17 Year Old FAC - Calibre Issues?

[beesleya09]

I have recently become interested in the world of shooting, and am currently enquiring about joining a club in my local area for full-bore rifles. I aim to apply for an fac within this year after serving my 6 month probationary time at a club. However, due to my age I have been wondering whether there would be any restrictions on calibres which would be allowed. A Google search has not provided me with any answers to this, and so I was wondering if somebody knowledgable on here could help me out. My main interests are in WW2 military rifles, specifically the .303 Lee Enfield. As these are quite high calibre weapons though, I am somewhat skeptical of my chances of being granted them on a first time, under 18s licence. Any help or guidance would be greatly appreciated, thank-you.

[JS569]

Hi

Good to see hear your interested in shooting and in particular WWII rifles, it's exactly how I started :). I got my FAC 12 yrs ago when I was 15 after joining a club and running through probation etc. I acquired a .22 and a .303 No4 MkI almost immediately. Like driving a car once you have you license you can in theory buy whatever you wanted. However with FAC's you have to show good reason to own any type of firearm no matter what calibre, they don't discriminate on age and what you can have. The police will look at your reasoning, eg 'I want a 303 because I'm interested in historic military rifles and I wish to form a collection and shoot it at club XYZ on their ranges or on suitable ranges whilst a member of club XYZ (such as bisley). ' I've always approached it that way and never had a problem, I often write a covering letter with my variation requests explaining in detail why I wish to possess this rifle and where I'll use it.

I do beleive you have to be 18 to buy a firearm now, someone will be able to clarify them. The law has changed since I got my FAC so you have to be older to apply, and then as now, I couldn't buy a rifle-it had to be gifted/ given to me (until the age of 17 or 18). In my instance it was my father who has held the rifle on his FAC until i received my FAC.

I'd say the value of this type of rifle has gone up significantly and make sure you do plenty of research before buying one, this forum is a good place to start, as is Ian Skennerton's book on enfields. There's plenty of dealers here who will be able to point you in the right direction of where to find a good one.

hope this is useful

[Gaz]

There are no specific age-linked calibre restrictions, but you are limited in how you can acquire firearms until you're 18.

You want to look at page 49 (onwards) and page 236 of the Home Office Guidance on Firearms Law. https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... t_2014.pdf

[beesleya09]

Thank-you for you well detailed response JS569, it's nice to hear from someone who has experienced a similar situation as it helps me in the way I go about applying. Regarding this 'gifted' firearms policy, unfortunately I don't as of yet know of anybody who has an FAC, only people with SGC's - would I be able to in theory, after attaining my FAC of course, have a certified person, probably a member of whichever club I attend, have them buy a rifle for me and then gift it to me, or is this not allowed?

Also thank-you for the information on the Lee-Enfields, while I have a general knowledge of them, I don't know much about prices and parts availability etc. Are they particularly expensive after the initial investment in the rifle or are the parts and ammunition widely available and relatively cheap? I'll search on Amazon for a copy of Ian Skennertons book, I've seen it referenced numerous times and it seems as though it would b a valuable source of information for me.

[JS569]

I guess if you're 17 now and you've not joined a club, there's a least 6 months of probation plus then your application process for an FAC I would just wait until you were 18 for the sake of a couple of months. Any decent dealer worth his/her salt will take a deposit on a rifle on the understanding your FAC is granted and you'll pick it up when it arrives (assuming you find a rifle you want to buy before the FAC comes).

For a decent No4 you're looking between £400-500ish depending on the seller and the gear that comes with it. Buying off a recommendation will also go down well. I'll PM you someone I've dealt with and others on here I know have who is a reliable chap. I think I got Skennerton's book off ebay a few years ago (it was new) and it cost something like £54-but it is worth it. Once you have it you'll see there's various different models and marks within just the No4 family and it's a case of deciding what you want. There's still some post war No4s around I think that are basically brand new and come in the wax wrapping paper- but it depends on what you're looking for. Then there's collecting bayonets....

There's oodles of parts around for them and you can either reload your own ammo or my factory Privi partisan is one of the cheapest for popping away with (and you can reload the brass).

[Charlotte the flyer]

Depending on the issuing force you could be looking at a year between your first club visit and having your own rifle in your hands. Your age restrictions probably won't apply by the time that you're ready for your FAC. I started probation in the summer applied for my FAC roughly at Christmas and had my ticket just after Easter.

[Ovenpaa]

There is always the humble P14 to consider, they are incredibly accurate rifles and reasonable examples are still available at fairly sensible prices. If you look at the range of Pre-45 action rifles you are spoilt for choice and things like the MAS, Schmidt Rubin and Mosin Nagant can be picked up quite cheaply plus ammunition is fairly plentiful especially for the MN.

I would avoid suggesting collecting to the FEO at the age of 17/18 as things change and in a couple of years time you might have decided you really like the look and feel of the G98 Mauser's or maybe the M1924/M1930 versions as opposed to .303 service rifles. Get out and shoot and use as many different examples as you can and do not let perfect get in the way of good. Also there are some incredibly interesting firearms from the 1950's/60's and you can go down the route of building your own copies.

Hell, I an 57 now and I am still not sure what I really like

[beesleya09]

Thank-you ovenpaa and again JS569, waiting would probably be the best way forward for me upon reading both of yours advice, hopefully it will give me the time to experience and properly decide on what I like best as I do have interests in all WW2 rifles, and upon looking at Mosins have been astounded by how cheap they are! Which book in-particular is it that you have, I have searched on google and have found he has a whole range of publications on the Lee-Enfield, is there any specific book that would be best for me to acquire? That would be great if you could inform me of some reputable sellers - I only really know of a few dealers around my area all of which don't sell much in the way of WW2 rifles.

Also, without sounding to be rude, if there's anybody within the Lancashire area who owns any form of WW2 rifle and would be willing to let me experience firing it and just general shooting/learning of the weapon then I'd be glad to travel to a range whenever suits - I aim to try and experience as many different weapons as I can before attaining my FAC in order to both generally broaden my horizons and decide what I like best.

[meles meles]

Shooters are a friendly bunch and most love to show off their latest toy(s), so we doubt you'll have have much of problem getting to try plenty of guns before you buy your own. As people have mentioned, it takes around 6 months to a year to get your first FAC and so your age probably won't be a limit. Even if you are still under 18 when you get your first FAC there's every likelihood that you'll be allowed a full bore centrefire rifle or two. A typical first grant is for a few .22 rimfires, a pistol calibre rifle and a couple of fullbore centrefires. Not long after that you're on the slippery slope towards a second, larger, gunsafe...

Mosin Nagants are excellent rifles, rugged and reliable, cheap to acquire and cheap to feed if you use military surplus ammo. Millions were produced and many are still in service today.

A book we'd recommend is "A Collector's Guide to Military Rifle Disassembly and Reassembly" by Stuart Mowbray. It shows how to strip and rebuild almost all significant rifles from 1850 to the early 1960s.

[beesleya09]

Thanks for the advice meles meles, I'll take a look for that book as it seems like a good starting introduction to the guns I have been recently admiring! This may seem a silly question but if I applied and recieved my FAC whilst 17, would, upon my 18th birthday, I be able to purchase firearms and ammunition so long as I provided proof of age, or would I have to apply for a new certificate/speak to my local FEO in order to change the certificate to allow me so?