NRA Journal - Spring 2007 - National Rifle Association

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NOTES FROM THE NRAFIREARMS LIAISON OFFICERbyRogerSpeakThe Firearms Licensing Offices’ new databasesystemMost of the UK County Firearms Licensing departmentsare now either online or shortly to go online with thenew National Firearms Database (NFLMS), usuallyknown as “Flimsy”. The database will allow anyFirearms Licensing department to communicate withanother and swap data, such as when a firearm is soldfrom one county into another. Previously, phone callshad to be made or letters sent between counties so thatthe firearm could be tracked throughout its life. Moreimportantly, police checks can be made throughout thecountry effectively simultaneously whenever someoneapplies for or renews a Firearms Certificate. All datais sent to a central system in London to which all thecounties will eventually be connected.The system, once fully up and running, will be veryuseful and will, in theory, speed up the applicationand renewal process. However, the stumbling blockis usually the county police computer system: thesystems tend to be overloaded at the best of timesand are thus slowing down the firearms database.As each section of the renewal process is completed,it must be entered on the central system before goingon to the next stage.While your county system is going through the updateprocedure and the big learning curve which follows,we ask that you do not chase them; each extra phonecall to Firearms Licensing will slow down your renewaleven further. It really is NOT the fault of the FirearmsLicensing department this time if your renewal orquery is delayed! If your Firearms Certificate hasexpired, normally your Firearms Department willallow you to keep your firearms without risk providedthat your renewal paperwork was returned in goodtime before the renewal date, but if you take yourfirearms when you go shooting, you do so at your ownrisk, as your Firearms Certificate is not current.Bogus Firearms OfficersWe must warn members to be alert to the increasingthreat of people phoning or calling at their housepurporting to be Firearms Enquiry Officers or wantingto check on their security arrangements. Such callshave occurred on a number of occasions recently andare causing concern all over the country. If you receiveany such calls, shut the door on them, or put the phonedown immediately and contact your police FirearmsDepartment. Any Firearms Enquiry Officer wishingto see you will phone first and make an appointment.When they arrive, check their ID and if unsure, contactyour local police or dial 999 immediately; if they aregenuine, they will happily wait while you do this.If you do get bogus calls, please let NRA FirearmsLiaison know as soon as possible, giving us as muchdetail as possible, so that we can discuss the incidentwith the relevant police force.Signing on at the Range OfficeThe usual reminder to all NRA members: please makesure that the details we hold on the Shooting Databaseare current, such as your address, the firearms youhold, FAC number and expiry date. Please also ensurethat you sign in at the Range Office computer everytime you come to Bisley to shoot. The paper formson the Range Office desktop are not a record of yourshooting attendance and details on those forms arenot entered on the Range Office computer. It is yourresponsibility to use the computer! Lack of a traceablecomputer shooting record can easily jeopardise yourFirearms Certificate. If you don’t know how to usethe computer, Range Office staff are always happyto help.Long Barrelled Pistols and Section 1 ShotgunsPlease be aware of the law on other people handlingand shooting your firearms. Whereas you mayallow others with your permission to handle and useyour small-bore and fullbore rifles, black powderrifles and black powder pistols while with them atthe range, if you own long barrelled revolvers andSection 1 Shotguns, you are not allowed under anycircumstances to allow anyone else to handle or usethose firearms. Only if those particular firearms serialnumbers have had a variation included on that otherperson’s Firearms Certificate as well as on yours maythey use them. If you need further explanation, pleasecontact NRA Firearms Liaison to discuss.Contact detailsTelephone: 01483 797777 ext 154E-mail:Available:firearmsliaison@nra.org.ukTuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdaysonly24
KEEPING YOUR (CASE) HEAD!A brief look at fullbore rifle handloading safetyby Paul MonaghanYes, I handload.Yes, I know what I am doing.No I don’t need to read this.Well you could be right, but there just might be anodd factor that you had not thought enough about.Please read on – and if you get to the end andthink ‘well, I knew all that’ then that is as it shouldbe. The (thankfully) rare problems that do occur,however, indicate that not everyone is as careful andknowledgeable as you are.It is perhaps worth pointing out that when shooting afullbore rifle we are generating something in the regionof 50,000 psi within inches of our face. All will be wellfrom a safety point of view if not from the score onthe target, if the rifle action and barrel combination isdesigned to contain that pressure (modern cartridgesshould only be fired in modern design firearms) andon firing, the cartridge produces pressures that are notin excess of the design limits.Factory ammunition is pretty safe in this regard.Ammunition manufacturers are pretty alert to thelegal implications of their products causing