Hello,

Could somebody tell me what the subtle regional differences there are in the UK firearms and hunting laws? I am curious as to how Scotland and Wales differ from England in regards to ownership, collecting and the hunting sports.

Richierich1,
there are supposed to be no differences in the firearms legislation from region to region. The home office guidelines are interpretated differently by different firearms departments..
What should be food for the goose is not always food for the gander..

regards

griff

Rich,

All the various laws should be the same in England and Wales, it is Scotland and Northern Island who often have different laws.

With deer hunting for instance, the relevant Deer acts are different except in England and Wales..This means there are differences in the the dates of the open seasons, the minimum calibres allowed, and other things concerning poaching ect...Even if I knew all the ins and outs, (which I don't) it would take far too long to write here.

If your really interested, there's quite a good book called "Deer: Law and Liabilities" which is reasonably up todate...I don't remember the author right now, but could find out if your interested...

Regards,

Pete

Rich,

To shoot deer of any species in England and Wales you must use a rifle of a calibre no less than .240" calibre generating a muzzle energy of 1700Ft/Lbs. There is no minimum bullet Weight in England and Wales.

In Scotland to shoot Red deer you need to use at least 100grain bullets travelling at a minimum muzzle velocity of 2450fps and a minimum muzzle energy of 1000ft/lbs. I would imagine Sika also come under these restrictions

For Roe deer the minimum bullet weight is 50grains with the same velocity and energy restrictions.

In all cases the bullets must be of the expanding variety.


Regards,
FB

Fallow Buck,

Nearly, and if you did that off the top of your head it was a good try.

In Scotland, for shooting any species of deer a bullet designed to deform in a predictable manner of not less than 100 gr (6.48 g) with a muzzle velocity of not less than 2450 ft/sec (746.78 m/sec) and a muzzle energy of not less than 1750 ft lbs (2373 joules).

So you are right, not just Red deer, but, Sika and Fallow and Roe as well. The constraints on the type of bullet requires that you use a .240 minimum.

In Scotland for shooting Roe only you can use a a rifle that uses a bullet designed to deform in a predictable manner of not less than 50 gr (3.24g), with a muzzle velocity of not less than 2450 ft/sec (746.68 m/sec) and a muzzle energy of not less than 1000 ft lbs (1356 joules.

So now you can use some of the .22 centrefire's 222, 223, 22-250 etc.

Rest time now

John

Thanks john,

The part I wasn't sure of was the Muzzle energy requirements up north and so I checked BASC site for the numbers. It seems I misread the first bit.

Rgds,
FB