NARGC club/air rifle member

scorphonic

How ya all doing?

Person I know has joined my local gun club and has sent an application for a licence for an Air rifle. As far as I know it is illegal to hunt game or anything living with an air gun of any kind in Ireland. If this is true then this person joined the club and has applied for their licence for a "Target" rifle by being a memeber of a hunting club.

Should I say anything to my club chairman or just let it be?

Needless to say I will NEVER go hunting with this person, I know how hard it is to shoot and kill with the one shot (when you are a beginner) and there is no hope in hell that this person will be capable of killing a creature without putting them through unnecessary pain first.

I have been known to involve myself in things that are better left alone, but I feel like this is a unique situation...

Any help/comments appreciated.

Sparks

scorphonic wrote:

Person I know has joined my local gun club and has sent an application for a licence for an Air rifle. As far as I know it is illegal to hunt game or anything living with an air gun of any kind in Ireland.

As far as I know - though be warned that this is not an area of firearms law I know a great deal on - it's illegal to hunt game with one, but I don't know if it's illegal to shoot vermin with one or not.

If this is true then this person joined the club and has applied for their licence for a "Target" rifle by being a memeber of a hunting club.

Assuming it's not a hunting air rifle (such things do exist, in fact they make up the majority of airguns in N.Ireland and the UK). Also, it's not illegal to apply for a licence to go target shooting while in a hunting club; he might just want to plink at tin cans with an air rifle to work on his aim...

Should I say anything to my club chairman or just let it be?

If you're that worried about it, you pretty much have to say something. Doesn't have to be in public, doesn't have to be on the record, you could just ask over a pint what the story was.
You're probably going to get some thinking you're a busybody of course. So you have to ask if your concerns outweigh that possibility. On the other hand, if just one person had done this in the past, we probably wouldn't have had the Hungerford or Dunblane tragedies. This isn't anywhere near that severe, obviously, but the principle is pretty much the same.

FLAG

To clarify the matter, it is not lawful to hunt/kill game birds with an air rifle or any rifle for that matter, however it is not outside the law to hunt any vermin with an air rifle or rifle, there are however published open seasons even for bird vermin and these need to be adhered to! It would however be the responsibility of the individual engaged in such hunting to ensure that the firearm in use has adequate power to be humane in the killing of the quarry and that the marksman’s skills should be sufficient to ensure an ability to get sufficiently close to perform the humane dispatch within the capacity of the chosen firearm.

The query however raises another question, what business it is of any individual as to the mechanism by which one (someone else) is granted a firearms certificate. It sounds to me like it is pure conjecture on the part of the person posing the question as to what circumstances the individual may have been granted the certificate, presumably they went or are going through the same process as any individual and it was seen fit by the superintendent to grant the application.

The legislation is very clear in the matter of how one qualifies to be granted a certificate. If an application is made and granted then the person has satisfied the legislative requirements as evidenced by the grant of the certificate, because one is a member of a "hunting" club it does not preclude them from making application for any firearm as long as they satisfy the superintendent under the current legislation.

In summary the poster should mind their own business in short! This is one of those things that this person should leave alone and it is not unique, the granting of firearms certificates takes place every day of the week for a variety of reasons, the Superintendent is the designated person to make the decision not anyone else!

Vegeta

I have two air rifles that i hunt vermin with all the time.

generally a 30ftlb pcp, or if its up close work a 12ftlb pcp which is more accurate than i am.

If and only if i have a stable rest and am pretty sure of a precise shot I will take crows at 45-50 yards with head shots and pointed pellets

I agree with FLAG on this one. you cant shoot game birds with any rifle

scorphonic

Thanks for the replies everyone, Nothing will be said on my part so. Your absolutely right about the superintendent having the power to grant to those that are fit (in the supers eyes) to hold a firearm. I was unaware that air rifles were allowed to be used to kill vermin and so I believe that it was the right move to post first!!. For one I learned about the legality of air rifles and vermin hunting and that I would have looked like a complete arse bringing this up with my club leader.

So my next question is, can you buy pointed pellets here in the republic? (dont kick my ass on that one...I have never seen them in the store- have only seen the target pellets on the shelf).

civdef

Yes, but they're rubbish.

scorphonic

And if you are to buy them from abroad then do you require special permission as they are obviously considered as ammunition, OR are they?

How are the pellets here rubbish? what makes a good pellet, especially one that is designed to kill vermin.

civdef

In my experience ( I last had an air rifle about 6 years ago), pointed pellets offer no benefits at all as regardsa lethality, but offer significant accuracy reductions. It is notable that most of the modern style plastic skirt pellets do not have a pointed top.

Vegeta

I would have to disagree with civdef here.

I use crossman accupel (domed) and crossman powapell (pointed) for both .22 pcp air rifles. These are the only brand I use because a) they are the recommended pellets to use by the rifle manufacturer of one of the rifles and b) they are excellent.

I find both to be extremely accurate and I find the pointed pellets do a little more damage especially on quarry like pigeons.

EDIT: ask the dealer the next time you are in does he have any pointed pellets