Hi All,
Has anyone tried putting in a variation to get 45/70 deer legal in Scotland? What was the police response?
There seem to be a few posts of stalkers asking whether 45/70 can be authorised for deer in Scotland, but I couldn't find any feedback from people who actually tried applying for it.
I found posts from people who had 45/70 authorised for vermin, boar and target shooting, so it does not appear that the Scottish police are against this calibre in principle. The only place where it falls short is achieving the 2450fps limit for the deer act with factory ammo.
A typical 400gn load is usually launched at about 1800fps - way below the legal limit.
A bit of research online shows that a very warm 300gn slug fired from a 24" Marlin can reach 2420, which is just short of the legal requirement. A modern marlin or a single shot No1 should allow for a hotter round, which would exceed 2450 in this bullet weight. Furthermore, there are 250gn and 275gn bullets available for this calibre, and these ought to be travelling faster & well into the deer legal velocities.
Now, the requirement to ensure that your ammunition complies with the law is with each individual stalker, e.g. you won't have trouble getting a .308 authorised for deer, but if you get a short-barrelled rifle and load a mild 150 or 160gn factory round into it, you might well end up below the legal velocity, firing 2420 without knowing it. Following the same principle, 45/70 should be allowed if you can demonstarate on paper that you can get those slugs flying at over 2450 fps and then it's up to you to ensure your load is legal when you are in the field.
This makes me think that if you apply for 45/70 for deer and enclose some reloader prinouts with loads that are deer legal, then the police, in theory, should grant the use of this calibre for deer, but has anyone tried it yet?
If the above is not the case, has anyone north of the border tried getting it authorised for vermin in Scotland and deer in E&W, where the calibre is legal?
Thanks,
Chavez
Has anyone tried putting in a variation to get 45/70 deer legal in Scotland? What was the police response?
There seem to be a few posts of stalkers asking whether 45/70 can be authorised for deer in Scotland, but I couldn't find any feedback from people who actually tried applying for it.
I found posts from people who had 45/70 authorised for vermin, boar and target shooting, so it does not appear that the Scottish police are against this calibre in principle. The only place where it falls short is achieving the 2450fps limit for the deer act with factory ammo.
A typical 400gn load is usually launched at about 1800fps - way below the legal limit.
A bit of research online shows that a very warm 300gn slug fired from a 24" Marlin can reach 2420, which is just short of the legal requirement. A modern marlin or a single shot No1 should allow for a hotter round, which would exceed 2450 in this bullet weight. Furthermore, there are 250gn and 275gn bullets available for this calibre, and these ought to be travelling faster & well into the deer legal velocities.
Now, the requirement to ensure that your ammunition complies with the law is with each individual stalker, e.g. you won't have trouble getting a .308 authorised for deer, but if you get a short-barrelled rifle and load a mild 150 or 160gn factory round into it, you might well end up below the legal velocity, firing 2420 without knowing it. Following the same principle, 45/70 should be allowed if you can demonstarate on paper that you can get those slugs flying at over 2450 fps and then it's up to you to ensure your load is legal when you are in the field.
This makes me think that if you apply for 45/70 for deer and enclose some reloader prinouts with loads that are deer legal, then the police, in theory, should grant the use of this calibre for deer, but has anyone tried it yet?
If the above is not the case, has anyone north of the border tried getting it authorised for vermin in Scotland and deer in E&W, where the calibre is legal?
Thanks,
Chavez