New member and some advice please

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johnson3392
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New member and some advice please

#1 Post by johnson3392 »

Good Evening,

I'm within a couple of weeks of gaining full membership of my local HOA club and have started to compile a ticket list for my first FAC. Nearly every club member has advised me to apply for as many considered reasonable so here goes, along with my reasons and proposed ammo holdings:

.22LR bolt action - 1000 rds
.22LR semi -auto - 1000rds
.38/.357 under lever - 500 rds
.44 black powder revolver

All above are intended to be used at my club for general indoor target shooting. In addition I will be listing:

.303 bolt action - 1000 rds
.308 bolt action - 500 rds
7.62 bolt action - 500 rds
7.92 bolt action - 500 rds

I have an interest in shooting classic rifles for outdoor target shooting and reckon the above will give me plenty of choice. I have an introductory visit to the outdoor club next week and will apply for membership at the same time as I submit the FAC application.

Realistically I will only have room for up to 4 guns at a time in my proposed storage space at home but this is my ideal at the moment.

There is space on the application form for other information. Should I add anything to do with previous firearms experience and training as an ex -member of HM Forces? Also, is it advisable to give full address details of the clubs I am a member of or intend to be? Lastly, is there an advantage to joining the NRA before application or can it wait?

I hope I'm on the right track and would welcome comments and advice from all on the forum.
Regards, David
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Alpha1
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Re: New member and some advice please

#2 Post by Alpha1 »

They will only allow you to acquire the amount of guns that you can safely store so if your cabinet will only hold 4 guns that's all you will get.
What's a HOA club.
Duey
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Re: New member and some advice please

#3 Post by Duey »

Home office apprved
Duey
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Re: New member and some advice please

#4 Post by Duey »

Welcome Johnson
Apply for what you would like to acquire in its entirety and then when you get your home visit prior to your grant, you can discuss your reasons and plans for your shooting and storage and the FEO should then advise you how best to achieve it
If not already installed, then plan for an alarm as they like alarms when more than 5 firearms in property
See how you get on and if he is unduly awkward then seek advise

Duey
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Blackstuff
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Re: New member and some advice please

#5 Post by Blackstuff »

Obviously this is just my opinion but I think the ammo holding might be a bit unrealistic for the .22lr and .303 unless you have sound reasons, and likely, proof that you're going to need that much ammo at grant stage e.g. you're signed up for multiple high-round-count competitions. I would be immensely surprised if they didn't ask why you wanted double the .303 compared to your others.

As has already been mentioned they won't authorize you to acquire more guns than you have storage space for, and the same will apply to your ammo, so you'd need to make sure you have enough cabinet/safe space for that too. It doesn't matter if you're not going to buy all the stuff listed straight away, giving you an FAC with all that on authorises you to acquire it so you need somewhere to put it.

All of that might be a moot point if the outdoor club is separate to the indoor club then you would need to become a full member there as well before you can acquire the full-bore stuff. Durham FLD got itself in a bit of a tizzy over this a few years back.

Sorry for the negativity but I'd rather prepare for the worst and hope for the best with this sort of thing.

Good luck :good:
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johnson3392
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Joined: Sat Dec 03, 2016 7:52 pm
Home club or Range: Blackburn, Altcar and Rossendale

Re: New member and some advice please

#6 Post by johnson3392 »

Thanks Alpha and Duey. Yes, I should have connected my wish list with what I can actually store. Lancashire Firearms Dept seem to have a good reputation within the club so I'll ask for their views next time I visit.

Is the ammo list reasonable or does that depend on security storage space as well? I thought the holdings were based on themaximum amount you could buy?
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Blackstuff
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Re: New member and some advice please

#7 Post by Blackstuff »

You have to have storage space for the maximum you are authorizes to acquire, regardless of how much you think you'll buy/want to store at any one time. 500rds of full-bore ammo take up quite a bit of space, especially if its factory/boxed ammo.
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kennyc
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Re: New member and some advice please

#8 Post by kennyc »

ask for 7.62x51/.308 that will half your request without you losing anything, it can also make it easier to buy ammo as it covers milsurp and commercial .308
your figures for ammo holding may well get cut, ask at your club as to average amounts in your area
1000 .303? have you worked out what that is going to cost? and unless you are in a desert are you really going to have a lot of problems sourcing ammo?
the most I have used in a day is 200 .308 and that was a full day ! so unless you are getting involved in days of competitions in a place where you can't buy ammo then I suspect you will struggle to justify such a large holding in these restrictive days.
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Re: New member and some advice please

#9 Post by Rockhopper »

Do you realise how much 1000 .303 will actually cost you :-)

300 of each of the full bore calibres would be more than enough for most people, especially if you reload. You'll likely only shoot 30-40 in a days competition anyhow.

They don't distinguish between bolt action and semi auto .22 rifles - they go on your ticket as .22 rifle.

I'd ask for ammunition as 7.62/.308

Are you getting a black powder licence as well?

Alarms - i have five rifles with no alarm - depends on the area you live and what mood the FAO is in at the time. Same with cabinet size, i couldn't fit my initial grant in my cabinet but it was never mentioned at my visit.

Based on what others have told me (and my experience) you'll be lucky to get that much .22 on initial grant, 500 is more likely but ask for it anyhow - they will probably reduce it for you but they may not ;-)

The ammo quantity is the amount you can posses at any one time. I could quite legally go out and buy 300 .303 every day for the next week as long as i didn't possess any more than 300 at any one time.
Duey
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Re: New member and some advice please

#10 Post by Duey »

As I said
It can all be discussed and amended at your visit so easier to put it down and discuss

Ammo amount vary from region to region
I would expect allowance of
22rf 1200 in total ( buy in blocks of 1000)
All full bore 600 probably be max on first application maybe 300
Gallery rifle you may be able to push the limits as it's not unveisable to go through 100+ on a days shooting
Just give it a go and see how you get on
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