Interested in taking up shooting

johnser

Hi Guys,

Can anyone point me in the right direction.

I'm interested in taking up Shooting as a new sport. Seeing as I'm now too old and injury prone to continue with my limited 5-a-side efforts, I'd like to get into shooting.

My area of interest is Target shooting. I've no interest in hunting or clay pigeon shooting.

I'm well clued up on obtaining the paper work i.e. gun license etc. Just need information on clubs in the North Dublin Area, and whats involved, or someone to talk to in relation this.

Many thanks

John

Sparks

North Dublin pretty much means Wilkinstown for air rifle. Fingal does .22 but I'm not sure whether they take new shooters or not. Outside of ISSF shooting, I'm sure the other posters can supply information. There are other .22 clubs in that neck of the woods but I've not heard of them shooting ISSF disciplines in the last few years; but then, ISSF may not be your cup of tea either!
Do you have any idea as to what kind of target shooting you would prefer to do?

Rovi

I know you're looking for clubs in North Dublin, about which I know virtually nothing, but I'd suggest that if you haven't yet got any particular type of target shooting in mind, it might be a good idea to do a bit of travelling to see what's available out there.
Pretty much the whole gamut of target shooting disciplines are available in this country, from 10m indoor airguns to long-range fullbore rifles, with pistols, formal/informal benchrest, gallery rifle, and who knows what else in the mix too.

Be aware though, this stuff is addictive!

bernard93

John,

As sparks said North Dublin means Fingal for ISSF .22 3 position or prone, but they have not been accepting new members for at least a year (don’t ask me why)..

You could also try Courtlough Shooting Grounds just on the Southside of Balbriggan of the old belfast to dublin road, they have .22 benchrest shooting and silhouettes out to 100 yards.

If you want to do so real shooting there is Ballykindler in the north, it’s about 5 mile south of Downpatrick in Co Down. You need to be a member of a Northern Ireland club, (Comber, Ulster Rifle Assoc, Dungannon) which is easy enough to do, they can supply you with a club rifle and ammo and we shoot out to 600 yards twice a month. In my opinion its the best fullbore range in Ireland by far.

Plus you get to do some shooting while you are waiting on your own license coming through from the Garda

If you need anymore info just ask....

Bernard.....

johnser

Thanks for the replies guys.

To be honest, I wouldnt have any problems traveling. So I wouldnt be tied down to clubs in the North Side, they would have been just handier. Just looking for a friendly club, who have a good outlook on novices. I'd be looking at eventually taking up competition shooting in a few years, time and talent permitting.

I'm not completely clued up yet on all the disiplines yet, but my area of interest would be something like Silhouette and .22 rim fire? Make sense?

Thanks again for the information.

John

If your a TCD / UCD graduate, you can join their clubs I think...

They do Air Rifle, 0.22 (TCD) and Air Pistol (UCD)

johnser

Cheers again for the information.

Bernard, Courtlough seems just like what I'm after. I've given them a call and will pop over maybe tonight and have a chat with them.

I'll let you know how it goes.

John

demonloop

Get your cheque book out too, its an expensive sport

Sparks

Doesn't have to be - starting off in air pistol, you're looking at around the €100 mark to join a club. Start using a club gun and club equipment (which is the safest way anyway). Get your own pistol later on - you're looking at around €250-300. And that's the bulk of the outlay really. Until you get competitive, that is

Sparks

By the way, the mods have been talking about this and we agreed that the idea of a sticky thread on this topic was badly needed (as several posters said), so everyone post in here on how to get started in shooting. Once we've got everything, we'll tidy and format it up a bit and then post it as a sticky thread along with the charter and events threads.

johnser

Good idea Sparks. I did browse through the forum before I asked the question, but as was pointed out earlier, there is such a range in types of shooting that none were specific to my questions.

John

johnser

Well, went over to Courtlough at the weekend and asked all the questions. Seems like a very good setup (in my very limited experience) and very professional and aproachable staff.

Got my application form and insurance all filled out so will pop back over later this week and become a member.

Cheer for the point in the right direction.

John

Vegeta

johnser wrote:

Well, went over to Courtlough at the weekend and asked all the questions. Seems like a very good setup (in my very limited experience) and very professional and aproachable staff.

Got my application form and insurance all filled out so will pop back over later this week and become a member.

Cheer for the point in the right direction.

John

nice one mate. Fair play for going the correct and safe way about it.

Hope you enjoy many years of shooting

Stheno

Could anyone give me information on clubs for rifle target shooting in the midlands?

I've gone shooting twice (Courtlough) but it's a far journey if I were to take up shooting regularly, as I live in Portlaoise.

Also do clubs provide instruction to new members?

civdef

Midland National Shooting Centre near Tullamore is a lot closer to you, and has a fair few Laois members who cross the border in order to shoot!

Rovi

civdef wrote:

Midland National Shooting Centre near Tullamore is a lot closer to you, and has a fair few Laois members who cross the border in order to shoot!

Yep, those BIFFOs are considered 'friendly' by explorers from more civilised places