How do I get a shotgun certificate
Info for new shooters to explain the licencing process and give some guidance of items its suggested to have when starting out.
It is a bit of a read but please bear with me!
New shooter’s first steps
So, you’ve been shooting with some friends at a social event or were invited to come and enjoyed yourself and are looking to know the next steps on getting your own gun so you can go out by yourself? Well, hopefully, I can help with that!
My name’s Callum, I currently work in a gun shop and I find myself answering these questions daily so thought I would put what I know in one place with the hopes of answering the most common questions in one place.
If you have a question and don’t see an answer to it here please do drop an email over and I may well be able to help!
Getting your licence
So, the first step is to decide if there is any reason to have your application rejected. The licencing dates back to 1870 when a licence to carry guns outside of the home where introduced. There are, for all intensive purposes, 2 licences in the UK (There are more but most wouldn’t consider getting one). Section 2, a shotgun certificate and Section 1, a firearms licence. From here on I will refer to these as shotgun certificates and firearms licences. A small point of clarification here, anyone over legal age can get a shotgun licence unless deemed unfit by a GP or the police where whereas a firearms licence requires an applicant to demonstrate a reason to own such items and they are restricted, more info on this later. The other main consideration is do you have a place to put a safe in your residence.
The first step is to get out shooting with a friend who is comfortable taking you along and guiding you or at a shooting ground with an instructor.
From there, once you are comfortable handling and using a gun it’s time to start looking at the application! This starts with checking your relevant forces page but 99% of the time it runs like this.
Get the medical proforma completed by a GP. This can be your local or a 3rd party company like Medcert (no affiliation but have had good reports.) One significant thing to keep in mind is that this is a private service, your local GP can charge as they see fit. My local GP in a town in Bucks, was £35 but in surrounding villages I know it to be as high as £160 whereas Medcert is £66. This process can take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks, depending heavily on the demand in your area.
It is worth thinking about your medical and criminal history as this will weigh into whether you will have a successful application. Things that are known to weigh into this are things like reporting suicidal thoughts, self-harm and other things of this nature that might be seen as you could be a threat to yourself or others, the same goes for criminal history violent history will almost certainly weigh into the decision to grant or deny your application. If any of these apply it is worth trying to have a conversation with your GP/prospective Firearms officer to discuss this prior to your application if possible.
Once you have your medical
Now you have your medical back, you can apply for your certificate/licence from your relevant force. Something to keep in mind is this medical is only valid for 6 months from the date of signature on the proforma. Most quote this to take around 8 weeks but as of right now, mid 2024, many if not most forces are taking longer than this. some much more than others. Some forces are being reported to be taking over a year on new applications. There doesn’t appear to be a rhyme or reason to this and very case by case. The first application is £79 currently and has been that for a while but there have been proposals to change this with the late government swap, this is yet to be seen.
The application is quite simple and you will need some info, as listed below, when applying online
Information for one personal reference
The medical proforma scanned on the computer
A card to pay the application fee from
If you need any help submitting your application we may be able to offer guidance and advice but we are unable to help complete the application remotely. This may be something we look into later down the line.
Once you have submitted your application, it is worth getting a safe and installing it in your home. You can get a certificate without having a safe so you can transport the gun it means that it would have to be sorted at a shooting ground/with someone else who has a safe, potentially restricting where/when you can shoot.
A safe can be installed pretty much anywhere in the home, fan favourites tend to be in upstairs wardrobes/cupboards or under the stairs. A few things to keep in mind are
Visibility - Is it likely a passerby/visitor will see your safe? If so, maybe reconsider or try to cover it
Conditions - Places like the loft are good in thought but in practice can cause corrosion/damage to both woodwork and metal on guns due to the significant changes in temperature and humidity.
Accessibility - Something else worth thinking about is how long it takes you to get to and access the safe. Sometimes having your safe too tucked away, such as in the loft with only a ladder to get up there as your Firearms Officer will consider if it is likely you will leave guns out as the safe is inconvenient to get to.
Space - As much as we all say it, it is very rare that people only have 1 gun, plan for more, just in case!
Quality - I like the Locaway safes, they are slightly more premium but well worth it! (No affiliation)
Mounting - Be sure to mount it properly, your Firearms Officer will likely hang on it at your visit!
Something else to note is your safe only needs to hold shotguns. Shotgun cartridges do not need to be stored securely but out of harms way is normally best!
