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I've just been told several times on the phone by my licensing department that though my ticket will come back open, it might only be open for .22 rimfire.

They also said that that doesn't mean you can shoot on ANY land, is still has to be cleared for that calibre.

This is in contradiction to what my FEO said who said if your ticket is open then any rifle you've got as land use (ie not target) you can use on ANY Land where YOU consider the land safe to shoot.

Proof required seems to be a suitable use (stalking booking) for the highest calibre you want to shoot on land and once you've got that, you can shoot any rifle you've got listed on your ticket for land use in any calibre up to your maximum cleared calibre on any land where you consider it to be safe.

Honestly, what a mess. I've always had good service from my lot but recently they just don't seem to know the rules!

I always thought an open ticket means any firearm listed for vermin/game/etc can be used on any bit of land you have permission for as long as YOU the shooter considers it safe.

Is that still the case?

as far as I am aware, an open ticket puts the onus onto the shooter to determine if the land and shot are safe, the land has no need to be cleared as you are effectively doing that when you assess the shot.
depending on the Firearms Dept opinion on your experience, they may limit which of your calibres are opened, or they may just open all of them, or indeed none of them! make 10 phone calls and you may get 10 different "definitive" statements on the subject! the whole thing is slightly farcical.

An open ticket, if worded in the normal way - land over which the holder has permission to shoot - categorically is unrestricted. It doesn't matter if the land is cleared or not.

That's because any offence would be breach of FAC conditions, and if you have permission then clearly you haven't breached those conditions.

I have been told that even if the FAC says "...land deemed suitable by the Chief Constable for the area..." etc, then the clearance can come after the fact.

Not too much of an issue if it is just a routine check, but good luck getting the clearance if you've done something unfortunate.

Locally the police force seems to give "open" specific to calibre only ..I've currently got my fac allowing me to shoot on land already cleared, I've requested that I be allowed to clear land for my self but for rimfire only .. I've been told that "open" for Centre fire is much harder to get ..

One could perhaps conclude that the willingness to give an "open" clearance for a specific calibre could be a geographic thing. For example one could assume that one is more likely to be granted an "open ticket" for a .300 WM rifle in the Scottish Highlands than in Hertfordshire or Thames Valley for obvious reasons, but it also differs from one force area to another.

Here in Scotland where since 1.4.2013 we have been covered by one contingeous police force (Police Scotland), the old licensing offices remain, and policies are not entirely the same across the seven licensing districts corresponding to the former Scottish police forces pre-2013.

My FAC states my conditions on each rifle I own. Each of them are `OPEN`. Where I have lawful permission to shoot it is unrestricted. It doesn't matter if the land is cleared or not.The onus is on myself.
South Wales Police

Hiya Col, it's good to see you posting again. Welcome back mate

Thank you Blu. My and her indoors attention has been more towards the mobile home we bought,shooting has been secondary for a short period

Well it's still good to see you back again mate.