Law on Rifles

[devilishdave]

It looks like my work will be taking me out to Northern Ireland before the end of the year what is the Law on Rifles out there. Is there a limit to what cals you can have for deer stalking?

 

Dave

[Orka Akinse]

DD

 

I am sure the laws are slightly different and there are more qualified guys on here who can advise you however I thought of two options:

 

1. Phone BASC in UK or BASC NI they will know or;

 

2. Move to the sth in the Republic and commute if the laws are more sympathetic, it aint far depending on which part your work takes you.

 

OA

[craigyboy]

There are no real limits on what you can have for deer, though commonly .270, 30-06, 6.5x55 or similar are the normal enough for deer, where are you moving to in Northern Ireland? The biggest thing is to show you have good reason for the rifle i.e you will need to show proof you have stalking permission which is fine if you plan on travelling back to the mainland or down to the South for a bit of stalking but it will be hard to get permission up here as most of it is taken and there aint much of them. I have some Reds on grounds where I shoot but not enough that I would even buy a rifle to shoot them. To apply for a permit is quite slow though and can take up to 6 months , so it may be best to look into applying for a certificate before you actually moved here, not sure if you can actually do that but its worth looking into if you dont want to be without a rifle for too long. The thing here is that unlike over the water you basically get one rimfire, one centrefire for foxes and one centrefire for deer you it would be hard rto persuede them to let you have 2 centrefire for foxes or 2 deer rifles, one for smaller species and one for larger. Also if you like pistol shooting get yourself into a club and take it up, my club uses local mod pistol ranges, good craic if youre into it.

 

Here is BASC NI's number 02892605050

 

Dont be put off by owning guns here its not too hard just abit slow.

[devilishdave]

Thanks for the info, looks like I will be moving to the Belfast area in August.

 

Dave

[craigyboy]

only about 22 miles from me, give me a shout when your over.