FAC questions

[Lancsprepper]

Right,I have in front of me the paperwork for an FAC application and I have a few questions.
1.Is hunting seen as a "good reason" by the police for holding an FAC
2.How long does it take to obtain one.

[Tigs]

hunting and pest control is a good reason but make sure you have written permission from a land owner also being a member of the British Association for Shooting and Conservation http://www.basc.org.uk/ will help but not necessary, how long does it take depends on you local police doing there checks and in some areas it can drag on and on

[bigpaul]

unless you have WRITTEN permission to shoot on someone land, or are a member of a clay shooting club, i think you may struggle to get Police approval.

[Skean Dhude]

Each county has different rules based on Gov baselines.

1) Hunting and Vermin control is a valid reason.

2) It is much quicker if you have written approval to shoot and it is on the correct form which can be downloaded. I didn't when I first applied and plod phoned him up and spoke to him. Some counties won't.

Mine took 12 weeks from start to finish at first application. Variations were supposed to be quicker but took 14 weeks because they were playing politics as the cuts had been announced. The secretary, who does the form filling, said to me 'This is how long it will take now because of the cuts'. This was before anyone had been cut. I kept my mouth shut and I can assure you that was very hard for me.

[SealDriver]

Personally I would join a rifle club first and then work on getting some land permission or some payed hunting trips......you can do this for vermin, foxes and deer. Try ebay as some hunters advertise days shooting on there.

FAC license and Shotgun license are two different things, but you can apply for both at the same time.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Deer-Stalking-...56509017cd

[Lancsprepper]

Perhaps I should get one of these if a obtain an FAC http://www.lannertactical.com/LANTAC-22L...fless.html (.It would be abit hard justifying it for hunting

[Skean Dhude]

If you join a club they may insist on you storing your gun and ammo in the club. Kind of defeats the object for us.

Invest the time to get permission. It took me several months and a lot of visits.

[SealDriver]

I have been a member of three rifle clubs and none of them have ever told me to store my rifles with them. Most clubs use ranges civilian and MOD, they don't have their own club/houses or rifle storage facilities.

My rifles have always been kept at home for the past 15 years, I don't know of any shooters hunters/target shooters that have had to keep their rifles on club premises. If in doubt ask the club before you join.

[Skean Dhude]

SealDriver,

Not the clubs. Plod. If you say you want it for target shooting in a club and the club has storage facilities then Plod may grant the license but with the condition you store the firearm and all ammo at the club. The club I looked at booked out every round and recorded your use in a book.

The club is not bothered about the FAC just making sure they comply with their rules.

[I-K-E]

I would be interested to see how you get on with the application as I'm based in Lancashire too and I'll be looking into this in the future