Approval of all deer legal calibres for boar!

Orion

Well-Known Member
Devon & Cornwall Constabulary, always one of the most switched on and sensible when it comes to firearms matters, have now apparently decided to allow all (major species) deer legal calibres to be conditioned for boar.

Extract from the minutes of the last Firearms Liaison Committee meeting:

"The meeting was advised that DEFRA‟s recommendation was for .270 to be used on Wild Boar. This was to have been raised at the National Conference, which has now been cancelled. However the meeting was advised that applicants should apply for cover on all lawful animals and should ask for .243 for Wild Boar. If an applicant has a calibre for deer it is in order for them to use it on Wild Boar but if applying for Wild Boar only the reason will be assessed."

Full copy of the minutes here:

http://www.devon-cornwall.police.uk...e/Documents/LiaisonCommitteeMinutes100526.pdf
 
Orion, I for one an pleased that you posted the link, thank you. The implication of section 4 of the minutes is most interesting.

ft
 
I'm sorry, just give me a minute to pick myself up off the floor. I'm laughing so hard I can't breathe! :rofl:

Come on, dont keep it to yourself - what's been your experience with them that was so bad that it brought on that bout of apoplexy. :cool:

ft - check out AOB in Section 10 of the minutes. The Met are appealing against being taken to court for refusing an unrestricted magazine .44 Magnum pistol for humane destruction - they lost the case!

Information surfaces in roundabout ways like this - anyone else have a similar Firearms Liaison Committee in their force area, esp. one that gets it's minutes published on the force website?

Like this: http://www.devon-cornwall.police.uk/OnlineServices/ApplyFirearmslicense/Pages/default.aspx
 
Last edited:
Ditto, very informative, what is there to laugh about. I think we will again be hit by the current Con/Lib government with restrictive gun ownership licensing. The Labour government did it with fox hunting to gain votes and with the recent issues with firearms/shotguns this will be used by all parties to gain kudos with the general public. I've held a firearm cert for over 35 years and fired and used automatic rifles and pistols, those days are gone and will never return. The post was informative, the relevant force open as well, we have CPOs inflicting there own often misguided rules on applications which vary from force to force. If you have a use and can prove it necessary you should be granted a certificate for it. There needs to be an agreed code of practice for issuing FACs and S/Cs and their use for shooting large game such as wild boar etc in an agreed format. Good Post Orion, keep them coming. deerwarden:tiphat:
 
one fly in the ointment is that not all deer legal rifle calibers are suitable for the job of shooing pigs .
just my 2 penth
 
I've read of several experiences with D&C police being very unreasonable and making up their own rules. To add to that when I had my .375H&H my force were willing to give it to me for large Deer and I had a contact in Devon who would give me written permission to shoot them. Well it got as far as D&C police who then stated that they will not pass any land in their area for .375! It was a whole valley and more than suitable but no, they don't do that?!

I see this as another case of them ignoring the guidelines. Ok it may be in our favour but they're still ignoring them. On the whole that's not a good thing and a .243 isn't exactly ideal for something as hard as a Pig is it? It's questionable on large Deer! It will kill them and is fine in some circumstances, but in general something bigger is much more suitable!
 
Dont want to hi jack your thread here Orion but thought id link it to my question regarding Boar calibres http://www.thestalkingdirectory.co.uk/showthread.php?13655-Minimum-Calibre

Its intersting to see that on the continent they allow smaller calibres. I asked Defra about this and they said there is no legal definition as such but only a recommendation of .270 min. It has been suggested to me that this may be impart due to the fact the Forestry commision used to have this calibre as a standard issue.

I am going to see what my FAO thinks and see if I am able to get 6.5 x 55 on my ticket for boar.

Peter
 
My friend's 6.5x55 was approved for medium to large quarry species AND deer with South Wales Police. I take it that means wild boar. It would be far better to just put down large to medium quarry species rather than deer or boar that will cover everything until a bison escapes from a park & turns wild! I see the 375 H&H coming into play then!
 
I've read of several experiences with D&C police being very unreasonable and making up their own rules. To add to that when I had my .375H&H my force were willing to give it to me for large Deer and I had a contact in Devon who would give me written permission to shoot them. Well it got as far as D&C police who then stated that they will not pass any land in their area for .375! It was a whole valley and more than suitable but no, they don't do that?!

Thanks for the info - are we to take it that your FAC wasn't 'open' at the time, otherwise why would it have been neccessary for land to be cleared for the .375? And what's the thing with 'large deer' - if it's deer legal calibre it's suitable for use on all deer isn't it?

