Good old traditional awful British gunshop adventure.

[Pine Marten]

PM, start reloading, it's great and very satisfying - but only if you have time to burn and space for a reloading desk or a very tolerant wife.

I currently lack the time and space (I feel that a high-energy physics joke should be inserted here but I can't think of one just now). I'm delighted to say that I do have a very tolerant and generally lovely wife, but as I want things to stay that way, I like to pick my topics of negociation. I've currently managed a few weekends away, an inordinate amount of money spent on shooting kit, two bloody great steel boxes bolted to the wall, and maybe just for now, that's as far as I'm prepared to push my luck...

Now seriously, can anyone tell me what happens with regard to filling in my FAC when picking up the rifle from an RFD? Does the RFD that I pick the rifle up from have to do the paperwork?

 

[Klenchblaize]

A good one would do it all for you.

 

[Mauser66]

Joe can be a grumpy sod, but he does actually have a good sense of humour and when you get to know him has a good heart.
I'm no 'mate' of Joe's and my first experience with him was pretty much the same as yours, but he has cut me some excellent deals and often when totting up the bill rounds things down a good bit. Very helpful fellow. He does have to deal with a lot of young (and old) chavs and time-wasters coming in so that must try his patience. I haven't found the clique at the counter to be too bad and they're not there all the time. Often it's just Joe or the other big lad - his son I think - who is also very helpful. I'd put it down to just a bad day. I know that's not great customer service, but if you can put up with Joe's idiosyncrasies he's a really good sort.

If RFD 'A' sends a rifle to another RFD 'B', on your behalf, then it is RFD 'B' who will fill in your FAC when you go to pick the rifle up. Some will charge for this service £10-25 whereas others will do it as a favour.

 

[Pine Marten]

I suspect it means if the rifle is already entered on your licence rather than having a slot for it, if they have to enter it I imagine there will be a nominal charge.

I think you can't have an FAC filled in your physical absence, you have to be there.

Actually it turns out that they refuse to do admin on guns not purchased from them. Damn. Back to the original plan then.

 

[Pine Marten]

If RFD 'A' sends a rifle to another RFD 'B', on your behalf, then it is RFD 'B' who will fill in your FAC when you go to pick the rifle up. Some will charge for this service £10-25 whereas others will do it as a favour.

Some might, but not Boss & Co: "I do not do 'admin' for guns coming in from other dealers unfortunately which are not purchased from ourselves."

 

[User00047]

Get yourself on the train to Exeter mate! at least you can buy plenty ammo from SGC

 

[Grandhubert]

Actually it turns out that they refuse to do admin on guns not purchased from them. Damn. Back to the original plan then.

Suspected that might be the case when they said "already on your licence".

Give Fred at the NRA a call and see if he'll take it for you. Peter Sarony at Armalon can be helpful if you catch him right too, nice place too.

Failing that pm me if you get stuck.

 

[Klenchblaize]

Actually it turns out that they refuse to do admin on guns not purchased from them. Damn. Back to the original plan then.

Pine Marten

Don't be afraid to draw on the wealth of knowledge available from our Club if you get my drift.

An e-mail to the Chairman, SW, should see you on the right road.

Cheers

K

 

[Pine Marten]

Oh it's OK, my original plan was to have it sent to Fulton's and then just go straight to the BSRC to play with it. But I had a moment there when I thought I may be able to pick it up earlier just down the road. It's not that there aren't solutions, it's just that they're all more difficult than they should be.

 

[Grandhubert]

Oh it's OK, my original plan was to have it sent to Fulton's and then just go straight to the BSRC to play with it. But I had a moment there when I thought I may be able to pick it up earlier just down the road. It's not that there aren't solutions, it's just that they're all more difficult than they should be.

London mate, 'nuff said.

 

[scrumbag]

I have been in a similar pickle before, needed some ammo asap.

Luckily I ended up at J Roberts & son in Vauxhall and very nice it was too.

OK... it wasn't the cheapest ammo but, it's an interesting place with some beautiful guns and a good range of Double rifles to have a play with.

I have also used Ray Wards in Knightsbridge, I had a shotgun sent there from Devon.

When I went to collect it they put it onto my ticket and I asked what I owed them, the answer was........... nothing.

I bought a slab of shells in appreciation. They don't have masses of rifle ammo but, would get it in for you.

Just my experience of London gunshops, be aware that the Beretta Gallery can be a good place for a bargin rifle as they really don't sell many.

All the best
Moses

Another thumbs up for Roberts PM!

Scrumbag

 

[paul o']

yup he's from the same school as George and he's partner went to He only sharfted you if you were black -pink or white or just a time waister so who's the best gun shop in essex .? would be hard to find one out of them ESSEX-GUN but he's son is a t----r . the brothers grim ?can be funny old boys as well but thay do keep reloading gear at a price, chelmsford like father like son thank god for norman clark at rugby
paul o'

I have used Gunshop East Barnet for at least twenty plus years. The guy is always a pleasure to deal with and I have no hesitation in going back there at any time. He is totally straight and I've never known anyone complain of being "shafted" there unlike many other places I could name, now long gone, and in particular George Staden at London Armoury on Commercial Road just down from the London Proof House.

 

[David TS]

I get through a lot of ammo on the range with my .223 straight pull Southern Gun Speedmaster, so I buy in bulk 1,000 rounds at a time.

Being always keen for a bargain I hunted round what FMJ surplus was available last year (variable), but came across GGG which is Lithuanian but made in a new factory to NATO spec and is actually good stuff, and the price was right at £330/1000. For complicated reasons there are only two suppliers of this in the UK, the NRA at Bisley and.........Joe .

As I'm nearest to *ast *arnet I decided to get it from there. For more complicated reasons (which I didn't understand) he couldn't courier it to my RFD (I think the complicated reason was probably that he couldn't be bothered ) so I decided to go and collect.

