NRA Journal - Summer 2007 - National Rifle Association

WHERE THERE’S A WILL, THERE’S A WAYOR SO YOU RECKON YOU HAVE A PROBLEM?by Tim ElliottIf we think that we, in the UK, are hard done by whenit comes to rifle ranges in the provinces (there todayand gone tomorrow as rules and regulations evolveand safety areas are no longer safe), then, perhaps, weshould think again.I propose to tell you a tale which will put our owndifficulties in the shade. It is a tale of success followedby gut-wrenching shock and then it relates just howdetermination, initiative and imagination managedto cause a phoenix to arise from what, at first sight,seemed to be some pretty conclusive ashes. It takesplace in remote rural southern France.Once upon a time a rifle range was created with muchhard toil. It had all mod cons. It went back to 600metres, but with firing points (admittedly a bit stony,but good quality shooting mats took care of that) alsoin yards at the critical distances. In the butts there weretwelve frames for four- and six-foot targets behinda mantlet (a stop butt was not required) and with atrench for the markers (I have butt marked there).Bisley targets were used with all the paraphernaliafor correctly marking and scoring them. Removableblue and yellow wind flags lined the range. The clubthat so laboriously and carefully built all this took itsname from its radio call-sign, “Mike”, and was calledGroupe Mike; its Chairman is an NRA Life Member,Philippe Mullot, known, no doubt, to many of myreaders.For three years, Groupe Mike invited teams fromthe UK to go and compete there, the RAFTRC, theEnglish Twenty Club, the South London Rifle Clubamong them. The occasions were a combination ofF Class (but with muzzle brakes permitted) and TRdisciplines, and also of firing an amazing selection ofother weapons. The hospitality was as inimitable asit was unforgettable.Then, one morning, the club turned up to shoot to findthat, overnight and without notification, the militaryauthorities had bulldozed in the whole target trenchand destroyed the target holders. A new OfficerCommanding at the base concerned had decided thatit all constituted a hazard . . . And an OC has completecontrol over a given training area.And that was that. Or was it?No target trench meant no butt marking, and no buttmarking meant no single-shot firing. And, anyway,civilians were suddenly no longer welcome. The fullsaga of how Groupe Mike managed to recover accessto the training area is for another place and anothertime. I will confine myself here to saying that it was amatter of persuading the Ministry in Paris to requirethe OC to reverse his decision. You should just trythat with our MoD . . .However, as always, in such situations, there had tobe a face saver built into the order. The result wasthat Groupe Mike was awarded a formal lease witha new longish term of use of the facility, but wasnot permitted to start digging again, which, even ifpositive to some extent, left the original problem oftarget marking unaddressed.I wrote at the beginning of “determination, initiativeand imagination”. Groupe Mike, under PhilippeMullot and his successor Pierre Monteil (both Bisleyfamiliars), were to need every ounce of these over thenext couple of years, and, even now, four years downthe line, it is still very much work in progress.Bastille Day 2006 in the LMRA: the author with Philippe Mullotand Patrick Grégorio.The old range in action at 300x.24