Lothian and Borders

bigshug

Member
I have been very fortunate to have L&B reviewing and approving my FAC; although I had stalked using an estate rifle a few times and had a day booked the FAO still wanted to see permission granted over a suitable piece of land - which I was fortunate enough to be able to provide.
I was suprised at the ammo limit in .243 being 50 to buy and 80 to hold - are other regions going this low?

Top marke L&B, helpful staff on the end of the phone and a quick turnaround once I had got all my bits in.
 
Just a thought....where do you buy 50 rounds as ammo is in boxes of 20 and if reloading they are in boxes of 100
 
Congratulations on obtaining your cert, but I don't see how you can give them top marks when they refused to grant an FAC on the strength of booked outings - a lawful and HO advised route to obtaining a certificate. But maybe they haven't read the HO Guidance because your paltry and bizarre ammo holding is way below the advised minimum quantities of possess 250 and acquire 200 for deer stalkers, (chapter 13.28) . How would someone fare in L&B if they couldn't provide their own land?
 
I have only ever found L&B a pleasure to deal with, for both SGC and FAC. I was originally asked to document land permissions to obtain my FAC, but I thought that was quite reasonable to be honest. The alternative was to prove a few booked outings for the coming season.

My ammo purchase and holding was set at only 40 rounds based on the anticipated usage, but the FLO did say that i was more than welcome to re-request a higher amount if I was going through 40 rounds pretty quickly - they would be able to see that on the FAC records of course as the RFD enters ammo purchased.

I sent in a request later, saying that I would like to re-load, but still have some factory ammo in stock, so batches of 100 would be required, plus some factory ammo. with that argument, they increased my allowance to 150 to buy and hold.

I thought it was fair game, and to be honest, if you need more that 40, then just prove it to them by using it pretty quickly for a couple of weeks/months, via your buying habits. they'll be happy to increase your allowance.
 
Is that the same L&B police force that will not allow any one with a combination gun (.308x12bore etc ) to hold soild slugs for it's use as they say that no one has slugs for hunting in L&B and no one will.
They took the authorized to acqiure and to posses off a lad i know with out telling him, even though they knew that he had 20 slug rounds in his safe when they did his renewal.:cuckoo:

bob
 
How can you possibly compliment Lothian & Borders when they are so silly as to issue such a ridiculously low ammunition holding. They obviously live in a different world to the rest of us and it makes you wonder about their competence to deal with firearms applications. The ammo holding is hardly enough to zero the rifle and a little bit of practise before venturing out into the field, and as for reloading normally only the larger calibre bullets are sold in 50’s most are sold in boxes of 100 or greater.
 
If that's a force that it's a pleasure to deal with, then I think I'll take my chances elsewhere thank you! What a waste of public money having to keep re-processing variations for additional quantities of ammo, when they could have just accepted the HO Guidance and used the quantities that most right thinking FLDs use. Start reloading for hunting use and you can normally expect the holdings to double to 600/500. Sounds as if there's a fair amount of control-freakery going on in that department.
 
Ok, I just have never had any issues with them that's all...would I have preferred ammo holding entitlements of 500, yes, but was it a problem for me, no. Had it been a problem I would have voiced my opinion with them in a constructive argument, and I'm sure they would have accomodated.

At least they let me use .22LR for fox if I want, and turn variations around in a week or two,,which is not bad.

8x,,maybe there were reasons you are not aware of for not renewing? sure, they should have picked up residual slugs or have demanded they were handed in at RFD for destruction - true.
 
How can you possibly compliment Lothian & Borders when they are so silly as to issue such a ridiculously low ammunition holding. They obviously live in a different world to the rest of us and it makes you wonder about their competence to deal with firearms applications. The ammo holding is hardly enough to zero the rifle and a little bit of practise before venturing out into the field, and as for reloading normally only the larger calibre bullets are sold in 50’s most are sold in boxes of 100 or greater.

I don't know how many rounds you need to zero, but I need less than 10! If you're reloading, they're happy to allow 100+ entitlements, but you have to tell them.
 
Three rounds is usually enough for me if I have bore sighted the rifle correctly and all goes well, but if it is a new rifle I would want to get some practise in before venturing afield. That would be pretty difficult if I were limited to forty rounds wouldn't it, and as I only ever use reloaded ammunition I would find it difficult to find a dealer that will break a box open for me.

Why don't they follow guidance and issue for 250?
 
