifle Association 3 2 www.nra.org.uk Chief Executive | WELCOME Social awareness CEO Andrew Mercer looks ahead at developments to come in Bisley Camp, and the invaluable role of social media arly December is the time for both a good look at the results of a busy year and to put the finishing touches to our Eplans for 2017. We have enjoyed a pretty decent year: new membership applications should exceed 850; we have delivered a good programme of range improvements at Bisley; and we are making decent progress expanding our efforts in the regions. However, many challenges remain. We need to be ever more attentive to the threats of both deliberate and unintended moves to restrict our rights and entitlements to own firearms and shoot responsibly. I am firmly of the opinion that we need to promote what we do – I am genuinely proud of the safety records, our innovative training programmes and the discipline and rigour practised on firing points on hundreds of ranges across the UK. Sharing images and reports of meetings and events helps demystify and promote the many faces of target shooting. Social media has been a key vehicle in this work; our weekly Facebook reach has peaked at over 300,000 and we now have 18,400 ‘likes’. Social media is a hungry beast and, while free to use, demands significant resources to deliver interesting content. As the ranges quieten down for the deep winter we are cracking on with a number of developments. Winans range will be upgraded to provide a full calibre 25m No Danger Area range; turfing contractors will be busy improving firing points at 300/600 yards (Century) and 1,000/1,100/1,200 yards (Stickledown); and we are counter the regular assertions that FAC and SGC holders should pay working through detailed testing of a variety of electronic targets more for their certificates. for Stickledown range. We have been working up plans to improve options for pistol The conversion of the Pavilion is progressing well; the new shooting for NRA members. To this end, a group of nine NRA training rooms, armoury and gun room are pretty much finished members visited Jersey in November, at the invitation of the and the first group of staff will be moving into the new offices in Jersey Pistol Club (JPC). The group was provided an introduction January. The range office, members’ armoury, retail shop and café to the range facilities, a detailed safety orientation followed by will follow in spring, and I am hoping that the landscaping works will an opportunity to try live practices with revolvers and pistols. be approved by the planners before the end of the year. The States of Jersey have an enlightened attitude towards pistol Membership and club affiliation renewals will be due on 1 January shooting, which allows the JPC enviable opportunities to practise 2017. Please do not ignore the reminders from our membership fullbore pistol shooting. Their members made the party from the team to renew your subscriptions and remember that insurance, NRA more than welcome and their generosity delivered a memorable and the right to shoot under the auspices of the NRA, relies upon a weekend of competitive fullbore pistol shooting culminating in current membership/club affiliation. the internationally recognised 1500 PPC match. Special thanks to Our staff deal with a steady stream of licensing queries each week. Derek Bernard and Mark Littleton, whose practical support and In these uncertain times it should be no surprise that the police are encouragement played a key role in delivering a successful weekend. becoming ever more attentive and it is essential that applications to There is much to consider before such an event is repeated: range renew certificates are lodged in good time (preferably 12 weeks prior access, training and assessment of competency, access to pistols to expiry). I was astonished to learn that one major police force has and provision of ammunition are all hurdles to overcome. I was two Firearms Licensing staff wholly employed in dealing with late heartened to learn that there is still much valuable experience in applications and missing licence holders (where a change of address fullbore pistol shooting within the NRA; making sure this knowledge has not been notified). The actions of a careless few risks tarnishing and skill is not lost needs careful planning, creative thinking and the responsible majority. We need to help the police to help us to close collaboration with our colleagues in Jersey. National Rifle Association 5 NEW CCRS SECRETARY ANNOUNCED REPORTS The Council for Cadet Rifle Shooting (CCRS) has announced that Robert NEWS Bruce OBE will assume the position of general secretary from November 2016. This follows Simon Fraser’s retirement from the position after 24 years’ service. GOL R VE C UB suPPorts A former cadet, Robert is delighted SHootABILITY NORFOLK to join CCRS and is looking forward to working with trustees and members to grow the work of the charity. Robert Bruce was commissioned in 1973 into the King’s Own Royal Border Regiment. He transferred to The Royal Irish Regiment in 1998 upon assuming command of Depot The Royal Irish Regiment. The majority of his operational service was spent in Northern Ireland although he deployed on several short operational tours while serving in the Permanent Joint Headquarters at Northwood. He is a graduate of the Army Staff College (Camberley) and the Joint Services’ Defence College (Greenwich). He was awarded an OBE in 2005. He retired from the army in 2006 and served for seven years as CEO of St John Ambulance in Wiltshire before joining The Gurkha Welfare Trust on a two-year contract as project officer for Norfolk-based Grove Small Arms Club After a number of fundraising events the 2015 commemoration of 200 years has raised £660 for ShootAbility Norfolk, held at the Grove’s Horsford Range, of Gurkha service to the Crown.