leaving bolts in rifle when in cabinet

norma 308

Well-Known Member
my mrs has applied for her sg cert she is shooting my 20 gauge .the fao has been round and is happy for her to have access to my cabinet which is home to 4 rifles and 4 s guns as long as the rifles are secured in the cabinet so she cant use them ! my question is is it law to remove bolts from the rifles when in storage seem to remember something about that ,only fao is coming to check security on delivery of cert .many thanks :doh:
 
iT IS NOT LAW BUT IT IS SAFE PRACTICE, If your guns get stole and they dont get in the smaller secure part and still get your full useable rifles you might have questions to answer.
 
Depends on your police force.

Here in NI it is mandatory that rifle bolts be stored in a seperate safe from the rifles. In practice if your gunsafe has a seperate little lock box at the top, that is usually acceptable.
 
I'd take them out for the visit.... just to err on the side of caution
 
It is recommended but I use lever rifles / semi autos so its not done, which makes the advice a ass
 
If I leave the bolt and magazine in the rifle, at least I know where it is!!:eek:

Have been up zeoring a rifle without a bolt in the bad old days. Agreed on best practise though, but a rifle without ammo is a cricket bat, bolt or not.
 
Highly reccomended to store the bolt seperate from the rifle and if you store it with the ammunition in a seperate lockable section, which we all have then that is even better because now if we forget to take the bolt then we will also forget the ammo and then what is the point of going shooting.But at least the gun will be safe and that is the main thing. Bozzy
 
It is recommended but I use lever rifles / semi autos so its not done, which makes the advice a ass

For sure, bang on. The entire law system is an ass, especially in the UK firearms system. Open laws, contradictions and loopholes make up the whole thing.
 
There is no legal requirement to, I asked my FEO and he said I can if I want. For fear of mixing up similar bolts I don't remove them.
 
Personally I remove the bolt an lock it elsewhere. If your Rifle's did fall into the wrong hands god forbid,

it's better to do so without Bolts.

Though as stated it's not a legal requirement. Which would you choose if you had the chioce.

Rgds Buck.
 
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There we go again Alex another thread move to legal issues, its got nothing to do with legal issues, its a personnel preference as has been shown by the commenting members ,just the same a ammunition .

Are we going to fall out over this? :cuckoo:

my question is is it law to remove bolts from the rifles when in storage

Question: Is it law that you have to remove bolts?

Section: Legal Issues
Section Description: Deer law, firearms law, licensing issues and other legal topics.

It belongs in here.
 
It belongs in here.

Good thing you are here to keep order!

It seems to be a common user problem on the forum, when disregard to details take over from absolute and thorough reading of threads and their titles.
 
Its the same thing again and again, it may not be law but it depends on your area and your FEO, best to go along with what they suggest, unless its really crazy, won't do you any good in the long run to start arguing the law with them
even if you succeed in one area they can make it difficult for you in others.

If its something thats going to seriously affect your firearm ownership put it in hands of a lawyer [only if you are sure you have a good chance of winning] probably won't go to court as even the police are having to make cut backs in the present economic climate
and don't want to have to pay court costs.

In my area they won't accept the locking top compartment of cabinet for ammunition, but insist on a separate cabinet or safe for ammo.
May not be strictly law but does make sense IMO

What did make me laugh was at my last renewal they said that my cabinet did not meet the latest regulation for rifles
would still be OK for shotguns, oh and it would be fine for keeping ammunition, bolts, powder etc in:rolleyes:

Just smile and wave:)
 
What did make me laugh was at my last renewal they said that my cabinet did not meet the latest regulation for rifles
would still be OK for shotguns, oh and it would be fine for keeping ammunition, bolts, powder etc in:rolleyes:

Just smile and wave:)

Agreed. These are the details that amuse me about the UK firearms law, and differences between forces in the SAME country. So essentially, they're saying that since the range of a shotgun is a lot less, this means it does not need to be kept as safe as a rifle?!?! :cuckoo:
 
thanks folks i never take them out just so i dont forget em ,mix em up , or need em quick on the shoot ,we reg take fox from a bait station next to the house .so i will probably carry on as i am if its not law,if fao gets the arse i will humour him probably the last time i will have too if they cut home visits eh ! ;)
 
The BSA Majestic Featherweight in 270 I brought a couple of months back has the incorrect bolt in it no doubt some shop stored bolts seperately then putting the wrong one in the rifle. Thankfully the way BSA machined their barrels, chambers and actions means that we don't seem to have a head space issue.

On another note I wonder how long the spring life in a cocked bolt stored elsewhere is?

Not sure about you but I always ease the springs. Surrey did say they wanted the bolts stored seperately and I told them nope not happening..................... that was the end of the matter.
 
I fit my lever action with the maker's supplied action locking bracket. bolts are stored & also transported separately from rifles, you are a long time without a f.a.c. if you have it withdrawn.
 
No one can withdraw your FAC for having the bolt in the rifle stored in a locked gun safe or travelling to and from shooting ground.

Stop the scaremongering please you should know better.
 
It is recommended but I use lever rifles / semi autos so its not done, which makes the advice a ass...
It does seem odd that this bolt and rifle apart was insisted on yet I used to keep my revolvers and pistols fully assembled and intact! No requirement to keep the cylinder and slide apart.

It was the same when I had control of an armoury! The bolts from the Lee Enfield bolt action rifles were kept in a separate room in the armoury yet the Bren guns were kept assembled. Even though the barrels could EASILY have been removed!

A lot of our law has odd historical reasons. I guess as rifle bolts and actions WERE numbered (so as to keep correct headspace) they they could be separated but that as machine gun parts were not separately numbered then they were not!

But I have seen in smallbore clubs Martini actions taken out of and stored apart from the rifle.
 
my mrs has applied for her sg cert she is shooting my 20 gauge .the fao has been round and is happy for her to have access to my cabinet which is home to 4 rifles and 4 s guns as long as the rifles are secured in the cabinet so she cant use them ! my question is is it law to remove bolts from the rifles when in storage seem to remember something about that ,only fao is coming to check security on delivery of cert .many thanks :doh:

Wot I find interesting about the whole of this
your FEO is happy for your OH to hav access to them in the first place ,
you would be better off getting her put on a FAC aswell, with a borrow and use facility
costs a bit more but will overrride any forseable hassles
 
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