Shooting Times Wednesday 16th May.

8x57

Distinguished Member
Has anyone read the article by Graham Downing in this week’s Shooting Times entitled Boar on the Border. Am I reading it wrong or is Mr Downing admitting to hunting in France with a .308 rifle?
Perhaps it is just the way the article is written or more likely edited, but the area that the hunt takes place would appear to be in France close to the border with Germany. Mr Downing tells us in the story that he uses his favourite .308 rifle after changing the scope to one more suited to driven game shooting. Presumably the cartridge referred to is the .308 winchester which numerous previous debates on this website has established as being unsuitable (illegal) to use for hunting in France.
Is it possible that Mr Dowling one of Shooting Times most illustrious contributors can now expect a visit from the rozzers to serve a European arrest warrant on behalf of the gendarmes. Did Mr Downing chance his arm or is it that the story is inaccurate in some way and either the rifle wasn’t a .308 winchester, or that the actual hunting took place the other side of the border in Germany?
I emailed Shooting Times on Wednesday to enquire but have still to receive a reply.
 
I spotted that too, but decided to ignore it and concentrate on the fact that it's about hunting in my region of France, Alsace, and that Graham Downing didn't make any of the all-too-common comments about how "it's Germany really". OK, so he said that the language was a mix of French and German, whereas it's actually a branch of Allemanic, so a type of proto-German on another branch of the linguistic tree, but the chances are what he heard are people speaking Alsatian and peppering it with French words, as happens a lot nowadays, all of which suggests that he's paying attention.

There's no way they were hunting over the border though, there's no reciprocal arrangement with the neighbours to make that easy to do on a regular basis.
 
A beautiful part of Europe regardless of which flag flies over it.
I do hope that I get a reply from Shooting Times so as to clarify the situation, or perhaps someone is now running around like a headless chicken trying to put things right.:rolleyes:
 
debates on this website has established as being unsuitable (illegal) to use for hunting in France

Does this website set the laws of France? Doesn't matter what WE say surely ;). I remember said thread(s) and I don't recall it being 'proven' what the exact word of French law is...

Without wanting to reopen debate... I thought the law was around procurement/ownership of military calibres in France, acquired through French RFDs, and ownership by French nationals being illegal... but that visiting shooters can use their calibre of choice with the correct permit...
 
A very good of mine was a keeper for Louis Vitton in Orlean nr Paris, he shot nearly 200 boar a year with a 222, biggest one 140kg still the estate record.
 
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A beautiful part of Europe regardless of which flag flies over it.
I do hope that I get a reply from Shooting Times so as to clarify the situation, or perhaps someone is now running around like a headless chicken trying to put things right.:rolleyes:

i bet you wont get a reply
 
Technically a 308 is not a military caliber.

I agree .308win is not technically a military calibre but it is regarded as such in France because rifles chambered for it can also chamber 7.62x51

Stig perhaps I should have worded it better. I think that the numerous debates over the last five or six years had established the situation in France. None of us is trying to establish any laws in France, the law is the law whether you agree with it or not. Only one of the numerous debates was about procurement many were about using "military calibres" or travelling through France with "military calibres".
 
Does this website set the laws of France? Doesn't matter what WE say surely ;). I remember said thread(s) and I don't recall it being 'proven' what the exact word of French law is...

Without wanting to reopen debate... I thought the law was around procurement/ownership of military calibres in France, acquired through French RFDs, and ownership by French nationals being illegal... but that visiting shooters can use their calibre of choice with the correct permit...

I, for one (and I know others have done some of this too) have had French links to law and even a French lawyer give advice and posted same on this site.

In France game hunting with the prohibited equipment, including weapons of war and/or the ammunition that fits them, it has been explained repeatedly, is an offence. Now, whether or not someone gets "caught" is an other matter entirely. It's not even clear just how strenuously this might be Policed, but it has been made quite clear it is unlawful. So, please yourself.

ps. Just for clarity, .308 winchester is on the list of prohibited cartridges, because it is taken to fit 7.62 Nato weapon systems.
 
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One thought has occurred and I would love to see it tested in court (by someone else)

When one shoots game, one does not shoot it with a cartridge one shoots it with a bullet.

