UK reloading import percentage

FantasticMrFox

Well-Known Member
Hi all,

I'm currently trying to up the amount of bullets/heads I can buy at any one time but my firearms department are denying my request and I'm not giving up without fighting my corner. I am now reloading my own ammunition and the argument I'm trying to get across is that I have great difficulty in finding the right heads I'm looking for and as hunting bullet heads are not allowed to be posted I would like to be able, when I find what I'm looking for to have the ability to buy up to 500 heads at any one time.

In order to halp make this a valid reason I think I need to know what the UK's slice of the reloading supply worldwide is as I've been told that generally the US produces the lions share of the world's reloading consumables and therefore take the lions share before what they don't want hits Europe and finally we in the UK get to fight over the dregs of what's left. Is this true and does anyone know what percentage is our slicr of the pie.

Any advice, figures and also other arguments to put across that might help my case would be gratefully received.

Thanks very much.

Sam
 
My reason for wanting 500 to buy and 600 to keep was that in .308 I use 150gn and in the 30-06 I use 180gn so then I could buy 300 150gn and 200 180gn each time.
I suppose if I only had one calibre I could still use the same argument.
 
It depends on what your current allowance, per calibre, is as to it being an arguable point or not. For target shooting where maybe one or two hundred rounds could be expended in just one day at the range then I'd expect a high allowance.

But for stalking? You'd shoot how many per stalk? And how many to zero? The Firearms Guidance although NOT the actual letter of the law is clear. It is what you reasonably need and not what you feel required to get bulk discount and quantity shipping.

I fear that you will not win your argument. Even though we all know that expanding bullets on their own are no more nor less lethal than a sock filled with 1p coins used to cosh old ladies in post offices.

The counter argument would be how many do you reasonably expect to shoot in one year?
 
Hi all,

I'm currently trying to up the amount of bullets/heads I can buy at any one time but my firearms department are denying my request and I'm not giving up without fighting my corner. I am now reloading my own ammunition and the argument I'm trying to get across is that I have great difficulty in finding the right heads I'm looking for and as hunting bullet heads are not allowed to be posted I would like to be able, when I find what I'm looking for to have the ability to buy up to 500 heads at any one time.

In order to halp make this a valid reason I think I need to know what the UK's slice of the reloading supply worldwide is as I've been told that generally the US produces the lions share of the world's reloading consumables and therefore take the lions share before what they don't want hits Europe and finally we in the UK get to fight over the dregs of what's left. Is this true and does anyone know what percentage is our slicr of the pie.

Any advice, figures and also other arguments to put across that might help my case would be gratefully received.

Thanks very much.

Sam

If you check the Home Office guidance you will see that economic reason is NOT reason for ammunition holding.
The emphasis on the not is explicit.

Stan
 
EMcC's argument is about the only one that could be supported by a genuine need. Or that maybe that particular bullet was going to become obsolete and that you really did need a "lifetime" supply. Think some of the obscure British sporting rifle sizes such as .245" for Holland's Apex maybe or 228" for the Savage and you've come across a bulk amount at an auction house. Or say .288" or whatever for the Ross or similar.
 
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My reason for wanting 500 to buy and 600 to keep was that in .308 I use 150gn and in the 30-06 I use 180gn so then I could buy 300 150gn and 200 180gn each time.
I suppose if I only had one calibre I could still use the same argument.
its just to hold now emcc atb doug,
 
its just to hold now emcc atb doug,
I know but when I did mine that was the situation then, old terminology dies hard !!
I've since had a variation and my FC has been brought up to date.
It now states 400 x .308 and 400 x 30-06 so if I so desired I could buy 800 - wow ! I'd need a young guy to carry them home for me, that's if I could afford to buy that many in one hit at a time :eek:
 
It depends on what your current allowance, per calibre, is as to it being an arguable point or not. For target shooting where maybe one or two hundred rounds could be expended in just one day at the range then I'd expect a high allowance.

But for stalking? You'd shoot how many per stalk? And how many to zero? The Firearms Guidance although NOT the actual letter of the law is clear. It is what you reasonably need and not what you feel required to get bulk discount and quantity shipping.

I fear that you will not win your argument.

Why on earth not!?
it should not be an argument, its a fecking request to the authority who administer!!
It is not the Police's job to control
If you lose it just means you were poorly prepared for the "request"
500 is perfectly reasonable (I have 600 actually! and 1200 for rimfire)

You are a stalker who is relied upon to kill humanely with one shot
this requires practice, sometimes a lot!
Reloading requires development - sometimes a lot when powders are no longer available, explain the process and demonstrate with example.
6x5 shots of varying charge, 6x5 shots varying OAL (possibly more) multiply by the number of bullet weights or tip styles and you could easily lose 1-200 in development alone
Variance in bullet construction from lot to lot is considered by target shooters where humane killing is not a consideration
many boxes of bullets also come in 250 count boxes
what say you want to buy two of those to guarantee your accuracy and subsequent humane killing!?!

It is precisely none of their business how much you shoot or don't
Do not get sucked into justifying how much you do or don't shoot and at what

Your points (not argument) should be based on all the "PC" points that the Police will be measured on
1) Humane killing (see above)
2) Safety - you need several styles and weights to guarantee safe shooting and stopping of various quarry in various situations, (think VMax vs Soft Point)
3) Volume - minimum 200 per bullet weight

3.23 However, where a certificate holder requests large quantities of bullets, it should be
remembered that the total number of bullets authorised counts towards their overall
limit on possession of expanding ammunition. The exception to the rule on listing bullets
separately on a certificate applies in the case of a certificate holder who wishes to possess
a variety of different types of bullets.

