forester 0 Posted September 8, 2008 Report Share Posted September 8, 2008 Hi all... I've been shooting air rifles now for a few years and fancy a go with something bigger. I've had my eye on a Remmy 700 (.308). How do I satisfy the FAC application with no specific land to shoot on? Ideally I would like to join a target club to get used to the rifle, then eventually have a go at deer stalking. I know I can get the FAC by joining the club, but do I have to keep specifiying where I want to go to go stalking? I'm new to all this, can anyone help explain it step-by-step to a dummy? Quote Link to post
SportingShooter 0 Posted September 8, 2008 Report Share Posted September 8, 2008 OK, Here Goes. For an FAC, You either need land to specify or apply through a club for Targets. For Target Shooting, you will normally do a 6 month probation before becoming a full member. This is when you can apply for your FAC with the club if they are happy to sponsor you. A .308 is quite a popular Target calibre and is also a popular Deer round. You cannot have a rifle, just because you fancy it. You need to have a good reason for needing it. Deer is one of the hardest conditions to have on your FAC. Today, it is the unfortunate case that you will either need to have a DSC Level 1 or a Mentor standing by to teach you the skills of stalking who will then inform you Police Force when he is satisfied that you are competent to stalk alone. When you have Deer on your FAC, you will almost certainly have an Open FAC meaning you can shoot on any land you deem suitable and have permission to shoot over. In your ideal situation then, If you go down the Target Club route, you can do your six month probation and then hopefully apply for your FAC. When you apply, you can put down for a range of calibres for Targets, .22LR, .223 and the .308 are all in wide use. If you then decide to move on from Targets. You can apply to your Police Force to have Vermin, Fox and Deer put on your FAC.(With the three above calibres), How they handle your application will differ from place to place, but you will need the following; Land to shoot over and to justify the Conditions, And more than likely a Mentor or DSC 1 for the Deer condition. If some of the above sounds confusing, I apologise, but its late! Regards SS Quote Link to post
Yokel Matt 918 Posted September 9, 2008 Report Share Posted September 9, 2008 I agree with SS. If you don't have much experiance with full bore shooting i'd join a club first, get a feel for it, and learn about the most appropriate caliber before buying one. You'd be amazed the rubbish some dealers 'reccomend' you buy from them... worst case scenario its the rifle they get the biggest margin on for the one that been gathering dust for ages. It shouldn't be a problem getting a FAC once with a club. If you can find a local (commercial?) stalker / mentor, the plod may grant a restricted variation for you to use the rifle with him until signed off as safe and experianced enough. You will probably find, depending on who your police authority is, that you will still have a restriction on the land you can use the firearm on and it may have to be 'approved' by the plod for that cal firearm. I recently did a DSC course and, personally, i found it excellent. Quote Link to post
Deker 3,478 Posted September 9, 2008 Report Share Posted September 9, 2008 :thumbs: SS Quote Link to post
forester 0 Posted September 9, 2008 Author Report Share Posted September 9, 2008 Cheers for the help lads, much appreciated i found a really good full bore target club, so i can get my teeth into it under probation and a watchful/helpful eye. With regard to the DSC level 1, the British Deer Society have got an online learning package which seems ideal 'cos i work a 60hr week.... but does anyone have any experience of it they can share, or is it best to have some time off work and do it the 'normal' way? the online version seems much cheaper. Quote Link to post
Rentomski 0 Posted September 11, 2008 Report Share Posted September 11, 2008 Cheers for the help lads, much appreciated i found a really good full bore target club, so i can get my teeth into it under probation and a watchful/helpful eye. With regard to the DSC level 1, the British Deer Society have got an online learning package which seems ideal 'cos i work a 60hr week.... but does anyone have any experience of it they can share, or is it best to have some time off work and do it the 'normal' way? the online version seems much cheaper. I used the BDS online learning package and found it very useful; the course material is better written and illustrated the than the training manual and the practice quiz questions are a good way of rote-learning all the answers to the General and Large Game Competency papers. A deer identification dvd from the BDS makes the Visual Assessment a doddle, they do love to try to catch people out with the differences between Sika and Fallow in summer and winter pelage. Obviously you can't practice for the shooting test online! For that you need supervised access to a deer-legal calibre rifle and a suitable range. Hope this helps. Quote Link to post
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