Pistol shooting questions

backpacker

Hi all,

First post here so greetings to all concerned. I’ve already learned a good deal from your collective wisdom. Can I start by saying that I am really conscious that some of the questions I have will have been dealt with in the past; I’ve done my best to inform myself from reading through the forum but I would still really appreciate if one or two of you had the patience and time to come up with a few specific answers to my questions/concerns.

I was involved in UCD a good while back, certainly pre the decision to recommence pistol licensing. Had a great time, met good people, then started work and moved on. To be honest, had pistol shooting been around then, I might well have stuck around and that is the background which leads me to what I’d like to find out.

1) No beating around the bush, my main interest at this point would be in shooting full calibre pistols/revolvers. Are there clubs in the Dublin area with club guns where I could try this out? Also, are there any perception issues within Irish shooting regarding people whose primary interest would be as mentioned; in other words, coming in fresh might one be regarded with a degree of suspicion?
2) I live in north Co. Dublin and my closest (and indeed responsible) Garda station is Swords. Has anyone got experience of their attitude towards licensing if I wanted to apply for one? Needless to say, I have no criminal record of any description and one minor point in my favour is that Donnybrook Garda Station might still have a record of me as I was a range officer in UCD at one point.
3) Do any clubs offer storage for member’s guns and would the Gardai acquiesce in such an arrangement? I live in an apartment which is perfectly secure but I must confess that for a few personal reasons, I’d kind of like not to store a pistol at home. I do travel quite a lot and my folks pop in when I’m away. For what it’s worth, they’re not exactly fans of shooting and I don’t think they’d be comfortable with that arrangement. That’s not necessarily the only reason, btw.

Many thanks in advance to those who take the time to reply…if you were involved in UCD/TCD shooting roughly between 1999/2001, feel free to PM me as we may know each other. Thanks a lot.

rrpc

backpacker wrote: »

Hi all,

First post here so greetings to all concerned. I’ve already learned a good deal from your collective wisdom. Can I start by saying that I am really conscious that some of the questions I have will have been dealt with in the past; I’ve done my best to inform myself from reading through the forum but I would still really appreciate if one or two of you had the patience and time to come up with a few specific answers to my questions/concerns.

I was involved in UCD a good while back, certainly pre the decision to recommence pistol licensing. Had a great time, met good people, then started work and moved on. To be honest, had pistol shooting been around then, I might well have stuck around and that is the background which leads me to what I’d like to find out.

1) No beating around the bush, my main interest at this point would be in shooting full calibre pistols/revolvers. Are there clubs in the Dublin area with club guns where I could try this out? Also, are there any perception issues within Irish shooting regarding people whose primary interest would be as mentioned; in other words, coming in fresh might one be regarded with a degree of suspicion?

Welcome

Club full bore pistols are hard to come by, for very obvious reasons. The procedure would be usually to move up to full bore from rimfire. In any event I don't know any club that would allow a non-member use a pistol of any type or calibre.

2) I live in north Co. Dublin and my closest (and indeed responsible) Garda station is Swords. Has anyone got experience of their attitude towards licensing if I wanted to apply for one? Needless to say, I have no criminal record of any description and one minor point in my favour is that Donnybrook Garda Station might still have a record of me as I was a range officer in UCD at one point.

Can't answer that one, maybe someone else?

3) Do any clubs offer storage for member’s guns and would the Gardai acquiesce in such an arrangement? I live in an apartment which is perfectly secure but I must confess that for a few personal reasons, I’d kind of like not to store a pistol at home. I do travel quite a lot and my folks pop in when I’m away. For what it’s worth, they’re not exactly fans of shooting and I don’t think they’d be comfortable with that arrangement. That’s not necessarily the only reason, btw.

I'm afraid the answer is no. Part of the application for a pistol licence is demonstrating the security of storage in your home, so anywhere other than your home is not acceptable. AFAIK, no club offers such a storage arrangement anyway.

backpacker

Thanks a lot for that.

rrpc wrote: »

Club full bore pistols are hard to come by, for very obvious reasons. The procedure would be usually to move up to full bore from rimfire. In any event I don't know any club that would allow a non-member use a pistol of any type or calibre.

Well if I were to get involved, I'd definitely jump through the reasonable hoops that the club put in my way. Certainly, it's not unreasonable to except someone to join up in order to gain access to club property.

Bananaman

You best course of action is to

Visit a few clubs and join one - (I'm in Hilltop - http://www.pcquad.com)

You will not be treated with suspicion but you are an unsafe novice until proven otherwise - regardless of your background - same applies to anyone.

Then sit a basic pistol proficiency course - your club will be able to inform you of when they are holding their next one or of they do not hold them then they will be able to hook you up with a club that does.
My club does arrange these courses for new - and old - members.

You will be starting on rimfire.

Then start the process of applying for your own license. Being in an apartment is not a problem - I know a few people who are - remember your floor is concrete which you will have no problem bolting a safe to.

Nobody can tell you how that will go. All you can do is to go talk to the Firearms officer in your local station and explain what you plan to do

Join a club
Do a proficiency course
Install a Safe

B'Man