As many will be aware for some time that Pistol Australia (PA) only permitted lead ammunition to be used in matches and all forms of jacketed and copper coated ammunition were banned (August 2017 NRC Newsletter). This was reinforced in PA's written advice (June 2018) where the National Referee's council reiterated that “All projectiles used must be made only of lead or similar soft material. Jacketed projectiles are not permitted.” (specifically referring to Centre Fire and Service Matches). Further, they said that they provide a "simple" scrape test to assist clubs to determine the style of bullet used. This test was not so simple and some club officials often felt it was easier to ban anything on appearance rather than on fact.
In the meantime, many competitors were moving away from lead ammunition in favour of copper coated bullets and putting pressure on the association to update their position. At PA's late 2018 AGM evidence was presented and the decision was made to relax the rules.
PA's position now lifts the blanket restriction banning copper and FMJ ammunition and allow individual ranges/clubs to decide what ammunition is permitted according to their local rules and approvals. Specifically: "All projectiles must comply with local range approved conditions and club regulations"
OK, so this doesn't always help those who are members of clubs that ban FMJ's or anything that "looks like" an FMJ (to the untrained eye) but it's a strong argument supporting your push to have your club rules updated in line with PA's rules. If you need any help convincing your club to update or understand the difference between FMJ's and copper please let me know.
