The UK's Finest Independent Forum for Shooters and Gun Owners. Est 2010.

I would hope your 4 gun cabinet is of a reasonable size as scoped rifles take up a lot of space, we have a few 7 gun cabinets and it is a real squeeze to get close to this number unless you are holding rifles with battle/open sights.

Choice wise I would look at the first 4 on your list with a single rim-fire to start with. There is very little difference between the .303 and 7,92x57 and the 7,62x51/.308 should be listed on your application as just that, so:

.22LR Rifle
.38/.357 Rifle
.303 Rifle
.44 BPR

Ammunition seems fine to me :)

If you have the opportunity to shoot at longer distances and fancy a scoped centre fire the 7,62x51/.308 is the way top go to begin with.

Membership of the NRA does give some personal insurance however if you are not going to venture that far south consider BASC or the NGO or similar as they also have some good deals.

Finally, welcome to the forum

If you don't plan on getting everything at once, give yourself some spare slots by asking for 3 moderators (one for each of your 22s and 1 for your 308). If in the future you decide you don't want a moderator but would rather have a different rifle, you can do a 1 for 1 variation which is free (changing a moderator for a rifle) rather than asking for additional slots which costs money.

I would increase ammo allowance by 100 for each. Reason being, with .22 you usually buy in a brick of 1,000 rounds. By having an allowance of 1,100 it means you can go and buy another 1,000 round brick when you're down to your last box rather than waiting for them to all run out. The same logic applies to the fullbore stuff (also to echo what kennyc has said, 1,000 fullbore rounds is quite expensive unless you get a discount).

My ammo allowance is 1,100 rounds for .22 rimfire and 600 for each centrefire calibre. Also bear in mind how much space you will need for all this ammunition, a box of 1,000 rimfire rounds takes up roughly the same space as four 20 round boxes of .303brit!

Thanks everyone. Very sound advice. The ammo holdings were considered a bit conservative according to advice already received but maybe my storage hadn't been taken into account. I did rather think it was a large amount compared to what I can shoot in a day.

My indoor club allows full-bore shooting with ammunition not exceeding a certain amount of energy ie, downloaded. Could a FAC be worded along the lines of 'may shoot using appropriate ammunition as approvd by xxxx club' ?

As for blackpowder I've been told I don't need an explosives licence if I use Pyrodex or similar for a cap and ball revolver.

I don't see myself having a use for a moderator and at the moment I'm favouring iron/open sights and not a scoped rifle.

I am a member of BASC and my house is alarmed

On reflection I cannot see myself using the lower calibre ammo (.22, .38/.357) guns anywhere else apart from the club which sells the ammo anyway. I'll probably reduce the holding amount to a maximum of 100 for each calibre.

Keep the good advice coming. Everytime I write a reply, another one comes along.

I wouldn't reduce it - the Police can do that if they see fit. But don't use the line "I can get it cheaper if I buy more" as thats not an acceptable reason.

True re Pyrodex.

Adding moderators allows you to get a free one for one variation later on if you want more rifles - you don't ever actually need to buy one. Usually a one for one variation is a lot quicker than an additional slot as well.


Downloads - no, full bore is full bore. The range licence dictates what you can shoot there.

I would keep your 1000 rim fire as you can get through 100 rounds very quickly, as an example we are off to the range Christmas day morning and will be taking 1000 rounds of .22LR plus other stuff.

The black powder ticket is free of charge and black powder is an essential part of your learning, only thing is you need dedicated BP storage however you can make or buy a box and keep your other powders in the same box. I would not discuss downloading with your FEO unless he asks.

johnson3392 wrote:
My indoor club allows full-bore shooting with ammunition not exceeding a certain amount of energy ie, downloaded. Could a FAC be worded along the lines of 'may shoot using appropriate ammunition as approvd by xxxx club' ?

Why would you want your FAC worded like that?

Downloaded is a meaningless term, down loaded from what? CIP or SAAMI maximums? In that case most factory ammunition is "downloaded" as they are less than that. Ammunition is ammunition all that is required is that what you shoot is safe, legal and within the limits of any range certificate, that goes for all ammunition.

Don't overthink it and don't limit yourself now as once you start in earnest your views will undoubtedly change.

Ovenpaa wrote:I would keep your 1000 rim fire as you can get through 100 rounds very quickly, as an example we are off to the range Christmas day morning and will be taking 1000 rounds of .22LR plus other stuff.

As above, you could use 100rds of .22lr through a semi auto just zeroing the thing if you use a 5 shot confirmation and end up chasing the PoI around or you're sights are playing funny buggers!

When trying to justify ammunition limits per my above message, a good justification would be that you wish to buy ammunition from the same batch for consistency. I wouldn't bother with any additional wording on your FAC because you never know what happens further down the line. When I first started shooting and applied for my FAC I had the frame of mind that I would be shooting smallbore firearms (.22lr, .44 muzzle loader and .357) and that I would only be shooting at that club. 6 years later and I'm currently a member of 3 shooting clubs and own 9 firearms. Try to keep an open mind at this moment in time as you wouldn't want to limit yourself in future.

Well I feel really out of step here. I would personally recommend starting in a much smaller/quieter way, maybe an initial application for a .22 semi and a .357 lever action and maybe 1,200 and 300 rounds. Serving a bit of an apprenticeship if you like.
This is a prospective FAC holder who is not yet a full member of any club and has not yet applied to join a full bore club. I have seen many new shooters splash out on loads of gear only to decide, six months down the line, that scuba diving, golfing, parachute jumping etc. looks even better fun.

In six month, when membership is well established, the new shooter will have a much better understanding of what to buy next - maybe a long barrel pistol or a competitive target rifle/pistol.

A variation is just a few quid and very little trouble, and when compared with buying a couple of thousand rounds of full bore ammunition, it's peanuts.