First time shooting in Ireland

bijapos

A friend of mine (female, early 50's) has always had a desire to fire a real gun, preferably a pistol. Bit strange as she is a very mild mannered woman. Either way its something she would like to do and if possible I'd like to give her a birthday present of a few hours shooting.

So is there anywhere in Ireland where someone with absolutely no experience can legally spend a few hours with an instructor and get a chance to fire a real pistol? I know its possible in some other countries, but is there anywhere in Ireland where its possible?

juice1304

it's not really legal to do it here unless you went to a club open day, thats the only way i can think of anyways.

Sparks

It's not legal and attempts to do it through open days would invite the ire of the Powers That Be who have made their thoughts on this very clear over a long period of time.

However, that's with pistols. With rifles, day memberships are also out, but you do get people doing beginners courses with club rifles, so it's a bit more than a single day, but it is a good introduction to shooting. If you wanted to take someone out shooting shotgun, that's a whole other kettle of fish and there are several places already set up which cater to that with instructors and a setup aimed at total beginners trying the sport. Courtlough is good on the north side of Dublin, Hilltop is recommended by many on the south side of Dublin and throughout Wicklow, and there are other places set up in different areas of the country, I'm sure several folk on here can give you a recommendation based on where you are in the country.

juice1304

you can shoot rifles up in courtlough without any previous experience

Sparks

juice1304 wrote: »

you can shoot rifles up in courtlough without any previous experience

If so, it might be more complicated than just doing it like selling cornflakes - the Clubs SI explicitly bans it (has done since August '09):

A club shall not run any day or temporary membership schemes

Granted, the powers that be were more looking to stop walk-in members of the public shooting with handguns on ranges (though it's still contested by some as to whether or not that ever happened or was just the made-to-sell-advertising content of some of the tabloid newspapers), and rifle ranges aren't looked on with quite so much concern; but the law that applies to one applies to the other (it doesn't apply to shotgun ranges, because they're not even ranges under the Act, but the rifle part of courtlough would still be bound by the SI).

You could have some sort of club membership arrangement which gets around that; I know that several beginner courses take that approach; but I don't know the details of the setup in courtlough.

bijapos

Ok, thanks for the replies. I doubt she would be able to lift a shotgun, let alone handle one , its a kind of bizarre thing but its a pistol/handgun she wants to try out, but I'll look into the rifle ranges anyway. Cheers.

Tackleberrywho

bijapos wrote: »

Ok, thanks for the replies. I doubt she would be able to lift a shotgun, let alone handle one , its a kind of bizarre thing but its a pistol/handgun she wants to try out, but I'll look into the rifle ranges anyway. Cheers.

You should look at a 16gauge 20gauge or .410bore shotgun as the weight and recoil is much less.

Not sure if the aforementioned ranges offer them to rent though.

Most older people prefer the 20gauge shotgun or 16g as the recoil is less and yet still will break clays, generally lighter guns as well which is a consideration if your lady friend is slight of build.