Had a chat at Bisley last weekend, looks like a major revamp of Air Rifle & L144A1 CLFs is underway.
Scores in competitions from No 8 rifle to the L144 were expected to be higher (aperture sights, round aiming marks, use of slings permitted in some cases, butt spacers, etc for L144), but they went down by an average of about 15 points per card!!
Also, a large percentage of competition cards not submitted (fired) after entry, in one competition nearly 50%. Some Army Cadet units were submitting competition cards with scores in single figures - maximum score possible on a card = 100!!! Consequently, looks like a separate push to enhance coaching skills too.
Oh, within some constraints, it is probable that some of the safety drills might be modified - in the Savage manufacturerâs âblurbâ for the L144 it states NOT to dry fire (for those who donât know, the firing pin impacts directly on the breech area = surprise, surprise, firing pins are breaking).
The manual for the L144 doesnât even make sense at certain points, particularly stoppage drills.
Another problem is that we have an issue getting time firing the rifle due to the servicing process. When we need our L98A2s serviced, our CAA gets on the phone to the REME and it gets sorted. When we need the L144A1s service, he has to do it through an online system and canât talk to anyone. The result is they just do it whenever they feel like it, and we have a weapon we can fire about 4-6 months out of the year.
this i suspect is a contributing factor to the 15% drop in scores.
we are just about starting to see the L114 appear in our Wing, but it has been 12+ months since most have seen any opportunities to fire 0.22.
Shooting is a skill which requires practise and skill fade is certainly a factor here.
Snap Caps. I have 2 bags of them and they are handy for practice and training, but I cannot see them being anything other than a nuisance (at best) if we tried to introduce them as part of a firing drill to save the firing pin. The firing drills have a lot of dry firing in them.
Army School of Smallarms need to move away from the âweapons of warâ syndrome & permit the adoption of NSRA / NRA safety drills = (in simplified terms) visual / physical check of the platform / breech after firing. Insert breech flag; for the cadet perspective, this could be double-checked by the RCO / Safety Supervisor prior to insertion of breech flag. That would permit common drills amongst single shot target rifles. The L81 is sort of there (safety catch fitted but not used) & breech flags used.
There has been a change within the SASC and the person who wrote the PAM has now moved on so maybe in time the mindset may change or at least the PAM will get updated. Who knows.
