Shotgun Licence.

starfighter

starfighter

starfighter

Soldato
Joined
4 Aug 2008
Posts
4,936
Location
Manchester.
I have always been interested in guns and shooting. I am not a violent person but I just find shooting things entertaining, from CS:S to paintball or shooting my air rifle at targets in the garden.

From my limted research it seems it is just a case of filling in a form and sending a few quid and I can buy a shotgun. :D

http://www.uttoxeter-rifle-club.co.uk/documents/shotappl.pdf

My garden is pretty big but I would probably have to join some kind of club to use it or can I just shoot away in my garden?


I know there are a few americans on here. (how i envy you)
, but I know feek also shoots long barrel revolvers.

So does anyone have any advice or experience with this?
 
Shooting stuff in your garden isn't likely to get you a cert; well, unless your 'garden' is 10 acres of woodland anyway ;) Permission from a landowner to control vermin, membership in a shoot or a gun club or similar would be much more like it.

I suggest you spend some time at a gun club, or in the company of existing guns and go from there. Join BASC too. Obtaining a shotgun cert because you 'find shooting things entertaining' isn't really a very good reason, nor would it go down well with the firearms officer reviewing your application lol
 
my uncle goes clay pidgeon shooting and under his certificate he has to keep his weapons under lock an key of his gun club where he does his shooting.
 
Rainmaker said:
Shooting stuff in your garden isn't likely to get you a cert; well, unless your 'garden' is 10 acres of woodland anyway ;) Permission from a landowner to control vermin, membership in a shoot or a gun club or similar would be much more like it.

I suggest you spend some time at a gun club, or in the company of existing guns and go from there. Join BASC too. Obtaining a shotgun cert because you 'find shooting things entertaining' isn't really a very good reason, nor would it go down well with the firearms officer reviewing your application lol
Click to expand...

I understand what you are saying, I need to obviously make them think I take this seriously and am not simply after a shotgun for shooting people.

I will probably start by booking myself a lesson at the nearest club, it is only about 45 mins drive away so not too bad but I would rather get permission from a farmer or something and shoot locally. I live in the countryside but I probably agree that my garden isn't quite big enough to be shooting a 12 gauge.
 
julianhj said:
You're not likely to get a ticket without a genuine reason. A club would be the way to go in the first instance.
Click to expand...

With shotgun licenses, you can get one unless there is a reason for you not to have one. Its not like with firearms licenses where you require a reason.

Just have to say you want it for vermin,clays etc and there will be no questions asked, assuming you dont have a criminal record/medical issues it will be fine.
 
tntcoder said:
With shotgun licenses, you can get one unless there is a reason for you not to have one. Its not like with firearms licenses where you require a reason.
Click to expand...

That's correct, with shotties they have to find a reason for you not to have them whereas with a firearm certificate you have to provide a reason to own the weapons.

However, I think that if you were to apply for a shotgun certificate on the grounds of wanting to shoot it in your garden you'd be turned down because that's a pretty good reason not to let you have it!

Find a club, have a couple of trial sessions to see how you like it and then think about it further. You might find that clay pigeon shooting bores you silly and you don't want to do it after a couple of sessions.

You could also look at Practical Shotgun shooting which I do every now and then.


 
Heh I live in a 4 story block of flats in the middle of a city and have a pump action Benelli Supernova!

You don't need a garden or any reason for wanting one and they need to have a reason for not giving you one. I use mine for vermin control on my parents farm every once in a while and used to do clay shooting until the prices became stupid. Apart from that it can go for a few months without being used.

Saying you want to use it for the garden isnt a wise idea though. You aren't meant to use one within a certain distance of main roads or close to other houses for obvious reasons. I grew up in the countryside and have always used shotguns since a young age so maybe that helped my application.

If you just want to use it in a garden I dont really see a point in one though? If you want to join a club or have somewhere you can shoot rabbits, etc but trust me you'll soon be bored of the novelty of having one and not using it for anything.
 
If you do have a good reason for one, and you apply, the police will have to come and check your house - you'll need an approved gun case in an out of sight area, that's kept locked. Also the shells have to be kept seperately from the gun
 
tres said:
If you do have a good reason for one, and you apply, the police will have to come and check your house - you'll need an approved gun case in an out of sight area, that's kept locked. Also the shells have to be kept seperately from the gun
Click to expand...

Nah shotgun cartridges dont have to be kept seperate from the gun. They dont even need to be kept in a cabinet.

Firearms ammo needs to be kept in a locked seperate cabinet but thats a different story alltogether.
 
I was told on a new application inspection that we couldn't keep the shells in the top shelf of the gun cab!
 
LOL at some of the replies. I honestly do not want to shoot people and I would take it very seriously, I can come accross silly in my posts but I am a sensible person overall.

A friend keeps his in the loft, I don't have access to mine being in a rented house but I have a basement. Perhaps there.

Anyway thanks for the advice, like I say I will be booking a lesson at the local club to see if it is actually my thing first of all.
 
My dad got a shotgun license without any trouble at all, only reason he needed one was for handling an antique one at work.
 
Feek said:
That's correct, with shotties they have to find a reason for you not to have them whereas with a firearm certificate you have to provide a reason to own the weapons.

However, I think that if you were to apply for a shotgun certificate on the grounds of wanting to shoot it in your garden you'd be turned down because that's a pretty good reason not to let you have it!

Find a club, have a couple of trial sessions to see how you like it and then think about it further. You might find that clay pigeon shooting bores you silly and you don't want to do it after a couple of sessions.

You could also look at Practical Shotgun shooting which I do every now and then.
Click to expand...

What kind of cartridges do they use for that? Birdshot? Can you buy buck shot or slugs with a shotgun certificate?
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom