Fife & Kinross Full-bore Rifle Club

2010

• Safety ....
• Cars on the range.
• AGM (inc. minutes)
• Programme NOTE: Where there is an apparant conflict between a programme you may have received earlier at the AGM, or by e-mail, the programme on this page takes precedence.
• Weather

Safety

We recently had non observance of the protocol we use in the conduct of shooting; Range rule 14.  This was not a safety incident per see for (as I verified) the only rifles [2] on the firing point had their bolts removed.  However!

However the range rules, for your safety, say that no one may exit the butts unless the butt's red-triangle is showing, and the red triangle will only show red when (a) the firing point is clear of all rifles and (b) that fact is communicated to the butts.  So, remember, members of the butt party may ony exit the butts (including to collect flags) when the RO has told the butt party the range is clear and to show the red triangle. This is for your safety and clubs' peace of mind.

We also had 2 incidences of walkers walking along the skyline.  Shooting was suspended whilst these persons intruded into the danger area. It is some years since we had suffered that.  This is the correct protocol.

Weather

Try either of these links to range-local weather stations; Portmoak Gliding or Lochgelly weather (especially the webcam, realtime display, etc).  You might like to look at the forecast; e.g. Metcheck

Cars on the range

At the BSA AGM, the issue of cars on the range was raised once again, and there is now some clarity of what the rules are.  

But first some back ground:- The lease that the BSA holds for use of the field, which the BSA inherited from TAVRA, covers use of the firing points and a small strip at the left hand edge of the field.  The TAVRA right of vehicular access for was presumed to be one Bedford truck that could deliver and removes stores [e.g. amunition] and act as an ambulance. For the first 20 years of my membership of F&K, F&K managed without any vechicles on the range. And that was not because the membership was younger; we had then retirees - sadly now passed on, such as Tim MacMillan, Bert Schnazel etc. It is only in recent years that members have taken vehicles on to the range, and in increasing numbers.

At the meeting, it was mentioned that the owner of the field [Mr Meikland] had sought out a member of the BSA committee and that he was 'really agitated' and had said 'sort it out or else I shall padlock the gate'. Perhaps because in the past few years the field was used for animals this has not been an issue, but this year it is an issue for it is a commercial crop.  It is most important that clubs & members using the BSA facility do not abuse the terms of BSA's lease nor damage relationships with the owners, especially because the BSA hopes to negotiate an extension to the lease.

Hence the following extra range orders: -

1. Shooters must be aware of possibilty of crop damage on the range, and shall conduct themselves accordingly.
2. The Range Duty Officer for the day may designate at most one vehicle which may drive up & down the range.
3. The RDO may decide that it is inappropriate to take any vehicle what so ever into the field, for reasons of crop or field damage.
4. The designated vehicle will make at most one return trip up & down the range.
5. So as to minimise crop damage, the designated vehicle shall be driven as close as sensible to the left hand boundary of the field.

Whether that means that the one vechicle shall be a 4x4, I leave to other drivers to decide; I, for one, do not drive my [saloon] car up the range. The BSA AGM further discussed the issue of car parking -- in the field. It is felt that parking cars at the bottom of the field (i.e. the triangular area bounded the gate, the acoustic wall and the fence, approximately) was OK, if treated as a priviledge for it is not a right. However again that has to be interpreted sensibly, for damaging any crops would be mega-unhelpful to the interests of shooters using the range.
Brian Woodroffe sec/treas. 21/May/2009

Additionally, the owner of the Binn wood has raised the issue of the [commercial] damage to timber and to chain saws due to bullets embedded in trees. I know most [all?] of these bullets have been found to be 9mm [i.e. military origin]. However you are reminded that the only place to fire bullets at is into the target face, or if zeroing or blowing off, into the sand. The range safety certificate is granted on the premise that, and the regulations are formulated around the premise that all shots are fired into the stop butt, and the purpose of the danger area is merely to capture ricochets.
Brian Woodroffe sec/treas. 2/Jan/2010

Rifle usage cards

The rifle usage cards in the binder are now obsolete, but they will be stored for the record. Usage of members' target shooting firearms, as required by law [another creeping imposition of the big brother state at its citizens' expense] will be done by using the box on the score card and the secretary transcribing the number into the results spreadsheet back home, off range.

Members who do not fill in the serial number, will have no-return entered as the rifle's serial number.  Whether a member considers this adequate relative to the law's requirement that separate usage of target rifle is for the member to decide.

Shooter Certification Cards

These have been distriuted.

2009 AGM

• Minutes: when available open here  
• Password: use the value you use at Blairadam.

Programme

Some notes:

• Those shoots marked Extra have been reserved for F&K's use in the BSA calendar. It will be for F&K members to self organise those shoots.
• The shoot marked Spare is for two purposes; either it will be used as a GA if one of the previous ones is abandoned due to weather, or it will be up for being an Extra. Previous experience is that one spare is a valuable commodity.  One hopes there will not be two abandoned shoots.
• The first shot down the time for shoots is as follows: Extra & Championship 9:00am, GA 10:00am

( c ) 2004…2010 Fife & Kinross Full-bore Rifle Club