When I was a lot younger it was quite easy to get a shotgun license here in the UK - If I remember rightly I got one at 16, or it may have been 18. Used to go shooting rats on the local tip with a 410, which was great fun. I had a side by side double 12 bore as well though - Can't remember the make but it was not very good. Worse moment was bagging a racing pigeon without realising it - Them things can be worth £000's! Strangest was, after reading how to do it in an 'Alan Quartermain' story, filling a case with shot and melted candle wax. The accurate range was very poor but when it did hit something it blew a hole the size of a footbal in it! Frightens the life out of me now thinking what could have happened:-(

Cheers

Dave