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Air weapons licence, rifle and gun cabinet?

G1ZmO

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OK so after the last bushcraft week in Cornwall I decided to get my air weapons licence (I live in Scotland) and then a 'budget' rifle so that Daniel and I can do some target shooting.

I'm finally in a position to go ahead with this.

The licence application requires that I answer the question: "What type of security measures / storage facilities will be in place?" with the options  clamp  gun cabinet  gun room  other

I also need to join the local ARC.

Given that the licence is £72, a few hundred for the cost of a rifle, ARC membership and insurance, I'm looking at minimising the cost of the security aspect.

Does anyone know where I could buy a used cabinet? Or would a clamp be a better option?

I've not yet investigated the cost/options of a second hand rifle and with only 9 weeks until the bushcraft summer meet I'm not sure if I'll get the licence and gun in time anyway.

And, of course, if anyone would be selling a rifle at the meet I'd consider it :)

Any thoughts/suggestions would be appreciated folks.

Cheers
 
Good on you mate :thumbsup:

Get yourself some land to shoot over first.....puts you in good stead with the constabulary ;) in fact am sure it may be a requirement to have land first. ( best looking into that as am not 💯 sure buddy)

Check gumtree for Cabinets and look on freeads Scotland for the rifle. Also check if you need to put make and model of the rifle on the application when applying? Am sure you do. Also have a look at the Glasgow angling centre as the do good deals sometimes. Always best to know what your going to be doing with the rifle as fun isn’t a good reason to have one....pest control is your best bet. Check out BASC absolutely cracking. £5 a month and your covered. And there help is second to none along with great costumer care.
 
Give a thought to which kind of air rifle... brake barrel or air filed (pcp)

Air filed require ether somewhere to fill the air rifle (Glasgow angling centre use to don’t know if they still do) or your own dive bottle with gage and hose.

Brake barrel requires pellets and the obvious braking the barrel to charge lol.

Brake barrels are slightly more difficult in accuracy with a slight kickback (as you will probably know lol) but with practice you can be very accurate.

Air charged (multiple shot ) air rifles have no kickback and can be very accurate without much experience and in my opinion better than the brake barrel.


I know I’m teaching my grandmother to suck eggs but when I seen your thread my mind went into overtime so I’m relieving it :rofl:
 
Thanks mate,

The air weapons grant application doesn't ask for the model of rifle as you're supposed to have the licence prior to buying one :)

One of my mates is in the local ARC management so he can vouch for me and I'll become a member there and shoot under his supervision initially.
I don't know any of the local farmers to ask permission for pest control shooting but maybe as the ARC is on a farm they'd allow this also, maybe.

Yes, I was going to go for a springer rifle mainly due to the cost but also as we've all shot with this type previously at the meets and managed alright.

Thanks for the link. That rifle is less than I expected to have to pay for a new one but I assume this is the budget end of the spectrum. Seems like a decent option if I can't find a used one before the meet. (I really want one for the summer meet rather than having to borrow Dick's yet again for the HFT comp. :) )
 
Always best to have your own rifle buddy.

Sounds like you have everything under control lol... just had a look on freeads and there is some nice rifles on there....
 
I've got my licence and I emailed the local firearms officer before applying to find out what security was required and he said as long as its under lock and key basically. You don't need to list the air weapons you hold, its basically YOU that is licensed as opposed to the guns so you could have a hundred if you wanted. You'd need to show the licence to purchase them of course. You do have to say why you want it but you don't need to have permissions to shoot, the guy who's land I claimed to be shooting on wasn't asked anyway.

Nobody came round to check me or where I was keeping them, I did buy a gun locker (not fixed to the building as of yet) as I had a bit of a win on a football bet.

The best advice I can give you is go on PoliceScotland and find out who the local fire arms cop is and email them, now that the mad rush is over, they'll maybe be doing the inspections, I dunno but if they are it will be the local boy who checks so if you're running things past him first, you should be golden. Good luck mate.
 
Forget gun clamps if you're thinking of mounting a telescopic sight, they're more suited to shotguns. A second hand cabinet should have two concealed locks and a concealed hinge full length of the door or similar set-up. I've seen them at around £30 in the past but you'll end up doing a lot of mileage to collect one. Since they're long and heavy they're very expensive to ship. You can buy a brand new Bratensound 3 gun cabinet for a little over £100 without all the time and extra mileage.
 
Hi Paul, I bought a second hand gun cabinet on ebay for £25 but had to collect it. There is no actual requirement for a cabinet in England as long as the gun cannot be accessed by under age persons so a trigger lock will suffice. Obviously the rules are different in Scotland. I will ask at the club and see what guns are available and also ask about cabinets.
 
you could just buy a rifle and leave it with family south of the border and then collect it on the way to the meet :) and leave it with the family till you get your ticket sorted :thumbsup:
It would be hard to get much practice though, or even much fun out of it...
 
Give a thought to which kind of air rifle... brake barrel or air filed (pcp)

Air filed require ether somewhere to fill the air rifle (Glasgow angling centre use to don’t know if they still do) or your own dive bottle with gage and hose.

Brake barrel requires pellets and the obvious braking the barrel to charge lol.

Brake barrels are slightly more difficult in accuracy with a slight kickback (as you will probably know lol) but with practice you can be very accurate.

Air charged (multiple shot ) air rifles have no kickback and can be very accurate without much experience and in my opinion better than the brake barrel.


I know I’m teaching my grandmother to suck eggs but when I seen your thread my mind went into overtime so I’m relieving it :rofl:
Under or side lever?
 
I don't think you specifically need a cabinet.
Down here, for a shotgun, if a single weapon, you can use an approved cable lock (round a beam, through trigger guard or similar, if using a rifle slip or something allowing access to trigger guard.
I use this Napier one:

-ooops, I'm repeating divebuddy, sorry!
 
It's going to depend on your police firearm liaison officer, some are more reasonable than others.
 
FYI here's the message from my mate.
Any thoughts on this guys?

"Don’t want to sound snobbish, but don’t get a stoeger!! Trigger will be pish, internals will be pish, ability to tune with good parts pish. You will end up punting it or discarding at the back of a cupboard until a better ones comes up.

I have that ProSport that’s going for £250. Around that price bracket (250 to 300), ones to look out for HW.

I would look at 2nd hand Pro sport, and TX200 for AA. Great trigger, plenty of after market stuff if you want to tune, accurate as you like. Generally best out of box rifles out there.

Other alternative is weihrauch. In general out of the box, these are twangy, but most 2nd hand one will have had work done. Great triggers and accurate.

HW95 and 98 in break barrel (HW99 is great in .22 but to lively in .177 without good tuning) HW97 HW77 in underlever.

Walther have some offerings, but everyone I have tried the trigger was pish.

Scope wise – If you don’t mind mildot or high mag, few of the boys swear by these
Hawke Vantage 2-7x32 AO Mil Dot Rifle Scope - Optics Warehouse

For HFT. Great depth of field.

My fall back scope is this *Hawke Vantage Max 4-12X40 AO 10X 1/2 Mil Dot Rifle Scope #14285 5054492142859 | eBay

Livelines 2nd hand page
https://www.airgundealerscotland.co.uk/2nd-hand-guns---special-offers.html
"
 
The pro sports and TXs are great rifles.......but......very heavy and the underleaver cocking can be a faff.
Weight is a good thing aiding accuracy........but if you are wanting to use the rifle for all of the family to enjoy might be worth considering the HW95.......more manageable......easier cocking and very accurate.


Scope wise go for the higher mag adjustable parallax is worth having.
 
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