Thread: Arms Officer and reloading

A colleague of mine is renewing his licence. He was talking with an arms officer and they got into a discussion about reloading, the AO said he reloads so my colleague mentioned I did also. The AO apparently got excited and said if I want to talk with him about reloading to give him a call. Seems odd and suspicious to me, maybe its my lack of trust in authority at moment.

First thing to do is to educate your colleague to not divulge that sort of info about a second person.

agree.....mate needs to learn to keep mum....but you could do a LOT worse than contact fella and sound him out...a friendly fella on force who you know and reload alongside wouldnt be a bad thing......come renewal time it could well be a VERY good thing.

There’s no crime in reloading so what are you worried about

I expect he’s just keen to talk loads, projectiles, gear and techniques with someone else. Many reloaders like some company down the rabbit hole

Greetings All,
I think @Cigar has nailed it. Arms Officers often take the job as they have an interest in firearms. It is a pretty thankless job with inadequate resources often dealing with a grumpy and sometimes hostile public. Handloading is a pretty solitary activity, beavering away trying to develop loads using often conflicting information. We could all do with a bit of TLC and I certainly could have done with a mentor or just someone to compare notes with when I started handloading around 1970. I think that the AO here is just a handloader looking for someone to chat to. Not everything that happens is part of a conspiracy in spite of what some may think.
Regards Grandpamac.

Maybe they hope you own a LabRadar and AMP machine and want to borrow them?

I've met a few FAOs, and civilians that did the interviews. Some of them are really into firearms. I'd say it's probably just a kindred spirit.

Unfortunately I no longer trust anybody, least of all an AO or Plod. Thats what its come down to, too many prying questions, too much info. And it is all recorded. I think Arthur has the right idea - ask if he has a chronograph. Then when you get real chummy show him your meager supply of 6.5 boolits, and 200 primers, and you should be sweet.

They're hit and miss. Ive had one who was a total legend and another that asked my what kind of 'firearm' my break barrel airgun was....

I'm still kinda shocked at that one. They might have borrowed him from the front desk at Auckland Council?

years back i had a saiga12 locked in a rack on a wall. the mag was removed and the Vetter wrote down single shot shotgun, he also didnt know why i could not remove the bolt from my lever action

When they ban ammo, they will know who to call on for making and maybe distributing the "illegal" stuff. Paranoid? Not me.

Originally Posted by grandpamac

Greetings All,
I think @Cigar has nailed it. Arms Officers often take the job as they have an interest in firearms. It is a pretty thankless job with inadequate resources often dealing with a grumpy and sometimes hostile public. Handloading is a pretty solitary activity, beavering away trying to develop loads using often conflicting information. We could all do with a bit of TLC and I certainly could have done with a mentor or just someone to compare notes with when I started handloading around 1970. I think that the AO here is just a handloader looking for someone to chat to. Not everything that happens is part of a conspiracy in spite of what some may think.
Regards Grandpamac.

1973 at the Taradale Police Station the police officer nearly ripped the head off the applicant about the dangers of getting a FAL. Years later the applicant looked at his licence and the officer in front of him and told him it was you. He just laughed and said it was to keep you honest. He is now retired but had a wonderful wit.

update time...have you contacted him...or remembered his name yet???