Getting Started in Vintage Rifle Shooting.

Stovepipe

Hi all,
Does anyone have any idea of a ballpark figure to spend to get started in classic rifle shooting, with, say,a Lee-Enfield?
regards
Stovepipe

It wasn't me!

Range membership: Don't know about An Riocht in Kerry, but Midlands you're looking at 600 the first year and 295 a year thereafter.

Licence fee: 80

Rifle: Maybe 450 for a Lee Enfield.

rowa

You wouldn't get a great lee enfield for €450 , you'd need to be spending a bit more, but mosin nagants can be had for less than €300 , yugoslavian mausers in 8mm €400 or so, if you can find one the straight pull swiss k31 is probabily the best made service rifle , ask tac about that.

Cass

Breaking these posts off into a thread of their own. Could be a good source of info for anyone interested in the same.

Stovepipe

So as far as I can tell, it's as follows to get started: join VCRAI and pay NARGC insurance (why? if it takes so long to actually get your hands on the gun(circa Eu450) and get Garda approval, you can't actually shoot for months), go to gunshop and reserve a rifle and put it's serial number on the Garda Application form(Eu 80), submit same and wait. Upon receipt, go to Midland range at Blueball and become a member (an eyewatering Eu 600 plus in year one, which I thought was a bit cheeky) and then begin shooting.After the range safety course,too, of course.You also have to get and install a gun safe.So, I think it'd be the thicker end of Eu1500 before you pull the trigger.

How close it that to reality?

regards
Stovepipe

dead keen to shoot but a bit daunted by the bureaucracy and the initial set-up cost.

Cass

Stovepipe wrote: »

So as far as I can tell, it's as follows to get started: join VCRAI and pay NARGC insurance (why? if it takes so long to actually get your hands on the gun(circa Eu450) and get Garda approval, you can't actually shoot for months),

Because without membership to an authorised range (or appropriate permissions) you have no reason for having the firearm and therefore no reason to apply. Simply wanting one is not deemed reason enough to apply for a firearm of an "vintage".

Upon receipt, go to Midland range at Blueball and become a member (an eyewatering Eu 600 plus in year one, which I thought was a bit cheeky)

A bit cheeky. How so?

I'll say this again for everyone's benefit. Why people think that €600 for the first year and €295 per years after that is expensive is beyond me. Considering ranges in Dublin and elsewhere that are only certified for either rimfire firearms or pistols/shotguns and can charge up to €800+ per year EVERY year why they think paying the fees at the MNSCI are so outrageous. They have more facilities in one location than three or four ranges of varying disciplines combined and are the only fullbore range in the country that exceeds 300mtrs.

Also membership to the midlands is not a necessity. Try An Roicht or contact someone from the VCRAI and ask them which range would be best suited for membership to enable you to apply for the rifle.

.So, I think it'd be the thicker end of Eu1500 before you pull the trigger.

How close it that to reality?

It wouldn't be too far off, but you are starting from scratch so need eberything that most people already have. For example most people would have safes, othe firearms, existing membership to an authorised range. So to them it would only cost the rifle and license fee.

€1,500 is still not a huge amount of money to pay when you consider some lads can pay in excess of €4,000 to get started.

dead keen to shoot but a bit daunted by the bureaucracy and the initial set-up cost.

You seem to be throwing up imaginary "roadblocks" or you know something the rest of us are unaware off. What bureaucracy are you refering to?

Stovepipe

Hi all,
@ezridax,
I understand about joining VCRAI, which makes perfect sense in every way.I just don't understand why insurance must be had from NARGC well in advance of the ability to use a range, ie, it seems to me to be money wasted before one can gain the benefit of being covered, ie, you pay for a year and actually get less than a year's cover by the time the Garda form comes back.I do think Eu 600 plus up front for range access is a bit much but it's cheaper than joining a golf club, by a long shot and I do understand and appreciate the level of effort they have put in. I'm old enough to remember the days when there was no such thing as a public range, of any size.
With regard to bureaucracy, when you have to involve a gundealer, a club, a range and a national association and the police before you even get to handle a firearm, then it's a shade bureaucratic to me.

thanks for the gen.I really do appreciate the answers because I want to be fully informed before I get started.

regards
Stovepipe

rowa

Stovepipe wrote: »

