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I was a member of the NSRA for quite a few years, shooting 25 yards and 50 metres at the Lord Roberts Centre, Bisley, mid week. I only stopped my membership subscription because of eyesight and back problems.

Having now sorted out those problems and thinking I might like to start again and indeed organise some small bore shoots for our Club, I went into the Lord Roberts Centre to make some enquiries.

I was told that it "might" be possible......I then enquired about their requirements regarding Shooter Competancy Certification and was told that those issued by the NRA are no good for the Lord Roberts Centre as they only cover "military" ranges. If I (or others of my Club) want to shoot there I (we) would have to attend one of their accessment courses......

This strikes me as being ridiculous......for starters the Lord Roberts Centre is bang in the middle of Bisley....a "military" range by any definition....secondly what is the difference between the safety requirements for using a full bore rifle at distances from 100 to 1200 yards as opposed to using a .22" rifle at 25 yards or 50 metres.

Not satisfied with response I got....."I don't really know".......I e-mailed the NSRA two weeks ago to ask for clarification........I am still awaiting a reply.

No doubt if I wanted to arrange a wedding reception or a session in the gym, or perhaps some roller skating for my granddaughters I might have got a positive response....

I've written an email to Brian Woodhall the General Secretary there asking him to respond.
Going on his past responses (or lack of them) I expect a delay in his responding!!!.
I am the National Councillor for the NE England and recognise that the NSRA has MANY problems to overcome, Like the NRA they are extremely hard up and need to utilise the Lord Roberts Centre in any and all money raising enterprises just to pay the bills. The Centre was built with money from Sport England, I believe, and should be primarily about shooting but the financial problems do present an almost insurmountable dichotomy.

I just had a thought, Brian will be on the NSRA stand at the Shooting Show so you could try and get an answer out of him there!

I was passing recently and dropped in on the off chance to mooch around their shop. It was closed for lunch and I didn't have time to wait around. I didn't have anything in mind to buy but that's usually when you walk out with a brand new purchase costing ££££'s; their loss.

Still, they were probably getting an income from the burley coppers that were tooling up in their SWAT gear in the car park so I guess that they were happy.

They may have money problems.....I understand that and am aware of the reasons.....the thing is I was enquiring for range time that would have generated income from what is supposed to be their core activity...Shooting.....and mid-week at that...their loss I am afraid....we have made alternative arrangements now...

It still gives me the hump that they seem so unwelcoming, uncooperative and that the "frontline public interface" does not have the knowledge to discuss a problem like this and the back office staff seem to know even less......

There is no MoD requirement for Certificate of Competence for prone shooting with .22" under nSRA rules. So all you should have to satisfy is the NSRAs own requirements as the range operating authority.

BTW, Bisley is not a military range.

Hahahahahahahaha!

They made me "redundant" a month ago - hope that £8.24 an hour is going to save the future of the NSRA . Oddly enough I don't think anyone else has been made redundant ?????

The shop is now closed at lunch as the staff are not paid for working through lunch (which usually happened especially at weekends). When I was in the shop I usually got a break because I insisted on a break or being paid (as I was on an hourly rate) but others didn't get paid as they got a salary. Lack of support in many matters from "on high" meant they chose to shut the shop at lunch (weekdays only).

In my humble opinion the NSRA has serious problems and I'm glad to be out of there

Anyone got a job?

Love

Karen

targetman wrote:I was told that it "might" be possible......I then enquired about their requirements regarding Shooter Competancy Certification and was told that those issued by the NRA are no good for the Lord Roberts Centre as they only cover "military" ranges. If I (or others of my Club) want to shoot there I (we) would have to attend one of their accessment courses......

Or is it because the NRA don't recognise the NSRA issued cards other than for certain types of .22" and the NSRA are playing tit-for-tat?

Or am I being cynical? :roll:

It's sometimes the quietest place to have a spot of lunch...

Closing the shop at lunchtime was just another indication that they're too busy in-fighting and not customer-focused enough. That's the one time many shooters already on camp might want to go there and buy something!

National bodies the lot of them.

Sometimes I wonder if there isn't a confluence of ley lines through Bisley to explain their unexplainable behaviour.