Tonka54

Sorry if this subject has been threaded elsewhere in the forum. I work for a company that supplies clay pigeons to a lot of the shooting schools and gun clubs within the UK, subject to speaking with quite a few of their management members it appears that the issue of lead free shot will primarily affect the game shooting fraternity. However, most agree that the clay shooting community will have about one further season of using lead shot before having to consider the move to steel or a much more expensive alternative. It further appears that most modern guns will already be proofed for steel, in this case the only considerations will be the added expense of steel shot and the period of time it takes to get used to the different characteristics, for some, it will also involve re-choking, but by and large that will be about it. For those of us with older shotguns the problem is not so simple, opinions differ quite a lot, ie: some say all that is necessary is steel proof chokes, and providing your barrels are strong enough to meet the minimum requirements that's it, the theory behind this is the fact that the steel shot is in a plastic cup, the shot remains in the cup until it leaves the end of the barrels at which point the cup behaves like normal wadding and separates. in this case the shot never comes into contact with the inner barrel surfaces, therefore no damage???. Others believe that even the use of steel proof chokes no greater than half could still result in barrel "ring bulge" due to the bottleneck affect caused by the chokes restriction. I may have got the wrong information, or completely got hold of the wrong end of the stick, what do other members think.

Thanks Snow White But unfortunately For reasons already posted I do not have this option, However, I have took the advice of the members who have commented and explained the situation to the Leicestershire police firearms department. They made it clear that their FEO would most likely turn his nose up at the cabinet being mounted in an "outbuilding", even though it is brick and concrete block constructed. They did agree in principle to another idea of mounting the cabinet inside a small cupboard, the backwall of which I can fix through into the wooden stud with three fixing points, then drill three fresh fixing points through the cabinet and through the double Melamine side of the cupboard, passing blind head coach bolts through steel reinforcing straps and bolting the whole lot together inside the cabinet. A lot of work, and of course I have lost the storage space for my 1960's mohair bell bottom trousers, embroidered silk shirts and Cuban healed boots but there you go, I guess some sacrifices just have to be made.😜

Thanks guys, I will contact the FEO and see what he suggests, I will update this post when I know for sure on the off chance it will help somebody else.

Yes indeed, I have contacted them by email and awaiting a reply, the problem is Leicester's FEO is not available at the moment due to covid-19, they cannot confirm when they will be available to resume processing grant applications. Thanks for your reply Rewulf, but I cannot gain access through the floor of my park home to the steel frame or the concrete base. The underside is fully insulated from below and this is sealed to protect plumbing runs and heating pipework, any attempt to gain access this way would void the home's warrantee.

Hi all I could really use a little advice about gun security in Leicestershire police area. I live in a park home and all the walls are composite and stud, so not good for gun cabinet installation, also I do not have the option to fix to the concrete base and access through the floor of the home. What I do have is a brick built store with a solid roof, one wooden door, which opens to the outside and no windows, this is covered by an alarm system and CCTV which has remote storage of the footage and is also linked to my mobile phone. Could anybody advise if I mounted my gun cabinet in this building would it be acceptable to the Leicestershire police firearms department, if not, what other options do I Have.