I’m a cadet, so don’t know anything more than what I’ve heard. All the L144s in a certain wing in SWR are now being held centrally rather than on the range. I’ve shot the L144 a couple of times, and they were used in our wing competition weekend, so I’m surprised they aren’t so widely used. Equally, I know many cadets who are a decent shot on both the air rifle and L98, yet couldn’t hit a barn door with the .22 at ten paces, so I see why they aren’t liked.
I saw a couple dozen on a rack at Brize once; all had tags saying “defective - do not use”.
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So was talking about this with the Wing Shooting Officer yesterday.
You can see the RC Instruction here (Thanks B&G) and an FoI was submitted on this over the weekend so will be interesting to see that response in ~45 days.
Locally this has no impact on us, other than the hope we’ve been holding onto for the pat 5 years being removed, we’ve not got any hubs operational so it’s been bad money thrown after bad money and a lot of effort with alarms in place but no value being received.
Honestly, this whole shebang needs some sort of proper formal review on why it’s gone so wrong. A few ministerial complaints? I bet it has cost 100s of thousands. If not into the 7 figure mark all in. Yet the actual benefits have been minimal.
Absolute farce and waste of tax payers money! I don’t know enough about the situation to comment as to who is at fault, but surely this level of screw up sits with HQ. Even if not directly their fault, this should have been solved years ago.
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I’d be sticking a bet on 6 figures per wing plus service fees.
I think it’s been a combination of factors, not helped by a pandemic.
Poor procurement, poor communication, poor implementation, the RAF not doing their jobs and making life as hard as possible.
Undoubtedly there has been money wasted but I still think this could have been resolved. Why isn’t the new air cadet charity being approached to fund it? Isn’t that what it’s there for?
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Not being in the shooting fold and not owning any weapons, or wanting to.
Is the RAFAC being held to a higher level of security than Joe Public with the required arms certificate a .22 target rifle, or a shot gun for clays or indeed a full bore rifle?
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You mean like how were not allowed to use BGA sites for gliding!
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Yes. Absolutely this is the case.
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This is great (not necessarily the news!) but in terms of at least there’s still information. Definitely some areas around where we’ve been left with its closing, but there is zero information pm the why’s other than because region says so.
Open Coms even if you don’t like what’s in it at least takes away some of the frustration/anger
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This whole thing is really getting out of hand now. Won’t be long until the FOI thing is removed, I know of about 3 other FOIs on a similar subject and all because SW have gone off on one.
There’s something in the water at Devizes. SW has been rough for a while…
Be careful what you wish for! Certain privileges are accorded by virtue of MoD sponsorship. Were you regulated by the Licensing Authority solely under the provisions of the Firearms Act you would find quite a few additional onerous regulations would apply at some significant expense.
exmpa
BTW Joe Public; of which you’re are one Mr_Oz; own firearms. The military proper and authorised police units employ weapons.
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Well, depend if run as a a “club” or individual?
From the HO Security Handbook for a Home-Office approved club:
5.1 Non-residential club premises where firearms are stored should have secure storage that is commensurate with the number of firearms the club will hold. The standard should equate to at least the appropriate level expected for domestic property. This level of security should depend on the individual risk factors.
That might be Level 2 = not that onerous - firearms locked up (locks to BSi standard) & audible alarm.
However, lots of faff generating an approved club for constitution, etc. HO fees are £444 I think!
I can’t see removing FOI being a priority for Parliament any time soon.
Though I like the Inception style FOI request about FOI response times. On the face of it, it’s a waste of everyone’s time, but if it highlights a failing in the organisation then it’s done it’s job.
I think the fact we need so many FOIs means we have bigger internal comms issues that should be looked at. The fact people also don’t trust the CoC to give honest answers so revert to FOI speaks volumes.
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I wonder if it is someone who is in the forums.
We mention things, then an FOI suddenly appears…
I said this after the call, the boss wants less FOI’s he needs to address the problem not the symptom.
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I’ve just counted 18 FoIs in process, either awaiting initial response or internal review.
The latest managed to misgender RC (SW) too 
Comms, processes, incompetence or deliberate blocking?
The scale of FOIs (& the answered revealed) is staggering.