Midlands range

Feidhlim Dignan

Im heading up to birr at the weekend and i was wondering if i can shoot at the range without being a member.
i want to put my new .223 through its paces and get her ready for some serious foxing.

bunny shooter

AFAIK you have to be "signed in" by a member and then there is a charge to use the range and you should also bring your FAC for the firearm/s you will be using & proof of adequate insurance too. Contact them to confirm, contact details here

http://www.nationalshootingcentre.ie/contact.html

elius

Id love to join but i just feel 600 for a new comer is border line ridiculous in this day and age.

Tackleberrywho

elius wrote: »

Id love to join but i just feel 600 for a new comer is border line ridiculous in this day and age.

As mentioned you can shoot if invited by a member.
It's much cheaper than a Golf club, & you get insurance as part of it not to mention being able to get answers to questions & or Help if you need it.

It is €265 every year after the first year.

As a result of MNSCI, I have made loads of friends, got loads of tips and help when i was first learning to Zero scopes etc.

I've been a member a since around 2000.
Prior to that everything i heard in an RFD I believed to be fact as i had no other people to advise on scopes etc.

You also get to see other peoples firearms and get to hear first hand the problems and solutions that people have found with them.

If you are competitive you can compete as much as you like.
And if you like to be part of something, Why not be part of the second longest range shooting club in Europe

Also you have the options of getting bigger into Rifles as being an active member is a "purpose" for having lovely toys:D:D

fish slapped

Tackle... has summed it all up

... all you need then is time to go !! (read permission from herself )

:D


Fish

Tackleberrywho

And Don't worry about not being from the Midlands, AFAIK 30 or so counties are represented as members.

I think no members from leitrim and one other county which escapes me at the mo!

Every time I'm there I hear accents from all over Ireland, sometimes from all over the globe!

rrpc

elius wrote: »

Id love to join but i just feel 600 for a new comer is border line ridiculous in this day and age.

Most clubs have a joining fee, it's your investment in the infrastructure that all the other members have invested in.

And you can't say that Midlands hasn't invested. Just looking at the 3,500 scaffolding planks used for the ground baffles makes me weak at the knees.

gunhappy_ie

elius wrote: »

Id love to join but i just feel 600 for a new comer is border line ridiculous in this day and age.

I agree with tac on about the facilities there as well as the members.

And i totally agree with the high joining fee, because it:

A, wards off time wasters.... or othose who seek to join a club to get a gun licence yet never use the club.

and

B, its only fair for members who have been paying over the years to upgarde the range to what it is today. I dont believe it to be fair that someone can come along and join up like that. Ive heard of a club up north charge a joining fee for this exact reason.

That i believe is the justification for the cost :)

Tackleberrywho

When i joined MRC/MNSCI there was a 400,300,200 100 & 50.

The Club house was an old prefab and that was about it.
Now TV,Pool Table, Vending machines,Toilets Large Carpark.
Pistol range, rifle shooting from 50-1200yards!
open week days by appointment, was only pen weekends at first!

It always was dearer to join at first.
If you can afford a new scope or rifle you can afford to join the range.
The range insurance is with IFA Countryside and I receive rebates on my phone bill & Car insurance as a result.

bunny shooter

elius wrote: »

Id love to join but i just feel 600 for a new comer is border line ridiculous in this day and age.

It's €585 for the first year AFAIK so that's €11.25 per week. Then it's €285 per year so that's €5.48 per week and as Tac says that includes insurance.

Have you been there and had a look at the facilities? You'll get nothing like it anywhere else in the ROI.

I just wish I could spend more time there

Tackleberrywho

tac foley wrote: »

Please explain what you mean by 'ground baffles'. I have to admit that I have never encountered such things.

But then I've only been shooting since 1952, and there are sure to be things that are new to me.

Autres pays, autres facons, as we say. ;=\

tac

http://www.nationalshootingcentre.ie/images/baffled-after.jpg


It's an old pic, as it was taken in the winter. it's full of grass now. An Extra Safety Measure!
Before


And after

bunny shooter

Here ya go Tac

Have a look under the "Baffles" title a wee bit down this page;)

http://www.nationalshootingcentre.ie/notice.html

Thanks Tacwho ............... beat me to it

Cass

LongRifle

tac foley wrote: »

Thanks, bunny shooter.

Now, humour me. It states that this 'complies with all current range safety regulations'. What range safety regulations are they that make structures like this necessary?

It looks to be a pretty windy old location there - so what happens to the wind over the baffles? How do you shoot over the wind over the baffles? Have the rest of us got it all wrong with the design of OUR ranges that don't have ground based baffles?

I've still not got my my head around this - it's NOT photo-shopped, now is it?

tac

You should see how many baffles it took to get to the 1200yrd!;)

Tackleberrywho

ezridax wrote: »

Thats a better pic, you should get them to stick it up on the website!

elius

To be honest with you i could justify it if i lived close but at most id make it down once a month. I dont see why they dont except day members. If the gardai see you fit to hold a rifle shorely to god the midlands range can.. And it would present quite abit of revenue for the club which in turn could help keep membership costs down. If i could drive down for the day once a month pay 70 quid and shoot for a day id consider good value to be honest.

Who wants to bring me:D

Tackleberrywho

elius wrote: »

To be honest with you i could justify it if i lived close but at most id make it down once a month. I dont see why they dont except day members. If the gardai see you fit to hold a rifle shorely to god the midlands range can.. And it would present quite abit of revenue for the club which in turn could help keep membership costs down. If i could drive down for the day once a month pay 70 quid and shoot for a day id consider good value to be honest.

