Rule 150 Enquiry
The NRA has concluded three investigations related to long standing concerns regarding Rule 150, in particular adherence to bore and chamber dimension regulations, associated matters relating to the relationship with the British Proof Authority, and the administration of rule changes.
Three independent projects were commissioned by the Trustees at the behest of General Council, namely:
(1) The NRA instructed Nicholas Doherty, a barrister with significant expertise on firearms matters, to advise on certain allegations of illegal activity made in respect of Rule 150. He has provided his Opinion to the NRA, in which he confirms that:
(a) neither implementing Rule 150 of the Rules of Shooting with an additional concession that is not referred to in the 1999 Memorandum nor allowing the use in competitions of rifles with reduced chamber dimensions as described in Rule 150 resulted in the NRA committing any offence under the Proof Acts, or breaching the International Proof Convention or breaching any duty it owes to its members; and
(b)a person does not commit an offence under the Proof Acts if he submits for proof-testing pursuant to the 1999 Memorandum, a firearm with non-standard dimensions but fails to certify the specific non-standard dimensions required to be certified to the Proof House under the 1999 Memorandum.
(2) The British Proof Authority carried out a set of tests, on behalf of the NRA, to test the effect of freebore distance on Mean Pmax for values from zero up to the maximum as used in CIP standard test barrels. These confirm that:
(a) The working pressure in a rifle which complies with Rule 150 does not exceed 4150 Bar, the maximum allowed by CIP, when used with NRA Specification issued ammunition
(b) No cartridge fired during the trials exceeded or even came close to 4772 Bar, the maximum pressure permitted by CIP for a single cartridge; and
(c) There is no ?spike? (sudden increase) in pressure when freebore becomes negative as has been claimed.
(3) The Council appointed two recently elected legally qualified Trustees, Alice Gran and David Lacey, to conduct an enquiry to review the manner in which the NRA has dealt with Rule 150 in connection with the British Proof Authority Memorandum of June 1999. Their main conclusions were:
(a) There was some lack of oversight in recording the nature and extent of changes to Rule 150
(b) There was no evidence that any competitor obtained an unfair advantage in competition as a result in the way that the NRA addressed compliance with Rue 150; and
(c) There was no suggestion that the NRA failed to comply with any requirement relating to safety
For the full reports click below
NRA Opinion of Mr Doherty – final version 30 June 2015 – Click here
Rule 150 Report – Alice Gran & David Lacey – 20 June 2016 – Click here
Proof House Trials 2015 Website Version – Click here
Published on:
Jul 11, 2016
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