Thanks for your notes on what is more typically seen in Germany. I own a “black gun” at the moment, a Remington All Weather 1100 20 gauge LW. Is a licensed German hunter able to use a gun like this to hunt with? Are they permitted to use a semiautomatic action of any type?
Firstly, I am remiss in answering, due to the Easter holy days, and I apologize for that.
Secondly, a comprehensive answer on the present distribution of hunting firearms in Germany would take a lot of space, time and effort, so I ask you to bear with me if I only answer, as a maybe first instalment, to the above-quoted question.
1. The (federal) German firearms law respects the annual (or in some states, triannual) hunting licence as being vested in the legal effects of a firearms acquisition and possession certificate. Such a hunting licence of any of 16 states of Federal Germany is valid nationwide. It allows you to acquire and to temporarily possess without a Waffenbesitzkarte (FAC) any long firearm (shotguns and rifles alike) that would not be "as such" generally forbidden by the remaining obsolete federal hunting law (Bundesjagdgesetz, in practice the little altered continuation of the Reichsjagdgesetz of 1934).
This general prohibition nowadays only encompasses fully automatic weapons; because former magazine capacity restrictions in the federal hunting law have been dropped a few years ago.
2. New 2020 firearms laws, nationwide through the countries of the EC, have set up new magazine restrictions. Max 10 for long arms, max 20 for handguns.
3. There are no hunting law restrictions in any German state that would differentiate between operation systems and actions. Energy minima for (rifle !) cartridges exist though, 1000 Joules at 100 metres for roe deer, 2000 Joules at 100 metres for all other cloven-hoof game, no matter weight and distance. Shotgun slugs however are exempt (!) from this, no matter whether the barrel is smooth or rifled. Also, some states stipulate limited exceptions, e.g. for small (striped) wild boarlets, and for dispatching wounded game.
Weidmannsheil,
Carcano
