h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I occasionally consider a fantasy of going to the UK for a summer. I've even ondered trying to find a way to move there. However, I also enjoy shooting. Is there a way to get some time on the range in the UK?

Sadly, you might find it difficult. Even the bobbies here are armed with nothing more deadly than an accusing cry of "What's all this then?", and in the case of violent mob attack, a whistle. It disperses them every time.

Seriously, you might just have to contact a gun club in the area you're planning to stay.

Hi Two-bit! Glad to see you back.

Did you mean things like clay pigeon shooting, or grouse/pheasant shoots, or as Icy guessed, target shooting? Not that I know anything at all about any of them. But here in the UK countryside, most if not all the farmers and old locals own shotguns.

Yay, 2bit! Really good to see you here!

I'm not current on what is legal here in gun clubs, but anything involving hand guns would be indoors, probably members-only, and probably by arrangement.

Out-door and rough shooting, what you might call hunting, is available all year round for rabbits and pigeons and sometimes even foxes, but only if you know the right people; KerrAvon's the best person I know on-site for that. Off-site, well my neighbour is a good friend of the local game-keeper.

Shooting game, ie grouse, pheasant, woodcock, partidge and deer is seasonal. The summer is mostly the close-season, but the grouse season starts on the glorious 12th of August. A lot of game-bird shooting is driven game, ie the people with the guns stand in pre-determined places (butts) and the peasantry drive the birds towards them by beating the undergrowth.

I've no idea if wild-fowling, ie shooting wild geese and ducks, is still legal, but it's a winter sport anyway.

And if you are coming to the UK, tell us when! Come visit!

Ben

This is the main magazine for game shooting in the UK http://www.shootingtimes.co.uk/

>>Sadly, you might find it difficult. Even the bobbies here are armed with nothing more deadly than an accusing cry of "What's all this then?", and in the case of violent mob attack, a whistle. It disperses them every time.


But let's ignore the vans of armed officers circling cities, signed out and ready to go.

I find shooting pistols to be very satisfying. Maybe it's because I barely squeaked by when I was knew. Now I know what I'm doing. I was even teaching firearms for a while. When you get on the firing line, square off on the targets, draw your weapon and drop in to a shooting stance. I can feel the energy flowing from my feet, legs, through my arms locked out, and all the way to the target. It's as spiritual as I get.

I don't really know if I'd have all that much fun shooting long guns. I have a shotgun that I haven't fired in a while. They're interesting weapons, but not really my thing.

I have a little .40 cal rifle, that's a lot of fun to plink with, but I'd sell it in a heartbeat if I could get some decent money for it so I could by some lights and other stuff for my new rifle.

Last Christmas, my wife bought me a civilian version of the M4, but I've been fighting bureaucratic hurdles at work to actually be able to carry it. I was recently transferred to a new task force, and tasked to revise policy, so I should solve that problem soon.

A lengthy stay in the UK is all mostly fantasy anyway. I doubt I'd ever be able to afford a real lengthy visit or move. It's still the dream. My wife and I may fly over for our 20th anniversary.

The only legal handguns available to the public in the UK are muzzle loaders, even for target shooting. Which is why our Olympic marksmen and women have to go abroad to train.

For rifles, you'll need to contact a gun club near where you're visiting . Do so well in advance because range days are busy.

Here's a starting point - http://www.onesite.co.uk/find/shooting.htm

Muzzle loading pistols? That doesn't sound like any fun at all.

Well...there was a reason why, after consideration, we decided not to have fun.

We can't be seen to have fun, we're British.

There's always shotguns. They're interesting weapons, but I've only used it enough to get qualified with it.

There you go! All the game and rough shooting I was talking about, and the clays, is with shotguns. Not the deer, obviously.

"anything involving hand guns would be indoors"

Anything involving handguns would be abroad, or air(low)powered. Handguns are pretty straightforwardly illegal here for users other than law enforcement or armed forces. No private individuals can own, much less carry them, including security personnel (exceptions for foreign diplomatic protection personnel). For the reasons why, google "Dunblane Massacre".

If you're of the appropriate age, you could get your hands on a Browning if you join the right branch of the Territorial Army Reserves, or if you become a UK policeman and get a ticket for armed response.

UK bobbies are not quite as short on weaponry as implied above - they carry extending batons, pepper spray and with increasing frequency, tasers. No routine firearm equippage, though, although they can call on armed response units equipped with Glocks, G36cs, MP5s and others. While they wait for that to arrive, however, they've a stick, some pepper and a battery with wires. And harsh language.

Civilian firearm use in the UK would be target rifles on static targets or large game or shotguns on moving targets and birds. Both uses on live targets would be tightly controlled and expensive, since it's mainly the preserve of the wealthy. My impression of the US is that hunting is a fairly blue-collar hobby - the UK is almost the exact opposite.

Weapons laws do seem to be a lot stricter in the UK than in Germany, and I thought they were bad in Germany! Can't even carry blunt replica swords to and from practice, so our medieval combat group mostly trains in Dublin.

I think it's sensible to not allow anyone and everyone access to weapons, though.

Perhaps you can take up a new sport for the duration of your visit? Make trying something new something to look forward to? Archery perhaps?

The law here is, you can't transport handguns without a one use permit. _Unless_ you are travelling from your home to a gun club. I have an acquaintance who has joined a good number of clubs so he can have a legal right to have a handgun (locked) in his glove compartment. Scared the cr@p out of me when I innocently opened it to check for a map!

Is Dublin really close enough that you can just go over for a day to practie sword fighting?

If you're in Norn Ireland then yes...

If you're in London then probably no.

Even if you're in London, it's no distance at all, really. If you do it by plane, you're not in the air long enough to even read the *interesting* bits of the in-flight magazine...

There are interesting bits of in-flight magazines?