So I can't use a gun i brought on my land against targets i buy. . is getting Home Office approval for a range in your garden a realistic thing you could actually do if you had land?
No, it isn't. What you can do, and what everyone actually does, is get a Section 1 on the grounds of pest control over your land then spend most of your time "zeroing" your rifle on paper targets. Wouldn't want to fudge a shot and injure something, after all! Technically, you're not allowed to do this. Realistically, though, you'd have to really tick off your local firearms officer to get in trouble for it. Just shoot the occasional pigeon or rabbit and you're golden.
Would living in rented accommodation exempt me from buying a rifle to only use at Home Office approved ranges?
No, but you'd need a Police-approved safe in which to store the gun and another one (or a locking section of the main safe) for the ammunition - and it has to be bolted down, which your landlord might not be very impressed with. You'd also have to go through the whole process of getting approval again if you moved - meaning it's entirely possible that you'd have to give up your guns if you move to a more crime-ridden area. Better options are joining a club (which you'd have to do anyway) and using the club guns or buying an air rifle which only requires that nobody can easily make off with it - a single eyelet screwed into the wall and an AMTA cable lock is enough for that.
Ah, the joys of living in the sticks on the family farm. Licences are a joke over here in Ireland for rifles and shotguns. Hell, you fill out 99% of the form yourself and just need the cops to sign it and you're pretty much golden.
you're spot on with that.. the focal plane on that scope is not going to help so when you zoom the graduations change. but that's something we all have to deal with on regular scopes. Mine all stay at 6x most of the time.. partly so I can judge holdover/under on a typical hunting shot and partly because, even at HAWKES quality, turning the lenses can potentially factionally move your point of aim. It's pretty minimal on Hawke.. but on a 4-12x50 I had from Nikko Stirling is was bloody awful. Either zoom or worse, parallax adjustent (turning my bell end, don#t you know?) ruined zero. It went back to zero if I returned to the mag and parallax to original settings. I sold it.
thats for Fire Arms.. is things that go bang Air rifles are different... however there's some strict rules and laws to know about. An air rifle isn't a firearm until you screw up. Then it is. If you shot tin cans in your garden with a little 4ft lb air pistol, minding your own, and a pellet pinged out and over the fence.... suddenly you're in possession of a firearm. Not because it suddenly became a colt .45.. but because the law doesnt' distiguish between the types of gun once you screw up. Shooting ranges are best all round.
This isn't true: an air rifle (or air pistol) is always a firearm, but not a licensed one unless it's a rifle above 12ft/lbs of pressure (Section 1) or a pistol above 6ft/lbs of pressure (Section 5, and good luck getting a licence for that!). Well, unless you're in Scotland, in which case it is a licensed firearm. That's why the Violent Crime Reduction Act (VCRA)'s ban on the general sale of Realistic Imitation Firearms (RIFs) doesn't apply to air rifles and air pistols: they're already enshrined in law as an actual firearm, so by definition they can't be an imitation firearm. Airsoft Dan Wesson pistol? RIF, and you need a VCRA exemption to buy it. .177 pellet (or BB) firing Dan Wesson pistol which is externally identical to the airsoft version? Not a RIF, no exemption required.
beautifully worded, better than I but for the noob, FAC causes all sorts of confusion and I do like to promote Air Rifles and not put people right off... like you do too
Ruger in rapid mode; look at that trigger finger go! What did your grouping look like?? Had a text last week to say that they are processing my application, we're now 1/2 way through the alleged 12 weeks...
Wasn't a paper target, rather a stump of wood roughly 20cm x 40cm and all shots on-target at 50m I inquired after a Hightower Armoury 90/22 stock, but it would make my rifle a "restricted weapon" and be extremely difficult to get approval for. So that idea is now dead in the water
All in at 50m? Can't complain at that I read that the Hightower was banned in certain States in the US, as they have minimum overall length restrictions. I had a quick look, and I couldn't see any in the UK - it seems to be on sale over here. That's no guarantee though! The P90 is a good looking and unusual bit of kit; I think I first saw them in a film, and definitely on Stargate SG-1 Now wondering whether to get (subject to licence being granted) a modern 10/22 with a better barrel and clean stock, or and old on and pimp it up with all the mods and a smart laminate stock. My local RFD says that you can liteally build your own 10/22 from scratch using aftermarket and used parts
Yeah, the 10/22 is the most highly customisable .22 on the market anywhere. Sadly, here in Ireland you can't really do diddly without making it a restricted weapon, which sucks ass to be honest. I just wanted a stock that was a bit more fun. I can't even get a stock that has a thumbhole in it :/ Brownells.co.uk have the 90/22 for order, so it must be easier for you lot in the UK: https://www.brownells.co.uk/RUGER-10/22-STOCK-BULLPUP-Polymer-BLK-HIGH-TOWER-ARMORY-Black-100015471 I don't think I posted it here, but here's my shooting spree in Vegas from a couple of weeks ago;
Yes, that was it thanks - Brownells. Sadly, I don't think that anything looking tactical would be welcome where I am able to shoot (FArms), I'd have to join the local gun club and do the mall ninja stuff up at the range I did see your Vegas video, and it made more sense when you pointed me to the original with the list in it. Playing too much PUBG at the moment, and on the odd occasion when I've picked up a SCAR-L, I immediately saw you at the range in my head!! I need to ask what you can buy in the way of 10/22 parts 'off ticket' and which bits are the ones that you need a licence for. I guess it'll be the receiver,as it looks like you can buy barrels and trigger groups in lots of places.
My 10/22 is so front-heavy that it makes plinking or target-shooting from a standing position a bit of a nightmare. It's no RK-62, but the balance is off, so kneeling or prone is best. I would like to get a better-than-stock receiver and charging handle, but they work out almost as expensive as the original rifle!
THIS IS BIT-TECH! Where's your inner Modder? Good quality stuff for them does look expensive, but you do get exactly what you want and a unique errr 'rig' I'm wondering about something with a tatty stock, but with a starter scope; change the stock, add a decent mag release and maybe have the bolt open mod.