We have been on target with our air rifle training this past week and putting in a few miles too. The week started with the first trip to Bisley in a long time hosted by Army Rifle Association. It was nice to be back and lovely to see both the full-bore and the small-bore ranges open and running again.
The army sessions started with the range conducting officers (RCO) course. This course covers the duties of the range safety officer both on and off the range. The design of this course is for small-bore shooting, but we also added in the difference between the small-bore range and the air rifle range for a fuller picture.
Armed with the range safety knowledge we then dived into the intricacies of the air rifle itself. The course we ran was the Club Instructor for Airgun. This course covers all of the basic skills, and a few more advanced ones, we had 2 great days of learning. The highlight of the course was the section we did on making the air rifle fit the shooter. The group acted like an F1 pit crew, working in unison to get the rifle fitted in record time.
After a couple of days back in the office it was off to Norfolk. Still working with air rifle, but this time a YPS Tutors course. The original date for this course was in 2020 but covid caused its delay for quite some time. The participants were eager to finally get themselves qualified. This was a new location for us, but we received a warm reception, and had a very enjoyable course. There are now 12 newly qualified YPS tutors raring to go and supply air rifle shooting as an activity for their young people.