Utectok
Well-Known Member
Dead right there buddy lol
Can you zero rifle on crown land ie foreshore in Scotland
- Thread starter Utectok
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SAUER20222250
Well-Known Member
No. You cannot guarantee where the shot could end up.
you still have a right to shoot on the foreshore, as is evidenced by the laws allowing wildfowling to go on in Scotland without having to be a member of a club leasing land
sorry but the comment that you were 'restricted to between high and low water marks.... that is what the foreshore is, ie the bit the crown owns and leased to you...... rofl
so they do not know the law! the lead issue is only for shotgun! you can shoot geese under the GL with lead bullets over the foreshore as much as you would want.... otherwise military ranges such as Barry Budden (Dundee) would have to use non toxic ammo in their machine guns. the law was put as such due top the size and number of pellets falling into the area that ducks and geese etc would feed, pick up the shot, grind in their gizzards and get lead poisoning
gus308
Active Member
My house is 50 yards from udale Bay in Scotland, I spend all winter shooting geese with no problem. One time and one time only I set up a target at 50 yds for a pcp Air rifle which is essentially silent. 10 minutes in the boys in blue rocked up after a complaint. I explained about tide lines etc, they told quite simply not do it again or it would be taken further. I know not to argue with a copper so I sucked it up and didn't do it again. I would be very surprised if the same didn't happen but on a much more impressive scale when a full bore rifle opens up, that sound will travel for miles. Safer to zero on your land where you have absolute permission or join a club. On the last post the military are exempt from all firearms laws and the wildlife and country act as far as I am aware.
Reminds me of what happened in Sweden when they introduced some remote speed cameras....
SAUER20222250
Well-Known Member
A rifle owner should really have somewhere to practice and zero on. Police Scotland demand at least one named ground that has been passed for calibres held.
Do you really want to be the test case ? Think carefully because the first thing that would have to occur is revocation of your fac ! Besides this as a wildfowler I see the damage the foreshore does to my shotguns and would want any of my better rifles and scopes out there . The things that salt and silt can do to a gun ......
Jagare
Well-Known Member
shot up or stolen after the pole had been cut with a pipe cutter. Not forgetting the burning tyre hung over the camera housing. The burning tyre was quite commom at one time. seen a few with the camera lens spray painted.
tikka_madras
Well-Known Member
I’m absolutely astonished we don’t see more of that sort of thing in the UK
Utectok
Well-Known Member
I have plenty of places I can zero with landowners permission just wondering about the foreshore it was a curious question that’s all.
No need to apologise. My point was that the gun could only be discharged on the “foreshore” as this is the space that the Crown owns. So we could not sit on the raised river/sea wall and shoot down onto the foreshore to try and create a safer angle. Equally we would have been crazy to shoot from the foreshore towards the wall as people could walk both on it and beside it (in which case we wouldn’t even know that were there). That would only leave shooting along the foreshore which is flat with little to stop a bullet and open to other users so potentially dangerous. From my point of view the legality of shooting on the foreshore is just one part of the issue, the other is that we also have a duty to only discharge our firearm when we are satisfied it is safe to do so. I can’t imagine that the local police or licensing authority would ignore a complaint from a member of the public who has just had bullets zipping past them as they walk along the foreshore or adjoining land. Yes you could spend days, weeks or months arguing the finer technicalities of the legal position for Crown property With the police and licensing authority while they hold onto your guns, but to what end?
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Utectok
Well-Known Member
Sacs added further clarification “Thank you for your message and further question. As you know from your wildfowling experience, SACS is well-versed in the EPR 2004 in respect of shotguns and lead shot. To be clear, what we are saying is that, regardless of EPR, in the current climate it would be extremely unwise to use any lead ammunition on the foreshore. Our sector faces a number of serious and immediate challenges and we cannot give the antis any more ammunition against us – quite literally. Sometimes it feels as if the greatest legal challenge we have to deal with at SACS is the law of unintended consequences. I trust that helps to clarify. Good shooting.”
Hi All
Going back a number of years, a local wildfowler on the northern firths used his rifle on the foreshore on a regular basis.
I would guess now that it would cause a heart attack within the public, FLOs and local bobbies if they heard a rifle shot.
There must have been some legality to it as fishery owners and fish farm operators used to regularly shoot seals in estuary's
But, the only way to know for sure of its legality or not would be to contact your shooting Association. for a definite, answer not an " I am not clear about the exact legality" reply.
The public have the right to recreation, navigation and fishing on the foreshore in Scotland. This is an inalienable right that can only be taken away by an act of parliament or bylaws.
Contrary to some schools of thoughts, regardless of who owns the foreshore in Scotland as it is not all owned by the Crown Estate, you have the right to go wildfowling.
The majority of foreshore in Scotland is Crown land (between the the low water mark and the high water mark of ordinary spring tides).
A few places in Sutherland and I think Orkney and Shetland differ in that the land owners own to the low water mark.
Have a look in the book The Law of Game, Salmon & Freshwater Fishing in Scotland" by Stanley Scott Robinson. Plenty info in there.
The Inverness and Cromarty Clubs have taken no foreshore out of the system, although some clubs have a permit system brought about by bylaws through local councils and SNH
Cheers
Going back a number of years, a local wildfowler on the northern firths used his rifle on the foreshore on a regular basis.
I would guess now that it would cause a heart attack within the public, FLOs and local bobbies if they heard a rifle shot.
There must have been some legality to it as fishery owners and fish farm operators used to regularly shoot seals in estuary's
But, the only way to know for sure of its legality or not would be to contact your shooting Association. for a definite, answer not an " I am not clear about the exact legality" reply.
The public have the right to recreation, navigation and fishing on the foreshore in Scotland. This is an inalienable right that can only be taken away by an act of parliament or bylaws.
Contrary to some schools of thoughts, regardless of who owns the foreshore in Scotland as it is not all owned by the Crown Estate, you have the right to go wildfowling.
The majority of foreshore in Scotland is Crown land (between the the low water mark and the high water mark of ordinary spring tides).
A few places in Sutherland and I think Orkney and Shetland differ in that the land owners own to the low water mark.
Have a look in the book The Law of Game, Salmon & Freshwater Fishing in Scotland" by Stanley Scott Robinson. Plenty info in there.
The Inverness and Cromarty Clubs have taken no foreshore out of the system, although some clubs have a permit system brought about by bylaws through local councils and SNH
Cheers
My cousin towed one of the early ones out in Weston Super Mare after getting flashed early one morning, went home got the landy, attached a chain and bob’s your uncle! Police called and he got done for criminal damage but no points as the film didn’t survive the trauma!!
In Wiltshire they’re all turned off
I have zeroed air rifles in the past on the foreshore when i was a youngster. I wouldnt try it with cf or rf rifle though. I once seen an old guy checking his 270 from a parking area beside a bay and using a old stone wall as a backstop. I thought he was keen and a wee bit daft
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