New sentry requirement for MoD ranges

[phaedra1106]

At this mornings shoot we were told that following incursions on MoD ranges we are now required to post a sentry at the range access point or gate.

From what I was told this seems to be being rolled out accross the whole of the UK.

Anyone else had this yet?

[Pete]

This was the norm at Worthy Down 15 years ago........shooting occasionally had to stop to allow horseriders to cross behind the butts.
Sentries at either side would radio their approach to the RO.

Pete

[dodgyrog]

So you're having to pay for three sentries at Ponteland now! It's getting rather expensive, isn't it!
They're trying every way to price us out of shooting.

[Daryll]

So you're having to pay for three sentries at Ponteland now! It's getting rather expensive, isn't it!
They're trying every way to price us out of shooting.

The sentries are normally from the club, so no paying required... just reduced numbers in the Butts party..

( At least thats how its done at Barton Rd...)

[dodgyrog]

The sentries are paid for as volunteers are not forthcoming!

[phaedra1106]

As Roger says, getting our members to volunteer is like pulling teeth.

At present shoots at Ponteland Range cost the club an extra £105 per shoot, £35 each for the 2 sentries and the butts supervisor.

While we don't need sentries etc. at Otterburn we still have to pay Landmarc £35.65 per hour to have a warden on the range with us.
Also shoots there are mid-week (weekends are very likely to be cancelled at the last minute) so a lot of our members can't attend.

[PeterN]

The range at Pickering that I go to has three public footpaths that converge on the range at the butts end. We have to have three sentries out to intercept any walkers or cyclists and radio in to the firing point to stop shooting so they can proceed. It is a condition of membership that you do sentry and butt duties as required. If you don't, your membership will likely not be renewed.
I have done sentry duty at Strensall range near York. A sentry is required by the car park to stop anyone going across the range on the road when shooting at ranges longer than 300 yards. Someone from the shooters present have to do it or no shooting.
Regards
Peter.

[Les]

All this carp is why I stopped doing fullbore/CF shooting years ago, and just stick to .22rf now. It makes life a lot easier - and cheaper - all round.

[RDC]

At Altcar there are three sentry lookouts (shelter with radio, phone and binoculars) covering the beach with views that overlook the danger area marked by buoys. The amount of people that try to walk past the big hoofing signs explaining its a military range danger area is entirely staggering. It's why they give you a megaphone. These sentry duties are rotated periodically and the duties are split between the clubs shooting that day. If a club doesn't want to put anyone up for it, they risk losing their ability to shoot on Altcar.

If shooting on the 1000 yard range, a road cuts across it so sentries need to be posted either side of that too.

[Alpha1]

No sentries required at Catterick.