excesspressure to the point of rupturing cases or evenfirearms. However, there are plenty of reasons notto use factory ammunition (accuracy, cost and bulletchoice come to mind) and a large number of shootersreload their own ammunition. This is a perfectly safepastime and allows many shooters to get additionalpleasure from their shooting. When things go wrongon the range, it is more often than not when somethinghas gone awry with handloads and this is either dueto operator error (wrong powder choice, or too muchpowder, for example) or insufficient understandingof all the variables which contribute to a cartridgegenerating excess pressure.Incidents are rare but they do occasionally occur andare dangerous. It is important to learn from theseevents and this article seeks to cover the main areaswhere handloads can deviate from the safe norm.It is not exhaustive and is not designed to teach thebeginner how to reload. It is more of a reminder tohandloaders that what they are doing is safe only ifthey stay within sensible limits.Let us assume that the cartridge is to be fired in a riflewith a correctly cut chamber for that particular round;an obvious point, but it is possible to do otherwise.It is even possible with one or two cartridge andchamber combinations to fire the wrong round inthe rifle. This is not a good idea. Even in ostensiblystandard rifles, barrel dimensions, throat dimensionsand neck diameter can all affect pressures producedon firing; these were comprehensively explored bythe Pressure Trials Consortium and reported in 1998.However these are predominantly gunsmithing issuesand we are going to concentrate on handloading inthis article.The reloading process starts with a quiet area with nodistractions, a pile of components and various tools– including, of course, safety glasses. Firstly, the case.If it is a new case, all should be fine but cases fromdifferent manufacturers can have markedly differentweights and this translates to different internal volume– the heavier cases will have the smallest volume.Sometimes even different batches from the samemanufacturer can have significantly different weights,although this is rare. The smaller case volume willincrease the pressure generated on firing. A maximumload in a large volume case may well generate excesspressure if used in a heavier case. Clearly, mixing casesin a batch of ammunition is not a good starting point.Occasionally, military cases may have thick walls andrelatively thin brass in the head region. Such cases arebest avoided for reloading.Fired cases should be cleaned, not for prettiness butto allow problems with the brass to be seen. Also, iffired cases are not cleaned soon after firing, the burntpowder and primer residue can cause corrosion tooccur, especially in the neck area. This is made muchworse if the cases get wet after firing. So there reallyis no excuse for not cleaning your cases.If cases are fired in large chambers, the resizing processwill ‘work’ the brass more and it will rapidly lose itsflexibility, and splits and cracks will occur. The case isthe only thing between you and the rapidly burningpowder and it needs to stay in one piece.Depending on a number of factors (case shoulderangle and reloading technique among other things)the case neck will elongate during each firing andreloading cycle until it is too long to fit into the spaceallowed for it in the neck part of the chamber. Whena round with an over-long neck is chambered, the endof the neck will be forced inwards pressing it tightlyround the bullet. In effect you are providing a crimp tothe case in the rifle. However this process will stop theneck expanding readily on firing and letting the bulletgo. Pressures will rise dramatically until it is sufficientto force the bullet from the grip of the case.Cases can also elongate at the base, just above theweb (which is the thickest region of the brass next tothe extraction groove, or rim depending on the case)and this is likely to be caused by excessive headspacein the rifle or over-enthusiastic full-length resizing.Headspace is the term used to define the correct25
Page 4 and 5: NOTES FROM THESECRETARY GENERALbyGl
Page 6: in our profile as a sport and most
Page 13 and 14: NOTES FROM THE MANAGINGDIRECTOR OF
Page 15 and 16: Looking for something better?Gehman
Page 17 and 18: SHOOTING DISCIPLINE MATTERSChristma
Page 19: As the evening wore on those of us
Page 22 and 23: NOTES FROM THEREGIONAL MANAGERbyChr
Page 24 and 25: CORNWALL OPEN TARGET RIFLE AND INTE
Page 28 and 29: length of the chamber. In the class
Page 30 and 31: Mention the name of Eric McGibbon t
Page 32: T REX - TICKING AWAY IN HIS BOXSpot
Page 35 and 36: the destruction of the sport with i
Page 37 and 38: Association calls on all sports men
Page 40 and 41: WAVERLEY DISTRICT RIFLE CLUBby Bob
Page 42 and 43: THE RANGE TRAMWAYS OF THE NATIONAL
Page 44 and 45: continued for the following two yea
Page 46 and 47: NRA Annual Meeting Handbooks, Repor
Page 48 and 49: NRA 100 RESURRECTEDby Carol Paintin
Page 50 and 51: unning in excess of two and sometim
Page 52 and 53: eing soundly thrashed by two of the
Page 55 and 56: NRA GOODWILL TEAM TO THE WEST INDIE
Page 57 and 58: Monday 16 OctoberThe first day of s
Page 59 and 60: 100 YEARS AGOby Ted MolyneuxThe yea
Page 61 and 62: PROCEDURE FOR THE GENERAL COUNCIL E
Page 63 and 64: drummed off Camp and banned from th
Page 65 and 66: NRA TRADE MEMBERSRobert George & Co

NRA Journal - Spring 2007 - National Rifle Association

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