I see this as another case of them ignoring the guidelines. Ok it may be in our favour but they're still ignoring them. On the whole that's not a good thing and a .243 isn't exactly ideal for something as hard as a Pig is it? It's questionable on large Deer! It will kill them and is fine in some circumstances, but in general something bigger is much more suitable!
Agreed that .243 might not be ideal for driven boar, but shooting as we would deer at a static target, possibly from a highseat, I can't see it creating too much of a problem as long as people are sensible about using a decent bullet weight and construction. As Chickenman has quite correctly stated, the reason behind the arbitary .270 recommended by DEFRA et al might just be because it was the standard calibre used by the FC and no real thought went into the decision - our european neighbours will allow smaller calibres than that and the 6.5x55 comes readily to mind. The plus side for D&C residents with deer legal calibres is that at a stroke it removes many of the hurdles they would have had to jump to get boar on their FACs, so all-in-all I think it's a positive devolpment.

My reason for originally stating that D&C firearms dept were IMO quite sensible in discharging their duties was based on my 20+ years of dealing with them both as an individual and obtaining visitors permits for stalking clients - I could have used Avon & Somerset where our office was based but D&C were just so much more efficient. My relatively recent return to stalking and re-issue of FAC has likewise been relatively grief free due to the HQ staff - although the local FEO was a nightmare and freely admitted to knowing little about firearms, and I've detailed the fun and games we had elsewhere. Above all they appear to act in a very open manner as you can see from the minutes of the FLC published on the web, and anyone with a issue can contact one of the committee members and get their point put to the department officially and investigated and acted on.

The last thing is, does anyone know of any other force south of Hadrians Wall that places one simple condition on an FAC that covers all the four rifles from .22RF to .308, including 12 bore slug, thereby putting the onus on the holder to make decisions on what would be suitable or legal for any species/circumstance?

"The firearms and ammunition, shall be used for shooting deer and any other lawful quarry and for zeroing on ranges, or land over which the holder has lawful authority to shoot."

So overall, and having read the horror stories from elsewhere, I'd say they are one of the more progressive forces in administering the Firearms Act
 
Last edited:
Personal view only, but I think there is no way that a 243 should be granted for boar control! Yes, I know shot placement is crucial and that they have been shot with everything from rimfires to bows and arrows! A 243 would / may do the job, but it would put such doubt in my mind that I would never attempt to use this calibre. I see boar on regular basis and nice little part grown boar would almost certainly be skittled over with a 243, but they are not all size!!

This was rammed home last night, when out on a patch that I have been watching for a while with a lot of boar activity. We could hear them in the wood, then one showed itself in the field and promptly started to walk towards us, we could tell it was a big one just looking at the shape moving towards us! I was on the sticks, but didn't take the shot when my mate flicked the light on. This was without a shadow of a doubt the biggest boar I have ever seen, a real monster! I had my 30-06 but if I could have swapped it at the moment for something bigger I would have certainly done so.

ATB

T
 
My friend's 6.5x55 was approved for medium to large quarry species AND deer with South Wales Police. I take it that means wild boar. It would be far better to just put down large to medium quarry species rather than deer or boar that will cover everything until a bison escapes from a park & turns wild! I see the 375 H&H coming into play then!

i for one would have no or could see any problem in using a 6.5x55 for boar !

if you put all the elk or moose in a heap thats are shot in scania every year with the calibre it would be quite a spectical dont you agree ?

at the end of the day it come to this , if you can kill a bull elk weighing in at roughly a ton with a 6.5x55 you can kill a boar nay problem !!

my ticket is going in for variation next week to have boar added as well as a 3006 .

cheers lee
 
Moose arn't so hard to kill. Its recomended here that 6.5x55 is suitable only for yearling pigs. I would hunt moose with a 6.5 but to my mind a big boar is a tougher beast than a moose.


www.prokennel.se
 
Guys,

I didn't post the info regarding the D&C decision to provoke a debate on one calibre being more suitable for boar than another - I think that has been done to death on a number of other threads hasn't it?

Hopefully the original post will generate some feedback about how other police firearms branches are approaching the issue, and perhaps even give an indication of whether or not they are coming to some concensus about it instead of just trotting out the old DEFRA recommendation of .270 without any thought going into it.
 
I can't remember if my FAC was open at the time if I'm honest. Something is telling me it was though as it was opened when I had my .223 and I think I sold that to fund the .375? I don't know, it was two years ago and I change guns like I change my socks!

Gloucestershire police need to see one piece of suitable land to clear for the largest calibre you have, even if you have an open FAC. I think they just like to know that you do have at least one place that they deem suitable for its use before grant? That must be the case otherwise they would have just done it.

A friend of a friend shoots Boar with his .243 in the Forest of Dean. I've never seen it first hand but supposedly he has downed some good sized pigs with it and hasn't had issues with runners. I'm pretty sure he head/neck shoots them, but don't quote me on it. As always I will fully support the taking of large animals with small guns if the guy shooting is up to it. In general though I tend to lean towards the "bigger is better" line of thought as although it wont make up for a complete disaster shot, it will help if you're just a bit out with your placement.
 
Back
Top