Proof that safety is the main concern.

Shootist

Well-Known Member
Talking to a chap the other day. He was complaining bitterly about being refused a .223 for shooting vermin fox and ground game. He shoots over land with a .17HMR and has done for many years. On asking for a .223, he was told he couldn't have it because his base farm was only cleared up to .222! Still, if even just one life is saved, etc. etc. etc.
 
All a bit silly. In any case, I expect the land will have been cleared for .222 because once upon a time, someone wanted to shoot a .222 there, so they cleared it for that calibre, instead of clearing it for whatever they thought was suitable.
 
Surely its a case of the shooter being cleared to use a 222 on that piece of land rather than pronouncing that the land is only suitable to contain said caliber? After all, if I was invited onto the land in question by the Owner; quite possibly with no knowledge of what the incumbent shooter has been told he can use, I could quite legally deploy my 300 Weatherby Magnum if I deemed it safe to do so as the holder of a so-called "Open Certificate".

Go figure?

K
 
Surely its a case of the shooter being cleared to use a 222 on that piece of land rather than pronouncing that the land is only suitable to contain said caliber? After all, if I was invited onto the land in question by the Owner; quite possibly with no knowledge of what the incumbent shooter has been told he can use, I could quite legally deploy my 300 Weatherby Magnum if I deemed it safe to do so as the holder of a so-called "Open Certificate".

Go figure?

K

This is what makes it all so much nonsense. My FEO gets quite heated if you get on the subject of land clearance as he (and most other FEO's apparently) consider the whole aspect of land clearance to be the biggest waste of his time ever. As he says, if someone requests land to be cleared he examines all aspects (footpaths, topography, roads, etc) and then has to decide what maximum calibre the land is suited for. The trouble is there is no clear guidance which all FEO's can apply equally and, as the post above points out, if I or anyone else with an unrestricted cert shoots that land they can shoot whatever they like regardless.
 
This has got me thinking of a question i have been meaning to ask for a long time on this forum.....
Has anyone every been prosecuted or even cautioned for breach of the closed or indeed any condition on there FAC??
 
Not what you’re asking,but, i once got a phone call to tell me my certificate (Firearms) was ready and i could collect it from the police station in Haslingden...went in and desk Sergeant got the cert out, looked at it and said ‘This address is a caravan, you wouldn’t have got this if i had anything to do with it’.
Then handed it over.
Ken.
 
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