COVID-19
Access to MoD ranges in the United Kingdom
The NRA continues to receive questions about Covid-19 Policy and procedures on MoD ranges in the UK.
We can confirm that there has been no change to Defence Policy and the supporting Covid-19 procedures for affiliated Clubs using MoD ranges. Club officials are reminded that range bookings should not exceed 30 people, members must comply with 2m social distancing rules and any local Covid-19 restrictions set by MoD/DIO range safety staff.
The Ministry of Defence Policy seeks to safeguard the workforce and civilians employed by the MoD including Landmarc staff from occupational exposure to Covid-19.
Club officials and RCO’s are reminded of the requirement to conduct a range recce prior to the booking and familiarise themselves with any recent changes to range orders and local restrictions.
Many target shooters rely on access to ranges on the Defence Training Estate . All members and licenced Clubs are encouraged to comply with Covid-19 procedures when on the Estate.
Please contact Nic Couldrey, Regional Ranges Manager, directly if you require further clarification.
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Results
Imperial Meeting Results – 2017
To view the results for the 148th NRA Imperial Meeting please click here.
For historical results please go to competitions.nra.org.uk, navigate to “Competitions and Results“, “Historical Records“, “Imperial Meeting Results” and select the year you wish to view using the drop-down menus.
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General News
Update – Home Office Consultation – “Offensive Weapons”
Dear Member
Update – Home Office Consultation – “Offensive Weapons”
We have recently received further clarification on the Home Office proposals to prohibit two types of firearms (.50 calibre and VZ58 MARS) which included the following details:-
(1) The .50 calibre proposals have been extended to include “other similar high power, long range rifles”; furthermore in an attempt to differentiate between ‘anti-materiel’ type firearms and those used for sporting purposes the Home Office are contemplating imposing a 10,000ft lbs muzzle energy limit.
(2) The VZ58 MARS proposals have been extended to include any “rapid firing rifles” that “employs a Manually Actuated Release System capable of achieving a similar rate of fire”; they have confirmed that their proposals do not extend to self-loading rifles chambered for .22 rimfire cartridges. The Home Office has not provided a definitive description of Manually Actuated Release System so we do not understand precisely which rifles are at risk of prohibition.
These clarifications fundamentally change the terms of the Public Consultation which clearly stated the Government proposals were to solely prohibit the ownership of:-
(1) “.50 calibre ‘materiel destruction’ rifles of a type developed for use by the military to allow for shooting over long distances for example, to enable sniping at long ranges and in a manner capable of damaging vehicles and other equipment (referred to in military terms as ‘materiel’) “ and
(2) “ rapid firing rifles, such as the VZ 58 Manually Actuated Release System (MARS) rifle…because a second pull of the trigger is required to discharge a round”.
The current wording of the Consultation and Impact Assessment could be seen as an attempt to mislead the public; furthermore they have been presented without any credible supporting evidence of threat to public safety. This is a direct consequence of launching such proposals without prior engagement with shooting organisations;
We believe these changes to the scope of firearms proposals means that Consultation is fundamentally flawed and should be abandoned or re-issued as a separate document, with full details of what is proposed and an accurate re-working of the Impact Assessment.
Once again I urge all NRA members and friends in the shooting community to register your concerns with the Home Office by 9th December 2017 directly by email to Offensive.Weapons.Consultation@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk; you may wish to copy your local MP. These proposals may appear to present distant threats to your own type of shooting; however they have been poorly presented, are not evidence based and, if left unchallenged, will leave a dangerous legacy for the shooting community. When drafting any firearms legislation a primary consideration must be to ensure that the scope of its application is clear and the rules are consistent, so that the honest citizen is not left at the mercy of inconsistent application of the law
It is worth remembering that this is not a dry and impersonal matter; please read the message I recently received below from a concerned NRA member.
“This disability has had a profound effect on my life. It has cut me off and isolated me from my old life. So four years ago I joined my local shooting club, partly to give me a reason to get out of the house and mix with others, but also to reconnect with a sport I had competed in at school. I was blessed in that my local club is a very encouraging and enthusiastic place, covering many shooting disciplines.
Once I’d gained my firearms certificate, a year after joining the club; I decided to look for my first fullbore rifle. It became clear through discussion with senior club members that the MARS action rifle would be ideal for me given my disability.
My parents, realising the positive effect target shooting was having on me, purchased a .223 calibre rifle for me. That was over two years ago and to this day, it remains my only fullbore rifle, which I shoot as often as my disability allows me. It’s a pleasure to use and allows me to shoot without breaking my grip, something that would be impossible for me to do with off hand shooting, even seated off hand shooting and very difficult for me when bench rest shooting.
The MARS action is a mechanism I use to allow me to accurately shoot a rifle at target. Like the walking stick I use in busy places or the stool I sit on in my shower, it plays an all important part in allowing me to carry on doing things I need and/or want to do.
I would really like to be able to carry on using my MARS action rifle. I would not stop shooting, I would just stop fullbore shooting and going to Bisley. I think that would not only be a great shame, but also unfair.
