ISLE OF MAN RIFLE ASSOCIATION
and
ISLE OF MAN SHOOTING CLUB

Risk Assessment:    Introduction of Standard Gehmann 50 metre Rifle Target                                                   Systems to Sinclair Range.

1            Background
1.1       The Sinclair Range was first approved for smallbore target shooting in the mid 1970s.   Around the end of that decade the Range was abandoned following flooding and serious erosion from the adjacent river.   It was reinstated and extended in the period 1990/92 and reintroduced as an approved shooting facility in 1993.   The development plan devised by the Isle of Man Rifle Association in 1993 set out a scheme for the gradual improvement of the Range, stage by stage, up to the point where its standards matched the best in Britain and it was able to function as a fully appointed facility under International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) regulations.

1.2       The Range is currently passed for 32 lanes of .22 (5.6mm) rifle shooting in three positions: prone, standing and kneeling.   The firing point is a spacious covered concrete area, 4.5 metres deep with each shooting lane 1.5 metres wide.   Shooting lane dimensions exceed the minimum laid down under ISSF regulations.

1.3       Prior to the introduction of the Gehmann systems the targets used have been 50 metre targets as produced by the National Smallbore Rifle Association (NSRA) in the “three card series” format.   Each large target board comprises six separate diagrams, or aiming marks, arranged in three rows of two diagrams.   The top pair are for sighting and the lower two pairs for record shots.   It is the convention to shoot five shots at each record diagram, achieving 20 record shots per target board.   Shooting under this method is conducted in timed details and on the completion of a detail, which will have permitted 20 record shots, targets are replaced and the process begins again.

1.4       Target shooting is a major contributor to the Isle of Man’s participation in events such as the Commonwealth Games and the Island Games.   At these and other championship-style events the standard courses of fire of the ISSF are employed.  Indeed, all serious international shooting employs ISSF conditions.   In the smallbore rifle events such courses comprise - Prone: 60 shots and Three Position: 120 shots.   ISSF conditions require the events to be shot straight through, without breaks to change targets, and timings are set down accordingly.   For the Isle of Man to achieve its ISSF status, therefore, it has had to install equipment compatible with international shooting standards.

1.5       The choice was between the Gehmann system (or one of several systems modelled thereon) or a fully electronic range where scores are determined by sonic detectors and transferred as electronic signals to computer systems.   The latter was too expensive and consequently the Gehmann system was chosen.

2          The Gehmann Target System
2.1       The Gehmann system, and similar equipment,  has been in operation all over the World for 30 or more years, and the regulations of the ISSF now assume its use where electronic ranges are not employed.  

2.2       In essence, the system comprises a motorised transport arrangement which feeds a strip of targets vertically through an exposed area.   While a target is exposed, shots are fired at it and the strip is then moved on to the next.   The drive is electric and operation of the system is performed by the shooter pressing buttons on a control box at the firing point.

2.3       Each target system comprises a steel box 1m high by 50cm wide.   It stands alone facing the shooter with the target area in the middle.   The face of the box is flat, with the exception of a horizontal steel strip immediately below the exposed target area, approximately 30cm wide and triangular in shape with its apex pointing towards the shooter, which covers the rollers that transport the target strip.   The 12 volt electric motor that drives the rollers is fixed to the side of the box and protected by the facing steel which extends beyond the sides of the box, on both sides, for the full length.

2.4       Behind the exposed target area is an angled hard steel plate which receives the shot and directs the spent lead downwards into a collection trough.   The system is, therefore, self contained with no direct need of a separate sand trap or other shot collection arrangement.

3          The Installation
The full 32 units are hard wired in position.   Electrical power is supplied to each firing position, from which cabling runs underground to the target box.   To operate the system, a control box is plugged into the power socket, with another set of leads plugged into a termination box connected to the cabling running to the target.   The control box thereby delivers low voltage power to the transport system in the target unit.

4            Assessment of Risk

Potential Hazards:

4.1            ELECTRICITY:
ź         The only current in the vicinity of the targets is low voltage DC.
ź         Cabling and termination boxes at the target end of the range are protected behind timber (former        railway sleepers) a minimum of 10cm thick.
ź         The low voltage current does not constitute a hazard in any event.
Conclusion:   there is no evident electrical hazard.

4.2            CHEMICALS:
There are no chemicals present and, therefore, no hazard exists from chemicals.

4.3            FIRE:
The units comprise steel boxes standing in the open.   The only associated combustible materials are the targets and such timber as may be affixed.
Conclusion:   there is no evident fire hazard.

4.4            MOVING PARTS:
Targets are transported by being gripped between two spindles, one driven and one idling.   There are no other moving parts.
Control:   instruction is given to new users of the equipment as to the correct way to load and remove targets.

4.5            BULLET STRIKE:
(a)        Bullet striking the ‘catching plate’ - ie, normal operation
The lead is deflected downwards into a collection trough.   The risk of ‘splashback’ from loose lead already in the trough being struck and scattered by the newly arrived round is prevented by a hardboard facing plate placed immediately behind the exposed target.
Conclusion:   the probability of lead escaping from the collection trough and causing injury, bearing in mind also that no person is within 50 metres of the target box, is negligible.

