[svandamme]

It's not to bad as far as ownership, though the legislation has gotten a bit more strict the last 10 years. But pretty much anything goes except full auto. Did have to go to a club, rack up range time.. did theoretical exam(about laws, very basic) and a practical, safe handling exam for pistol, rifle and smoothbore.. no biggie either.

Common, hard to tell, estimates are about 2000 000 guns for about 11 000 000 Belgians.
Obviously many of those guns are grouped with people owning more then 1 gun. Of those 2 000 000 gus, about 800 000 are registred, eg legal. A lot of people have a shotgun in the attic, mums the word.

Ammo is not available over the counter you need a permit. But i'm sure somebody who really wants to buy ammo without a permit, will find somebody selling it.. That speaks for itself.

The reality is, Belgium is a crowded country, there isn't much free room , you'll be hard pressed to find a single spot in Belgium where you aren't within a mile of a house, especially the Flemish part is "full".. the Frech part (ardennes) probably less.
And as such it's not possible to shoot in your backyard as you would in more rural regions of the world...

As for choice, because it's rather strict,you gotta buy what's available.
A lot of gunstores have closed down because of strict regulations.. and one store closes, other store buys up the stock, etc etc..

Belgium as far as strict laws, it's not to bad... I got my permit in about 9 months, there is mandatory club membership with minimum amount of range attendance..
Holland is ok, but very regulated as well, France is worse (free guns for hunting, .22 is free,blackpowder too.. but lot's of limitation on types of calibers, any war caliber is no-no, hunting is ok).. UK as far as i can tell is ultra strict..I think Germany is slightly easier then Belgium. Switserland is gun country.. Austria, dunnu, but i think it's like Germany....

When i wanted to buy my pistol, i wanted a SA 1911.. but couldn't find any, just a SA1911 doublestack, which didn't feel comfortable. As i was looking around i foudn a DW1911, asked some buddies in the US, they told me , what, that price, go get it now, those are great guns and they are best bang for the buck.. so i went and got it the next day.

Reloading is actually a bit of a grey area.. i can buy the equipment , i can buy shells, primers, powder..
But actually putting it together... it's not entirely clear if that's legal. In fact i can't find jack chit about reloading regulation.. all i know is that many do it.
I have actually sent in a request for information to the Wapenunie (Belgian NRA) about reloading, curious to see what they tell me..