Info on moving to UK with (long)guns

Ruffed Grouse

Ruffed Grouse

Regular
EE Expired
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Location
Fife
Hello nutz,

I'll be moving temporarily to the UK (Edinburgh) in January. I have a 24 month work permit, and the job may be extended to 36 months. So while I'll have opportunities to come home to hunt and shoot, I'd be a shame not to take some guns with me. I hope to make opportunities to hunt red deer and birds, and I understand that some of the hunts for the eastern European goats are affordable.

Has anybody here got any experience bringing personal firearms into the UK? My understanding is that prices there are out of this world, so I'd like to avoid having to shell out double or tripple there for rifles that I already have or could buy in Canada.

RG

<><
 
Chances are you will not be able to get them into the country. Shotgun, maybe, rifles - good luck.

I have a couple of friends there who hunt. You can only own a rifle if you are a game keeper or are licensed to hunt deer by the British Deer Society (time consuming and expensive to get). Personally, I would leave the guns at home (Canada) and check out the situation for a while before deciding whether it is worth it.

As for bird hunting, I hope you have deep pockets or rich friends, as you are looking at +-$90 CAN per/bird for pheasants. These are usually taken on driven shoots where you and 7 or so friends will buy 300-500 birds for the day. So if you have around $20,000 or so for a days hunting....... well let me know, my new best friend.

Stalking for deer can be reasonable; a days stalking for Roe (cull bucks or does) can be had for about $200-300 CAN. If you want a trophy you will pay by the size as well as for each day out. You can use the game keepers rifle (in fact it will probably be your only option). BTW, you do not get to keep the meat from any animals you kill unless you are willing to pay the game dealers rate for it...... even at $90 a bird!

If you want to do some stalking there, especially in the south-west, let me know as I know a couple of good guys you could hunt with (game keepers). My one friend also hunts Red in Scotland every year and would be able to provide you with some information.

Cheers,

Ian
 
Ian,

Thanks for the information. I hope that once there we'll be able to find ourselves some better situations than what you describe!

RG

<><
 
I hope so too.

Like I said, if you want to chat with a local, let me know and I will see if my friend would be willing to help you understand the idiotic situation there. They have great, life saving policies there; like you can only own one rifle in any one cartridge / calibre, i.e. you can not have two 308's, but might be able to justify a 308 and a 243. Makes sense to me!
 
Many used firearms are cheap to buy over there. Of course, after you get the permits.......

I had spoken to a couple of UK dealers about exporting batches of rifles, and their selling prices were cheap. Not sure about shotguns though.
 
Last edited:
Al simmons has a gunsmith working there from England, he is up on the rules and regs, great resource for U.K. Stuff
 
Thanks for the leads. I'll follow these up and see if I can sort things out. I think though that I'll probably take Puddelpointer's advice and wait until after I've moved to figure out if it'll be worth it.

I saw on the internet some time ago, not sure where, that since handguns have been banned and therefore IPSC is out in the UK, a new sport has developed with similar courses of fire done with tricked out 10/22s. Has anybody heard about this? If hunting is out on account of expense, this might be a good way to stay in shooting. I bet it'd be great for my off-hand!

RG

<><
 
$90 CAN per/bird?!?!

My god is the UK like the lamest country on the face of the globe or what? What happened to the empire building, big game hunting, mother of the free?
 
I was curiious and found this on Wikipedia. You might be SOL if they only accept referees from within the country.

The current licensing procedure involves: positive verification of identity, two referees of verifiably good character who have known the applicant for at least two years (and who may themselves be interviewed and/or investigated as part of the certification), approval of the application by the applicant's own family doctor, an inspection of the premises and cabinet where guns will be kept and a face-to-face interview by a Firearms Enquiry Officer (FEO) also known as a Firearms Liaison Officer (FLO). A thorough background check of the applicant is then made by Special Branch on behalf of the firearms licensing department. Only when all these stages have been satisfactorily completed will a license be issued.
Click to expand...
 
...and we thought only we had it bad. I really thought that beyond the handgun ban, it'd be like us and long guns.

I just got back from getting fingerprinted for my Visa application. It turns out that I need a letter from my UK employer confirming my employment and income, even though both of these are stated directly on the official work permit!!! I gon't know if I'll ever get through this, even without guns!:slap:

RG

<><
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom