John MH Posted September 27 Report Share Posted September 27 6.5 Creedmoor Users Please Note the Following: URGENT AND IMPORTANT NEWSFLASH. For those of you who use MOD Fixed Firing Ranges, particularly Wiltshire’s SPTA (Salisbury Plain Training Area) ranges (and most likely nationwide Military Fixed Firing Ranges). With immediate effect, a ban on the use of 6.5 Creedmoor ammunition has been imposed. This ban has come from the top, Westdown Camp, who are responsible for safety on all MOD ranges across the UK, not just Wiltshire. The issue appears to be with range safety and the use of 6.5 Creedmoor. ie this chambering exceeds the safety template of 7.62mm/308 Win by enough of a margin to be deemed unsafe for use on Fixed Firing Ranges. When this ban came out (Thursday 26th) FCSA immediately informed NRA’s Nic Cauldry to seek clarification with MOD. It is confirmed that the ban has been imposed. Furthermore, clubs and range users will need to acknowledge the ban (when other Training Areas bring it online) in writing, otherwise further range bookings will not be processed until said users have replied and acknowledged the restrictions on 6.5 Creedmoor. If you need further information on this, contact your club’s secretary’s and seek clarification from your local MOD/Landmarc Representative. Currently this ban is for SPTA users only, but we hear that it is likely to be rolled across all MOD Training areas where Fixed Firing Ranges are used by civilian clubs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John MH Posted September 27 Author Report Share Posted September 27 Not sure if this will affect Bisley as they use the MoD Danger Area. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattnall Posted September 27 Report Share Posted September 27 Seeing that Bisley is OK for 338 and up to 7000J I doubt it'll be an issue. The FCSA shoot much larger energy cartridges so how would this ever affect their normal large cal bookings? I'm OK, I shoot 6.5-08 😉 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John MH Posted September 27 Author Report Share Posted September 27 14 minutes ago, Mattnall said: Seeing that Bisley is OK for 338 and up to 7000J I doubt it'll be an issue. .338 Lap was specifically verboten on Bisley NRA Ranges unless you were Military, has that changed? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattnall Posted September 27 Report Share Posted September 27 According to the Range Orders HME up to 7000J, .338 for military use. That would imply the range safety/danger template is sufficient for .338 and certainly more than the 7.62 template they are worried about in the newsflash above. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popsbengo Posted September 27 Report Share Posted September 27 5 hours ago, Mattnall said: According to the Range Orders HME up to 7000J, .338 for military use. That would imply the range safety/danger template is sufficient for .338 and certainly more than the 7.62 template they are worried about in the newsflash above. At the NRA club seminar last April it was clearly stated that .338LM was not allowed for club users at Bisley even though there's a military template. It's all to do with insurance risk apparently. What is meant by a "fixed firing range" as it's not a designation defined in the NRA Range Design handbook? I assume a fixed firing line with targets at varying distances ? I really don't understand how 6.5CM can be singled out from a multitude of calibres with similar characteristics. This looks like it will either go away once a fuller understanding of the issue is examined or could spiral into a right mess. Here's hoping sensible heads prevail. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roy W Posted September 28 Report Share Posted September 28 The military now only allow 5.56 on falling plates. Not because 7.62 or 303 is more dangerous, but because the manual was changed and they only wrote 5.56. Therefore the manual says no. Don’t expect common sense to prevail. They even had falling plates stopped at this years Imperial because the new Air Traffic control boss from the RAF said it was a ricochet risk……. I.e. hit the plate inside the wooden enclosure, ricochet back out the way it came then change direction vertically and continue high enough to hit a plane………. Don’t expect common sense to prevail! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John MH Posted September 28 Author Report Share Posted September 28 46 minutes ago, Roy W said: They even had falling plates stopped at this years Imperial because the new Air Traffic control boss from the RAF said it was a ricochet risk……. I.e. hit the plate inside the wooden enclosure, ricochet back out the way it came then change direction vertically and continue high enough to hit a plane………. Just so I understand it, there were no Falling Plates at all this year during the Imperial? I was aware that they had said no anything other than 5.56 and 7.62. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TSG Posted September 28 Report Share Posted September 28 Do they mean fixed arc field firing ranges? (without a backstop) if so I can understand why as the safety traces do not cover all calibres of ammunition. As for the aircraft I have to inform the Range staff so the can apparently tell the CAA and have an air sentry at Barrossa range. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roy W Posted September 28 Report Share Posted September 28 23 hours ago, John MH said: Just so I understand it, there were no Falling Plates at all this year during the Imperial? I was aware that they had said no anything other than 5.56 and 7.62. No they banned them on Pirbright and Ash completely. We had to use a nearby range Henley Park. The range closure timings meant there was no time for proper falling plates and only two banks of 9 plates . So an alternative hits on a 9”paper plate stapled to a fig 12 in 20 seconds incl run down was used. such is the situation that Peter is exploring a plates set up on stickledown. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ruger7717 Posted September 28 Report Share Posted September 28 Absolutely ridiculous🙄 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phaedra1106uk Posted September 28 Report Share Posted September 28 This has been mentioned on a couple of forums, does anyone know who actually issued the "URGENT AND IMPORTANT NEWSFLASH." ?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ruger7717 Posted September 28 Report Share Posted September 28 FCSA are aware and awaiting confirmation Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattnall Posted September 29 Report Share Posted September 29 On 9/28/2024 at 10:20 AM, John MH said: Just so I understand it, there were no Falling Plates at all this year during the Imperial? I was aware that they had said no anything other than 5.56 and 7.62. Further to what Roy said, the plate banks on Henley Park were in a poor state and I believe some of the plate holders were cracked. It seemed that there was a good chance of plate failure and initially the plates heats were to be on paper and only the finals on the steels. In the end it was all on paper. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popsbengo Posted September 30 Report Share Posted September 30 There's a brief statement on the NRA "News" page https://nra.org.uk/restrictions-on-6-5-creedmoor-cartridge/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick-St Posted October 1 Report Share Posted October 1 I believe they mean Bulford & Warminster ranges within Salisbury Plain Training area as the "Fixed Firing Ranges" rather than the other "Field Firing Ranges"... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Triffid Posted October 1 Report Share Posted October 1 Might make things tricky for the Royal Marines then . . . U.K. Royal Marines adopt a 6.5CM LMT as the L129A2, ft. HUXWRX and Leupold | thefirearmblog.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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