Garden shooting rules?

[Antoni]

You must not shoot in a way to cause impedance to a road user or prove possible risk withing 50m of a roadway (simply avoid shooting towards roads/footpaths ...

I suspect a bit of gold plating of the rules here.

My memory is that if someone considers you to be causing a problem that belief can be reported, It is not directly illegal to shoot nearer to a right of way than that. And that the distance is 50 feet from the centre of a public right of way.
n
That's from my memory. If I'm wrong I'd like to know that.

[Edit:

Wot a bloody mess the above text is! In my defence I was tired!

The distance we are interested in is fifty feet from the shooting to the centre of a public ROW.
Greater than that distance, all else being sensible, no legal problem at all.

Less than that distance, if someone is offended by what you are doing, for example because of spooking a rider's horse, or other 'reason', once that belief is held by the offendee the law has been broken.
If no-one is offended the law has not been broken.

Again this is paraphrasing from my memory, but no-one has contradicted my crappy text.

/Edit]

[Segata]

Beg your pardon mixed up metres with feet but yeah it's a bit thats open to interpretation, you can shoot near yes but you can't be seen to be likely to case an impedence so you have to gauge it on how an Officer might see it, this is where going heavy on your backstop can save you as it shows reasonable prevention so the complaint is not upheld.

[Pop Larkin]

Thanks guys, pretty much as I expected to be honest.
Will be shooting to the rear of my modest back yard, probably no more that to check zero, however, we do have a bit of an issue with the odd rat or two!
I live in a mid terrace, wooden fences all round but have a three inch thick, by 4 1/2 feet diameter tree trunk section mounted on the fence, over which I have a metal pellet trap.
Rifle will be moderated.
My main concern is that neighbour's can over look my back yard and I do not want to 'scare' them....'Oh no!!! There's a man with a gun in his back yard, lets call the police!!!'

[Segata]

Tbh if you own the place theres little they can acctually do unless you do something actually illegal, I'm in a similar set up, Mid-Terrace with wooden fenced gardens that in my case go to a bit of waste ground and then a school field, situated my range so any backstop failure goes into a rubble pile and no further (it can happen so always account for it), backstops wise if you're unsure there was a thread a little while ago that has a lot of good ideas and if you're ever unsure you can always ask here and one of us will help.

[rapidresponse1]

first thing i donewhen i bought my new house was put a range in back garden its all fenced off all way around good back stop my target is breeze block with a lump of lead in front so no noise when the pellet hits the target,ive had no issues and weather permitting i shoot every day

[Pop Larkin]

first thing i donewhen i bought my new house was put a range in back garden its all fenced off all way around good back stop my target is breeze block with a lump of lead in front so no noise when the pellet hits the target,ive had no issues and weather permitting i shoot every day

I may have a problem as my house, which I own outright, actually backs on to the back garden of another house, i.e. two rows of terrace houses, back to back, hence my 'neighbours' worries.
Loving the advice though guys....
None of them have bothered when I have shot out there with my Umerex pistol though!

[Segata]

Thats not a problem as long as your Ammunition does not leave your boundry i.e goes out of your garden into theirs, tbh a CO2 Pistol Rep clacking away would draw more attention than a conventional Air Rifle would so if they weren't bothered by that then you needn't worry but again, aslong as you keep it legal, have a decent back stop and don't make a racket at an unsociable hour theres little they can do even if they don't like it.

[Jacklurcher]

I suspect a bit of gold plating of the rules here.

My memory is that if someone considers you to be causing a problem that belief can be reported, It is not directly illegal to shoot nearer to a right of way than that. And that the distance is 50 feet from the centre of a public right of way.

That's from my memory. If I'm wrong I'd like to know that.

It's 50 feet from the centre of a carriageway, not a public right of way (e.g footpaths aren't covered by the legislation). You can shoot closer than that to a carriageway, provided a user isn't “injured, interrupted or endangered”.

Injured and endangered are covered by having an adequate backstop. “Interrupted” is slightly ambiguous. Since the legislation dates back to horses, it could be argued “interrupted” means telling them to wait or take a detour, rather than them stopping to rubberneck.

[Steyr]

It's 50 feet from the centre of a carriageway, not a public right of way (e.g footpaths aren't covered by the legislation). You can shoot closer than that to a carriageway, provided a user isn't “injured, interrupted or endangered”.

Injured and endangered are covered by having an adequate backstop. “Interrupted” is slightly ambiguous. Since the legislation dates back to horses, it could be argued “interrupted” means telling them to wait or take a detour, rather than them stopping to rubberneck.

You can shoot in the middle of the carriage way if you don't cause impedance to travellers. 50 foot is about 16 yards or bloody close if you prefer.

If you want to shoot over your boundary, you can always ask permission from the neighbour or the person who holds the shooting rights as not always the land owner.

Nuisance will be a big factor. Metal back stops are bloody noisy. Lead is great but dry sand with heavy paving slabs is the best.

ALL wildlife is protected under various statutes pretty much. The GENERAL LICENCE is a variation that allows certain species to be controlled. The species can come and go for example starlings used to be on but removed. Parakeets have become a recent addition like ringed and monk. HOWEVER the GL's also set the rules of what why when etc you can engage. If you don't comply you can be prosecuted. As ignorance is no defence at law, then you need to know the terms of the GLs and what species can be shot.