Three rounds is usually enough for me if I have bore sighted the rifle correctly and all goes well, but if it is a new rifle I would want to get some practise in before venturing afield. That would be pretty difficult if I were limited to forty rounds wouldn't it, and as I only ever use reloaded ammunition I would find it difficult to find a dealer that will break a box open for me.

yes mate, you're right,,if you're wanting to reload, they'll let you have 100+, but you have to mention it. Mind you, for your first FAC approval, it's unlikely that you'll be reloading in your first year. I suppose they like to control the amount of ammo someone has access to when they've just got their paws on their first firearm.

When I first got my FAC with a 40 limit, I got two boxes of 20, used 5 rounds to zero, 15 for a bit of practise prone and off sticks, and had 20 left for some deer stalking. Those 20 lasted me for a couple of months no problem, and I as far as I recall, I never actually used more than 1 round per deer for quite a while.

not worth arguing over though,,just wanted to say IMHO L&B are ok,,not as mental as some of the stories I hear from further south of the border mind!
 
I have never had a problem with them.
if you dont ask you dont get.

Northumbria gave a hold 40 buy 20 allocation as the standard for recreational stalkers for years. its what I had when I started.
Saying that L&B had no problems giving me 600/800 buy/hold for 270/243 when I started reloading and 1000/1200 for everything else!

I can think of worse forces to live under!
 
I can see your point, but guidance is just that, and I was told that the Force wants to reduce personal ammo holding to a limit that they think is acceptable. HO guidance I think will always lag behind any trends in FLO attitudes accross the country. I think I would have to be stalking very frequently to show that my current allowance was hindering my activities - I have little doubt that if my circumstances were different then the allowance would have matched that.
I guess I could have pushed the booked stalking as legitimate reason - but the FLO knew I had access to land he had already inspected.
 
Full bore come in boxes of 20 ,if you can show that your visiting the gunsmith to purchase rounds due to foxing vermin control etc go and show that you have good cause to up the amount of rounds you require they will up the amount with out a problem if you can show requirement for that .
 
I also deal with L&B.

I recently went through my renewal. I got a phone call out the blue from the FLO in February reminding me that my cert was up in June. He asked if I was available for a visit and he was round 2 weeks later. He brought all the paperwork I needed with him as up to this point I still had not received the notification through the post. Anyway, half an hour later all he asked from me was a reduction in .22RF ammo as I had not purchased any for the last 5 years! About 200 left out of 1000 such is the lack of rabbits our way plus, I would use the .17 more anyway. I also asked about a further couple of authorisations to be added, those included another 2 full bore rifles, plus another moderater for each of them. I also asked for ammunition for these rifles to possess 250 and 200 to purchase. The lot went through without a question being asked. The request to reduce I thought was a reasonable one.

When I asked the FLO why he was so early in coming out, he explained that so often people forget about their renewal after the reminder comes through, and what takes time is arranging and going through the home visit/enquiry. He said that by him coming out when he does off his own back with months to spare, the only work left to do is basic office admin. So, should someone call up saying they have overlooked it with a week to go, the processing is still possible in such a short time scale. This is probably a bit of 'cart before horse' but it works for him.

I agree however with the opinion that this authorisation seems very limiting and would suggest that a phone call to discuss is in order. And on that note I have only been met with a sensible and willing response whenever I have phone the L&B licensing dept.
 
I recently got my FAC with L&B dealing with it, In whole it took four months - I phoned about 2 months after the enquiries officer had been round to check and he had not sent in the report but I have to say the woman on the end of the phone was most helpful and went to find out what was happening - 2 days later the officer had phoned round my permissions and checked with the references. Would have to say a big thanks to the woman that I spoke to for sorting this out might have still been waiting now if I hadnt phoned :) , just need to get a .243 now and get some shooting done :)

Sean
 
+1 lothian +borders never had any problem get what i ask for got the land so no problems there
 
One of the best Police Authorities to deal with. Show good reason, permissions/booked days and you will get. Never had any problem with ammo holdings. A mate who is on here has just been granted a slot for a .223. Ammo allowance hold 600 buy 500.
 
it's just a case of getting established really and showing you have reason to need the higher ammo allowances. It's free to change ammo allowances if you want to though.
 
Unfortunately,, the staffing levels have been slashed so they are not quite as quick as they used to be,, but still a joy to deal with,, supremely helpful and accomodating.

The FEO`s really do use common sense. Brilliant
 
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