Rifle Club

Sugarglass

Hey, starting in September and was thinking about joining the rifle club just wanted to know if the sports clubs are aimed at people who want to compete. I have an interest in using the range on campus but don't really want to take place in competition. Just wondering if this was okay or what's the situation.

Thanks.

Mark200

Well as a member of the rifle club who doesn't even know where the range is, I'm not sure. But I think the way it was, was you just wrote your name down on a sheet for whatever time you wanted to use the range at. You didn't have to go into competitions or anything.

t0mm

Hey Sugarglass,

Yup the Rifle Club is open to anyone and everyone who wants to join. Our aim is to get people up to the level of shooting competitively both at home and abroad (both last year and this year we have shooters going over to Wales to take part in the Welsh Nationals). That being said, many members just come down for fun and there is no pressure to do competitions if you don't want to (though there is no real reason not too as you are divided into catagories and will only be competing against others in your catagory).

We offer both 10m air-rifle and .22 "small-bore" disciplines. 10m air rifle is done standing with the target, you guessed it, 10 meters away. Sounds easy but remember the bulls eye is the size of a full stop! This is an Olympic sport and though tricky at first it is very enjoyable (and my personal favorite!:D). "Small bore" is shot lying down using "proper" bolt-action .22 caliber rifles (proper in that gun-powder is used instead of air to make the bullet move). Like air rifle, this is shot down in the range, but with targets 25 meters away, though it is also shot at 50 meters at other ranges. This one is slightly easier to get the hang of than air rifle, but we advise all new members to try both a few times. Every shooter has their prefered discipline, but most in our club shoot both.

The basic set up works like this: At the end of each week a time table is put up for the following week on the rifle club notice board in front arch. You put your name down for one detail per discipline per week. Each detail is half an hour, with the first detail starting at 6 each weekday evening and the last starting at 9.30. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays are air rifle nights, with Tuesdays and Thursdays being .22 nights, so you can put yourself down for air rifle on Monday and .22 on Thursday, but that's all. Later in the year when we aren't as busy you'll be able to come down more often and for longer details. You will have to pay for ammo, but this is subsidised and you won't be paying more than 60/70 cent a night.

Every year coming up to Christmas we select the novice air rifle squad from amoungst new members which will go on to compete against the UCD rifle club novice squad in the intervarsities/colours match. I think I'm right in saying we've won it almost every year for the last ten years (though it's been very close some years)! Squad selection is based on scores, willingness to learn and anyone we think will preform well with a bit of training. The best part about being on the squad is free ammo (!), dedicated range time which you don't have to book and you get a novice squad shirt/hoody/something. While there wasn't a .22 squad last year, anyone who showes good results and a willingness to learn might be given special privilages (cheap/free ammo). If there are enough people good at it then we might make squad but there is nothing definate on that front.

I think that is everything I can tell you about the club, add us on Facebook to be kept up in date with news and events! http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=4999473158&ref=ts

Oh, and the best score every night gets a free pint in Doyles/Kennedys/whichever pub we feel like going to! Feel free to post here or send me a PM if you want anymore information! And come up to the stand during freshers week and chat to us, we're all nice people really!:D

Sugarglass

Hey t0mm, thanks for all the info, will definitely swing by during fresher's week.

Just wondering are there lessons or something for novices, to make sure we don't shoot ourselves in the foot etc.

t0mm

Sugarglass wrote: »

Hey t0mm, thanks for all the info, will definitely swing by during fresher's week.

Just wondering are there lessons or something for novices, to make sure we don't shoot ourselves in the foot etc.

Ha yes don't worry, target rifle shooting is one the safest sports in the world, fact! All the details are watched over by our Range Officers, all of whom have at least one year's experience shooting compeditively and have special training before becoming range officers, so they know what they're talking about! We also have specialist coaches who will be down from time to time to give you a bit of extra help if you want.

banjopaul

t0mm wrote: »

Ha yes don't worry, target rifle shooting is one the safest sports in the world, fact! All the details are watched over by our Range Officers, all of whom have at least one year's experience shooting compeditively and have special training before becoming range officers, so they know what they're talking about! We also have specialist coaches who will be down from time to time to give you a bit of extra help if you want.

Sounds great I might well join this. Never shot competitively but I've used a .22 a load myself. Does the club provide the guns yeah? Where is the range located?

Sparks

The club provides everything you need - rifles, jackets, ammunition, targets, training, the works.

And it's located behind the Civil Engineering building and the sign-up sheet for booking a detail is in Front Arch:

banjopaul

Thanks I'll more than likely sign up during feshers week.

Boston

Any word on when they're going to knock down the range?

Sparks

Nothing Boston. The planning permission to rebuild that whole section did actually come through, but I think the economic ker-splatt! will probably hold off those plans for a while. We *have* been promised an all-new, on-campus range before they kick us out of the old one....

At any rate, it won't be this year.

devinejay

I joined on the premise that I was told they might go on one or two clay shoots a year, but no luck! I'll hang on to my €2 this year. Grumble grumble.....

Jev/N

Think I'll make the effort and join as well. Was in the rifle club in UCD when I was in first year and always meant to join in subsequent years but never got round to it!

Sparks

devinejay wrote: »

I joined on the premise that I was told they might go on one or two clay shoots a year, but no luck! I'll hang on to my €2 this year. Grumble grumble.....

To be fair, they have gone on clay pigeon shoots...

And this year there might be a classic service rifle shoot, maybe...



It's a good bit of fun. Silly hats not required (but ear protection very bloody definitely is!).

El Siglo

Sparks wrote: »

To be fair, they have gone on clay pigeon shoots...