3.41 The possession of expanding ammunition for target shooting or any competition use
is not allowed. Applicants wishing to possess expanding ammunition for any other
purposes (for example, to zero a large calibre rifle for big game hunting abroad) should
also be refused (see also paragraphs 3.22 and 3.23). There should be no prescribed
limits set on the number of rounds of ammunition that can be expended during zeroing,
although this will need to be compatible with these functions and consistent with the
overall limits on possession.


10.37 Every effort must be made to limit the number of additional conditions imposed on a
firearm certificate and ensure that they are not contradictory.

Open FAC but I can't buy fecking bullets?
how contradictory can you get




It should not be based on cost benefits, even though mine included that as an additional point, it could be thrown back at you as the guidance specifically states that saving for bulk buying should not be a good reason.
I personally wouldn't include current limited supplies as a reason either as it hints at the cost benefits.
 
The one comment I would add is that load development and practice do consume a lot of bullets. I would also recommend practicing with a target bullet. What I do with my stalking rifles is shoot for group when practicing, but I don't adjust the stalking zero. When I'm ready to have a stalk, I'll change to stalking ammunition and off I'll go. Sometimes I'll do a quick check zero at a 100 yds with the stalking round.

Regards

JCS
 
Reloaders are allowed to hold more, due to having different styles and weight of bullets, more often than not, bought in packs of 100, asking for 500 is not unreasonable.

From the HO guidelines

13.24 Those involved in shooting vermin will normally be authorised to possess up to 750 rounds. Expanding ammunition may be authorised for this purpose. However, larger allocations may be required in some circumstances, perhaps for individuals who are responsible for pest control over large areas of land or where there are serious infestations, for example of rabbits. In such cases, it may be appropriate to authorise the individual to possess up to 1,500 rounds. These amounts are only guides and should not be seen as absolute limits to be applied in all cases. An applicant who is responsible for a lot of pest control may reasonably want two rifles firing the same, or a closely allied cartridge.
Chief officers of police will wish to be mindful that quarry species are mobile and applicants may not be able to always predict their presence on land on a consistent basis. Certificate conditions should therefore allow the applicant flexibility in dealing with quarry species,

And,

Reloading firearms ammunition (home loading)
13.84 Certificate holders often load their ammunition in order to improve the accuracy of their firearms. There are too many technical factors to cover within this guidance, and advice should be sought from shooting associations or competent reloaders if the need arises. Suffice it to say that rifling, propellant charge, the design of a bullet, its individual weight and velocity all affect a given round’s range, accuracy and terminal effect on the quarry concerned. For these reasons, certificate holders who reload may wish to acquire a variety of different bullet weights and designs for load development for different applications.
13.85 For quarry shooting some bullet designs (soft nose, hollow nose, ballistic tip, thin or thick jacketed or core bonded) may be preferred over another with regard to their behaviour when they strike the quarry or pest species. Certificate holders often develop their preferences based on their own research and development through home loading.
13.86 Whilst there may be some small cost benefit, more often the reasons for home loading are the pursuit of accuracy, safety and performance. Where performance is involved;
118 Guide on Firearms Licensing Law
different quarry types and their physical makeup, the different ranges in which they
are to be engaged (e.g. lighter or smaller flatter trajectory bullets for foxes and heavier bullets for deer) all vary, and home loaders may wish to experiment to ascertain the best combinations. It is not unusual for home loaders to manufacture two or three specific rounds in the same caliber for different species e.g. fox, small deer and large deer; this is to achieve a clean kill of more than one species without having to change firearms.
13.87 Home loaders will usually manufacture various batches for testing using a chronograph to measure velocity and thus ascertain the best combinations. Whilst a chronograph is important to home loaders; it is of utmost importance for ammunition intended for use on animals due to legislative requirements such as in the deer acts (see chapter 14 for more information).
13.88 Whilst there are no limits imposed on the number of solid (non-expanding) projectiles that a certificate holder may purchase for manufacturing ammunition, a home loader must not manufacture more than the maximum quantity of ammunition authorised by their firearm certificate.
13.89 Some reloaders may test ammunition by firing groups of 3 to 5 rounds, and repeat the group several times to measure consistency. As bullet designs, cases, primers and propellants are so varied, it is not unusual for home loaders to require larger amounts
of missiles (bullets) for their research, and possess them in addition to any factory or other home loaded ammunition already held. Load development can be a long process, especially with unusual cartridges; particularly as new products become available.
13.90 It is clear that there are circumstances where home loaders may need to acquire increased quantities of expanding bullets. This can be achieved by authorising a further allocation of expanding missiles separately to the ammunition already authorised. This will allow missiles (bullets) to be held independently from ammunition and allow flexibility where different types and weights of bullet are required.
13.91 Bullets for home loading are normally sold in boxes of at least a hundred, so authorities to possess should be in multiples of 100.
13.92 Some certificate holders may wish to manufacture their own sub-calibre ammunition to achieve flexibility with their rifle when pursuing different quarry or pest species. In order to do this, they will need to acquire expanding missiles in smaller calibre such as .220 inches (.224 actual) for loading into .30 calibre saboted cartridges for example. Authorities for expanding missiles may be granted for this us
 
I don't reload yet but when I added a 308 at my last variation request I asked for 600 to purchase for each 243 and 308 due to buying in 100s and my FEO wasn't sure if his manager would sign off on that but he did. That's with Sussex and I had it upped from 120.
 
I originally had buy 100 hold 200 for my .223 and .308 when I started reloading I asked for it to be increased and got buy 500 hold 600
 
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