222 (Broadlands) Squadron

The first rifle that a cadet will be trained on is the No.8 bolt action rifle. This weapon started life as the Enfield No4 rifle as used during World War II. It was modified to have a shorter barrel and altered to fire the .22 long rifle round instead of the .303. It also no longer takes a box magazine holding 10 rounds - each round must be fed in manually.

"Dry training" is part of a cadet's initial training and they are shown the No8 rifle in detail. The commands and practices used on the range are also explained so that the cadet knows exactly what to expect before they come anywhere near the range. Only after the cadet has successfully passed the Weapon Handling Test (WHT) - which supersedes the Test of Elementary Training (TOET) - will they be taken to the range and allowed to fire ammunition.

The L98 is again a modification of an existing design, but in this case it is modified from the Previous issue rifle - the Enfield L85A1 (SA80). It fires the same ammunition (5.56mm) as the L85 but is manually cocked and can only fire one round at a time so it is just like the No.8. The primary difference in operation is that ammunition is supplied in a magazine which is fitted to the rifle rather than loose to be fed by hand each time the rifle is fired.

Since the weapon is different from the No8, firers must be retrained with this weapon and go through dry training and WHT again before they are allowed to fire. You fire rounds of a slighlty higher calibre. Because they are high velocity rounds (they travel faster than the speed of sound) they make a louder noise and give a more robust kick in your shoulder.

During visits to RAF Stations the opportunity may exist for cadets to fire other weapons used within HM Forces.