And this year there might be a classic service rifle shoot, maybe...



It's a good bit of fun. Silly hats not required (but ear protection very bloody definitely is!).

Wait, there's a classic rifle shoot with Lee Enfields and Mausers? That's feckin' brilliant so it is!:D €2 well spent I say! What's the situation with the Garda Vetting Form, do you have to go to Pearse St. Garda St. or could I do it in my local?

Boston

I've joined every year bar last year, it has always been 4 euro not 2. Unless that long haired chap with the glasses was robbing me. They take care of the gardai vetting for you. I did it once and I don't recall ever being asked to do it again.

El Siglo

Boston wrote: »

I've joined every year bar last year, it has always been 4 euro not 2. Unless that long haired chap with the glasses was robbing me. They take care of the gardai vetting for you. I did it once and I don't recall ever being asked to do it again.

Cheers Boston!

Off the topic a bit,
Is Freshers week this year on from the 21st to 25th of September?
Can postgrads join societies and clubs during this week as well?
If not, when can postgrads join societies and clubs?

t0mm

Yup post-grads can join up during freshers week, and we accept new members through-out the year.

Boston

Postgrads can join clubs whenever they want. Theres no need to wait until freshers week. Judo for instance has picked up about 4 semi-regular members over the summer.

El Siglo

Good stuff folks! I'll be putting my name down, funny thing is I finish work during freshers week so it'll be as handy for me.
Cheers again lads, really appreciate it!:D

p1akuw47h5r3it

I'll prob join this soc too... Thanks for all the info Tomm ( I tink its him hu gave it anyway)

Boston

Boston wrote: »

I've joined every year bar last year, it has always been 4 euro not 2. Unless that long haired chap with the glasses was robbing me. They take care of the gardai vetting for you. I did it once and I don't recall ever being asked to do it again.

Long haired chap with glasses? You getting mixed up with surfsoc again?

All vetting is taken care of by the club, you just fill out the form and pay your €4. Thats it! As tommy mentioned, coaching, training and equipment use is free and we have plenty of socials so you will get a great return on that €4!

It wasn't me!

There's no mandate on anyone to be competitive within the club. We cater for the most recreational of shooters as well as those with national and international aspirations and we do our best to provide everything we can for both. In the last few years we've had people competing throughout the British isles and we do quite a bit of travelling. We provide training and coaching free of charge every night and the cheapest shooting out there. Be aware that to do this after college would cost an excruciating amount of money, so if you're at all interested, use your time in college to explore it. I just bought a new €500 jacket. I got a nice deal on my rifle at €650 (with near a grand's worth of upgrades) before looking at peripherary stuff like underlayers at about £200, gloves, slings, trousers, bits and pieces and we're very quickly talking several thousand euro. When we provide all of this for free, it's well worth your while exploring it a bit.

Sparks

And to offer the other end of the spectrum, I didn't have any of my own kit for the first seven years I was in the club. I didn't shoot competitively for the first three years, I just came down twice a week and plinked away for fun. I didn't get roped into helping out until after I'd gone on to start a PhD, and after that I went to a match, found I really enjoyed it and stuck with it - still without any of my own kit. I won a competition or two, all on the club's kit (it isn't second-rate crap, it's pretty good - some is even top-of-the-line, and new kit is bought every year and maintained, so it's an excellent resource). I didn't buy my gear until much later - by which time it was pretty clear I liked the sport

'Course, then I went insane and bought everything at once (literally, I walked into Anschutz's tent at the Munich World Cup, walked up to Uwe Anschutz and said "Hi, I'd like one of everything please". I tell you, you hear people saying Germans can't look happy, but they're soooo wrong ). I don't recommend that particular approach though (see insanity comment) because I only finished paying off the credit union loan I used six years later...

Groinshot

Deffo see you there in 2 weeks time, will sign up at freshers week. my list is getting longer and longer.....

It wasn't me!

Sparks wrote: »

And to offer the other end of the spectrum, I didn't have any of my own kit for the first seven years I was in the club. I didn't shoot competitively for the first three years, I just came down twice a week and plinked away for fun. I didn't get roped into helping out until after I'd gone on to start a PhD, and after that I went to a match, found I really enjoyed it and stuck with it - still without any of my own kit. I won a competition or two, all on the club's kit (it isn't second-rate crap, it's pretty good - some is even top-of-the-line, and new kit is bought every year and maintained, so it's an excellent resource). I didn't buy my gear until much later - by which time it was pretty clear I liked the sport

'Course, then I went insane and bought everything at once (literally, I walked into Anschutz's tent at the Munich World Cup, walked up to Uwe Anschutz and said "Hi, I'd like one of everything please". I tell you, you hear people saying Germans can't look happy, but they're soooo wrong ). I don't recommend that particular approach though (see insanity comment) because I only finished paying off the credit union loan I used six years later...

Aye. I've gone a bit mad and spent too much money. I regret none of it, but I may look a little thin for the first few months since I'll only be able to eat when I'm home for the weekends. And I'm still using various bits of club kit as well. I'm not done kitting myself out yet. Still got stand, scope, scope stand, made to measure trousers, boots, mat and a few other bits and bobs to go. We've had people in the club, wearing club kit, finishing national championships on the podium, against guys with forty years of experience and top-end made to measure stuff, with far more flashy rifles and ammo. We're very, very good at what we do, and the fact that our trophies are overflowing from the cabinet and littering pretty much every square inch of the place is proof of that. In my first year, we had a shooter go from absolute newcomer, never even seen the stuff before, to taking a bronze medal in the men's air rifle national championships, with a fine score, in about six months.