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Just a bit of a rant really....

Hampshire Firearms Licensing department have always been fairly efficient for me in the past, but they seem to be losing the plot lately. I submitted a variation at the beginning of December to add a .44 rifle slot and .44 Special ammo. I already have a .44 Mag LBR so have a .44 Mag ammo allowance. I always send a clear covering letter to make it idiot-proof and avoid mistakes.

New style FAC comes back just before Christmas - a nice quick turnaround - with a .44 Special ammo allowance and a .44 Special rifle slot (does such a thing even exist?). I make a call to them and send it back the same day by special delivery.

The new FAC arrives today with a .44 Mag rifle slot, but they've removed the .44 Special ammo now, despite my covering letter stating clearly that the only change I wanted was to correct the rifle slot.

I'll be calling them first thing Monday to 'share my thoughts' on the whole process, but I really could do without the bloody hassle. Planks.

Very frustrating for you.

When I think of the job these teams do it amazes me that they don't make more errors. Looking through our own forum we see missunderstandings and confusion along with lots of questions, and we by comparison probably know a lot more about our sport.
Certainly adds weight to the argument that the licensing should be done by one central organisation and not by the Police. Not sure how quick or approachable they eould be.

DM

Christmas could be a factor as well, people on holiday and other people covering for them around Christmas time is bound to cause a few mistakes.

Allthough in kent they can be painfully slow, the practice of having a visit from your FEO for any variations ( never done a 1 for 1, so might not be for all) means that chances of misunderstandings are slim and to date i've never had a problem

You shouldn't be asking for a cartridge anyway.

Ask for a .44 rifle and .44 ammo, then you can have any .44 rifle/ammo you want.

paxtond wrote:You shouldn't be asking for a cartridge anyway.

Ask for a .44 rifle and .44 ammo, then you can have any .44 rifle/ammo you want.

Not according to ACPO (NOT Home Office) guidelines! Another unnecessary silly rule not based on any legal requirement that I know of!

dodgyrog wrote:

paxtond wrote:You shouldn't be asking for a cartridge anyway.

Ask for a .44 rifle and .44 ammo, then you can have any .44 rifle/ammo you want.

Not according to ACPO (NOT Home Office) guidelines! Another unnecessary silly rule not based on any legal requirement that I know of!

Christel, can we have a poll on which Police Authorities require/insist on you listing the cartridge when making an application/variation.
I will start it of Essex require it for every entry ie 7.62x51 7.62x39 7.62x54r seems some don't, thought we all went by the same rules.

bnz41 wrote:

dodgyrog wrote:

paxtond wrote:You shouldn't be asking for a cartridge anyway.

Ask for a .44 rifle and .44 ammo, then you can have any .44 rifle/ammo you want.

Not according to ACPO (NOT Home Office) guidelines! Another unnecessary silly rule not based on any legal requirement that I know of!

Christel, can we have a poll on which Police Authorities require/insist on you listing the cartridge when making an application/variation.
I will start it of Essex require it for every entry ie 7.62x51 7.62x39 7.62x54r seems some don't, thought we all went by the same rules.

Could be interesting - I suspect even within Scotland there'll be variations. Mine (ex Grampian) allows me to specify a calibre.

As mentioned before, Staffs seem OK with just "7.62". I couldn't find an Enforcer so went for a Mosin Nagant in the end using the same slot.

Kent , seem to be happy with just the calibre, but see .284 and 7mm as being different , so where i asked for a 7mm spare barrel thinking it would cover both cartridges as required, after a brief discussion i ended up with slots for both 7mm/284 spare barrels.