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Here in UK back in 1998 I had to renew my FAC - they last five years, BTW. As a matter of course the FEO, a good friend who had once been my Warrant Officer, came around to check my guns, and happened to notice that the back door was propped open with an 88mm tank projectile - a parting gift from a visit to Shoeburyness gunnery ranges many years before.

MoG!!!! He said, is that an armour-piercing projectile? It is, I replode, from a Tiger tank. In that case, it will have to be entered on your FAC as an AP projectile, and we'll have to make you a collector of such a form of ammunition. Hmmm, You don't actually have a gun knocking around that would shoot it, do you? he asked me, in all seriousness, thus proving to me forever why he never got any further in his military career.

With that, he finished off his coffee, ate ALL the remaining Hobnob cookies, and disappeared back to HQ to write up my new FAC.

A couple of weeks later it appeared in my mail-box. I read it eagerly, before signing it, to make sure that

a. The extra couple of rifles I had asked for [replacements for the by-now prohibited handguns I had 'lost'] and ammunition were on it.

b. I would be a collector of the otherwise prohibited ammunition - ie., expanding, fragmenting and 'armour-piercing', in a collector-y sort of way.

Yup. Both new conditions were there, in clear. But HOLD on there, WTH is this?

'Ammunition to be acquired and held for the purpose of collection - ANY and ALL calibres of Armour-piercing, armour-piercing incendiary, common incendiary or tracer but NOT explosive content projectiles up to an including 20mm.

Namely -

160 rounds of Armour-piercing nature.

160 rounds Common Incendiary nature.

160 rounds of Armour-piercing incendiary nature.

160 rounds of Common Tracer nature.

A total of 640 rounds of 20mm autocannon ammunition, legally.

That condition stayed on until my last renewal in 2015.

tac
 
Here in UK back in 1998 I had to renew my FAC - they last five years, BTW. As a matter of course the FEO, a good friend who had once been my Warrant Officer, came around to check my guns, and happened to notice that the back door was propped open with an 88mm tank projectile - a parting gift from a visit to Shoeburyness gunnery ranges many years before.

MoG!!!! He said, is that an armour-piercing projectile? It is, I replode, from a Tiger tank. In that case, it will have to be entered on your FAC as an AP projectile, and we'll have to make you a collector of such a form of ammunition. Hmmm, You don't actually have a gun knocking around that would shoot it, do you? he asked me, in all seriousness, thus proving to me forever why he never got any further in his military career.

With that, he finished off his coffee, ate ALL the remaining Hobnob cookies, and disappeared back to HQ to write up my new FAC.

A couple of weeks later it appeared in my mail-box. I read it eagerly, before signing it, to make sure that

a. The extra couple of rifles I had asked for [replacements for the by-now prohibited handguns I had 'lost'] and ammunition were on it.

b. I would be a collector of the otherwise prohibited ammunition - ie., expanding, fragmenting and 'armour-piercing', in a collector-y sort of way.

Yup. Both new conditions were there, in clear. But HOLD on there, WTH is this?

'Ammunition to be acquired and held for the purpose of collection - ANY and ALL calibres of Armour-piercing, armour-piercing incendiary, common incendiary or tracer but NOT explosive content projectiles up to an including 20mm.

Namely -

160 rounds of Armour-piercing nature.

160 rounds Common Incendiary nature.

160 rounds of Armour-piercing incendiary nature.

160 rounds of Common Tracer nature.

A total of 640 rounds of 20mm autocannon ammunition, legally.

That condition stayed on until my last renewal in 2015.

tac

My brother in law, God rest his soul...had a Solothurn 20mm anti tank rifle for many years. Of course he had lots of legal machine guns as well. I wish I had more photos of his collection.

Brutus Out
 
I couldn't even imagine what it would be like having a government official coming into my home a documenting my firearms and ammo collection. No wonder everyone wants to move here. That sucks.
 
@tac, because I'm a simple guy..

Explain the ramifications of the last part for simpletons like me. I see there was AP listings but what does that mean?
 
It means that I was authorised to go to a manufacturer of anything up to 20mm calibre autocannon ammunition and legally buy 640 rounds of armour-piercing/incendiary ammunition - to shoot in a prohibited firearm that nobody here in Europe has.

My point was the ludicrous nature of the documentation that permitted me to buy the ammunition, but not to own the means of firing it - nor any hope of doing so.

See, here in UK, if you have a firearm that you shoot on a range- then THAT is your legal 'good reason' for possession of that firearm. And no other valid reason.

I am prohibited from taking it to shoot ANY live game. To do that, I must have a conditioned gun certificate that allows me to shoot live game, and so, for that purpose and that purpose only, I am licensed to acquire and possess expanding/fragmenting soft-point hunting ammunition to do so. I am not allowed to shoot that on ANY range.

If I have an 'open' FAC, that means that I am not restricted to shooting on named property, but that I can shoot any and all game animals.

Other valid conditions for ownership of a firearm, other than target shooting - are -

1. Game hunting - deer, goat feral hogs - that's it. The Romans and Plantagenets killed off the bears, wolves and hogs [recently re-introduced].

2. Game conservation - ie, deer control.

3. Pest control - your 'varmint shooting'.

4. A shotgun that holds more than three cartridges for game shooting or practical shotgun shooting.

tac
 
"Hail Britannia !" Had to spend 2 years there. 60 -61. At least we could shoot pigeons,
pheasant and rabbits along the runway with our shotguns.:rolleyes:
As I remember, most of the rabbits had boils on them.:eek:
 
Ah, that was a human-bio-engineered disease called Myxamatosis. It was designed to reduce the rabbit population....

Funny how the rabbits are still around in their untold millions.

tac
 
My Warrant Officer, came around to check my guns,
TAC,
That premises and some time UN-scheduled security inspection you have to go through in the UK is
similar to what a friend has to go through in OZ. :(
What I found interesting was his comments about, no matter what fashion of security was used, whenever
some one was ripped off, the crooks knew where to look and what kind of tools to bring.:mad:
 

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