Hi all,
@ezridax,
I understand about joining VCRAI, which makes perfect sense in every way.I just don't understand why insurance must be had from NARGC well in advance of the ability to use a range, ie, it seems to me to be money wasted before one can gain the benefit of being covered, ie, you pay for a year and actually get less than a year's cover by the time the Garda form comes back.I do think Eu 600 plus up front for range access is a bit much but it's cheaper than joining a golf club, by a long shot and I do understand and appreciate the level of effort they have put in. I'm old enough to remember the days when there was no such thing as a public range, of any size.
With regard to bureaucracy, when you have to involve a gundealer, a club, a range and a national association and the police before you even get to handle a firearm, then it's a shade bureaucratic to me.

thanks for the gen.I really do appreciate the answers because I want to be fully informed before I get started.

regards
Stovepipe

Yeah but every shooter on here has had to go through the waiting and form filling and stupid questions ,its just the way it is and in fact is better then it used to be in a lot of ways.

Cass

Stovepipe wrote: »

.I just don't understand why insurance must be had from NARGC well in advance of the ability to use a range, ie

As said before you may speak to someone from the VCRAi about the NARGC insurance because when you join a range you are automatically given insurance with the membership so NARGC insurance seems "surplus" to me. For exampl you get IFA insurance with membership to the MNSCI, but i also have CA insurance as i'm a member of a game club. If i wasn't a member of a gmae club i wouldn't have or bother with the CA insurance as my insurance is covered via my membership of the range.

, it seems to me to be money wasted before one can gain the benefit of being covered, ie,

The thing is your insurance is granted with the membership so as soon as your membership begins you are covered. Its a catch 22. You need a "valid reason" to want the firearm, and membership of a range is about he most valid reason you can get.

you pay for a year and actually get less than a year's cover by the time the Garda form comes back.

I know but its a situation that has existed for a very long time and has no signs of changing anytime soon.

I do think Eu 600 plus up front for range access is a bit much but it's cheaper than joining a golf club, by a long shot and I do understand and appreciate the level of effort they have put in.

For the first year ONLY. Every subsequent year after its €295 which works out at €8 per week. For mulitple ranges, rimfire to fullbore, from 25yards to 1,200 yards. Best and cheapest in the country.

With regard to bureaucracy, when you have to involve a gundealer, a club, a range and a national association and the police before you even get to handle a firearm, then it's a shade bureaucratic to me.

Excuse me when i say this but where are you living or where have you lived where you didn't need a gun dealer, the police and possibily some organisation to own a firearm. The organisation thing is voluntary. The dealer and police is a must in pretty much every country in the world. You need the dealer to buy the gun from, and the police to issue you a license. So i fail to see how you relate this to bureaucracy. Its standard operating procedure most everywhere in the world even in countries with less stringent gun laws.

thanks for the gen.I really do appreciate the answers because I want to be fully informed before I get started.

regards
Stovepipe

I don't disagree that the hoops we have to jump through are probably among the strictest in Europe or even the world, but no matter how much we like, dislike, agree or disagree with them they are what we have and we have to work with them for the time being.

Sikamick

Lee Enfield all depending on condition from around 450 euro, if you hunt (deer) you could license a .303 Lee Enfield for deer stalking.

You could then shoot in VCRAI open competitions at An Riocht, Castlemaine, you dont have to be a member of any organisation to shoot in VCRAI open Competitions.

All VCRAI open Competions are covered by NARGC day insurance.

As a Hunter you can join the VCRAI and get NARGC affiliation/insurance.

Sikamick

Stovepipe

@ezridax,
thanks for the explanations. I do understand about bureaucracy as I work in aviation and the level of bureaucracy (endless form filling, moving from billy to jack and back,etc,etc) would drive you to drink. I'll join VCRAI and go from there.
many thanks

Stovepipe

Cass

I don't pretend to know much or anything about vintage rifles, but i'm familiar enough with the legislation and rules that are required for firearm ownership, etc.

Have a word with some of the lads here or on the VCRAI website about the ins and outs of membership, ranges, permissions, shooting, comps, etc. They will know the finer points better than i.

tac foley

Quite a few members of the VCRAI are also visitors to this board, too. And for those of you haven't yet found out what it's all about and weren't at Birr last week - here the website details -

www.vcrai.com

tac