The 300win mag is a very popular "Sanglier" cartridge and it fires .308" bullets... :rolleyes:

There has to be some "wiggle" room in these facts, with a good Lawyer, a fair Judge and a following wind. :D
 
A very good of mine was a keeper for Louis Vitton in Orlean nr Paris, he shot nearly 200 boar a year with a 222, biggest one 140kg still the estate record.

I presume that was some time ago or that they weren't driven? Didn't someone post only a few days ago that the minimum calibre for driven boar is 7mm, or was that in reference to another country? Still that's pretty good going for a .222 which is still one of my favourite calibres, but I don't think I'll give it a try on the boar, call me yellow if you like.
 
I agree .308win is not technically a military calibre but it is regarded as such in France because rifles chambered for it can also chamber 7.62x51

Stig perhaps I should have worded it better. I think that the numerous debates over the last five or six years had established the situation in France. None of us is trying to establish any laws in France, the law is the law whether you agree with it or not. Only one of the numerous debates was about procurement many were about using "military calibres" or travelling through France with "military calibres".
Hi
In one breath you are saying we should abide by the the letter of the law, so a 308 is not legally a miltary calibre, end of.Bad and stupid laws in my view should be fought against and if neccessary broken.Taxi's by law should still carry a bale of hay and a water bucket,you can still shoot welshmen with a longbow from the grounds of hereford cathedral,the hunting act,you can shoot a pheasant over an inland pond with lead shot but not a duck, in this day and age stupid and should not be on the statute books.
Geordie
 
One thought has occurred and I would love to see it tested in court (by someone else)

When one shoots game, one does not shoot it with a cartridge one shoots it with a bullet.

The 300win mag is a very popular "Sanglier" cartridge and it fires .308" bullets... :rolleyes:

There has to be some "wiggle" room in these facts, with a good Lawyer, a fair Judge and a following wind. :D

That's one of the reasons I asked Shooting Times to clarify just which .308 he used. You have to give the benefit of the doubt don't you? :lol:
 
Geordieh the bale of hay and bucket of water for hackney cabs law was repealed many years ago, and it was only legal to shoot a Welshman in Church Street Hereford using a bow on a Sunday.:rofl:

How can you rebel against the laws of another country. It's their laws and their country let them sort it out if it's a problem.:british:
 
308 is not legally a miltary calibre, end of.
.308 is a military calibre. Bullets if that calibre are used in many military cartridges including the 7.62x51 Nato, .30-06 and .300 Win Mag. But whether the .308 Winchester is technically a military cartridge is possibly debatable...
 
I presume that was some time ago or that they weren't driven? Didn't someone post only a few days ago that the minimum calibre for driven boar is 7mm, or was that in reference to another country? Still that's pretty good going for a .222 which is still one of my favourite calibres, but I don't think I'll give it a try on the boar, call me yellow if you like.

He stalked them like deer,The Estate had all the big ones shot, as they were the most dangerous when it came to a driven day..
Same old addage " bullet in the right place".

regards
neil
 
No great issue here 308 is ok to use in France I have used one.
One of my Roe Buck clients is a French Lady she lives just outside Paris and owns a loverly Sauer 202 in 308 which she uses both in France and also brings over here 4 or 5 times a year.

She tells me 308win is ok in France
 
No great issue here 308 is ok to use in France I have used one.
One of my Roe Buck clients is a French Lady she lives just outside Paris and owns a loverly Sauer 202 in 308 which she uses both in France and also brings over here 4 or 5 times a year.

She tells me 308win is ok in France

:cry: no lynch then.... damn it..
 
No great issue here 308 is ok to use in France I have used one.
One of my Roe Buck clients is a French Lady she lives just outside Paris and owns a loverly Sauer 202 in 308 which she uses both in France and also brings over here 4 or 5 times a year.

She tells me 308win is ok in France

Well, if you say that's what she says is OK, it must be true. Dunno what all the fuss is about...:rolleyes:

Funnily enough though, I have French friends and they all tell me different... and not because they don't want me shooting there either. I have the choice of some very fine "fusil de battue occasion" available to me on loan anytime I care to go. But... since my own "pig gun" is in .30-06 it is "simplement ... non-permissable, dans la France, pour la chasse"
 
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