I am practical and pragmatic in my response to my disability. The MARS action rifle is my response to that approach and works very well for me.”
Andrew Mercer
Group Chief Executive & Secretary General
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Courses
Target Shotgun Skills Course
Target Shotgun Skills Course – Saturday 15th June
This one day Target Shotgun Skills Course will provide you with the fundamental skills for taking part in TS events and competitions.
Course Highlights:
Target Shotgun Classes
Types of firearms
Positional techniques and positional changes: Standing, Kneeling, Sitting and Prone
Weak shoulder shooting
Buckshot patterning
Slug zeroing
Application of fire
Speed shooting
Stoppage drills
Events & Competitions: Gallery Rifle Action Weekends, Target Shotgun League and Phoenix
Clubs
The course involves both classroom and practical range work, with expert coaching from national and international level shooters.
For full details and to enrol, see the specific event page
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Competitions
Commemorative World Championship Polo Shirts
To mark the IGRF and ITSF World Championships in May, a commemorative Polo Shirt has been designed for Competitors and Range Crew to order ahead of the Phoenix Meeting, and wear during the Championships.
These shirts are available to order until the 8th April, and cost £29 each (including free personalisation)
You can place your order now via: https://online.nra.org.uk/world-champs-polo
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Obituaries
Bill Curtis
Bill Curtis 1931-2021
Antique Arms & Militaria Shooter, Collector and Historian
William (Bill) Scott Curtis was born in Putney in June 1931, an only child, the son of Arthur and Elspeth. He was a day boy at a grammar school in Sussex where he was brought up during the war. He witnessed many events from aerial dogfights, to a badly shot up Superfortress exploding on the local airfield after landing, to armadas of Luftwaffe bombers heading north during the Blitz, and armadas of Allied bombers heading south from 1943-45, to Spitfires and Meteors tipping doodlebugs. His collecting instincts started during the war when he acquired numerous war souvenirs including the tail plane of a doodlebug that landed 300 yards away from him while he took shelter with his bicycle in a ditch. Unfortunately his mother threw it all away after the war because he had too much ‘rubbish’, much to his chagrin for the rest of his life.
The family set off to Australia to start a new life after the war, arriving in Melbourne on the Esperance Bay in August 1948. During his time in Australia Bill earnt a living as a textile salesman and was a Sergeant in the Royal Australian Artillery Reserves, where he developed his interest in field guns and small arms. His shooting career really started here where the freedom of Australia enabled him to experiment with muzzle loaders and breech loaders in the bush where no-one lived or much less cared. He had very fond memories of those times.
His father’s ill-health forced the family to return to the UK in the early 1950’s whereupon Bill joined the Royal Artillery, 20 Regiment, 107 Battery on a short service commission as a second lieutenant. He delighted in live firing his troop’s newly issued 25-pounders and formed an experience-based understanding of long range ballistics and coefficients which he would refer to for the rest of his life. While based at Woolwich, Bill started collecting rare muskets and rifles sold out of barrels on the street outside antique dealers in the days when dealers could not give them away because no-one was interested. I think this is where his passion for small arms cataloguing and history began; he was appalled that such fine examples of British military history were unrecorded and unloved. When his Regiment was posted to Hong Kong, he found himself OIC of the Regimental motor pool, which enabled him to acquire (sic) military driving tests for every type of wheeled and tracked land vehicle, which, being British military qualifications were automatically transferrable to his civilian driving licence.
Bill met his wife Mary through a shared passion for horse riding, they were married in July 1960, and both were proud to receive a congratulatory telegram from the Queen on their 60th wedding anniversary last year.
On leaving the Army Bill worked in the motor trade for a short time before finding an interest in insurance. He joined the Eagle Star in 1957, sailed through his ACII exams in 1960 (he was extraordinarily academically gifted; he scored in the 99th percentile of the MENSA IQ test). He worked in London before being posted to Hong Kong (for the second time in his life), whereupon he joined the Hong Kong Marine Police Reserves, which he fondly remembered for the opportunity of target practice with a boat-mounted 50 calibre at a small whitewashed rock on the waterline of one of the offshore islands. In 1966 he moved to Zurich Insurance where he was the assistant manager in the Nottingham branch, then manager of Cardiff and finally Bedford.
His management style both endeared him to some of his staff, and infuriated others and some at Head Office, where changes in corporate governance led to a more “hands on” style which conflicted with Bill’s independent personality. He retired in 1984 to North Wales and never looked back. His life was one of military and firearms history and shooting, it gave him all his friends (bar one or two notable exceptions) and was his life’s work.
Shortly after retiring from his insurance career, Bill turned his attention towards publishing, forming his own publishing house, W.S. Curtis Publishers Ltd. His mission was to reprint rare books that were significant contributions to small arms history and shooting. He reprinted 17 titles in all, which were almost always from his own library in which he wrote and included new forewords.
