The L81 is another of those things that are really good, but only for a tiny number of cadets and staff. We are good at those (JL, QAIC, etc.) but less good these days at mass participation (.22 shooting, gliding)
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I donât think Iâve ever seen one, let alone shot one! Either as a cadet or CFAV.
But I still see it as a good thing. The same as I never went on JL or got a flying scholarship etc, but still support those top level activities.
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The struggle I had in getting more people into the L81 shooting was the interest in proper accurate shooting was quite low & the culture was to be army & blatt rounds with the l98
It was then classed as the nerdy weapon as it didnât fit some staffs view of âallyâ so it was almost discouraged amongst the cadets & new staff.
We likewise do so with things like radio, aviation etc
In some peopleâs minds we shouldnât be doing something if itâs not full on war fighting or flying fast jets. Itâs an unfortunate cult mindset thatâs kinda killing things off & delivering only the minimum 
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Ditto in 23 years never seen them
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Worse than that, I had cadets who were trained on it but never got the chance to fire it. Not something we could fix at local level, and they have now all aged out.
There is some L81 activity running now, in its last few months!
For the distances cadet shoot the L81, it would be feasible to look at 5.56 (.223) - but of course costs would come into it. Build new bolts with smaller bolt faces & rebarrel for 5.56 NATO. Single issue ammunitions for range dates & barrels would last longer extending service.
The Canadian cadets have a tiered system thatâs uses .223.
First yr of trg (age 15) they take on 200 cadets who are trained to shoot a .223 Sportco for 6 wks in the summer.
From those, 100 cadets are selected to come back the next yr (aged 16) and train again on a 7.62 RPA Quadlock for 6 wks over the summer.
They select the RCAC NRT from the second group & they compete against the Athelings.
Wonder if CCRS will propose something like that?
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this is one of those situations where the balance is always offset.
where there is more effort involved, it tends to happen more than the âeasy stuffâ.
it is like seeing friends who are 3 towns along/the other end of the county versus those 4 hour drive away. Personally we see the âdistantâ friends (by geography) more than the âlocalâ friends because to see the distant ones requires some effort and so dates are considered and booked up.
the local friends can be see almost at the drop of a hat, as a spontaneous activity.
for those activities that are harder and successful, they almost happen at the cost of the easy stuff - shooting in such an example.
Pre-Covid/15+ years ago as a Wing we were good at doing the long range stuff, as there was an active team making it happen, but on a 25m distance there was very little happening at Squadron level even at those Squadrons who had ranges on site.
the additional admin over the years surrounding shooting is now off putting for 90 minutes of shooting on a parade night, seen as disproportionate while a full day on the range is easier to justify.
The other shame with the L81 was a cultural ignorance at hq level classing weapons as full bore or small bore rather than legislation section 1 or section 5.
If L81s had been permitted to be stored in Sqn armoury hubs then you could have a lot more cadets trained & qualified although the firing of it would still likely have been low.
Itâs only when someone pointed out that that the L98a2 was a sec 5 as well as the LSW that someone started updating the regs.
Slightly off-topic - I have been advised informally that there will a delay on getting things set up for the 2025 Corps Air Rifle Postal Competition as there has been a transfer of responsibilities. For info, the 2024 details were sent out early Nov 2023, to start 01 Jan 2024, Rd 1 to finish 01 Mar.
By my maths, I reckon they canât look at first shoot date until at least 6 - 8 wks down the line - Xmas break, ask for entries, get returns with payment, send out stickers, & allow sqns to plan for first rd. On that timeframe, maybe even have to reduce to 4 rds instead of 5?
So, please wait out for formal comms.
Thanks.
Saves me sending an email to the usual organiser.
Will wait
Long range - maybe? Needs tgts manned in the butts, etc.
Barrack range - much easier, & a good starting point to suss out those who can group properly (even at 25m). Details wouldnât take long to run through (2 x 5 rds groups to save their poor shoulders? 
)
The high level mentality (SASC?) of single shot bolt action rifles being categorised as âwpns of warâ doesnât help. Same with not running the safety drills as per the NGO (NRA ? NSRA) standards = much harder to get cadets trained / available to shoot.
Just in case anyone has not seen this:
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/701884%23:~:text%3DPetition%2520Reverse%2520Cadet%2520Forces%2520Funding,young%2520people%2520across%2520the%2520UK.&ved=2ahUKEwiw4dmNuLeKAxXZVEEAHc7kCLYQFnoECBMQBQ&usg=AOvVaw3IZSaofrHYS-7u2u2smSbw
- petition for reverse cadet forces funding cuts
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Please can everyone who hasnât already signed it, do so. Thanks
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Does anyone with more knowldge about these things know if this might open up the option for an air rifle only instructor courses? This would take pressure off existing SAAIs to allow them to focus on L98 and make air rifle much more accessible locally. Currently itâs a huge bottleneck for training and keeping air rifle WHTs current.
The air rifle RCO course has been a good start but would be really good to allow more access to shooting through air rifle only instructor courses to be able to train and assess WHT for air rifle only.
Looking at the proposed increase in AR-equipped sqns (think it was an increase of 300+ without checking back), then even if you have an average of 20 cadets / sqn to train / WHT regularly, then thatâs a bucket load of extra WHTs per month. Tie that into 8 parade nights per monthâŚ.
No chance that the existing set up can cope with that level of expansion.
We hold 2 extra parsde nights each month for Air Rifle.
Most are range evenings, but others are WHT sessions.
I run a quarterly IWT weekend, where one day we train 10 cadets, and the sunday another 10 cadets.
Itâs still sitting with SASC. Weâre applying as much pressure as we can to get it approved.
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Do we really need WHTs for air rifle shooting? They arenât weapons of war.
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If only - been pushing for that for yrs.
Down to SASCâŚâŚ
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