Fullbore Shooting Weekend, Strensall Ranges and Driffield Camp, Yorkshire
11th to 13th May 2007
At the time of boarding the Minibus, it was cold, it was dark and typically; it was raining. We all knew it was going to be a long ride to get to Driffield camp. Leaving TS St. Albans at about 20:00 with our OCMCD at the wheel, we finally arrived at Driffield at around half-past midnight. The estimated time of travel was about four hours but, because of traffic hold-up’s, stops for petrol and toilet breaks, it took a gruelling 5 hours. The original plan was for all baggage to be carried in the Minibus, but luckily, our OIC had managed to fix up a trailer that would be suitable to carry the baggage and therefore leave more room on the bus.
When we finally arrived at Driffield camp, we were met by the ASO (shooting) and the course Sergeant Major. They informed us that the briefing had been carried out at 23:00, so they gave us a ‘brief’ briefing on the spot. We were told that everyone had already got their heads down and after warning us to be as quiet as possible, so as not to wake up the other cadets, we were directed to our grots.
I’m not sure that I would describe us as quiet; especially as we then proceeded to have random pillow fights, whispered shouting, general giggling, until eventually, crashing out at about three o’clock on Saturday morning!
Later that same morning, I woke around 0600 to find that I was the senior rank in the room, and with my 2i/c; L/Cpl Buck, we roused the rest of the cadets in our room, consisting of St.Albans and Longeaton cadets.
We got down to breakfast at 7:15 and the doors to the galley opened at 7:30. We always expect food to be of low standard, (it usually is on most camps) but to our surprise, it was really nice. The sausage, bacon, beans, plum tomatoes and scrambled egg, was cooked well and quickly eaten, followed by bread, toast with various jams. There was also the choice of cereals.
After breakfast, we fell in with our range gear and waterproof clothing and boarded the transport that would take us to the actual ranges at Strensall Camp.
Once we arrived at the range, we were instructed to march to range ‘C’ and were then split up into two groups; those who had handled the rifles before (L98 GP Rifle) and those who had never handled, or even seen the weapon before. We were then split down further into firing details and briefed on safety and what the shoot would be for that day. Namely, 100 meter distance, at targets that measured one meter by one meter. (It looks a lot smaller from 100 meters away, I can assure you of that). A couple of 10 round grouping shoots, followed by a 10 round scoring shoot and a 10 round timed snap shoot.
I was part of the first detail to shoot, with cadets from St.Albans and from other units, mostly Marine Cadets. We took up our positions on the firing point and prepared the fire. The L98A1 does have a recoil action and some cadets found that this bruised their shoulders, but it only happens through lack of experience with the weapon. We stopped for lunch around 12:30 and were given bag rations containing sandwiches, a sausage roll, a chocolate bar, a slice of cake, fresh fruit and a bottle of water.
Following lunch, we were given further instruction on how to hold the weapon correctly, deal with recoil and how to get bull’s-eye with every shot. Unfortunately, no one got more than 3 hits on the white markers (they’re only 6 inches high, by 3 inches wide).
The weather held out for us and we arrived back at camp around 17:00 with beaming red faces from the sun. After a quick clean up (face, hands and boots) we went to supper at 17:30. There was a choice of meaty casserole, chicken or beef. I chose chicken, carrots, roast potatoes and gravy. It wasn’t as good as I had predicted but I still ate it all up, being the hungry cadet that I always am. At At 18:30, we were set the task of cleaning the weapons that we had fired that day, so that they could go back in the armoury.
That night, we all slept soundly as we all had to catch up on the sleep we lost the night before.
Sunday morning routine was much the same as Saturday’s. Get up early, have a shower and then wake up the other cadets. All of our kit had to be packed and on the transport, as we were not to return to Driffield Camp. We then made a start on cleaning the accommodation followed by breakfast at 07:30 (egg, bacon, plum tomatoes, sausage, beans, etc.) and then completed the cleaning of the accommodation, ready to be inspected before we left for the range.
Once at the range, we were doubled to range ‘C’ by an ex-marine. Upon arrival we were informed that we would be shooting for badges and not just for grouping. For the cadets who were competent with the weapon, it was their chance to improve and possibly gain a shooting badge. For the cadets who had never shot a fullbore weapon before; it was their chance to experience this.
This latter group were the last cadets to shoot that day; but it did mean that everybody got to shoot, with only minor mishaps.
We left the range at around 15:30 and got back to our unit at 20:30, so the journey was good, except we hit various traffic jams.
In the end, the weekend proved to be a great success. We all think that we deserve a basic shooting badge or better, (for some cadets even marksmen badges). The weekends always allow us the meet old friends from other cadet detachments as well as making new friends
Although the weather generally was poor, raining all the time, we seemed to be blessed. As when we were actually out in the open (on the range) it didn’t rain at all, even to the point of bright sunshine. Must be something to do with “the sun always shines on the righteous”.
By Cpl L Wales, St.Albans Marine Cadet Detachment
May 2007