RDF a Gun Club?

minidazzler

I have an aquaintence who claims that being in the RDF is the same as being in a rifle, pistol and shottie club.

Can someone shed some light on this?

I am a member and would like to avoid having to pay to join a gun club when I actually get around to getting a firearm.

dos29

i wouldn't say so. im in the PDF and that meant zero to the gardai when i was gettin my cert. maybe the situation is superintendent dependant. in my view, if your gettin a gun, you need somewhere to shoot it.
if its target shooting, you need a range, if its game shooting, you need land and the permission for that is sufficiant for getting the cert. also with game shooting, a gun club might be your best bet if you can get into one. a lot more land to use, and i dont think gun club memberships are too expensive.
im lookin to join mine at the next agm, (only time of year ya can join!).
personally, i dont think being in the defence forces, be it RDF or PDF, should be enough to get a firearm, for the reasons ive already said. its not like you can use it on military ranges anyway.:(

Sparks

Being in the RDF (or the PDF for that matter, or the Gardai) does not carry any weight when applying for a civilian firearms certificate. "I'm in the RDF" is not a legitimate reason to have a firearm of your own. That said, there is a defence forces shooting team and there is a Garda shooting team. "I'm in the RDF/PDF/Garda shooting team" would be a valid reason.

dos29

the only shooting teams in the PDF that im aware of are the ones made up for internal comps. for those, your issued a firearm for your chosen "discipline", ie. pistol, rifle, machine gun. id be interested in what other teams are there Sparks. it'd be something id like to at least have a go at getting involved in, even if im not good enough.

minidazzler

OK lads thanks a million, I was just checking because this source is, well, one I would take with a grain of salt.

Guess I'll have to join one then!!!

One more question for those in the know.

When you are in a gun club are you allowed to bring a guest to the range with you? (i.e. if I was a member would they mind if I brought my Dad or a friend?)

Sparks

There's a PDF team that trained for the CISM games as well as shooting in NTSA competitions dos. Not sure who'd be the person in the PDF to talk to about it though.

Sparks

Mini, it depends on the club but most would be fine with guests observing. Actually shooting would be something else - some clubs would accomodate that (under supervision), some don't or can't. Best idea would be to call ahead and ask.

minidazzler

Legend thanks.

IRLConor

dos29 wrote: »

id be interested in what other teams are there Sparks. it'd be something id like to at least have a go at getting involved in, even if im not good enough.

Sparks wrote: »

There's a PDF team that trained for the CISM games as well as shooting in NTSA competitions dos. Not sure who'd be the person in the PDF to talk to about it though.

dos29, if you have a look at any results posted on http://www.targetshootingireland.org/ and see the names with a club of "DFST" then they're the people to go looking for.

Sparks

Or 'PDF' or 'Defence Forces' or 'ATSC' - they got called different things. Thing is, they're who's in it; that's not the same as who's in charge of it or who you contact to join it. I'm not PDF, I wouldn't know where to go. You might start with those names though, just don't expect them to be able to say "yeah sure, come on down".

meathstevie

Minidazzler, speaking from experience the following seems to apply in general. It's by no means cast in stone but most claypigeon grounds ran on a commercial basis will facilitate non members for a round of clays and if they have a .22 rifle range you might be in with a shout as well as a guest. When it comes to fullbore rifles and pistols I'm afraid most places will insist on all shooters being members or members of other organisations/ranges while taking part in competitions.

revan23

depends what sort of shooting you are going to be doing, technicaly you don't have to be a member of a gun club, but it helps. there are lots of shooters including myself that are not members of clubs and just like to do our own thing. and i think joining one if the sole purpose of joining is just to help in getting a licence is a bad idea, for you and the club.

José Alaninho

When I told my FO I was in the RDF his face lit up and proceeded to tell me that that would be a great weight off the Super's mind, knowing I was military trained to handle and be safe with firearms, etc. 17 years old, first license a .22LR, in three weeks. IMO it is purely super' dependent, whether they are impressed with that or not. Mine clearly is.

peter-pantslez

dos29 wrote: »

the only shooting teams in the PDF that im aware of are the ones made up for internal comps. for those, your issued a firearm for your chosen "discipline", ie. pistol, rifle, machine gun. id be interested in what other teams are there Sparks. it'd be something id like to at least have a go at getting involved in, even if im not good enough.

there was an article in a recent An Cosnatoir about the CISM shooting team. think they use 8mm rifles (open to correction) and the team is open to both PDF and RDF.

rrpc

peter-pantslez wrote: »

there was an article in a recent An Cosnatoir about the CISM shooting team. think they use 8mm rifles (open to correction) and the team is open to both PDF and RDF.

6mm Br Norma. 300m ISSF target, standing, kneeling and prone - 3 x 20 shots.

tonysopprano

Sparks wrote: »

Being in the RDF (or the PDF for that matter, or the Gardai) does not carry any weight when applying for a civilian firearms certificate. "I'm in the RDF" is not a legitimate reason to have a firearm of your own. That said, there is a defence forces shooting team and there is a Garda shooting team. "I'm in the RDF/PDF/Garda shooting team" would be a valid reason.

Sparks, not trying to rain on your parade, but I seem to remember a recent thread where a guard wanted a pistol to compete in the Police and Fireman Games, who endend up in an ongoing courtcase.

revan23

tonysopprano wrote: »

I seem to remember a recent thread where a guard wanted a pistol to compete in the Police and Fireman Games, who endend up in an ongoing courtcase.

exactly.. a pistol. totaly different situation to a shotgun or 22lr licence, when i applied for my first licence i didn't bother telling them i was in the RDF, did'nt see why it would be relevant, and it wasn't, i had no problems at all.

Sparks

Tony, we don't quite know what the full story there was, but I'd imagine a fair few of us civvies have run in to the same kind of problem even with a good reason. I think that this might be such a case, with the twist that the applicant is a garda...

Rew

A letter from my CO went along way with my super I have to say.

Some FCA units formed gun clubs internally but its not common anymore in the RDF

bunny shooter

Rew wrote: »

A letter from my CO went along way with my super I have to say.

Good idea. I never thought of that !