Upping my ammo allowance

palmer_mike

Well-Known Member
I'm just starting out reloading and feel I need a bigger allowance,
I'm currently composing a begging letter to my fld and in it I mention the need for 'batch consistency' and problems with supply.

any other reasons that might add weight to my letter that I might not have thought of?

thanks for any tips,
mike
 
You really shouldn't need to 'add weight' just explain that you are starting to reload and need to work up different loads and test them etc. You may wish to consider asking for missiles only (bullets) which would give you more flexibility. If you do that remember that bullets are sold in one hundred (100) cartons.
Another aspect to consider is secure storage for the amount of loaded cartridges that you wish to request. As you will be aware five or six hundred loaded rounds will take up a fair sized chunk of a small ammo safe.
Have a look at the Home Office Guidance to see the amounts that are considered 'suitable' for the various purposes. Good luck.
 
I asked for 800 rounds in each of my centre fire calibres due to reloading supplies are usually sold in 100s. There was no questions asked.
 
ditto
how many calibres are you after?

boxes of 500 in .224 are very common
so you will need a 1000!

consider different weights 2-300 of each

its a free variation that shouldn't even be paused at let alone questioned
 
You could do a lot worse than quote the reasons given in the HO Guidance verbatim:

Reloading firearms ammunition (home loading)
13.84 Certificate holders often load their ammunition in order to improve the accuracy of their firearms. There are too many technical factors to cover within this guidance, and advice should be sought from shooting associations or competent reloaders if the need arises. Suffice it to say that rifling, propellant charge, the design of a bullet, its individual weight and velocity all affect a given round’s range, accuracy and terminal effect on the quarry concerned. For these reasons, certificate holders who reload may wish to acquire a variety of different bullet weights and designs for load development for different applications.
13.85 For quarry shooting some bullet designs (soft nose, hollow nose, ballistic tip, thin or thick jacketed or core bonded) may be preferred over another with regard to their behaviour when they strike the quarry or pest species. Certificate holders often develop their preferences based on their own research and development through home loading.
13.86 Whilst there may be some small cost benefit, more often the reasons for home loading are the pursuit of accuracy, safety and performance. Where performance is involved; different quarry types and their physical makeup, the different ranges in which they are to be engaged (e.g. lighter or smaller flatter trajectory bullets for foxes and heavier bullets for deer) all vary, and home loaders may wish to experiment to ascertain the best combinations. It is not unusual for home loaders to manufacture two or three specific rounds in the same caliber for different species e.g. fox, small deer and large deer; this is to achieve a clean kill of more than one species without having to change firearms.
13.87 Home loaders will usually manufacture various batches for testing using a chronograph to measure velocity and thus ascertain the best combinations. Whilst a chronograph is important to home loaders; it is of utmost importance for ammunition intended for use on animals due to legislative requirements such as in the deer acts (see chapter 14 for more information).
13.88 Whilst there are no limits imposed on the number of solid (non-expanding) projectiles that a certificate holder may purchase for manufacturing ammunition, a home loader must not manufacture more than the maximum quantity of ammunition authorised by their firearm certificate.
13.89 Some reloaders may test ammunition by firing groups of 3 to 5 rounds, and repeat the group several times to measure consistency. As bullet designs, cases, primers and propellants are so varied, it is not unusual for home loaders to require larger amounts of missiles (bullets) for their research, and possess them in addition to any factory or other home loaded ammunition already held. Load development can be a long process, especially with unusual cartridges; particularly as new products become available.
13.90 It is clear that there are circumstances where home loaders may need to acquire increased quantities of expanding bullets. This can be achieved by authorising a further allocation of expanding missiles separately to the ammunition already authorised. This will allow missiles (bullets) to be held independently from ammunition and allow flexibility where different types and weights of bullet are required.
13.91 Bullets for home loading are normally sold in boxes of at least a hundred, so authorities to possess should be in multiples of 100.


They can hardly refuse you if the above are in your letter can they! :D

Reference the comment regarding having to increase your ammo storage arrangements to cope with the extra amount of 'loaded cartridges' you are requesting. Fair enough, you could have to find something bigger but it might not be for the full made up amount of your increased allowance. Unless you intend spending all your time behind the reloading press much of the increase is likely to be taken up by boxes of expanding bullets alone, and they don't take up much space at all.

Agree that 500-600 of each is about right.
 
When I upped mine I stated all you said and also about cost savings by buying in bulk too.

Personally while valid in my eyes I wouldn't mention economies of scale as the guidance actually quotes this as not being a valid reason for increasing a holding.
 
It's for .243 and .308, thinking of 600 for each!

The real problem is that these calibres are usually loaded with Section V 'expanding'. I know people who have 1000 up to 5000 in .223 and .308/7.62, but when they're questioned it turns out to be FMJ for target use.

Some forces split the allocation into 'expanding missiles' and 'ammo' but where this isn't the practice a reloader wanting to buy a couple of boxes of bullets (in each representative weight in .243 or .308 cal.) is usually talking of an expanding ammo allocation of at least a thousand .... there isn't a 'good reason' argument for this when 'bullets' are lumped with 'ready ammo' into an 'expanding ammo' allocation.

The fact that you're reloading 'expanding' for quarry use invalidates any numbers argument, as you can turn out however many you need at a whim.

I've only ever had an allocation of 160 for expanding in each calibre, which hasn't ever been a problem.
 
If I had a limit of 160 that would mean buying one box of bullets at a time, and in the current availability crisis this might well mean working up a new load each time I buy a box of bullets depending on what I can get at the time.

i know of more than one reloader in Suffolk with 600 or more expanding allowance in each calibre.
 
I sent this to our local police and was given the variation without question;

[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Certificate No. ************ – Request to vary maximum ammunition holding.[/FONT]



[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]My Certificate allows expanding ammunition in respect of .308 calibre with a maximum holding of 250.[/FONT]


[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]As I shoot targets using non-expanding ammunition as well as deer and vermin etc. using expanding ammunition and home load in both categories I find that my current allowance of 250 cartridges plus bullets is insufficient to allow for loads of varying weight and load development.[/FONT]


[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]I hereby request you give consideration to granting me permission to hold a maximum of 1000 (one thousand cartridges/bullets) in .308 calibre.[/FONT]


[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]The permission I have for other calibres is currently sufficient.[/FONT]


[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]I enclose my Firearm Certificate.[/FONT]
 
I think you will find it straight forward to get your allowance upped for reloading, it seems to be one of the few things firearms departments dont have issues with.
Dont beg, just state what you require and state reloading as the valid reason.
ATB
Paul
 
I asked for an increase for my rounds and there was no problem, just said I will be reloading and can I increase the limits, job done.
 
Mike,

here's an excerpt from a covering letter I put in to my FLD when applying for a variation. The variation came back no problem with the requested quantities applied to it.

With reference tothe ammunition purchase/possess quantities, I intend to ‘home load’ ammunitionfor this rifle and understand that as the bullets would have to be noted on mycertificate, these quantities would permit me to purchase bullets in thequantity of 100 and hold a reasonable amount of ‘made up’ ammunition at thesame time.
 
Thanks for the replies guys, my fac and cover letter went in by recorded delivery at the weekend. Will update the thread when it comes back!
 
Just had a call from the fld....
no problem on the total of 600 in both calibres i intend to reload for. They will put this as 300 made rounds and 300 missiles for each (sounds fine to me)!
 
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