Ascertaining the Suitability of Land for FAC.

[Lucky Shot 1958]

Afternoon all,

What would you take into account when ascertaining the suitability of land to shoot over with FAC,I have made a list as follows can anyone add to it.

Public footpath’s,risk of ricochet,proximity of roads and houses,land boundaries,backstop.

TIA.

 

[old man]

Elevation could be your friend?

[tonyshooter]

Acreage.

[oowee]

If your thinking of your feo they will think of calibre. Despite my protests I used to have land rated for different calibre's by different forces. 

[old'un]

My experience with rifles is limited to air rifles and .22lr rimfire but I would think all land is suitable, if a safe shot can be taken.

 

 

 

Edited September 9, 2022 by old'un

[ditchman]

well placed permanant high seats...and a reasonable acerage for centrefire rounds.....and show your officer inspecting .......your knowledge of the land and soil type (regards reqochets)

[THEINVISIBLESCARECROW]

Backstop of some sort based on land being hilly etc, soil as in ploughed fields are usually softer & more easy to penetrate, stoney ground needs very carefully consideration, elevation ie high seat best, standing good, prone less good depending on backstop, distance available. Dwellings paths & roads added to the mix. The range & "power" of different cal's makes is it safe calculations like how long is a pice of string. Even police approved land  needs common sense applied. I use at the very least the effective range as a guide ie after about 120yds a .22lr round drops dramatically so roughly 300yds from where your stood if shooting a rabbit a 150yd circle is the danger zone, with a hmr let's say after 200yds the round drops quickly so about a 250yd circle is a rough guide but one advantage is a hmr round fragments very easy. That's my basic idea & others will think differently but most important is decide your absolute minimum safe zone & never risk shooting anything else because the more you get away with it the more you take risks & takeing any risk is a very bad idea.

[team tractor]

I’ve had land passed to hmr that’s between roads but I’ve a 223 on ground identical between roads . 
ive a strip of ground 100 yards wide on parts passed to 30-06 but it’s hilly . 
I had a farm passed to 22 hornet but a mate could only get 22lr on it . 
 

honestly nothing makes sense . 
 

[THEINVISIBLESCARECROW]

15 hours ago, team tractor said:

I’ve had land passed to hmr that’s between roads but I’ve a 223 on ground identical between roads . 
ive a strip of ground 100 yards wide on parts passed to 30-06 but it’s hilly . 
I had a farm passed to 22 hornet but a mate could only get 22lr on it . 
 

honestly nothing makes sense . 
 

My ticket is open but on renewal I still have to have nominated land. At the mentioned all my farms are upto 243 so no problem. All the land I've shot over has been passed for a cal' regardless of who shoots it, not passed for individual people allowing different cal' for each different person.

[team tractor]

7 hours ago, THEINVISIBLESCARECROW said:

My ticket is open but on renewal I still have to have nominated land. At the mentioned all my farms are upto 243 so no problem. All the land I've shot over has been passed for a cal' regardless of who shoots it, not passed for individual people allowing different cal' for each different person.

I’m open too but that’s another weird thing . Having a piece of ground passed to the biggest calibre but then you can use it anywhere. 

[Walker570]

It is a minefield but 'background' is your friend in an application.  A friend had a similar situation on a very flay piece of gorund and I suggested he put up one or two high seats and refer to them when making his application and drawing attention to the fact that he knew the ground was flat, he got it without a hitch.  My main grouse on this subject is the narrow vision of some FEOs and to be fair their 'advisers'.  I have a piece of ground where I as an open tocket shooter can use what I need. My landowner put in for a 243 Winchester on my advice and told he could only have a 223.  Now explain to me the difference in dangers on these two calibre?    I put in a letter of support outlining my experience and previous job and bingo a 243Win was accepted.     

Put together a plan of your shooting and explain that you know your area and any danger spots etc etc., you may in  fact know more about the practicalities than the FEO.

[Bigbob]

My FEO said they had a map of most farm with guides marked on them and the ones that didnt he had a pair of wellies 

[Weihrauch17]

On 09/09/2022 at 17:19, old'un said:

My experience with rifles is limited to air rifles and .22lr rimfire but I would think all land is suitable, if a safe shot can be taken.

 

 

 

This a backstop is a backstop on one acre or ten thousand.

[Dougy]

I had land passed by staffs that was smaller than my veg patch. 

Biggest issue would be were is that bullet going to end up, hit or a miss, makes no difference. 

 

Its all about safe shot. 

 

 

[Walker570]

12 hours ago, Dougy said:

I had land passed by staffs that was smaller than my veg patch. 

Biggest issue would be were is that bullet going to end up, hit or a miss, makes no difference. 

 

Its all about safe shot. 

 

 

Unfortunately Dougy, not all forces have staff who actually know what they are talking about. I had an FEO turn up to assess a piece of ground for me...650 acres in a shallow valley and he refered to the disused railway line on his map and said that would make a backstop, what the map didn't show was the line was below the ground level in places and level the rest of the way. It wasn't until I asked if he shot a rifle himself that he fell apart, with absolutely no knowledge of the subject. I actually felt sorry for him that the force in question had given him the job.   BACKGROUND BACKGROUND BACKGROUND and keep repeating it.  If in doubt then don't pull the trigger.

[smokingdragon]

I've just had approximately 2 acres passed for rimfire - it's in a small valley and has loads of trees and marsh but it's about 15 meters below housing and road level. I pointed out in which direction I would shoot and the backstops and she was fine with it but I can only shoot north to south which is fine as that's the way the foxes travel.