Rifle work out at about £600 then there’s the full service every 3 years.
I really hope the incoming commandant scraps this. This is not a way to save money. Year on year RAFAC wipe the floor at Battle of Britain and ISCRM. I am sure Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales would rather keep the weapons and see the leadership etc go ahead which is not available for cadets outside England.
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The L81s could do with re-barrelling - I’m sure a bulk price could be achieved - especially from a newer provider such as Phoenix Barrels. Probably able to get under £1000 per barrel including fitting / proofing. If they are only going to be used out to 600x with RG or similar , then no need for 32-34” barrel & exotic barrel twist, just go for bog standard, stainless 30” barrel with 1:13 twist. That will last at least 7000 rds.
Servicing should be so simple. Check barrel for firecracking, bolt for functional operation (might be good to use stronger spring for less lock time) & check the sights / bedding. £100-150 a go?
I might have missed something in amongst this.
How many L81s does RAFAC have access to and how many air cadets actually use the L81 per year?
I understand the L144 is the lead into the L81, but cadets learn the principles on the AR. More funding should be put into ranges and ARs at squadron level than top level shooting for the ‘elite’.
This is another JL/ACLC debate were money is spent on a few cadets across the organisation, where as the majority never get to see. Apart from silverware and the jibes at ACF and SCC expense, what do regular air cadets get out of L81 shooting.
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There’s some technical bit re the L81 I’ll come back to but I would disagree with that comparison particularly with ACLC.
ACLC was designed to make sure of the CCF test NCOs during the school summer holidays. It had an age cap & more importantly a rank cap as those who attended were expected to reinvest the knowledge they gained back into their units. This mean that a lot wider amount of cadets benefited from that returned skill.
JL had no such caveat resulting in very little reinvestment back into units.
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We have access to quite a few but very few are used on a regular basis. Barrel counts on some are still only in hundreds of rounds.
Biggest issue is the access & logistic requirements for gallery ranges.
Also RAF armouries weren’t permitted to maintain them so it was left to volunteers.
L81s are maintained under contract by Donnington. The biggest issue in the past used to be the time that was lost sending them to Donnington and back again.
Access to gallery ranges is a recent issue, not something that has been a problem for how long we’ve had the L81.
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In my 15 years, I’ve shot the L81 twice I think, both times as a cadet, and I’ve seen them once since being a CFAV.
I think narrowing the offer does make sense, however I’d be inclined to retain a target rifle option, which would not have been the L144 which has been a bit of a disaster since it’s introduction.
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My previous wing, didnt use the L81 too often. But, they never entered CISSAM or ISCRM as it always clashed with other wing activities.
I’m seeing it used more and more across LASER however.
I disagree, fundraising to but a TSR and a couple of air rifles is well within the grasp of most Squadrons/Wings, whereas developing a 7.62 target rifle capability needs to be done centrally.
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IIRC it was suggested the L98’s replacement could be S1.
I’m not sure how that would be done short of a factory build as a .22 system, and could it then still be used for field training (is blank .22 even a thing?)
My money would be on an AR-15 type as they seem to come in a myriad of calibres and configurations.
The L98 replacement will depend a lot on what the L85 replace is.
We would have to take whatever ammo they use as well for blank/live.
My money is on HK 416.
This was the biggest blocker - very often ISCRM clash with WFD, Nijmegen & RIAT so Wg Cdr capped ISCRM teams as he “didn’t want to diminish the sqns that compete at field day as they could then represent the wing at region” 
It took a lot of work but one year we managed to get L81 trained cadets across three quarters of the Sqn in the wing & managed to get 60 cadet or so who had fired it at multiple distances. That year I think we had six different sqns enter ISCRM, three of whom had never entered a team before.
Fantastic place to gain momentum from & then had our legs done from under us because they did nt want to move WFD.
Gallery range access was an issue as it was very personnel dependent & the booking system at the time was a massive pain due to weekends (it came down to range warden availability as they were rinsing the weekend overtime so landmarc use to block a load)
I mentioned this option before - lots of good quality .22 magazine-fed options - would fit in well with comparable drills for the L98.
Have to choose carefully though for ability to fit in with .22 competitions - not many .22 magazine rifles have aperture sights.
We had one at unit, think it was a BSA Century?
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Ah, my bad, I was thinking more of the semi-auto “tactical” style rifles. They aren’t expensive- & would be a good stepping stone up to the L98.
However, not much good for shooting at NSRA round aiming marks unless you can fit an aperture foresight.
Ruger 10/22.
.22, 30 Rnd mag, semi-auto. Can mount bipod, scopes…
We used to love the century on unit for rapid fire details. We could reload the 5 round magazine half way through and still finish before the No.8s on single shot.
The downside was the hair trigger. And if you forgot about it, you’d think you were taking the first pressure, as on a No.8 trigger, and it would fire.
When that happened the detail orders would sound like this:
"10 rounds application at the target to your front in your own time BANG “■■■■■■!” “Go on…”
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