The future of cadet shooting within the RAFAC

If the offering is to equip many more sqns with AR, I suspect that a lot of them won’t have a range / RCO. That will require a lot of trg. Also, even if some of the sqns have an existing range (& file RSDs / approval as per normal), inevitably, there will be a huge increase in the number of RSDs / approvals for those sqns “newly equipped.” That will be a significant approval burden for Wg Shoot Os.

The next elephant in the room will be the proposed OOS date for the L98A2…

Haven’t the ACF and CCF (Army) adopted rhe NSRA Youth Proficiency Tutor course now foe AR?

As a temporary step and under 2* dispensation. That dispensation won’t last forever and they’ll be in an interesting place when the 2* removes it.

Agree, going to be interesting to see what it is replaced with but will largely be reliant on what the wider MOD replace the L85 A3 with.

Apparently 350,000 L85s were made (that is public domain). There’s probably enough still there to make an L85A4, but my money would be on some form of AR-15 design.

Advantage is these are available in mutilple calibres so a purpose built .22 would be possible.

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That will be dependent on what Project Greyburn come up with, whether the SA80 replacement date is pushed further out. The RM and the Parachute regiment are re-equipping with the KS1 by Knights Stoner under Project Hunter and talking to a Marine, he said they liked it very much. The US is looking for a replacement for the M16 group of weapons.

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Stories like this will be in very short supply……

Redirecting...?

Or simply redefine ISCRM to meet the new shooting paradigm. The competition endures then but with a new format….:

simply :rofl:

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My first shoot at the summer bisley albeit schools meeting was with the L98A1 rather than target rifles.

Had to get breach flags for the weapons but it worked - perhaps go back to that?

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CISSAM is the L98 Interservice Competition and is a totally different discipline to the L81 and ISCRM

I’m going back to the 1999/2000 but would it not make sense to now revert cissam to ISCRM and ditch the October event for the summer event for when the weather is more likely to be better.

It keeps the cadets as part of the full inter-services shoot rather than separate.

It’s also earlier in the year so more likely the budget would still be there to support.

Which is ironically/coincidentally the exact same length and weight as the much (un)loved LSW

They are two completely different types of shooting. For example the targetry is totally different and most of the matches are shot on SARTS so would not be able to be shot at Bisley. The weather in Oct is better for service rifle than July when it can be too hot and high temps have stopped shooting.

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I completely agree - it’s just I remember using the L98A1 during the schools meeting instead of target rifles (I think it was the time of the parker hale contract issues).

I just wondering whether the summer shooting meeting which is also when the regular & reserve armed forces service rifle comps occur would be suited for doing the service rifle.

Alternative its air rifle in the lord Roberts centre.

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Not so sure, the Civil Nuclear Constabulary have signed a deal with NSRA, lots of changes afoot.

yes we did use the L98A1 for ISCRM for a couple of years in early 2000s due to an L81 “pause”! The Regular/Reserve competition occurs just before the Imperial (which ISCRM is part of) but different matches (and weapon systems) to what happens at CISSAM and they dont coincide.

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All i can say is its a shame - i love(d) the L81 (and i can’t stand the L98), great memories competing at ISCRM (except every year having to decide between attending ISCRM or Nijmegen)

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What’s the L81?

Locally I last saw the L81 at our last shooting camp (pre Covid) and it was seen once a year at that event.

As a cadet, I think I saw it 2 maybe 3 times and then we were joining another wing.

Since the Hubs were cancelled in SW and Odiham’s range has been reduced to 2 lanes we’ve also given up with 144, the lift and shift was too much effort so we focused on the 98 instead.

At last count the 98 IWT in the new year I mentioned earlier currently has 34 bids for the 30 places from 3 units.

I appreciate there are some big users of 144/81 but unfortunately the decision has been made and any complaining will. It change this and I think we should put that energy into delivering what we can.