Brodie Daniel Davies admitted to acquiring the firearm without a licence, as well as possessing the unauthorised and unregistered gun, and not keeping it safely, during a sentencing hearing in Walcha Local Court last month.

Davies also pleaded guilty to drug-related offences including possessing illegal drugs and equipment for administering it, stemming from a police raid on a South St home in Walcha, in July.

Acting on a tip-off from the public, officers discovered the side-by-side double-barrel shotgun, methylamphetamine, or ice as it is commonly known, cannabis and drug paraphernalia in the home on July 15.

Davies, who was granted unconditional bail by a Tamworth court the day after his arrest, was originally charged with nine offences, but a charge of goods in custody was withdrawn in court.

Following the guilty pleas, Magistrate Karen Stafford convicted Davies on all counts and placed him on a good behaviour bond to be supervised over two years.

He was also handed $600 in fines with the drugs to be destroyed.

At the time of the raid, police said the seizure or drugs and a firearm was alarming and a “deadly cocktail”.