Is this an "old man's hobby"?

[RDGAC]

Originally Posted by Iain

No private gun ranges where you can shoot unlicensed? I'm surprised black powder is heavily regulated.

In any case good to see there's a few of us under "middle age" here.

It's surprisingly heavily regulated, since it's legally classed as an explosive. (Modern smokeless stuff, by contrast, is not - I have not a clue why.) See here for some information. The amusing bit is that I can waltz into any old shop and buy fireworks with a reasonable quantity of BP in them over the counter, no questions asked.

You also need a good reason to have it - for shooting powders, you'd therefore need a shotgun (Section II) license, if you were using a smoothbore gun, or a Firearms (Section I) license if using a rifled musket. Shotgun certs are easier to get but you still have to jump through hoops.

Far as I know there hasn't been such a thing as an "unregulated", legal, operating firearm of any kind here since 1968.