Bill was an early member of the Muzzle Loaders’ Association, joining in 1956. As a descendant of the old Curtis family business of Curtis and Harvey, the gunpowder manufacturers, it was perhaps inevitable that he would gravitate towards black powder. He held, at one time or another, all the great Offices of the Association. The Curtis and Harvey connection was invaluable when proposals regarding the storage of propellant gunpowders for private use were being discussed with the Explosives Policy Division of the Health and Safety Executive, these discussions resulted in the adoption of the wooden box for storage that has proved to be entirely successful ever since.
He represented his country at home and abroad in numerous international muzzle loading championships. His particular speciality was long range shooting, regularly making respectable scores even by modern standards on current Stickledown targets at up to 1200 yards with Whitworth and Rigby rifles made in the 1860’s. It was his attention to detailed research of loads, bullet making and black powder formulations, together with a thorough understanding of ballistics that enabled the MLAGB to resurrect a lost art. Bill was a very competent shot with modern target rifles too, he won the Army Open and shot for Nottinghamshire numerous times.
Bill was instrumental in the modern revival of international muzzle loading competition. By 1970 discussions were taking place as to the possibility of forming an international body to regularise shooting for the future. In 1971 the Muzzle Loaders Associations International Committee was born, and Bill was the British representative on the founding MLAIC Committee. Although much has changed since those early days, the MLAIC still thrives to this day.
Bill was a muzzle loading representative on the NRA Council during the 1980’s before his right eye developed an un-correctable problem in the centre of his vision which caused havoc with his sight picture. Having tried and failed to shoot successfully left handed, his interest turned more towards his books and it was at this point that he developed a particular interest in the Crimean War. This was a pivotal moment for his collections because it led him to focus almost exclusively on the Crimean period, culminating in him creating his own, not insubstantial, Crimean War museum at his home in Prestatyn. It also opened another chapter in his life when he joined the Crimean War Research Society, becoming Chairman from 2002-04, and later Vice President. He enjoyed many a tour to the Crimea with the CWRS and contributed much to the research and modern understanding of that war.
In 1991 he volunteered to help the NRA catalogue and display the many Wimbledon exhibits in the NRA museum when it was relocated in 1994. Bill worked part time as a volunteer assistant curator until 2018. This work was of particular poignance to him because of his fascination with Whitworth rifles, one of the most accurate rifles of the late nineteenth century, and he catalogued every known example ever made. Wimbledon was opened by Queen Victoria firing a shot from a Whitworth, which is in the NRA museum, together with the Whitworth that won the first ever Sovereign’s Prize, this gave Bill an immense sense of privilege to be associated with their public display.
Growing up with him I would often hear him cheekily say, “If it opens at the breech its weak at the breech, stands to reason!”. Which, whilst a reactionary take on the post muzzle loading era, belies his own understanding and contribution to early breech loading history. He was a member of the Historical Breech Loaders Association and was awarded Honorary Life Membership. Reference to his library helped resolve many issues for HBSA members. He was one of the team of breechloader shooters in the 1990 celebration of 100 years at Bisley earning his “Green Rifleman” uniform. He was widely known and respected the world over on antique arms and militaria forums.
Bill was a prolific collector, not only of muzzle loaders, but bayonets, powder flasks, NRA memorabilia, early cartridges, Victorian gunsmithing tools and literally anything to do with the Crimean War. He had a library on muzzle loading small arms and shooting that is widely regarded to be unrivalled anywhere in the world. He was always keen to use it too, he spent literally decades of his life answering questions and helping others with their own research. The pursuit of knowledge and preservation of the past drove him and I think he inspired many in the same vein too. Bill never saw himself as the owner of anything he collected, merely the caretaker preserving something for future generations; the monetary value was of little significance to him, but its contribution to history was everything.
He survived two heart attacks and a serious stroke in his later years that robbed him of his ability to use his vocabulary effectively, either in verbal or written form. As a historian, an academic and a researcher whose passion was communicating with others about his subject, this was probably the worst that could have happened to him. It frustrated him immensely, but it never diminished his verve to try. Everyone who knew him made allowances and his contribution to research continued, albeit slowly, until he eventually passed away peacefully on 4 January 2021 in Leominster Community Hospital. Although he succumbed to old age he is officially a COVID statistic, quite fitting in a way, he would have wanted to be part of something historical and not to have just faded away.
Bill is survived by his wife Mary, and their only son Reg.
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Results
Ibis Open Results 2021
The Ibis Open competition was held at Bisley on Sunday May 23rd, having been postponed from April 17th, since many of our traditional clientele could not use their caravans then.
There were 36 Target Rifle competitors, 12 FTR and 3 F-open, firing 2+15 at 300 and 600 and 2+10 at 900 and 1000. It was good to see the F-class shooters for the first time.
The weather was not kind, with heavy showers both morning and afternoon and tricky winds at long-range. The target rifle aggregate cup was won by Peter Griggs, the Ibis Shooting Captain, the FTR trophy by Jon Longhurst and the F-open trophy by Neil Gould.
The competition was organised by Frank Harriss and run on the day by David Smith, Bill Rowland and Dave Crisford. The shoot was sponsored by HPS, to whom we are very grateful.
VIEW FULL RESULTS HERE
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