Jim DiGriz

Having been speaking to DIO/Landmarc in Wales, they never want to see ODRC again, a huge shame as they were such a good club.

Due to Landmarc making a complete balls of Lydd for the rest of the year, the Op Interflex training has had to be moved to other ranges in the UK, thus reducing availablity for non military users.

Thanks, the application has finally gone live and the adverts go in the local paper next week.

FCSA HQ at Over Cassock

Unfortunately since Frank Compton retired there is no longer anyone within the NRA who could be deemed to be competent (using the MoD definition of competent contained within PAM 21) to assess a range that is not a gallery range. This is why we ran a huge amount of ballistic simulation followed by practical testing with witness screens to prove the safety of our range.

Hythe is back open and taking bookings from October onwards. Lydd will be open from January onwards, RCO's need to attend the range briefing in December to operate ranges.

That is correct.

Having been slandered and liabled by some of the parties involved since September 2019 this is glorious, https://dpea.scotland.gov.uk/CaseDetails.aspx?ID=122215

There was some specialised stuff coming up at an action of interest to our club, we bid for it but were out bid by a dealer, said dealer has now approached the club and tried to sell said stuff at a stupid mark up, we have told them were to insert it. Don't know where they are going to sell it now.

Regularly, doing target testing at Over Cassock (perks of the job) also shooting the 1000yd target from 50ft to calibrate the sensors. I'm up there now doing all of the stakeholder visits for the planning application, drink may be taken.

Seriously, the creature that ran ODRC into the ground has come back to finish the job? ODRC was a phenomenal club and founded FCSA (UK) to fight for the silly stuff. It is really depressing to see it head this way. You should have asked it the names of the committee members and what official roles they filled. Suffice to say he will not be shooting at any of our range bookings ever and neither would he ever be accepted for membership.

H'mm I'll take the quad out to put out more target positions, 30 seconds later, nope, I'll lurk in the warm and do networking stuff.

It was the idiot oop norf, that lead to the suspension. of civilian use of field firing area's, the same one that had a screaming match with the TSO at Warcop. Unfortunately I tend to have to cook the bacon butties at Warcop as everyone turns up in my kitchen.

ODRC was a phenomenal club, their members founded FCSA (UK) in 2004 as a vehicle to fight for the right to shoot HME target rifles in the UK after Mark Groothius tried to have them banned. Unfortunately some of their members have managed to cause grief at most of the MoD ranges in the UK, one of their members was the cause of the suspension of civilian use of Field Firing Areas. Which is now just getting sorted. Having spoken to some of the range bods, they never want to see ODRC again.

The thing is that if the people at a shoot mostly have braked rifles, no one complains. Also if people join a club of antisocialites (FCSA (UK)) they don't really have a leg to stand on as they know what they are letting themselves in for. However the club sawn off below, a .50BMG Fortmeier with a 20" barrel to keep it below 10,000ft/lbs so we can have it as a club rifle, is possibly the most unpleasant rifle to shoot on the planet, due to the very short barrel the cone of clear air behind the rifle is tiny, so you feel the pressure wave go straight through you.

When we submitted the Range Document Package for our new range to our insurers, the fact that all of those running the range would be NRA RSO's at a minimum was reassuring to them.

The RSO/RCO standards for each discipline are written by the appropriate NGB for that discipline. The only approved NGB's are NRA - Fullbore NSRA - Smallbore UKPSA - Practical Shooting MLAGB - Blackpowder. Lantra are not a NGB. I am at Warminster next week having a chat with the mob that deals with such things regarding civilian club access to LFTTA's and will raise this issue.

To late, Adam has already spoken to me, I'm happy to point FCSA members at MDRC bookings when DIO relax the covid rules, this will reduce comptition for bookings and keep the numbers attending up and help keep the bookings viable.

That has always been the case, MoD safety templates have never been designed for monolithic projectiles and their simulation system has no monolithic projectiles in its database. I am currently in discussions with Cranfield University (who manage the system for the MoD) about access to/updating the simulation system database as FCSA (UK) has a large body of information regarding the behaviour of non lead projectiles. The riccochet/clumping behaviour of monolithic projectiles in backstops is different as well, which may lead to different material selection for backstops/riccochet traps and an increased cleaning regime.

No planning for Clerkhill has been submitted. The previous planning application was withdrawn on Wed 28 Apr 2021. Police Scotland are entitled to ask for an independent assessment of range safety but it is not new, the guidance has been in place since 2006 and can be found here. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/firearms

If we can get the RCO's and there is the demand we will book IR2, however we do not wish to poach members from local clubs that use IR2 or occupy the limited available bookings. Salisbury Plain is a big loss, it was our most popular shoot, targets as far as the eye could see, all put out by a worryingly keen team, reasonable distance for a lot of our club members and great fun. FCSA (UK) is and allways be national, we are booking Hythe on a monthly basis whilst the sea wall at Lydd is being rebuilt, when that is rebuilt we shall book Serial 45 as usual, we will also still book Hythe now and again for some fun stuff. Chris has just been on a range recce elsewhere, however this is a longer term possiblity and would happen after Wacop and Senny have come back into use. Darren Secretary FCSA (UK)

Short answer is yes. After a lot of wrangling the MoD/DIO are creating virtual gallery ranges within the LFTTA's the templates have now gone back to TISS for aproval, As per normal FCSA are going to be the guinea pigs for the new system Warcop C10 will be the first template under the new system followed by Sennybridge F range. Lydd serial 45 will come back on line as soon as they have finished rebuilding the sea wall, until then we are booking Hythe H10/H16

The PoAN for the FCSA (UK) range at Over Cassock was submitted on the 18th of May, it was validated on the 21st of June by the Planning department, the consultation phase is due to end on the 10th of August, but may be delayed if planning are their usual selves. the Preliminary Environmental Assessment is due to happen next week. As I'm bored I keep putting more targets out. 1.000m to 2,000m targets after painting, just drying before going out.

The anti's don't need to try to ban shooting, they can just sit back with their vegan popcorn and watch it self destruct.

A quick state of the nation update as I can now say something as the paperwork has gone in. Over Cassock – FCSA HQ Dumfries & Galloway council requested that we resubmit our planning application for our home range at Over Cassock as a major development. We can now confirm that the PoAN was submitted to the planning department at 1600 on the 18th of May 2021. This will start the 12 week consultation period, followed by the planning department generating it’s report before it goes to the planning committee. Our original range had a developed area well under 2Ha, however as we have now been asked to include the entire perimeter of the estate in the planning application this affords us much greater opportunities, more targets have already been bought. Following meetings with the planning department they have confirmed that they are content for FCSA to operate under the permitted development (28 day) rule whilst our planning application is processed. Dates will go up on the attendance system soon. Warop DIO visited last week as promised and discussed FCSA’s use of C10 (Charlie High) we now have full backing (in writing) from the TSO1 and TSO Warcop, all is progressing very well and we should have our new template soon, once our licence is confirmed dates will go on the attendance system. Sennybridge F Range is next on the list after Warcop is sorted. Lydd/Hythe As work is progressing rebuilding the sea wall at Lydd we are now booking H10 at Hythe as a stopgap, H10 is a converted gallery range allowing for 600yds and calibres up to .338. The work at Lydd is supposed to be completed between November and January at which point we will start rebooking Serial 45. Thanks Darren