(b)        Bullet striking the face of the target box, square on                                           
Such a round will have to have been displaced from the centre of the target by more than 13cm before striking the face of the box.   Should such a strike occur, the lead will ‘splat’ against the steel, flatten and fall in the immediate vicinity of the box.
Conclusion:   the probability of lead returning 50 metres uprange and causing injury is negligible.

(c)        Bullet striking the horizontal strip on the face of the box protecting the transport rollers
This is the only feature projecting from the face of the box and is ‘v’ shaped, with the point of the ‘v’ facing the shooter.   In the event of its being struck, the lead will be deflected up or down onto the steel plate, its energy absorbed and it will fall in the immediate vicinity of the box.
Conclusion:   the probability of lead returning 50 metres uprange and causing injury, or being deflected beyond the face of the box, is negligible.

(d)        Bullet striking the face of the box at the top, from the prone position                       

The box is 1 metre high.   The base of the box and the firing point are level.   In the prone position the muzzle of the rifle, depending on the build of the shooter, is typically between 20cm and 30cm above the firing point.  In the event of a shot striking the face of the box near the top there will be a very slight upward angle involved but, on a theoretical straight line basis from the lower of the above muzzle positions, this will be a maximum of 0.9^O, ie less than 1^O.   In reality, given the trajectory of the round, which will vary marginally from one manufacturer’s product to the next but will be falling when it reaches the target, the round will strike at an angle less than the theoretical straight line angle.
Conclusion:   the probability of lead returning 50 metres uprange and causing injury, or being deflected beyond the face of the box, is negligible.

(e)        Bullet striking the face of the box at the top, from the kneeling or standing positions For the reason that the muzzle of the rifle in these position will be higher than in the prone position and, consequently, the upward angle of the theoretical straight line to the top of the box reduced, the same conclusion as in (d) above obtains.

(f)         Bullet striking the face of a box on another firing lane                                
This scenario reflects a ‘cross-shot situation.   Cross-shooting is not commonplace but does occur.   It is a penalty situation under competition rules.  In all but the most infrequent of cases the cross-shot is put on the target of one of the lanes immediately on either side of the shooter.   In the author’s 35 years of 50 metre shooting, he has not come across an occasion where a cross-shot has been put beyond two targets from that of the guilty shooter.   Taking a two lane cross-shot as the worst realistic possibility, the furthermost edge of the face of a box two targets lanes away is 3.25m from the centre line of the shooter’s firing position.   The angular displacement of a shot striking such a point would be 3.7^O.   Again, the shot would be falling in its trajectory.   At an angle of 3.7^O the striking shot would flatten against the steel as if it had struck squarely on.
Conclusion:   the probability of lead returning 50 metres uprange and causing injury, or being deflected beyond the face of the box, is negligible.

(g)        Bullet striking the side edge of the steel face of the box                               
There are, broadly speaking, two scenarios to consider under this heading: a strike with the central mass of the bullet on the inside of the edge and the alternative where the strike is on the outside of the edge and forms more of a glancing strike.  In the former case, much of the lead will flatten but shards may extend past the face.  Such shards will be gathered in the sand trap behind the targets.   Where a glancing strike occurs, the lead will be deflected sideways and travel beyond the face of the box, also to be collected in the sand trap.
Conclusion:   the probability of lead returning 50 metres uprange and causing injury, or being deflected in such a way that it avoids collection in the sand trap, is negligible.

(h)        Bullet striking the top edge of the steel face of the box                                   
Such a round may be deflected upwards, to one extent or another depending on the position of the strike as discussed in (g) above.   Whilst it is considered that the likelihood of such a deflection clearing both the sand trap and the rising bank behind the targets is remote, it is agreed that the contingency should be covered and protection installed accordingly.
Conclusion:   a 5cm deep strip of hardwood requires to be fitted to the top edge of the box and extending for its full width to absorb the energy of a round striking at such a point.

4.6            EQUIPMENT TO BE USED:
The Standing Orders of the Isle of Man Rifle Association and of the Isle of Man Shooting Club for the use of the Sinclair Range will be complied with at all times, as will the terms of the Isle of Man Shooting Club leaflet “Conditions For Shooting On The Sinclair Range”.   With special reference to this assessment, these Orders and Conditions limit the type of equipment that can be used on the Range to .22 (5.6mm) rimfire match rifles firing standard velocity rimfire 5.6mm long rifle ammunition which is primarily produced for match target shooting.   Under no circumstance is high velocity ammunition permitted.

The Orders and Conditions apply and extend the current range approval of the Department of Home Affairs.

4.7            HANDLING OF BOXES:
The target boxes are heavy and are designed to be lifted by two people.   Under no circumstance should one person attempt to lift a box on his or her own.  Furthermore, when transporting boxes to and from the target area it is advised that a wheeled means of conveyance is used.   In all cases, care should be exercised when lifting boxes and a straight-backed lifting posture adopted.

SWW / IOMRA /IOMSC
October 2000