Who wants to bring me:D

Any member including yours truly can sign you in for the day, you can only shoot if you have your own Public Liability insurance firearms certs with you .

€70x12 €840 per year if you go your way!

Remember its only €5 and change a week after year 1!

elius

Tackleberrywho wrote: »

Any member including yours truly can sign you in for the day, you can only shoot if you have your own Public Liability insurance firearms certs with you .

€70x12 €840 per year if you go your way!

Remember its only €5 and change a week after year 1!

Yey but 600 hundred lids as an awefull lot up front. Id love to head down at some point with the pea shooter lol. Might take ya up on that tac thanks does country side alliance cover you?

Tackleberrywho

elius wrote: »

Yey but 600 hundred lids as an awefull lot up front. Id love to head down at some point with the pea shooter lol. Might take ya up on that tac thanks does country side alliance cover you?

Yes, but you have to bring your card and your licence!!

No Pea Shooting without it!

Rovi

elius wrote: »

I dont see why they dont except day members.

They can't, and neither can any other Authorised Club or Range; 'day or temporary membership' is specifically prohibited in legislation:
S.I. No. 308 of 2009

FIREARMS (AUTHORISATION OF RIFLE OR PISTOL CLUBS) REGULATIONS 2009 wrote:

4. (4) A club shall not run any day or temporary membership schemes.

Tackleberrywho

Rovi wrote: »

They can't, and neither can any other Authorised Club or Range; 'day or temporary membership' is specifically prohibited in legislation:
S.I. No. 308 of 2009

Good Man Rovi!
Thats what I was looking for

It wasn't me!

Just an aside, but having seen the two photos together drives it home. Those baffles really uglied up the place, big time.

Feidhlim Dignan

sorry guy but what are the baffles for? sound, bullet stopping?

Tackleberrywho

It wasn't me! wrote: »

Just an aside, but having seen the two photos together drives it home. Those baffles really uglied up the place, big time.

T'is not about being Purdy, Tis about keeping DOJ happy

Tackleberrywho

Feidhlim Dignan wrote: »

sorry guy but what are the baffles for? sound, bullet stopping?

Bullet stopping if you hit the deck they say!

I've never seen a round hit the deck, But How and Trevor!

rrpc

Feidhlim Dignan wrote: »

sorry guy but what are the baffles for? sound, bullet stopping?

They are there to prevent ricochets from leaving the range. There are other ways of doing this, but ground baffles on long ranges can be the easiest.

mrhd

Rovi wrote: »

They can't, and neither can any other Authorised Club or Range; 'day or temporary membership' is specifically prohibited in legislation:
S.I. No. 308 of 2009

Another ill concieved piece of legislation. I can understand DOJ wanting to stop guys without a FAC walking in off the street and renting club rifles etc.

But I for example have a rifle FAC and NARGC insurance, which implies DOJ/GS think I am safe and trustworthy. I would occasionally use a range on a pay as you go basis, if it were allowed, to zero scopes rather than having to find a safe location locally.

That section of the SI would allow for pay-as-you-go for FAC holders using their own rifles, if we lived in a country with logical thinking politico's. And because it is an SI it can as I understand it be amended by the minister without having to go back to the Dail.

I can only hope.

rrpc

mrhd wrote: »

Another ill concieved piece of legislation. I can understand DOJ wanting to stop guys without a FAC walking in off the street and renting club rifles etc.

But I for example have a rifle FAC and NARGC insurance, which implies DOJ/GS think I am safe and trustworthy. I would occasionally use a range on a pay as you go basis, if it were allowed, to zero scopes rather than having to find a safe location locally.

That section of the SI would allow for pay-as-you-go for FAC holders using their own rifles, if we lived in a country with logical thinking politico's. And because it is an SI it can as I understand it be amended by the minister without having to go back to the Dail.

I can only hope.

Except that a club with an authorisation, by default gives anyone who's a member a licence to use club guns. So a temporary membership would allow anyone use any club firearm without actually having a licence, by just paying a small 'temporary' membership fee.

mrhd

Fair enough.

But Section 4 of the SI could be expanded a little to say something along the lines of 'this restriction will not apply to FAC holders wishing to use the firearms to which the FAC applies'

rrpc

mrhd wrote: »

Fair enough.

But Section 4 of the SI could be expanded a little to say something along the lines of 'this restriction will not apply to FAC holders wishing to use the firearms to which the FAC applies'

It allows for visitors and in fact specifies that certain information with regard to visitors (including their FAC number) be recorded by the club.

It really depends on the club after that, to specify under what circumstances a visitor can use the range.

I'm sure there'll be more detail on this in the upcoming ranges SI.

Rovi

tac foley wrote: »

Now, humour me. It states that this 'complies with all current range safety regulations'. What range safety regulations are they that make structures like this necessary?

The DOJ have chosen to use/adapt the Canadian Range Design and Construction Guidelines (PDF 6.28MB), which details all this stuff.

To the best of my knowledge (very much open to correction), that's still what they're working with.

Sceptical minds might view some of this as a fine way of imposing obstacles and costs on ranges in the hope that they might eventually give up in the face of the constant deluge of bureaucracy and expense, I'm sure that couldn't possibly be the case though.

Cynical minds will note the provision therein for the sport and acceptance of the qualifications of Range Officers of 'The Shooting Sport Whose Name Shall Not Be Spoken', and ponder as to how DOJ/Nasty Little Man managed to overlook that particular bit of evidence as to the acceptability of the sport in one of their own preferred documents. :mad: