Hello from England

[El_Sid]

Hiyer. I have been reading the web version of BHM for quite some time now and lurking on the forum.

I currently live in England, but not for much longer, we are in the process of emigrating to Spain, where we are buying a small farm in a remote area.
I'm a gunsmith ( yes, you can legally own guns in the UK, it's just...difficult ) and my wife works in education.
I'm into shooting, hunting, astronomy and messing about in my machine shop. The wife breeds horses.

Politically we are both conservatives with strong libertarian tendencies. Sort of :)

My favourite kind of governments are the kind which leave me alone the most, which is why I don't want to hang around in the UK for one second longer than neccessary.
It is the mission of our government to interfere in peoples lives as much as possible, while taking money from people who work and giving it to those who don't.

Spain isn't ideal - but the gun laws aren't too bad and we can afford enough land in a remote enough area to avoid getting bothered much.

I'm going to be asking a lot of questions, we know we can make this work but some help won't go amiss :)

[bee_pipes]

Welcome yerself, and congratulations on making your getaway. My wife and I have been on a yahoo group for a few years, and one of the members is in Spain. Can't recall her handle, but you might ask around.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/organichomesteadinggardening/

Best of luck to you.

Regards,
Pat

[flatwater]

El Sid
Welcome and isn't it great how the internet brings like minded people together. and what an interesting tale you have to tell. Continue to keep us informed of your progress. I had an interesting observation today about turkeys and it goes right along with what you are talking about. It also is something to think about in our upcoming elections. Wild turkeys are very fit, smart and illusive in the wild. But once you domesticate them they get fat, stupid and lazy to the point they can't hardly fly and the only thing there good for is to eat. Mankind is a lot like that also. So whether your moving to a new country or electing a new president, make sure the one you choose will allow you to be free and wild and be able to fend for yourselves. Ya-all get the point.
Flatwater

[El_Sid]

Thanks for the welcome :)

[Southern_Gent]

Welcome, El Sid.

Regarding Spain, correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought the government there imposed a limit on the amount of ammunition one could buy. I believe the limit was 25 rounds per year. Do you know if that's true?

[El_Sid]

Spain has some strange firearms laws ( are there any other kind ? ) and yes, there is a limit on the amount of ammo you can hold. I think it's actually 100 rounds per gun, but I could be wrong.
I'm accustomed to reloading, so I'm not too worried about that and haven't researched it further.

Other weirdness is that you can't own a semi-automatic weapon chambered in a 'calibre of war'. 9mm Parabellum ( ironic considering the Para Bellum part ) is OK though, as is 7.62X54R ( Hooray, Dragunov SVD please :) ).
AR-15's get chambered in .222 instead of .223 and 7.62 battle rifles like CETME's and FAL's are converted to an obsolete cartridge called .307 Win, which is .308 with a rim. They still work with 7.62 or .308 though, allegedly.

Hi-cap magazines aren't permitted for hunting, but are sold anyway for 'collection purposes only'

Suppressors are completely 'verboten' which sucks. About the only good thing in UK firearm laws is that suppressors are easy to obtain legally.

One gun you can legally own in Spain, which would give the US BATF a conniption fit is a repro MP40 machine pistol, which fires from an open bolt :o