Gazoo wrote:My club does it in an evening session with written and practical assessments for every member. When did this come in then and how long before the NRA talk the government into making it compulsory to take a test (at bisley no doubt) before applying for FAC , I wonder>
This was bought in as the MoD wanted to ban all civilians from military ranges and in fact had at one point. The MoD don't want or need civilians on their ranges.
The NRA after many negotiations got the MoD to allow civilian use again but only under the above conditions. If I remember correctly this was around 2008 and after an incident that I believe didn't even involve civilians.
So rather than berate the NRA for this certification procedure (that frankly all safe clubs should be doing something similar anyway as part of the HO approval, just without the NRA card and more standardised procedures) perhaps thank them for getting us back on military ranges. http://www.nra.org.uk/common/files/cert ... bs2012.pdf
Arming the Country, one gun at a time.
Good deals with Paul101, Charlotte the flyer, majordisorder, Charlie Muggins, among others. Thanks everybody.
I'm not a great lover of the NRA at the minute, but the above is spot on. The NRA did very well indeed in keepin access to the military ranges for civilians.
In 1978 I was told by my grand dad that the secret to rifle accuracy is, a quality bullet, fired down a quality barrel..... How has that changed?
Guns dont kill people. Dads with pretty Daughters do...!
I have a lot that I can say to the NRA but thank you aint in there!
It's about time we stopped relying on MOD ranges and concentrated on private ranges funded by shooters AND their organisations. Of course we may have to pull some organisations out from the collective home office/MOD rectum where they have been living for so long but it is long over due. It would cost us more but MOD range days aint cheap (pity really as I paid for it to be built any way).
As for "frankly all safe clubs should be etc", we always did but it was a learning process from experienced enthusiasts to novice enthusiasts , as opposed to this type of training for squaddies who couldn't give a crap about shooting.
In 30 yrs of shooting I never saw anyone blown up or shot on a range, I did see poor handling and that was jumped on by everyone , never to be repeated. Good clubs always ran courses, including reloading but as soon as people like the NRA get involved it becomes mandatory .
I have heard plenty of stories of soldiers coming a cropper, not to mention police officers but not many of us thankfully.
No if the NRA had been more member orientated for the past 50 years and less old school tie/regimental dinner/G&T with the minister orientated, we would be in much better shape than we are now.
But I respect your right to an opinion.
You will never get that with the NRA, Bisley ranges are on MoD land and as the NRA is totally Bisley centric they will be inexorably linked to the MoD and salving their rectums for the sake of Bisley.
We need a better and more appropriate national solution that the NRA can or is willing to give us.
Come on Bambi get some
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The original info that I posted was intended to be helpful to anyone who cannot for some reason get a SCC card from any other source.
For example I belong to 3 clubs, one is primarily a smallbore, gallery rifle club so no card available there.
The second is a small sub-group within my primary club that shoot full bore at Bisley, but with limited range time once a month, so only accept experienced shooters who are NRA members and are expected to obtain an SCC card.
The Third club is a private club with their own range, but again limited range time, one day every other week, they used to issue cards, but from this year on have decided that its a members responsibility to get an SCC card if they want to shoot at ranges other than the club range, due to the overheads it incurs for no real benefit to the club.
So my only choice was to do it via the NRA so i can shoot MoD ranges and I thought it would be helpful to anyone else in the same boat, instead the discussion has degraded into the politics around the requirement for the card which was not the original intention of the thread.
Andrew Mercer came along to a club AGM recently, his second visit, the first being within a couple of weeks of taking up his then new post. From what he said I am sure that he understands the issues that some long term shooters have with the NRA. He said that they've had a lot of new members coming in through the NRA shooting club, and that there is now enough demand for weekend range use at Bisley that they need to start expanding facilities elsewhere. Old school TR is in decline, newer shooters seem to favour more dynamic disciplines, and I believe that there is some recognition within the NRA that while their main revenue stream does come from their activities at Bisley, they do need to be setting up opportunities elsewhere.
I suspect it may not be a swift process, but the first step is for them to understand the need to be active away from Bisley, and I think they've done that.
My first full bore shoot on a MOD range this year is in March. All of our January barrack ranges have been cancelled due to booking cock ups. If I can not access MOD ranges I have no were to shoot. This as never changed what's the point of me being a member of a National Rifle Association when it clearly isn't. Why don't they be honest about it and change the name to Bisley Rifle Association and be done with it.
I can understand the frustration if you can't get to shoot. Do the NRA say they will sort bookings out, and then fail to do so?
Do they really have the ability to hold the people responsible for the MOD ranges to account, or are they taking upon themselves something they essentially don't have enough control over?
My experience in dealing with the MOD & Landmark is positive. Yes bookings are rejected due to other users training needs etc. But I am able to plan a years shooting for the club. We are lucky due to the number of MOD ranges in the area and I plan and book well in advance and get bids confirmed 3 months in advance. I also provide all information they request as soon as possible which is easy as they accept PDF scans of documents requested and all communications both ways is by e-mail.
The reissue of our SCC cards expiring 31st Dec 15 was handled very well by the NRA and I had all 162 well before the expiry date.
I am a supporter of the safe shooter system ( its not training for squaddies who don't care about shooting). Over the years I have seen some complete bonehead actions by so called skilled experienced shooters who have never had NSPs drilled into them. At least the SCC shows a level of training and assessment has been carried out.
