Restricted Ground???

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Jon P

Jon P

Well-Known Member
Trying to cut a very long story short- firearm certificate up for renewal next week- have firearms certificate approx 30 yrs so open ticket- I listed the ground I shoot on as requested- I receive a phone call from FEO today saying Firearms Certificate should be processed without issue, however one parcel of land I cannot shoot on with 30 cal as was restricted to a .22 RF 30 yrs ago. So ground now need to be reassessed before I can shoot 30 cal on it- this land is being hit by a wild boar hard at mo , this was explained to FEO who stated if land owner contacts them, they will assess ground within a few days so we can control the boar. I asked about my open ticket statues , I was informed that if ground has never been assessed I can do my own H &S assessment and deem it safe, if however the ground has been inspected in the past by an FEO for a .22RF then that over rules the open ticket status, this land was passed for a .22rf 30 yrs ago. Current land owner has owned it 26 years and had no idea if passed or not. So is there a difference to land being restricted to a .22rf or passed for a .22rf ?

This ground will get passed for 30cal but causes issues on new acquired shooting permissions - I had also had a phone call with a previously employed FEO who stated I could shoot on this ground as I had open ticket -
 
Jon P said:
Trying to cut a very long story short- firearm certificate up for renewal next week- have firearms certificate approx 30 yrs so open ticket- I listed the ground I shoot on as requested- I receive a phone call from FEO today saying Firearms Certificate should be processed without issue, however one parcel of land I cannot shoot on with 30 cal as was restricted to a .22 RF 30 yrs ago. So ground now need to be reassessed before I can shoot 30 cal on it- this land is being hit by a wild boar hard at mo , this was explained to FEO who stated if land owner contacts them, they will assess ground within a few days so we can control the boar. I asked about my open ticket statues , I was informed that if ground has never been assessed I can do my own H &S assessment and deem it safe, if however the ground has been inspected in the past by an FEO for a .22RF then that over rules the open ticket status, this land was passed for a .22rf 30 yrs ago. Current land owner has owned it 26 years and had no idea if passed or not. So is there a difference to land being restricted to a .22rf or passed for a .22rf ?

This ground will get passed for 30cal but causes issues on new acquired shooting permissions - I had also had a phone call with a previously employed FEO who stated I could shoot on this ground as I had open ticket -
Click to expand...
Toss, ask him to read what your FAC has on it...Your FAC will have something like "where the person has lawful authority"

In you friends letter it should include "financial loss" in his reply

Good luck
 
Nonsense.

Most of the farms I shoot are only cleared for .22 or .22 WMR / .17 HMR as that’s the largest calibre that anyone has requested which I suspect is the case for your patch. I shoot several CFS up to .280 on them and I’ve just done my renewal.

The fact you have an open ticket means they don’t need to inspect any land you shoot. I would politely email them and tell them you’ll shooting it unless they can show where firearms legislation makes provision for both clearing ground and restricting ground.
 
Sounds like nonsense to me.
Encountered a similar thing myself recently, when someone applied for a FAC for 22lr to do pest control on the land where I (and a few others) stalk. His FAC was granted, closed ticket, whereupon the rest of us who stalk the ground with open tickets (and have been for years) were told, by an inexperienced firearms officer, that we could no longer stalk on the ground due to it having just been cleared for 22lr :cuckoo:
Got it sorted in the end 👍

It's always so refreshing when you come across an FEO who does know what he's talking about, but sadly they're few and far between.
 
Just get on with it (whilst being safe obviously). You have an open certification, end of. If any of the ‘Land clearance’ BS is ever tested in law it will be shown to be ridiculous. How the hell can anyone decide that land is inherently safe or unsafe when there are a million variables to consider. As for land being safe for one calibre but not another, that is even more ridiculous.
 
I have also raised this issue with BASC who have stated they will also contact the FEO and inform him that he is giving out incorrect information.

It is frightening that someone who is employed to do a job like that and is giving out incorrect information.

They say they are struggling to keep up with the application/renewals, hardly surprising if they are out inspecting land that does not need to be cleared.
 
Perhaps you could ask BASC to ask why they ( your police force ) waste time with this Land Clearance nonsense, it doesn't happen in Scotland and the police here are following the same rules as those in England.
And Police Scotland do something like 95% of their renewals on time.
 
I’ve heard it before when ground is only cleared for the applicants calibre. Luckily my FEO on my application came out and inspected, said you’re putting in for .243 but I’ll clear the ground for .308, it’ll give you some wiggle room in the future.

This isn’t the first I’ve heard about the FEOs land clearance overriding an open certificate. Been a few posts like this in the last couple months.
 
Farmer_J said:
I’ve heard it before when ground is only cleared for the applicants calibre. Luckily my FEO on my application came out and inspected, said you’re putting in for .243 but I’ll clear the ground for .308, it’ll give you some wiggle room in the future.

This isn’t the first I’ve heard about the FEOs land clearance overriding an open certificate. Been a few posts like this in the last couple months.
Click to expand...
The crazy thing is they pass land for bullet size not the MV or Energy.
Land passed for .308 is classed as uncleared for larger bullets in lower power ( eg pistol cartridges in carbine rifles )? Crazy don’t ask me how I know 😂
 
Exactly, was it cleared for that calibre or cleared for that calibre with the proviso that it was not suitable for anything larger.

I think the OP can probably answer that question by looking at it objectively.

Would an experienced person with an open ticket consider it suitable. Any doubts and it isn’t.
 
Irish Bob said:
Exactly, was it cleared for that calibre or cleared for that calibre with the proviso that it was not suitable for anything larger.

I think the OP can probably answer that question by looking at it objectively.

Would an experienced person with an open ticket consider it suitable. Any doubts and it isn’t.
Click to expand...
This ground is definitely the safest land I have to shoot on, no foot paths that end of the farm and you are shooting into a high bank in the direction the deer / boar are .
 
Well sound like the FEO is interrupting cleared for as restricted to.

They will only clear for the requested calibre, so if that was a .22 then the have to do another assessment.
 
Irish Bob said:
Well sound like the FEO is interrupting cleared for as restricted to.

They will only clear for the requested calibre, so if that was a .22 then the have to do another assessment.
Click to expand...
I have never heard of land being restricted to a calibre, have heard it being passed for certain calibre. I have spoken to a few people about it now, I have had confirmation from a Solicitor, a retired FEO and BASC that this FEO is giving out incorrect info. Will be interesting to see the outcome of this and makes an open ticket worthless as most ground around us has been inspected at some point in the last 30 yrs
 
He's arse up! you have an open cert and the point of that is you deem what is safe and what is not!
 
Guff - had a similar arguement, got a friend (closed license) permission on a patch of ground for roe. He had a 30-06, but wasn't allowed to use it because the ground was only cleared for .308.

Sense eventually won out, as if couldn't use his 30-06 I was happy to let him use my .375 (open ticket) as an estate rifle...
 
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