Wiltshire Firearms Department

[EMcC]

Well that's it, my love affair with the Firearms department at Devizes has expired at last.
I have had 'authority to buy 500 and authority to hold 600 rounds across the range of calibres of rifles I have held for as far back as I can remember at least fifteen or more years.
When I renewed my FC in 2011 and being past seventy, I thought I'd be slowing down, so reduced my entitlement to 400 and 500 respectively.
Today I did a variation and decided to up my entitlement to the original figures but was told I could not.
When I asked why I was told that her manager would not allow it.
When I explained to the 'new lady' that I had them before and it was to cover my reloading, she said she would speak to her manager.
When she came out she said her manager would not alter it as my present entitlement was in lines with the latest Government guidelines.
I asked if the Government guidelines had been changed recently and was told that if I didn't agree with it I could write in.
The Manager made no attempt to come out and explain why the change and that was it.
As I only asked for the change because I was doing a variation and wanted as much for my money as possible I didn't push it any further but it did make me wonder what had changed apart from the staff !!

 

[White Hart]

Thats a shame, I've always had such good service from them. Fingers crossed there are no more turns for the worst...

 

[Kalahari]

Get your "organisation" whichever one it is onto the case. All these people try and slowly erode our freedoms. Make it hard for them.

David.

 

[bobjs]

sad news ed.

I like you have had no issues in the past, in fact when i went to update them with all my rifles being sold off they were fine about it,

handed my ticket in and it came back within 15 mins of me sitting in reception,

seems you may have got a new team member or something ??

lets hope this is not going to be the case ?

bob.

 

[R700ROE]

Took this from another forum http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2013/1945/made unles Ive missed it there's no mention of ammo restrictions.

 

[HunterMoore]

goodness ..... how much ammunition do you want to keep at home then? 600 times "x"?

from my experience your current entitlement would seem reasonable ..... and perhaps you are being unreasonable in thinking Wiltshire are being unreasonable .... if you see what I mean!

anyway, not being judgemental just curious as my max entitlement is 350 per fullbore rifle.

 

[kennyc]

goodness ..... how much ammunition do you want to keep at home then? 600 times "x"?

from my experience your current entitlement would seem reasonable ..... and perhaps you are being unreasonable in thinking Wiltshire are being unreasonable .... if you see what I mean!

anyway, not being judgemental just curious as my max entitlement is 350 per fullbore rifle.

there are some around with considerably more than that! usual reason given is batch consistency for target shooting.

 

[EMcC]

500 is enough to keep me happy for a while and gives consistant results for 500 shots, when I get down to my last 100 I have been buying another batch of 500.
As you can guess, I don't like going to town very often !!
Not only that, it gives me the option of buying enough of more than one bullet weight/design.
Yes it was different staff, they didn't seem to know much either.
I asked for 500 to buy and 600 of .30 calibre to hold, they refused me the 500 and 600 respectively but authorised me to buy 400 of .308 and hold 500 and 400 of 30-06 to buy and 500 to hold, making my .30 ammunition of .30 calibre, 800 to buy and 1000 to hold so I got more of that particular calibre than I asked for in the first place !!
I'll not make a song and dance about it as I only changed the quantities as I had had that amount before and was thinking of something to get done at the same time as my other variation

 

[NorthDorset]

The key thing is here to prove your usage.

If you are 50 miles to The Sportsman/ Reloading Supplies to buy Bullets and you are shooting 100 per week then submit a copy of the cert showing how frequently you are having to make this 100 mile round trip and it will be a different result.

"I intend to" doesn't have the weight that "Look what I am doing". You just need to establish good reason.

If over the last couple of years you only shoot 25 a year then asking for 600 Rounds is is not going to be easy to justify.

 

[EMcC]

The key thing is here to prove your usage.If you are 50 miles to The Sportsman/ Reloading Supplies to buy Bullets and you are shooting 100 per week then submit a copy of the cert showing how frequently you are having to make this 100 mile round trip and it will be a different result."I intend to" doesn't have the weight that "Look what I am doing". You just need to establish good reason.If over the last couple of years you only shoot 25 a year then asking for 600 Rounds is is not going to be easy to justify.

My bullets have not always been entered on my FC, HO Guidance to the Police dated 2002, chapter 3 para 17 refers, only full cartridges entered whenever I have needed some new brass, so I have no large paper trail to prove anything.
However when my FEO visited I ran over my reloading procedure and told him that brass can be reloaded anything from ten to fifteen times before reaching it's useful life and then showed him a five gallon bucket almost full of brass that had reached that stage.
I also showed him a stack of empty powder cans and a couple of powder cans full of used primers.
I know this only proved that I had them, but I reckon it was reasonable for him to assume that I was the user not a collector of reloader rubbish !!
I have contacted BASC and expected them to ask on my behalf what the reason for my refusal was, but it has been passed back to me to find out so no 'moneys worth' there I'm afraid.

 

[The tramp]

My bullets have not always been entered on my FC, HO Guidance to the Police dated 2002, chapter 3 para 17 refers, only full cartridges entered whenever I have needed some new brass, so I have no large paper trail to prove anything.
However when my FEO visited I ran over my reloading procedure and told him that brass can be reloaded anything from ten to fifteen times before reaching it's useful life and then showed him a five gallon bucket almost full of brass that had reached that stage.
I also showed him a stack of empty powder cans and a couple of powder cans full of used primers.
I know this only proved that I had them, but I reckon it was reasonable for him to assume that I was the user not a collector of reloader rubbish !!
I have contacted BASC and expected them to ask on my behalf what the reason for my refusal was, but it has been passed back to me to find out so no 'moneys worth' there I'm afraid.

You ain't gonna get ya 'moneys worth' when there is a 'jobsworth' in the office.


did you still need a place to zero ?

​Pete

 

[EMcC]

I've just fallen back in love with the Wiltshire Firearms department
I had a variation for a one for one and a firearm added to my Europeon FC in all of five minutes and that included me filling out the new form for the variation.
Now in possession of a 'new format' firearms certificate, very clear and straightforward and as a result much easier to read and understand.
Well done Wiltshire Firearms Department.
I did notice the staff I dealt with today were the long standing members of staff that I have dealt with over several years who have always known their stuff.

 

[Tomsk]

Quote NorthDorset: Agreed Good Idea.

I was advised very early on (20yrs ago) to log useage of ammunition in order to demonstrate my activity and consumption of brass.
Ive used this info on a couple of occasions to demonstrate useage of calibres and therefore need to keep certain calibres and 'purchase/hold' amounts. Been a good defence and the figures don't lie.

Now I don't get asked but still do it as I may want it some time in the future and takes no time at all to record.

TOMSK