First Time Gun Owner Advice

Viktor.

Hi lads. I've been thinking of buying a rifle for a while now. I intend to use it for hunting deer and smaller creatures. Thing is, I've never owned a firearm before, so I wanted to get advice from experienced people before doing anything.

In regards to getting the licence, would I have to have some sort of safety course completed before I would be granted a licence? I live in the country and own over 30 acres of land, so permission for hunting and the like wouldn't be necessary obviously. Is there anything else a firearms officer would want me to have before considering an application?

What advice would you all have in regards to a starter rifle, etc? This will probably seem stupid, but I had my eye on a Remington 700, would it be a bit much for a starter?

I'd have a budget of around 600-1000 euro. Any other advice you can give me would be much appreciated thanks.

Sparks

First best bit of advice (and I think we're all unanimous on this) - get thee to thine local club first. See what it's like, ask questions there, talk to folk.
Worry about what rifle and courses and all the other stuff after that point.

kildare.17hmr

welcome to the shooting section loucifer,

I dont think licencing a rifle of deer calibre will be possible as a first time licence. do you have any shooting experience? a rifle if this calibre demands alot of respect and starting from the ground and working up is the best way to go with maybe a .22 or.17hmr to begin with before getting a bigger calibre. hunting deer also requires skill which is better learnt with smaller calibre guns on bunnies and foxes ect and they are MUCH cheaper to learn with

Im sure some of the more experienced lads will be on to advise you soon

endasmail

Loucifer wrote: »

Hi lads. I've been thinking of buying a rifle for a while now. I intend to use it for hunting deer and smaller creatures. Thing is, I've never owned a firearm before, so I wanted to get advice from experienced people before doing anything.

In regards to getting the licence, would I have to have some sort of safety course completed before I would be granted a licence? I live in the country and own over 30 acres of land, so permission for hunting and the like wouldn't be necessary obviously. Is there anything else a firearms officer would want me to have before considering an application?

What advice would you all have in regards to a starter rifle, etc? This will probably seem stupid, but I had my eye on a Remington 700, would it be a bit much for a starter?

I'd have a budget of around 600-1000 euro. Any other advice you can give me would be much appreciated thanks.

you might not have enough land there
you may have to gather up a few permissions first ,in order to license a centerfire rifle
best of luck with it anyhow

patsat

Plus the permission is only viable if there is deer on your land when applying for a deer license.

If you have no experience with firearms I'd strongly advise getting a .22 and learn the ropes before slowly progressing to deer.

vixdname

As the lads said, start smaller - I know you'd like to get out there and start stalking deer and the whole idea of shooting bunnies \ foxes just isnt the same but believe me, I've a .22LR for many years and have had .22 magnums \ .22 swifts, shotguns and various .223s over the years and now after over 20 years of shooting those calibre rifles am I really considering getting into the deer stalking BUT even after so many years experience with the other calibers I'm still dubious about getting a deer caliber rifle as theres so much more to it.
You have to take into consideration your backdrop - because the deer round will travel considerably more then my .22lr or .223 along with all the other GUN related issues.
You also have to consider, how to STALK properly - this isnt something that will be learnt over night - it takes practice and help from experienced hunter on what the best methods are.
Finally, once you shoot a deer - do you know how to butcher it correctly and have both respect for the animal, dead or not and those around you who are likely to be visiting the same piece of land as you shoot on.
In short, take your time - get into your new sport slowly and slowly work your way up. I'm not saying wait 20 years but just dont rush into anything.

Enjoy your new sport - its the best sport in the world !!! (In My Opinion):D

Viktor.

Thanks for all the advice guys and for laying it out straight I'll look into my local gun club first and take it from there