UK FAC Question

[TGBMaverick]

I know someone out there will be able to help regarding UK FAC rules - this is not an area I am too familiar with (I know rules for Shotgun certificates are a lot easier in this respect) so here is the question:

Scenario: Person A has a spare slot on his FAC and currently no money to fill it and Person B has FAC + money but no spare slot until he puts in for a variation.

Can Person A put a rifle on his FAC then transfer over to Person B once his variation come through and does this tranfer free up the slot on Person A's FAC once completed - or is this too complicated for the FAC system and best handled through an RFD instead?

Hope this makes sense - there is a nice Enfield Rifle involved in this transaction and want to know the best way to proceed.

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[RobD]

The simple and obvious way: Let the rifle remain on the books of an RFD until person B has an empty slot.
Or, the complicated way can be done, as follows:
Person A fills his slot with a rifle of that calibre. He then informs his firearms officer in writing that his slot is filled.
A subsequently disposes of the rifle to Person B, provided B has a slot of that calibre. A then writes to his firearms officer and informs him of this.
A then also asks if he can have a free slot for that calibre again. This requires A to complete form 101 again, and since it is asking for a new slot rather than a 1 for 1 variation of an empty slot, A has to pay £25 and risk the chance that his application for a slot will be turned down.

You can read about it at Variation of a Firearm Certificate

[Gingercat]

As I understood things, person A could dispose of the rifle to person B and so long as they notify the police and submit a variation within 7 days, they should be granted a free 'slot' (especially if it's in the same calibre), replacing that rifle.

Person B would have to pay to get an additional slot in that calibre to start with, but person A should be able to do the transactions free of charge.

Easiest to leave the rifle with a RFD though, as Rob recommends.

Kind regards

Mike

[TGBMaverick]

Thanks both for your thoughts - I thought it would be too complicated to do on an FAC an RFD would make the whole process easier.