UK Fire Arms Certificate

Its all abit of a minefield tbh . The gun laws in the UK are abit of a farce and even most firearms officers are not always 100% sure on the rules .

In general the police need to find a reason not to allow you to have a shotgun certificate , where as you have to have a dam good reason for owning a firearm .

Also different forces follow different rules . My local force prefers .17hmr over .22 because of the hard ground and ricochets . where the next force up wont allow you one .
Normally on yer first application you may get a .22 rimfire or .17hmr (or both ) and smalish ammo allowance . (This is for rough shooting on farmland with written permission)

If the land does not have any permission already it needs to be inscpected for the caliber you have asked for to see if its safe . So no applications for centrefire for 5 acres of land etc .

Once you have had yer ticket for a few years you can apply if you have a reason and land for a centrefire . The most common ones are .223/.243/22-250/308 . You can also apply for an open ticket which allows you to use your best judgment on where you use the guns (ie: if a local farmer asked for some vermin to be cleared but not give full written permission to shoot there all the time) with an open ticket you could shoot there without an inspection .

Its rare to get a centre fire on a first application (although not unheard of) and you would normally have to have a large bit of land with deer or longe range vermin and even then its unlikley .

There is alos restrictions on what type of calibre you can use to shoot certain deer and most places will require a deer stalking cert .

Its a great sport but can be tied up in red tape and also very expensive but the benefits are great and i would never not be an active shooter

Persil
 
Persil said:
Its all abit of a minefield tbh . The gun laws in the UK are abit of a farce and even most firearms officers are not always 100% sure on the rules.
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Thanks. I guess the chaps at the club will be able to give guidance on the local peculiarities. I am not interested in rim fire, I'd want 5.56mm or 7.62mm centre fire ideally.
 
Is all the shooting in this country just target shooting, clay pigeons and pest control, or is there other types? For example in the US they have places where you walk through a staged set of buildings and targets (both hostiles and ones not meant to be shot) pop up and you are timed through the whole thing, is there anything like that here in the UK?
 
Dist said:
Is all the shooting in this country just target shooting, clay pigeons and pest control, or is there other types? For example in the US they have places where you walk through a staged set of buildings and targets (both hostiles and ones not meant to be shot) pop up and you are timed through the whole thing, is there anything like that here in the UK?
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I've done that with air pistols, but it does happen with centerfire too I presume, I know Feek has posted something about it before. It's target shooting, as is clay pigeon shooting, all in the same category.
 
Maybe this is a good thread to ask a couple of questions relating to people who are legally allowed to use and own guns, so I thought maybe I could ask a couple of questions.

First one is when I saw what I assume is a Farmer.
It was a very busy main A road, at the side of the road, a Landrover next to a typical gate going into a field. He was hanging about his vehicle while having his shotgun quite openly on display of everyone driving right past him. Obviously I figured nothing untoward, but with how busy the road is, I can't help but think somebody may have called the Police after having seen a man brandishing a gun. Are there any rules that the Farmer would have to follow that he may have broken here? Should he have been hanging about with a gun on the side of a busy public road?

Secondly, I've been on a public council footpath near me and seen what again I assume is a Farmer, shooting at something or other. Fair enough it may be his land, but as a public right of way runs through it, is he again supposed to be allowed to shoot willy nilly when there is the danger of hitting public walking by?
 
Once again its all abit dodgy Nexus . sometimes we have to cross over a road to shoot another part of the land . We unload but dont cover the guns and just walk over . But there is a distance limit when shooting near the road .

As for public rights of way ...hmm very sticky point .. the trouble is the public dont tend to keep to said rights of way . On one of mt favourite bits of land there is a path that the public use . its about 300 yards behind where i shoot . I normally shoot from the top of the hill down into a valley where the public arent allowed. If you check my sig thats how i was (same location) watching 3 rabbits down the scope.. I heard a rustle to my right then my scope got blured as a family of 4 waked past in front of me and the gun lol .

Now remembering that this bit of land is private but with a right of way they should not have been within 300 yards of me :/ I have also had a visit by 3 arv's and a police helicopter when zeroing the .243 at the bottom of the hill (once again by a concerned citizen) . And they were on the path so about 1/2 a mile from me (dam public) . I no no longer shoot there during the day as its just not worth the trouble and just lamp it at night .

I guess if someone was carless or being very obvious with a gun near the public then there gonna call the police but its the difference betwenn people who are not used to guns .

I think the legal limit (or advised limit) is 50ft from the centre of a highway so as long as there shooting away from the road it should be fine

Persil
 
hmmm

Richie said:
Agreed :)

Different skill set required for each tho :)

Some people prefer the skill needed for long range shots whereas some prefer the skill required to not only stalk a prey but get VERY close to the quarry in comparison to full bore.... Air Rifles are about 50yds max as a general rule (can be a bit further but not much).
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My 36ftlb air arms extra fac rifle using 21g h&n baracuda pellets kills crows out to 80 yards with ease and goes through them at this range.
I prefer to use this around the built up areas of the farm as the .22lr tends to rebound off everything!:D Plus the fact my air rifle has a power adjuster so it can go down to 6ftlb right up to 36ftlb.
 
Try

Dont forget you also need BASC membership, which is £50.

You do not need to have insurance to get a fac although it would help.
There are better gun insurance people then BASC.
Basc is a money making organization - try others like SAC and Country side alliance ect much cheaper and have the shooter at heart.
 
i need my FAC to be approved! i need land first, i was knocked back on an .25 FAC Airgun (Daystate AirWolf MVT) with masses of land and adequate backstops, for shooting the bunny rabbits.
 
Just wondered what some of the shooter on here think of the current regulations.

Would it be an option to open up the range of weaponry but ensure that they are only held securely onsite at a gun club/range and strictly not to be taken home?
 
I just bought a house in the city and sold my land (3 hours commute was making me suicidal). Am I still eligible for a gun license? it just seems a lot of people here are talking about adequate land to justify a weapon, but surely as someone who has no land other than a house in the city and has shot in competitions in the ATC, has a keen interest in guns would be allowed to join a gun club and buy, for example a 700 remington?
 
Citizen420 said:
I just bought a house in the city and sold my land (3 hours commute was making me suicidal). Am I still eligible for a gun license? it just seems a lot of people here are talking about adequate land to justify a weapon, but surely as someone who has no land other than a house in the city and has shot in competitions in the ATC, has a keen interest in guns would be allowed to join a gun club and buy, for example a 700 remington?
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if your club had a range that was suitable for centerfire, then you'd have a legitimate reason to get approved for something like a Rem700, obviously, dependant on calibre.
 
Gaijin said:
Just wondered what some of the shooter on here think of the current regulations.

Would it be an option to open up the range of weaponry but ensure that they are only held securely onsite at a gun club/range and strictly not to be taken home?
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Unfortunately that leaves the possibility of someone robbing the place and swiping the whole lot.

I always saw the use of a gun cabinet/safe at home the safer of the two options - chances are no-one will ever know you have a fire arm under lock and key in the house, and should you get burgled, the average thief will have no interest in it, both if it's concealed and the fact that they'll be after stuff they can sell quickly.
Most small clubs do not have the outlay to pay for large and secure holding of firearms. And even if they do, a determined attempt of theft at a shooting club would end up with a large number of (albeit registered) firearms being stolen.
This has happened with at least one gunsmith/maker that I'm aware of in the last year or two.
 
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