Home visit, what to expect
Once your application has been processed, you will be contacted by your Firearms Officer. This is the person who is your main point of contact if you have any questions/issues. From here they will suggest a date for a home visit, the purpose of this visit is a brief interview to judge character, get an idea of your motivations and in most cases to check your safe is securely mounted. If you don’t have your safe mounted and your certificate is granted you will be able to transport and buy guns but not store them and you will have to have plans in place to store them securely and if you have a safe fitted down the line you will need to be visited again.
Your officer will inspect your safe and in most cases, they will put significant weight on it, like partially hang on it to check it is mounted securely. Not much point in having a safe if someone could just take the whole thing and break into it in their own time!
From there, all going well, you should have your licence in the post a couple of weeks later.
Once you have your licence
So the first thing to do is to set a budget. You can either include the medical, application and safe but as there will likely be a wait so it is normally easier to look at each bit of the process independently.
A good budget, if possible, would be £1,500-£2,000 but can be pushed down as low as £500 if you aren’t picky but keep in mind that you will very likely be upgrading in the near future!
So, you will need:
A gun - as much as you’ll find yourself looking at guns online, get to a shop that offers gun fitting, the fitting is key! Look at all the options that work while considering if you have any needs like a light gun and the type of shooting you are doing as this WILL vary the types of gun that are right for you. Soms guns may look nice but if they don’t fit you they can hold you back, although you can always have a gun adjusted, bear in mind it can be costly.
Cartidges - Something to keep in mind is price scaling. Some shops/grounds will increase the price of cartridges if you buy less than 1,000 at any one time, commonly referred to as “thousand rate”. 1 box is 25, 1 “Slab” is 250
Cleaning supplies - A cleaning kit, bore cleaner and gun oil for after-use. You’ve just got this new thing, take care of it! For extra points some wire wool, as fine as it comes, can always help clean the action face/chambers. The Bisley kit linked is a great place to start including everything you’ll need starting out.
Eye protection - Clay can be unpredictable once smashed. Some clays can be incoming so you will likely get showered with bits and on windy days fibre wads can blow back at you. Something like the Eyelevel kit linked is a very good pairing value for money and lens colours that can help in different conditions. Yellow is a good place to start
Hearing protection - See what you like, in-ear or over-ear and from there you have the option of passive or electronic. These can vary wildly from £30 up to £800. Take a look at a breakdown below. Some ask “Why do should I get electronic ear protection?” If you are new, to me, it’s a must. it makes taking instruction from a coach/friend and listening for people calling “PULL” much, much easier and, to me, it’s basically a requirement!
In-ear tends to be more expensive as most require moulds to be taken of your ear whereas conventional over-ear protection is helpful if you are taking it on and off, especially if going for a passive option.
In-ear passive - Normally falls into 2 camps, foam disposable plugs or custom moulded silicone plugs. Both are good.
In-ear electronic - Most are moulded but others have conventional foam tips. Will link both.
Over-ear passive - Pretty run-of-the-mill, not many options. Just get something from a reputable brand, like 3M.
Over-ear electronic - These can vary massively, reputable brands are always a good option, again, like 3M or SWATCOM. Some of the key differences between the electronic 3M over-ears and the SWATCOMs are the way they cancel out noise. The 3M device detects sounds over 85db and cuts the sound off to the ear whereas the SWATCOM, when it detects noise over 82db compresses everything down to 82db so there is no loss of hearing, when there is a bang, the sound is reduced to a safe level and passed though along with anything else that was happening at the time, like voices!
Skeet vest and/or cartridge bag - While out on clay you will need a way to carry your shells and the various other things you may need. It is suggested to get BOTH a bag and a skeet vest as carrying over 3KGs of cartridges alone can take a toll on your back! Skeet vests are made for everyone, with different brands, colours and sizes. Go and try some on! Make sure in either or both of these you have some pens just in case!
Gloves - Depending on where you are in the world decide if you need these, something like the MacWet gloves are great, they get more “sticky” when wet so perfect for wood and they are breathable as well. The sizing is the width of your palm in CM
From here you should be good to shoot, there will be more you will pick up along the way like a magnet stick or a mini clip-board and other small items but the above is quite important in my option. You can get by not having these bits but they are worth buying right once rather than buying bad quality and buying over and over!