He was out of stock at the time anyway, and I got about two months of various excuses as to why he hadn't gone and picked any more up. Finally it was in, and I went to pick it up.

That itself was an 'experience' (I didn't leave the door open, but it was summer anyway), but I'm thick skinned and used to odd and awkward people in the shooting world (there's plenty of them!).

Yes, there was the inevitable posse of Saturday afternoon cronies in the shop, but you get that in a lot of gun shops.

I can see why his 'different' character would put some people off, but underneath that gruff exterior is clearly a bloke of great experience, and I was kind of amused by the whole buying experience in a bizarre sort of way.

There aren't so many characters left these days in the gun trade, and in an odd sort of way the world is probably a poorer place without them.

I will be going back, as I am nearly at the bottom of the tin of 1,000 .

 

[Brithunter]

Joe can be a grumpy sod, but he does actually have a good sense of humour and when you get to know him has a good heart.
I'm no 'mate' of Joe's and my first experience with him was pretty much the same as yours, but he has cut me some excellent deals and often when totting up the bill rounds things down a good bit. Very helpful fellow. He does have to deal with a lot of young (and old) chavs and time-wasters coming in so that must try his patience. I haven't found the clique at the counter to be too bad and they're not there all the time. Often it's just Joe or the other big lad - his son I think - who is also very helpful. I'd put it down to just a bad day. I know that's not great customer service, but if you can put up with Joe's idiosyncrasies he's a really good sort.

If RFD 'A' sends a rifle to another RFD 'B', on your behalf, then it is RFD 'B' who will fill in your FAC when you go to pick the rifle up. Some will charge for this service £10-25 whereas others will do it as a favour.

The Big lad as you put it is "Little Joe" who was once little and yes that is his eldest son..

Sorry have been busy elsewhere so coming back late to this. No that was NOT the Gunshop I was thinking of as Joe has always gone the extra mile and I have dealt with him for many years even though from home it was a good trip round the dreaded M25 from Gatwick.

I was passing in the slide and tilt about 11pm, had just dropped a recovery off in Barnet, one night when I saw lights on and figures moving about so stopped backed up and got out to take a look.. Blow me both Joes sorting stock so i knocked on the glass and got invited in for Coffee. First question from them was "is J-D with you" J-D was my staffie and he loved them both and looked forwards to his visits to the shop and them at he Bisley shows. Seem they were sorting stuff out to head to one of the Bisley shows. Shame they were not nearly ready or we could have loaded his vehicle onto the truck and saved the fuel as well I was going back to Gatwick anyway.

Sadly I have not seen them for a couple of years now as have not been south for that long. Over the years I have bought three pistols, and at least Seven rifles from him, several scopes and scope mounts and many thousands of rounds of ammunition.

If you get the right or wrong day there the cronies as you say are or maybe other RFD's. I even got to meet and chat with a rather skilled Gunmaker there one day as he brought a custom rifle in .223 in so Joe would take it to proof with a load he had booked in at the Proof House. The chap had made everything but the barrel blank himself and it was quite an interesting rifle.

Tis a bit trying when the shop is full of the local Greeks some of whom still struggle with English even though some were born here.

 

[Bad Wolf]

One of our local gun shops is owned by a similar character. Very knowledgeable, but unfortunately he alienates many customers by querying every bit of kit. He really is a one of the good guys, just trying to be helpful in his own peculiar, old fashioned, way.

 

[Lupus]

Thank God for that. Thought it was just me when I ended up feeling like I was being treated like an idiot in these places. May be I am, I always seem to be a few quid lighter when I leave.

Wolfie

 

[matt_hooks]

Had a look at the website, there's a picture of the front of the shop, guess what, the door's open!

The whole "shut the door" thing is fine if you know the person, and both understand that it is just a bit of light banter, but as a person providing a service, to someone they have never met before, I think I would have been out of the door quicker than you can say "nice pink wellies"

 

[David TS]

Had a look at the website, there's a picture of the front of the shop, guess what, the door's open!

It was summer, that was the air conditioning

 

[Hornet]

When I was first looking to take up shooting, I visited a couple of gun dealers to seek advice.

It was enough to make most people say, stuff this I'll take up fishing. The advice was a suck of the teeth, followed by well you'd have to get a license from the police and they'd come out and interview you, and then you'd need a steel cabinet, and you need somewhere to shoot you can't just..............

After all this, the third shop (John Browns Lock Stock and Barrel) was a breath of fresh air. Having introduced myself and what I wanted to do, they asked a few relevant questions. Have you got permission to shoot somewhere? Have you ever been in trouble with the police? etc. You'll have no problem this is how to go about it............

I took the advice, and subsequently bought my cabinet and first gun and a slab of cartridges from him.

If most gun shops treat new comers to the sport like the other gun shops, were buggered.

Agreed mate John is a thoroughly good egg,and always has time for people

 

[Penyard]

Gotta admit this is the thing that has me deliberating if I should have just got a .308 rather than a 7mm-08 - ammo seems a nuisance to get hold of! I reload (or try to anyway!), but even the brass is hard to come by unless I start necking up or down (= hassle!)... I probably won't even go to ruddy france now knowing my luck! ... 4 months later and I'm still waiting for the poxy thing to be built as the barrels were so hard to get hold of!

Cancel the 7-08 and lose £350 deposit, plus go through the hassle of getting a variation for a .308... in hindsight if I could go back in time 3 months then yeah, but now I may as well wait!

PM - Any chance you could PM me where you're getting your ammo now? Figure I'll try some factory then keep the brass for reloading!

Reloading solutions stock brass and will post. The calibre is a pleasure to use and load for. Keep the faith!